Ecology & Adaptations

Question 1

What is an adaptation?

Answer 1

And adaptation is any structure or behavior that allows an organism to survive in its environment.

Question 2

Give five ways adaptations can help an organism to survive.

Answer 2

Help find food, help attract a mate(reproduce), hide from predators (Camouflage) conserve water(Needles), control body temperature (fur)

Question 3

Give three adaptations for each biome: desert, tundra, rain forest

Answer 3

Desert: burying underground, store water, nocturnal
Tundra: Whitefir, Layer of fat, hibernation
Rain forest: bright colors (attract a mate), camouflage (hide from predators), poison

Question 4

What is natural selection?

Answer 4

Natural selection is the process in which organisms that are better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce.

Question 5

What are predators and prey? Give examples of each

Answer 5

A predator is an animal that captures its food. I pray is the animal that gets captured and eaten. Predator: tiger, shark, owl, Eagle. Prey: mouse, rabbit, squirrel

Question 6

How can natural selection lead to a change in a population over time?

Answer 6

Individuals that are better adapted to their environment will pass on their traits to offspring.

Question 7

Describe some marine adaptations that allow fish to live in the water.

Answer 7

Long, streamlined bodies; gills to obtain oxygen from the water, fins

Question 8

What is the purpose of camouflage?

Answer 8

Camouflage allows animals to hide from predators and gives them a better chance to survive and reproduce.

Question 9

What are some adaptations that allow plants to survive in their environment?

Answer 9

Mini desert plants have needles for protection and can conserve water. Some plants have a large leaves to collect more sunlight on the rain forest floor. Trees in the taiga do not lose their leaves. (Evergreens)

Question 10

What is the role of decomposers in an ecosystem?

Answer 10

Decomposers breakdown dead organisms and return nutrients to the ecosystem

Question 11

Give examples of natural selection.

Answer 11

Birds have developed a bake sale allow them to eat specific types of food. Bacteria have become resistant to antibiotics.

Question 12

What would happen if the herbivore population of the number of hawks increased?

Answer 12

The number of herbivores (mice and rabbits ) would decrease

Question 13

If the disease mouse scratch fever wipes out the mouse population, what would happen to the snake population?

Answer 13

They would decrease due to lack of food

Question 14

What to predators compete for grasshoppers for food?

Answer 14

Lizards and Hawks

Question 15

Which herbivore has two different predators that prey upon it?

Answer 15

Mouse (snake and hawk)

Question 16

How do autotrophs obtain energy? Heterotrophs?

Answer 16

Autotroph’s are organisms that are able to make their own food using energy from the sun. Heterotrophs must consume another organism to obtain energy.

Question 17

List the following in order from smallest to largest: population, ecosystem, biosphere, community, and organism

Answer 17

Organism, population, community, ecosystem, biosphere

Question 18

What is the primary function of bacteria in the nitrogen cycle?

Answer 18

Bacteria live on the roots of certain plants called legumes and convert nitrogen (N2) to usable nitrates and Nitrite compounds for a plant to absorbency through a process called nitrogen fixation

Question 19

What is a pyramid used to show the flow of energy in an ecosystem?

Answer 19

Less energy is available at each level of the food chain because some of the energy is lost as heat. Only 10% is passed on to the next level

Question 20

What two life processes are used to cycle carbon throughout an ecosystem?

Answer 20

Cellular respiration puts carbon into the atmosphere and photosynthesis removes carbon from the atmosphere