This document discusses populations and adaptations. It explains that a population is the number of a species living in a particular area, and factors like competition, predation, migration, disease, and natural disasters can change populations. Adaptation describes how plants and animals survive in different environments. Well-adapted organisms are better at coping with weather extremes, competing for food, escaping predators, and reproducing. Examples are given of adaptations in Arctic and desert environments, including thick fur, fat, and camouflage in polar bears and water storage and large feet in camels.

1. POPULATIONS

2. Population size
• A population is the number of
a species living in a particular
area

3. What factors could change a
population?
• Competition
• Predation
• Migration
• Disease
• Natural
disasters
• War
• For food, water and space
• Predators will eat prey and reduce the
population (including the number of
offspring)
• Members of the population may leave
the area
• A disease could kill some of the
population
• Drought, fire, floods, volcanic eruptions
etc could alter the habitat and affect the
population
• Wars can result in the death of many
members of a population

4. What else can affect the numbers
and the distribution of a population?
• How well are individuals
adapted?
• This will affect their
survival in a habitat.
• What else lives there?
This may mean
competition for food.
• There may be
predators.

6. What is adaptation?
• Adaptation describes how a plant
of animal is able to survive in
various environments
• Well adapted organisms can cope
with the different aspects of
their environment, for example,
the temperature

7. It is always a struggle for plants
and animals to survive
ANIMALS STRUGGLE :
• For food
• For water
• For protection
against weather
• Against being eaten
by predators
• Against disease
• Against accidents
PLANTS STRUGGLE:
• For water
• For light
• For minerals in the
soil
• Against weather
• Against disease
• Against being eaten

8. How does adaptation help
organisms?
• Well adapted organisms are better at
coping with extremes of weather
• They are better at competing for
food
• They are better at escaping from
predators
• They are more likely to survive in
their habitat and produce offspring

9. An arctic habitat
• This sort of
habitat can have
extremely low
temperatures
• The ground is
covered with
white snow for
most of the year

10. How are animals adapted
to survive in the Arctic?
• Animals like polar
bears will have a
thick insulating coat
• They usually have a
large amount of body
fat
• They have a large
body size to surface
area ratio
• They have a

11. How do these adaptations
help?
 A thick fur
coat
 Large body size
to surface area
ratio
 A large amount
of body fat
 Camouflage
 Traps heat to keep
warm
 Reduces heat loss by
radiation
 Acts as a food store
and to keep warm
 White fur is good

12. A desert environment
• A desert can have
very little rainfall
• There is a lot of
sunshine during the
day
• There is very little
shade
• The temperatures
can get very hot
• At night it can
become very cold

13. How is a camel adapted to
survive in the desert?
• Camels can store large
amounts of water in
the fat in their humps
• They have feet with a
large surface area to
allow them to walk on
sand
• They also have long
eye-lashes to stop
sand blowing into their
eyes

14. How do reptiles survive in the
desert?
• Most reptiles will find some
shade under a rock during
the hottest part of the day
• When walking on hot sand a
lizard will try to touch the
ground with only a small
area
• This lizard keeps swopping
feet, and only stands on
two feet at a time
• This snake keeps a loop of
itself off the ground as it
moves across the sand

15. How do plants survive the
desert?
• A cactus has a long tap
root to reach water
deep under the ground
• It has a thick, fleshy
stem to store water
• It has needle-shaped
leaves to prevent water
loss through the
stomata
• The needles help to
stop animals from
eating it

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