Adaptations of Organisms Flashcards
Behavioural Adaptation
2 Examples
An activity that an animal performs in response to internal and external stimuli e.g. Hibernation, Nocturnal
Structural Adaptation
2 Examples
The particular aspect of a structure of an organism that increases its survival e.g. fur on polar bears, shells on turtles
Physiological Adaptation
2 Examples
A function of an organism that increases its survival e.g. Venom, Anti-Freeze
Adaptations for animals for water balance:
2 Behavioural
2 Structural
2 Physiological
B:
Do not expose themselves to dry environment by being nocturnal
Spend most of the time in damp places e.g. soil under rocks or plant matter
Spend the hottest part of the day in the shade, e.g. Many desert living animals
Stay in a burrow during the day, Burrows have a lower temperature and have a higher humidity, thus reducing evaporation
S:
Some molluscs have shells into which they can draw their bodies into: thus reducing the amount of surface area exposed
Arthropods have an exoskeleton that reduces water loss
Tissues that tolerate water loss e.g. Camel
P:
Aquatic animals excrete their nitrogenous wastes in the form of ammonia. They can do this because they are surrounded by water.
Birds and reptiles excrete their nitrogenous wastes in the form of uric acid. Uric acid is not soluble in water and comes out as a white solid; thus, only small amounts of water are needed to remove it
Mammals excrete nitrogenous wastes in the form of urea. Urea requires water for its removal.
Producing dry faeces by reabsorbing nearly all the water.
Cooling air breathed out so less water is lost
Adaptations for Plants:
2 Structural
2 Physiological
S:
1. Tissues that are tolerant to desiccation
2. Seeds and Spores
3. Deep roots
4. Superficial roots
5. Store Water
6. Narrow Leaves
7. Reduced number of stomata
8. Sunken Stomata
9. Folding of leaves
10. Thick waxy cuticle
P:
1. Reversing the normal stomatal rhythm: Opening the stomata at night and closing them by day (There must be some day light opening for photosynthesis to take place)
2. Drop leaves before winter
: Getting rid of leaves altogether is the most effective way of cutting down transpiration. E.g. A spectacular example is Ocotillo - Vine Cactus of the North American desert. This shrub comes out in lead every time it rains and sheds the leaves immediately afterwards. This may happen as many as half a dozen times in a year.
3. Halophytes : Halophytes are plants that live on mudflats and salt marshes. They must absorb water, which is at a considerably higher osmotic pressure than those of ordinary plants. They get around this in two ways …
Their root cells exert a much greater osmotic pressure than those of ordinary plants, which allows them to take in water by osmosis in the normal way. Many halophytes store water so that they will noy run short in the event of the external osmotic pressure exceeding that of the root cells. This sometimes happens when water evaporates from mudflats at low tide. There is still plenty of water but its osmotic pressure is so high that it is unabotable to the plants.
4. Guttation : Guttation is caused when more water is taken into the plant then can be removed by evaporation. Water is secreted by structures called hydathodes, which are at the terminal ends of the leaves.
Adaptations for animals to survive cold environment
1 Behavioural
1 Structural
1 Physiological
B: Hibernating
Burramys parvus Mountain Pygmy Possum is the only Australian mammal which hibernates
S: Antifreeze
Some animals produce an antifreeze such as glycerol
P: Insulating layers
Plants may utilises anti-freeze in order to survive in cold temperatures. What type of adaptation is this?
Describe Anti-freeze
Physiological
Having higher concentration inside the cytosol than outside allows to water crystals grow between cells not inside the cells
Ice formation is living plant tissue, water leaves the cells and adds to the ice crystals growing in spaces between the cells. Although the ice punctures cell walls, the cell membranes are merely pushed inward and the cells remain intact.
As the temperature surrounding the plants decreases, ice forms in the spaces outside the cells of the plant. The inside of the cells does not freeze because the concentration of ions in the crystal is greater than the concentration outside the cell. The crystal has a lower freezing point. Because the ice has formed, the concentration of water inside the cells is higher than the concentration outside and so water moves out of the cells. The ice crystals outside the cells forw, The movement of water out of the cells increases the ion concentration inside the cells and so lowers their freezing point even further, The living cells are able to withstand further drops in the external temperature.
Adaptations of Eucalyptus tree’s
4 Examples
- Hard Gumnuts : This strategy helps to avoid being eaten by insects. The use of fire to open the seeds means the seeds will fall into an ash bed containing lots of nitrogen, which is used by the germinating seeds, The eucalyptus trees have evolved this mechanism due to the activities of Indigenous Aboriginal people, who used fire as a toll to clear the undergrowth.
- Eucalyptus Oil : Eucalyptus oil is a toxin produced by the trees to deter insects and other organisms from eating the leaves.
- Thick Bark : Some species have thick bark as protection from fires
- Deep Roots : Some species have very deep roots for water collection as well as providing strength and support
- Epicormic Buds : Epicormic buds are buds found under the bark which shoot out new growth quickly after fire and other damages
- Lignotuber : Lignotuber is a mass at the base of the trunk or just under the ground. Regrowth will take place from her if: the tree is cut down to ground level, the tree falls and breaked off above ground level and if fire destroys the upper part of the tree.
Adaptation of Acacia - Waffles, for survival in Australia
2 Examples
- Hard seed coats that need heat to crack them open for germination to occur - so need fire
- Bright flowers for attracting pollination like insects, birds and mammals
- Hard bark for protection from desiccation - Drying out or fire
- Hard leaves to prevent desiccation
Advantages and Disadvantages of Asexual Reproduction
3 of each
Ad:
1. Population growth occurs rapidly
Single parent required so time looking for a mate is reduced
Vascular plants: No need to produce pollen or rely on a vector to transport the pollen
Every member of a population can give birth to offspring
If the population suffers then these species can reproduce asexauelly to rebuild numbers
New habitats can be quickly exploited
When conditions are favorable the population can spread quickly
Highly probable that offspring will survive
No genetic shuffling so less risk of mutations.
Dis:
No genetic variation between members of a population
No new genotypes produced
If the environment changed the species would not be able to adapt
If there is an outbreak of disease - all individuals would be susceptible.
What are the six methods of asexual reproduction?
Exclude forms of Vegetation Propagation
- Binary Fission
- Budding
- Spore Formation
- Vegetation Propagation
- Regeneration
- Parthenogenesis (Bees)
3 Differences between Asexual and Sexual Reproduction
- Sexual needs two parents apposed to asexual that needs only one
- Asxeual results in offsprings idetical to its parents unlike sexaul reprodcution
- Sexual reproduction is a much slower system, due to unsecular production and time lost due to finding a mate.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Sexual Reproduction
3 of each
Ad:
Introduced variation into a population
Produces unique individuals
May remove deleterious genes from population
The species can adapt to new environments
A disease is less likely to affect all the individuals in a population
Dis:
Requires two parents
Time and energy are needed to find a male
Can prevent favorable genes being passed to offspring
Prduces fewer offspring than asexaul reprodictuon
Not possible for an isolated individual.
3 Advantages of Tissue Culturing
- High rate of success
- Clones retain the desired characteristic of the parents
- Plants are disease free and uniform
- Difficult to propagate plants are possible
- Large quantities can be produced
- Production timing can be planned
- Production is not depend on seasons,
What are the 3 types of cloning?
- Artificial Cloning
Cloning is a form of asexual reproduction. Asexual reproduction does not involve the fusion of gametes, and daughter cells are genially identical to parent cells. Cloning can be carried out by embryo splitting or by nuclear transfer. - Embryo Splitting
Embryo splitting: Embryonic cells are separated from each other. Individual cells are then implanted into surrogate females, - Cloning using somatic cell nuclear transfer
Nuclear transfer: the nucleus of one cell can be removed (the cell is ‘enucleated’) and used to replace the nucleus of another cell OR a somatic cell can be fused with an enucleated egg cell.
