B3: Adaptation and Natural Selection Flashcards
Which resources do animals compete for?
Food
Water
Territory (space)
Mates
Which resources do plants compete for?
Water
Light
Space
Minerals from soil
What is meant by an adaptation?
Characteristics that allow an organisms to be successful and survive.
List some of the adaptations of a successful predator
Good eyesight
Good hearing
Fast
Sharp claws
List some of the adaptations of successful prey
Good eyesight
Good hearing
Fast
Horns
What is a predator?
An animal that eats other animals to survive.
What is a prey?
An animal that is eaten by predators.
State 3 conditions of a desert habitat
Hot
Dry
Cold nights
Identify the adaptations of a cactus that allow it to survive in the desert.
- 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.
What are the advantages of being a nocturnal animal.
It reduces competition with other animals for resources.
Avoid high daytime temperatures
Who came up with the idea of evolution by natural selection?
Charles Darwin
What is evolution?
When organisms change over time
The first living organisms on Earth were…
Unicellular (one cell) organisms e.g. bacteria
What do we call the process that explains how organisms evolve over time?
Natural Selection
What is the main evidence for the existance of dinosaurs?
Fossils
Before the industrial revolution, peppered moths were mostly pale coloured. Why did more dark peppered moths appear in Britain during the industrial revolution?
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.
Describe the adaptation of the snowshoe hair that allows it to escape its predator; the canadian lynx.
White fur in winter to camouflage into snow.
Fur turns reddish brown in summer to help them blend into rocks and earth.
How do animals cope with the changing seasons.
Migration
Hibernation
How do trees cope with the changing seasons.
Grow rapidly in spring when it is wet and warm
Lose leaves in winter and grow less when conditions are not as ideal.
What does this graph show?
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.
