Natural Selection/Adaptations/Symbiosis/Predator-Prey/Competition Flashcards
Natural selection
Individuals who are well-suited to a particular environment tend to survive and produce more offspring who inherit their well-suited characteristics
adaptations
well-suited characteristics/the behaviors and physical characteristics that allow organisms to live successfully in their environments
Over time, these unhelpful characteristics in individuals may affect
…the survival of the species
What is included in a niche, an organism’s role in its habitat?
How an organism obtains its food, when and how the organism reproduces
What does niche have to do with reproduction?
A niche includes when and how the organism reproduces
What does the feeding behavior of the giraffe tell you about its niche?
The giraffe eats leaves from autotrophs, making it a first level consumer, it is a herbivore adapted to eating leaves from treetops
What adaptations of the giraffe help it survive in its environment?
Its neck is long so that it can reach the tops of trees to obtain food, and they have strong legs for kicking away predators
What are two major interactions among organisms
Competition and predation
competition
The struggle between organisms to survive as they use the same limited resources
How do a flycatcher (bird) and an elf owl reduce competition?
The flycatcher occupies the niche during the day, and the elf owl occupies the niche at night.
What type of factor is competition?
limiting factor
predation
An interaction in which one organism kills another for food or nutrients
How may predator and prey interactions affect populations?
Reduce the number of organisms or eliminate population
Give one example of a predator adaptation.
Sharp teeth and claws
Give one example of a prey adaptation.
camouflage
symbiosis
Any relationship in which two species live closely together
types of symbiosis
Commensalism, mutualism, parasitism
What is the symbiosis in which one species benefits and the other species is neither helped nor harmed?
commensalism
What is the symbiosis in which both species benefit?
Mutualism
What is the symbiosis in which one organism lives with, on, or inside another organism and harms it?
Parasitism
Oxpecker birds and zebras: oxpecker birds clean harmful pests off of the zebra
mutualism
Barnacles “glue” themselves to whales, so they now get food and a ride
Commensalism
Fleas and dog: flea harms the dog by biting it and sucks its blood
parasitism
Natural Selection(video definition)
the process by which random evolutionary are selected for by nature in a constinent, orderly, non-random way
Only —- Adaptations Aid Survival
HELPFUL
Every organism has some unique characteristics that enable it to live in its environment.
Adaptations can be selected for by the challenges of the environment.
—:Life Changes Over Time.
EVOLUTION
Natural selection is the process of change.
The environment impacts how species evolve, or change over time.
— is the process of change.
NATURAL SELECTION
Small differences within a species must already be present.
These differences must be heritable (can be passed from parents to offspring).
The changes that make organisms better suited to their environment occur by a process called natural selection.
Niche
Every organism has a variety of adaptations that are suited to its environment.
The niche is their complex role in that ecosystem.
An organism’s particular role, or “how it makes its living”, is called its niche
A niche includes the type of food the organism eats, how it obtains this food, which other species use it as food, when and how the organism reproduces, and the physical conditions it requires to survive.
Niche is a complex role in an ecosystem.
Adaptation
An adaptation is a physical trait or behavior that helps an organism to survive.
Adaptations must be coded for by genes in the DNA.
Adaptations are not acquired through practice, trying, choice, or need.
How do adaptations form?
The environment “selects” the organisms with adaptations that best fit the environment.
This is what is meant by “survival of the fittest”.
New adaptations form in offspring due to normal genetic variation (different genes in the pop) and random mutation.
Why do predators need adaptations
To help them find, sneak up on, stalk, chase, ponce, and ultimately catch their prey
To kill and eat their prey
Catching:
Strong legs/wings/fins for speed/agility, excellent sense of smell, vision and hearing, claws, intelligence, camouflage, groups or solo
To Kill and Eat
Strong jaws or talons, claws, specialized teeth, venom, etc.