Transcript Animal Adaptations - Madison County Schools

Ecology Review
2010-2011
Mav Mark
11/28/11

What is the difference between a biotic
and an abiotic factor?
Mav Mark
11/29/11

List in order the levels of
ENVIRONMENTAL organization.
Mav Mark
11/30/11

Explain the difference between an
organism’s habitat and its niche.
Mav Mark
12/1/11
What is a structural adaptation?
 How can it help an organism survive?

Mav Mark
12/2/11
What is a behavioral adaptation?
 How can it help an organism survive?

Mav Mark
12/5/11

Explain the role of a producer, consumer,
and a decomposer in an ecosystem.
Mav Mark
12/6/11
Test Day
 Take out one sheet of paper and a pencil
and clear your desk.

I. Levels of Organization
Cells → Tissues → Organs → Organ
Systems → Organisms
 Organism → Species → Population →
Community → Ecosystem

I. Levels of Organization
An organism is a living thing.
 A species is a group of organism that
share most characteristics and can breed
with one another.
 A population is composed of all the
organism of a species that live in the same
place at the same time.

I. Levels of Organization
A community is made up of all the
populations that live in an area at the
same time.
 An ecosystem is made up of one or more
communities and their nonliving
environment.

A. Factors in an ecosystem

Biotic: Things living or
were alive.

Abiotic: Nonliving
I. Levels of Organization

Organism
Population
Community

Ecosystem






A Squirrel
All the squirrels in the forest
The squirrels, trees, grass,
bushes, birds, insects, deer in the
forest
The squirrels, trees, grass,
bushes, birds, insects, deer in the
forest AND water, sunlight, rocks,
soil
B. Ecosystem
Aquatic: Marine & Freshwater
ecosystems
 Terrestrial: Land ecosystem

C. Roles in an ecosystem
Habitat: place where an organism lives
 Niche: how an organism acts within its
ecosystem (Its job)

II. Types of Adaptation

Adaptation is anything that helps an organism
survive in its environment.

It also refers to the ability of living things to adjust
to different conditions within their environments.
 Structural
adaptation
Protective coloration
 Mimicry

 Behavior
adaptations
Migration
 Hibernation/Estivation

A. Structural adaptations

A structural adaptation involves some
part of an animal's body.
 Teeth
 Body
coverings
 Movement
1. Protective Coloration


Coloration and protective
resemblance allow an
animal to blend into its
environment.
Another word for this might
be camouflage. Their
camouflage makes it hard for
enemies to single out
individuals.
2. Mimicry

Mimicry allows one
animal to look, sound, or
act like another animal to
fool predators into
thinking it is poisonous
or dangerous.
B. Behavior adaptations

Behavior adaptations
include activities that help an
animal survive.

Behavior adaptations can be
learned or instinctive.
 Social
behavior
 Behavior for protection
1. Migration

This is a behavioural
adaptation that involves
an animal or group of
animals moving from one
region to another and
then back again.

Animals migrate for
different reasons.
 better
climate
 better food
 safe place to live
 safe place to raise young
 go back to the place they
were born.
2. Hibernation

This is deep sleep in which animal’s body temp
drops, body activities are slowed to conserve
energy.

E.g. Bats, woodchucks & mice.
What about Bears?

Bears do not actually
hibernate. Bears do
go into long periods of
sleep during the
winter months, but do
not drop their body
temperature and
wake up more often
than animals that
experience true
hibernation.
3. Estivation


This is a period of reduced activity in the
summer months that allows animals that live in
very hot climates to conserve energy and
resources.
Ex. Desert squirrels and mice
III. Adaptation leads to Evolution
Evolution is the process by which species
change over time. (Explained by natural
selection.)
 Variation: Differences in traits among members
of the same species. (Ones with more useful
traits survive and reproduce)
 Extinction: Permanent dying out of species of
organisms.

IV. Energy flow in Ecosystems

Producers (autotroph) : an organism that makes
its own food usually through photosynthesis.
 Plants,

algae, and some bacteria
Consumers (Heterotroph): an organism that
cannot make its own food, but must consume
another organism to obtain energy (ex. All
animals, some plants)
 Primary
Consumer: Eats producers/plants
 Secondary Consumer: Eats primary consumers
 Tertiary Consumer: Eats secondary consumers
IV. Energy flow in Ecosystems

Decomposers: an organism that meets its
energy needs by breaking down the
remains of dead organisms to feed on
them.
 Ex.
Fungi and bacteria
 Some organisms can be both decomposers
and consumers like earthworms and insects
IV. Energy flow in Ecosystems
Food Chains: show the flow of energy
from producer to different levels of
consumers to decomposers.
 Food Webs: an interconnected network of
food chains within an ecosystem

IV. Energy flow in Ecosystems

Energy Pyramid: shows flow of energy
 Wide
base = amount of energy in
producers
 Next Levels = amount of energy obtained
by each group of consumers.
 Shape of pyramid shows a decrease in
energy at each trophic level
V. Biomes

Types of biomes:
 Desert
 Tropical

Biome : large groups
of ecosystems that
have similar climates
and organisms.
Savannah
 Tropical Rain Forest
 Temperate Grassland
 Temperate Woodland
 Temperate deciduous
forest
 Coniferous forest
 Taiga
 Tundra
 Marine
 Freshwater
VI. Symbiosis: Close interaction
between species
Commensalism: 1 benefits while the other
is unaffected.
 Parasitism:1 benefits, while the other is
harmed
 Mutualism: Both Benefit
