Download
1 / 41
410 likes | 424 Views
National Geographic movie Pole to Pole <br>Adaptations Activity<br>Middle School Science
E N D
Welcome Back to Science Prepare for class by getting out a clean sheet of notebook paper and a pen or pencil
The Daily Scoop 01 03 Adaptations Review Video Wrap Up assignment: “Pole to Pole” 02 04 Video HW: Complete “Pole to Pole” Google Classroom Assignment
An adaptation is a beneficial variation of a trait that helps the organism survive in it’s environment. Variationrefers to an individual with characteristics different from the others of the same kind. Behavioral, physiological, and structural adaptations help organism survive in specific environments.
National Geographic presents…. Planet Earth Pole to Pole
Let’s get ready to watch... • Title your paper “Pole to Pole” • Fold your paper in half (hotdog fold) • Title the left side: Species Name • Title the right side: Adaptation and Type As you watch the video, take notes on each animal you see!
Look at the pictures of animals below and fill in the chart.
Of all the wonderful adaptations in the animal kingdom, perhaps the most important is the habit of living together in groups. Animals can gain a lot of benefit from spending time with other members of the same species. Antarctica is a harsh environment for anything to live, let alone a warm-blooded mammal. Emperor penguins have figured out a way to beat the cold weather. The penguins clump together in huge, huddled masses. They take turns moving to the inside of the group, where they're protected from the icy cold temperatures and wind. Once they've had a chance to warm up, they take their turns back on the circle's edges, giving fellow penguins time in the warmer center.
Animals evolved to navigate Earth, including walking, swimming, climbing and hopping. But the evolution of flight takes moving on this planet to a higher level. Flying not only delivers an animal from one place to another much faster than walking along with a pair of legs, it also allows creatures to escape predation, explore new territories and look for resources that might otherwise be out of reach. The heron is an example of a bird that dives down to catch its prey and can quickly carry it off before anything else can compete with it. Talk about fast food!
Camouflage is a widely used adaption by almost every species. One of the most interesting types of camouflage is the zebra. Although black and white stripes may stand out to us that’s not the case for their predators. Stripes make a herd of zebras look confusing to a predator, especially when they're moving, and particularly at dawn and dusk. It's hard to tell where one zebra ends and another begins. If a predator such as a lion can't pick out an individual zebra to zero in on for a kill, it's less likely to succeed in bringing one down for a meal.
Having to get out of bed on cold winter days can be unpleasant enough to make hibernation seem like a pretty smart idea. After all, it’s a great way to escape the cold and a smart method of surviving in harsh conditions or when resources, like food, are scarce. A lot of animals hibernate, including bears. Some animals, such as the American black bear, snooze through winter. To prepare for hibernation the black bear eats as much as it can, bulking up before a long winter’s nap. Sleeping through the winter weather allows him to save energy he would waste looking for what little food is available. When spring returns and food is abundant the black bear wakes from his deep sleep to find food.
For animals that live in areas where resources such as food and water are scarce for long periods of time, the ability to conserve fat and water in the body can mean the difference between life and death. A stunning example of resource conservation comes from the Bactrian camel, a two-humped mammal that lives in the rocky and dry regions of Central and Eastern Asia, where temperatures range from -20°F in winter to 100°F in summer. Bactrian camels have a key adaptation that helps them to survive these harsh conditions. Their humps are filled with fat, which can be converted into energy and water in times when food and water are scarce.
A lot of species in the animal kingdom try to appear larger in order to ward off predators, but the blowfish, also called porcupine fish, has the ability to puff up to about twice its normal size in response to a predator's advance. When threatened, blowfish pump air or water into their extremely elastic stomachs to the point of being perfectly round in shape with their spines and scales protruding outward. At that point they can barely move, but it doesn't usually matter since nothing can eat them in that form.
For most people, hair is a decorative yet essentially useless feature on their body. But to most mammals in the wild, hair offers important protection from the elements. The musk ox is a superb example. It has an important adaptation to its bitterly cold home on the vast Alaskan tundra: Its thick, shaggy hair hangs down to the ground and gives the ox the protection it needs to endure frigid (cold) temperatures. Such fur helps the animal survive as winter temperatures drop to an average of -30°F. Some of the hair is shed in time for summer, allowing the musk ox to cool down as temperatures reach 40-50°F.
Some females enjoy motherhood; while others would just as soon let somebody else do the work for them. For example, certain cuckoo birds are famous for their habit of nest parasitism (one animal benefits and one animal are harmed), which refers to laying their eggs in the nests of other species, who then feed and care for the cuckoos' orphaned offspring. The young cuckoos are larger and more aggressive than the hatchlings of the host nest. In the stiff competition for food, the weaker nest-mates usually die. Sometimes, the young cuckoos will push other eggs or chicks out of the nest, thereby eliminating the competition in the first place. It's an excellent adaptation for the cuckoo, but a disastrous one for the nest-owner.
When faced with danger, it is not usually a good idea to drop to the ground and lay motionless. Yet, this strategy seems to work well for the opossum. Called "playing possum," the animal will flop down on its side, go limp and begin to drool. Its eyes will then become glassy and motionless, and its tongue may roll out of its mouth, giving the overall effect of a dead animal. However, the opossum is not playing. This behavior is entirely automatic (the animal has no control over this), and it is presumed to have evolved to make predators lose interest in the animal, believing it to be already dead.
Roses have long been revered for their beauty and fragrance. While unpleasant to gardeners, thorns/prickles serve a practical purpose; as a protective adaptation, they keep animals at a distance, so they do not chew on stems, branches, or leaves.
It's a rare plant that can live in salty soil without wilting. Salt grasses have adapted to living near saltwater, in fact these interesting grasses can be found all around the Great Salt Lake. Salt grass takes the salt in, then sweats it out, leaving crystals on its blades for the rain to wash away.
Not only does this unusual plant emit a foul, fecal smell, but it also generates heat to attract insects. As they climb around on the flower, the insects slide down into its interior and are kept from escaping by little hairs. Eventually the hairs relax, and the insects are able to escape past the male flowers, which cover them in pollen. When the gullible insects fall again into other flower, their pollen-covered bodies rub against the female flowers at the bottom of the structure—pollinating them.
These stunning orchids are an example of reproductive adaptation; the plants' flowers mimic the appearance, scent, and often even the fuzzy texture of a female bee. Lured by the scent of the orchid, male bees are tricked into pollinating these deceptive plants.
Whale Humpback Migration https://aacps.discoveryeducation.com/learn/videos/0f219932-92f0-4ab6-8dce-2077675f79c9?hasLocalHost=false Adaptations of Plants in Deserts https://app.discoveryeducation.com/learn/videos/dfaf5e5e-14c1-4d97-b37d-33183b017b0e/?embed=false&embed_origin=false Adaptations of Different Species Activity https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P7SFEEqe_47SuP6h4plmsObXMq2Yo6OO/edit#
Filled to Capacity Limiting Factors Populations of organisms cannot grow without stopping, because the environment contains limited amounts of food, water, space, shelter, and other resources. Limiting factors are things that prevent a population of organisms from growing any larger than it is currently. For example, 10 rabbits may live in a habitat that has enough water, cover and space to support 20 rabbits, but if there is only enough food for 10 rabbits, the population will not grow any larger. In this example, food is the limiting factor. Food is not the only factor that may limit population growth. For example, there may be enough food to support a thousand birds in a certain area, but only suitable nesting sites for one hundred. Or perhaps there is plenty of food, water, cover and space to support a larger population of chipmunks in an area, but predators are the limiting factor.
Carrying Capacity Limiting factors are very closely tied to carrying capacity. Carrying capacity is the largest population that an environment can support at any given time. Many kinds of animals can increase in numbers very quickly, and may temporarily exceed the carrying capacity of their habitat. This results in stress, starvation, disease, predation and parasites, poor reproductive success and damage to the habitat. A limiting factor will cause a population to die back. The population will return to a size that the environment can support. For example, multiplying muskrats can very quickly eat all the vegetation in a marsh. With the vegetation gone, food becomes the limiting factor and the muskrats may starve or move to another area. The marsh now has a reduced carrying capacity for muskrats until the vegetation grows back again.
Answer the following questions after reading the text selection “Filled to Capacity” Limiting Factors 1. A population of animal ( can / cannot ) grow without stopping. 2. Limiting factors are 3. In addition to food, water, space, and shelter, what is another example of a limiting factor?
Carrying Capacity 4. Carrying capacity is 5. Can the carrying capacity change for a given area over time? Explain your answer using evidence from the text.
After Reading Imagine a population of deer in a forest. 6. If there is enough food for 30 deer, enough water for 20 deer, and enough shelter for 40 deer, what is the carrying capacity for deer in the forest? 7. What is the limiting factor in this example? 8. What would happen to the deer population if farmers increased the food in the forest? 9. What if there was very little rain and the amount of water decreased?
(Living) Drag and Drop into the correct category. (Non-living) Biotic Abiotic Climate Seal Hawks Air Oxygen Temperature Zooplankton Earthworms Sunlight Soil Leopard Fish Geology Water Phytoplankton Bacteria Pollution Fungi
