Adaptations enable organisms to survive in their environments. They arise through natural selection, where individuals with characteristics that aid survival reproduce and pass on those traits. There are three types of adaptations - structural, physiological, and behavioral - that relate to an organism's physical form, internal processes, and actions. Examples include thick fur coats, hibernation, and basking in the sun. Adaptations are the result of evolution over long periods as environments change.

1. Adaptations

2. Adaptations
An adaptation is a characteristic that enables an
organism to survive in an environment.
Adaptations contribute to the fitness and survival
of individuals

3. Adaptations result from natural selection
- there is variation within a population
- organisms with the characteristics that
enable their survival will survive
- those organims that survive, reproduce
to pass on these characteristics.
Remember Charles Darwin

4. Three types of adaptations
• Structural – physical characteristics
eg thick fur coats
• Physiological –the processes occuring in an
organism eg Hibernation
• Behavioural – actions of an organism
eg basking in sun

5. Frill necked lizards (Chlamydosaurus kingii) bask in
the sun until they reach an adequate core body temp,
then they will retreat into the shade.

6. The cladodes of the
she-oak (casuarinas)
have tiny little leaves
that can only be seen
with a lens. This
reduces surface area
for water retention.

7. The Australian alpine grasshopper
(Koscioscula tristis) has a blue colouring at
higher temperatures and an almost black
colour at low temperatures.

8. The leaves of the Eucalypt hang vertically to
reduce the area that is exposed to the sun in
the hottest part of the day.

9. Penguins use
countercurrent
exchange to prevent
heat loss. The warm
blood in arteries heats
the cool blood
returning to the body.

10. Problems
The environment is not static - an organisms
current characteristic may have been inherited
thousands of years ago when they existed in a
different habitat.

11. Vestigal Organs
Vestigal organs are the remnants of fully
functional structures in their ancestors
Dolphins and whales have lungs which are of no
use for living in water

12. Therefore:
• An adaptation refers to both the current state of
being adapted and to the dynamic evolutionary
process that leads to the adaptation

13. Looking at Fossils
Fossils can tell us a
lot about the history
of life on earth

14. But interpreting the
characteristics of fossils is even
more difficult
Are the bony plates
of the stegosaurus
for defence,
temperature
regulation or to
attract a mate?

15. Many adaptations are not obvious

17. Missconceptions
“An adaptation is a change in an organism that
helps it survive and reproduce in its
environment”

18. Misconception
“An adaptation is a change in an organism
produced as a response to a change in the
environment e.g phototropism”