Features terrestrial and aquatic environments

Question 1

What is viscosity?

Answer 1

The stickiness of the medium through which organisms need to move.

Question 2

Which environment struggles with viscosity?

Answer 2

Aquatic- Terrestrial environments have advantage over aquatic environments. Easier for animals to move through air than water. Aquatic animals have a streamlined shape to help them move more easily through water.

Question 3

What is buoyancy?

Answer 3

The measure of a substance’s ability to support or hold up an object.

Question 4

Which environment struggles with buoyancy/ adaptations?

Answer 4

Terrestrial- Highly specialised adaptation such as wings make use of the little viscosity.

Question 5

Which environment had better viscosity?

Answer 5

Aquatic- Water has high viscosity compared to air.

Terrestrial- air is less viscous than water.

Question 6

Which environment has better buoyancy?

Answer 6

Water- provides an upthrust (flotation), providing support for soft body tissues

• Water maintains organisms shape (jellyfish).
• Air: little support. Organisms cannot rely on air for soft tissue support

Question 7

Which environment has better temperature variation?

Answer 7

Aquatic- Large bodies of water show little temperature variation . Water temperature decreases at increasing depth.
Terrestrial- wide temperature variations in air occur
Air temperature decreases with increases in altitude.

Question 8

Which environment struggles with temperature variation?

Answer 8

Terrestrial- Temperature in water remains constant.
Camels can thrive in very hot conditions. Spongy bones their noses absorb excess moisture to keep every drop of water in. So the air they breathe out is dry air.

Question 9

Which environment has better heat conduction?

Answer 9

Terrestial

• Organisms lose more heat in water
• water conducts heat better than air

Question 10

Which environment struggles with heat conduction?

Answer 10

Mammals that have evolved to live in cold waters, such as whales, seals, sea lions and polar bears, commonly have a layer of blubber.
Cold- blooded marine organisms do not need to stay warm, can let there temperatures drop.

Question 11

Which environment has more available gases?

Answer 11

Terrestial- organisms need oxygen for respiration and plants need CO2 for photosynthesis. 20% pf air is oxygen.

Question 12

Which environment struggles with the availability of gas?

Answer 12

Aquatic- Oxygen and CO2 dissolve in water. Where water is in close contact with air, both are available.
Fish have high efficiency gills.

Question 13

Which environment has more available water?

Answer 13

Aquatic-
In fresh water- water diffuses into organisms
- Cells contain more ions and organic substances
Marine- cells have lower concentration of salts than the surrounding water (net movement out of the cells)

Question 14

Which environment struggles with the availability of water?

Answer 14

Terrestrial- Water is at a premium- lost by evaporation and must be replaced constantly.

Question 15

Which environment has better light penetration?

Answer 15

Terrestrial- light is available in abundance. Only scarce on the floors of dense forest and caves.

Question 16

Which environment struggles with light penetration?

Answer 16

Aquatic- Light is often premium. The surface of water reflects light. On 70% strikes the surface penetrates.
Water absorbs light. Depth increases, light decreases- no light for photosynthesis or vision.
Various photosynthetic pigments to trap available wavelengths of light.

Question 17

Which environment has more available ions?

Answer 17

Aquatic- Most ions are available in abundance. Just as convention currents carry O2 and CO2 to the ocean depths.
Same currents return ions from decomposed organisms to the surface.

Question 18

Which environment struggles with lack of ions?

Answer 18

Terrestrial- On land ions (salts) are available in soil water.
- Plants absorb these ions through their roots and animals obtain them when they feed off plants or other animals.

Question 19

Which environment has more pressure?

Answer 19

Terrestrial- On land, there are frequent fluctuations in pressure. These variations are small and have little direct impact

Question 20

Which environment struggles with pressure?

Answer 20

Aquatic-
- Pressure does not fluctuate and there is considerable variation.
As water depth increases, pressures increases.
Armour plate like structures on deep sea fish.