biodiversity

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  • Created by: callum
  • Created on: 05-04-12 10:02

biodiversity

biodiversity is the variety of life in the world or a particular habitat.

scientists estimate that there are around 30 million different species on earth, all of whom are adapted to their surroundings.

charles darwins proposed a theory to explain all this, the theory of evolution by natural selection.

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species habitats

a habitat can be thought of literally as the place an organism lives.

each habitat has a partcular set of conditions which supports many organsisms living there.

within a habitat there can be many populations. each population is a group of inbreeding induviduals of a same species living in an area.

all the populations living in the area make up a community.

two species sharing the same habitat tend not to compete with each other, each species lives in a particular niche often refered to an an ecological niche.

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adapted to the enviroment

all organisms are adpated in a particular way so that they are uniquely able to use their particular niches.

being adapted means being specialised to suit the enviroment in which the organism lives.

features which enable organisms to survive are called adaptations.

adpatations can be classed as behavioural, physiological and anatomical.

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behavioural adaptations

behavioural adaptations are anyactions by organsism that halp them survive or reproduce.

even plants have behavioural adaptations, for example they turn their leaves towards the sun.

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physiological adaptations

physiological adaptationsare features of the internal workings of an organism which help them survive or reproduce.

for example the danish scurvy grass have physiological adaptations which allow them to withstand high salt concentrations so can occupy a niche by the sea where other organsism cannot.

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anatomical adaptations

anatomical adaptations are the sturctes we can see on an organism that help them to survive or reproduce.

for example the bodies of bumblebees show adaptations used to colect nectar and pollen. the long tounge of a bumblebee allows it to **** out nectar from flowers. they also have a pollen basket on their hind legs which works as a gathering of hairs which can hold pollen.

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