Transcript Adaptations
• Karl is out in waist high water catching crabs and baby fish. The grass is in a muddy area that floods each afternoon with a mix of FRESHWATER and SALT WATER. What type of ecosystem is Karl in? • Hint: Look back at your vocabulary words Unit 1: Seventh Grade • You might say that it has long hind legs, bulging eyes and croaks. • But what color skin? • Once you start to think about frogs, you realize that frogs differ in many ways. • Why? • A characteristic that helps an organism survive and reproduce in its environment is called an adaptation. • May be physical, like the long neck of a giraffe • Or behavioral to help an organism find food, protect itself or reproduce. • Physical adaptations is a structural modification made to the organism • Something the organism has. • Webbed feet, sharp claws, whiskers, sharp teeth, large beaks, wings for flying • Many interactions between species consist of one organism catching and eating another one. • This relationship is called predator/prey • To survive, predators must be able to catch their prey • Prey have their own methods for avoiding capture. Predators • Speed • Camouflage to enable an ambush • Venom to paralyze prey Prey • Speed • Camouflage to blend in with environment • Warning coloration • Venom • Mimicry • Large leaves to gather sunlight • Thorns for protection • Waxy leaves to conserve water • Shed leaves in winter • Shallow/deep root systems • Showy flowers • A behavioral adaptation is something that an organism does – how it acts --- usually in response to some type of external stimulus. • • • • • Animals Burrowing Migration Swarming Make itself appear bigger Nocturnal Plants • Tropisms (grow toward light) • Wilting to conserve water Writing assignment • On a separate sheet of paper list everything you do in a day. Then, draw an adaptation from the pile. Address everything you do in that day and analyze how this new adaptation affects your daily activities. The final assignment you turn in will be typed and containing of 3 paragraphs. Note: paragraphs have 5-7 sentences.