Islam
ADAPTATIONS * Define the term adaptation and discuss the problems associated with inferring characteristics of organisms as adaptations for living in a particular habitat.
An adaptation is any feature or characteristic that helps an organism survive in its environment. Adaptations can be classified as either structural, physiological or behavioural.
When studying organisms and relating the chances of survival to body structure, physiology and behaviour, biologists are always wary of inferring every characteristic as a particular adaptation for a particular habitat. Just because a plant or animal is found in a location does not mean it has special adaptations to that environment. For example many desert plants can grow in areas with higher rainfall and milder temperature changes. For example fossils show that 3.5 million years ago humans became upright with the change in posture causing a changed positioning of the head and neck. This in turn caused a new position of the tongue, throat and vocal cords enabling speech. Thus early inferences on the reason for the evolution of speech needed to be revised.
Questions
1. Define the terms structural, physiological and behavioural adaptations. Give an example of each.
Structural – how an organism is built
Physiological – how an organism works inside
Behavioural – what an organism does
2. Complete the following table to classify an adaptation as either structural, physiological or behavioural and the feature of the environment which this adaptation addresses.
adaptation | Type of adaptation | Feature of the environment | Layer of blubber in a whale | Structural | It’s a cold environment | Leaves in the shade are larger and a darker green colour | Physiological | Sunlight | Whales emit very low frequency sounds | Behavioural | Deep sea, large area | Lizards sunbake on rocks in the sun at sunset | Behavioural | Sun heat and light | Goldfish release copious amounts of dilute urine |
An adaptation is any feature or characteristic that helps an organism survive in its environment. Adaptations can be classified as either structural, physiological or behavioural.
When studying organisms and relating the chances of survival to body structure, physiology and behaviour, biologists are always wary of inferring every characteristic as a particular adaptation for a particular habitat. Just because a plant or animal is found in a location does not mean it has special adaptations to that environment. For example many desert plants can grow in areas with higher rainfall and milder temperature changes. For example fossils show that 3.5 million years ago humans became upright with the change in posture causing a changed positioning of the head and neck. This in turn caused a new position of the tongue, throat and vocal cords enabling speech. Thus early inferences on the reason for the evolution of speech needed to be revised.
Questions
1. Define the terms structural, physiological and behavioural adaptations. Give an example of each.
Structural – how an organism is built
Physiological – how an organism works inside
Behavioural – what an organism does
2. Complete the following table to classify an adaptation as either structural, physiological or behavioural and the feature of the environment which this adaptation addresses.
adaptation | Type of adaptation | Feature of the environment | Layer of blubber in a whale | Structural | It’s a cold environment | Leaves in the shade are larger and a darker green colour | Physiological | Sunlight | Whales emit very low frequency sounds | Behavioural | Deep sea, large area | Lizards sunbake on rocks in the sun at sunset | Behavioural | Sun heat and light | Goldfish release copious amounts of dilute urine |