Unit 1: Seventh Grade

You might say that it has long hind legs, bulging eyes and croaks. But what color skin? Once you start to think about frogs, you realize that frogs differ in many ways. Why?

A characteristic that helps an organism survive and reproduce in its environment is called an adaptation. May be physical, like the long neck of a giraffe Or behavioral to help an organism find food, protect itself or reproduce.

Organisms have evolved their adaptations. This means that a long period of slow change resulted in the adaptations. For example, the snow leopard’s spots did not happen overnight. It took many generations of snow leopards physically adapting to their environment for the spot patterns to evolve.

Physical adaptations is a structural modification made to the organism Something the organism has. Webbed feet, sharp claws, whiskers, sharp teeth, large beaks, wings for flying

Many interactions between species consist of one organism catching and eating another one. This relationship is called predator/prey To survive, predators must be able to catch their prey Prey have their own methods for avoiding capture.

Predators Speed Camouflage to enable an ambush Venom to paralyze prey Prey Speed Camouflage to blend in with environment Warning coloration Venom Mimicry

Large leaves to gather sunlight Thorns for protection Waxy leaves to conserve water Shed leaves in winter Shallow/deep root systems Showy flowers

A behavioral adaptation is something that an organism does – how it acts --- usually in response to some type of external stimulus.

Animals Burrowing Migration Swarming Make itself appear bigger Nocturnal Plants Tropisms (grow toward light) Wilting to conserve water

Choose two organisms with distinctive adaptations. Combine them to form a new organism Describe your organism’s adaptations: What are your organism’s physical adaptations? What are your organism’s behavioral adaptations? In what type of ecosystem is it adapted to live? How do your new organism’s adaptations allow it to survive and reproduce in its environment?