Adaptations within Biomes POPULATIONS Population Size A population

Adaptations within Biomes

POPULATIONS

Population Size A population is the number of a species living in a particular area

What factors could change a population? • Competition • For food, water and space • Predation • Predators will eat prey and reduce the population (including the number of offspring) • Migration • Disease • Members of the population may leave the area • A disease could kill some of the population • Natural Disasters • Drought, fire, floods, volcanic eruptions, etc. could alter the habitat and affect the population • Wars can result in the death of many members of a population

What else can affect the numbers and the distribution of a population? • How well are individuals adapted? • This will affect their survival in a habitat. • What else lives there? This may mean competition for food. • There may be predators.

What is Adaptation? • Adaptation describes how a plant or animal is able to survive in various environments. • Well adapted organisms can cope with the different aspects of their environment. Ex) the temperature

**It is always a struggle for plants and animals to survive!!** ANIMALS STRUGGLE : PLANTS STRUGGLE: • For food • For water • For protection against weather • Against being eaten by predators • Against disease • Against accidents • • • For water For light For minerals in the soil Against weather Against disease Against being eaten

How does adaptation help organisms? • Well adapted organisms are better at coping with extremes of weather. • They are better at competing for food. • They are better at escaping from predators. • They are more likely to survive in their habitat and produce offspring.

An Arctic Habitat • This sort of habitat can have extremely low temperatures. • The ground is covered with white snow for most of the year.

How are animals adapted to survive in the Arctic? • Animals like polar bears will have a thick insulating coat. • They usually have a large amount of body fat. • They have a large body size to surface area ratio. • They have a camouflaged coat.

How do these adaptations help? § A thick fur coat traps heat to keep warm! § A large body size to surface area ratio reduces heat loss by radiation. § A large amount of body fat acts as a food store and to keep warm! § Camouflage§ White fur is good camouflage to hide from predators.

A Desert Environment • A desert can have very little rainfall. • There is a lot of sunshine during the day. • There is very little shade. • The temperatures can get very hot. • At night it can become very cold!

How is a camel adapted to survive in the desert? • Camels can store large amounts of water in the fat in their humps (and save it to use later!) • They have feet with a large surface area to allow them to walk on sand. • They also have long eye-lashes to stop sand blowing into their eyes.

How do reptiles survive in the Desert? • Most reptiles will find some shade under a rock during the hottest part of the day. • When walking on hot sand a lizard will try to touch the ground with only a small area. • This lizard keeps swopping feet, and only stands on two feet at a time. • This snake keeps a loop of itself off the ground as it moves across the sand sideways.

• How do plants survive the Desert? A cactus has a long tap root to reach water deep under the ground. • It has a thick, fleshy stem to store water. • It has needle-shaped leaves to prevent water loss through the stomata. • The needles help to stop animals from eating it.