B3: Adaptation and Natural Selection

Question 1

Which resources do animals compete for?

Answer 1

Food

Water

Territory (space)

Mates

Question 2

Which resources do plants compete for?

Answer 2

Water

Light

Space

Minerals from soil

Question 3

What is meant by an adaptation?

Answer 3

Characteristics that allow an organisms to be successful and survive.

Question 4

List some of the adaptations of a successful predator

Answer 4

Good eyesight

Good hearing

Fast

Sharp claws

Question 5

List some of the adaptations of successful prey

Answer 5

Good eyesight

Good hearing

Fast

Horns

Question 6

What is a predator?

Answer 6

An animal that eats other animals to survive.

Question 7

What is a prey?

Answer 7

An animal that is eaten by predators.

Question 8

State 3 conditions of a desert habitat

Answer 8

Hot

Dry

Cold nights

Question 9

Identify the adaptations of a cactus that allow it to survive in the desert.

Answer 9

• Waxy layer to reduce water loss.
• Thick stems to store water.
• Long roots to collect water form a large area.
• Spines instead of leaves - reduces water loss.

Question 10

What are the advantages of being a nocturnal animal.

Answer 10

It reduces competition with other animals for resources.

Avoid high daytime temperatures

Question 11

Who came up with the idea of evolution by natural selection?

Answer 11

Charles Darwin

Question 12

What is evolution?

Answer 12

When organisms change over time

Question 13

The first living organisms on Earth were…

Answer 13

Unicellular (one cell) organisms e.g. bacteria

Question 14

What do we call the process that explains how organisms evolve over time?

Answer 14

Natural Selection

Question 15

What is the main evidence for the existance of dinosaurs?

Answer 15

Fossils

Question 16

Before the industrial revolution, peppered moths were mostly pale coloured. Why did more dark peppered moths appear in Britain during the industrial revolution?

Answer 16

Because soot form factories turned trees black.

Dark coloured moths were better adapted as they could camouflage.

Dark moths were not eaten, pale moths were eaten.

Genes for dark colour were passed onto the next generation.

Question 17

Describe the adaptation of the snowshoe hair that allows it to escape its predator; the canadian lynx.

Answer 17

White fur in winter to camouflage into snow.

Fur turns reddish brown in summer to help them blend into rocks and earth.

Question 18

How do animals cope with the changing seasons.

Answer 18

Migration

Hibernation

Question 19

How do trees cope with the changing seasons.

Answer 19

Grow rapidly in spring when it is wet and warm

Lose leaves in winter and grow less when conditions are not as ideal.

Question 20

What does this graph show?

Answer 20

A predator-prey relationship.

When predator population goes down; prey population goes up.

When prey population goes up; predator population goes back up.

More predators eat the prey; prey goes down again.

and the cycle continues.