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Science Quiz - Biology - Adaptation (AQA) (Questions)

Adaptation explains how organisms survive in deserts, oceans and icy regions. In GCSE Biology you explore structural, behavioural and functional adaptations that improve survival and reproduction.

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Fascinating Fact:

Fish like tuna use countercurrent flow at gills to maximise oxygen uptake.

In GCSE Biology (AQA), you learn how organisms adapt to their environments. You compare structural, behavioural and functional adaptations and explain how these features improve survival in different habitats.

Key Terms

  • Adaptation: A feature of a plant or animal that makes it better suited to its environment and helps it survive and reproduce.
  • Structural adaptation: A physical feature of the body, such as thick fur, long roots or streamlined shape, that improves survival.
  • Behavioural adaptation: A way an organism acts, such as migrating, hunting at night or basking in the sun, that helps it cope with its environment.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

What does adaptation mean in GCSE Biology?

In GCSE Biology, adaptation means that an organism has features that help it survive and reproduce in its environment, such as insulation in the cold or large ears in hot climates.

What is the difference between structural and behavioural adaptations?

Structural adaptations are physical features of the body, like fur thickness or root depth. Behavioural adaptations are actions or patterns, such as migration, hibernation or hunting at night.

Why are adaptations important for survival in extreme environments?

Adaptations allow organisms to cope with extreme conditions, for example conserving water in deserts or keeping warm in polar regions, so they can feed, avoid predators and reproduce successfully.

Try These Related Quizzes

1. An adaptation is:
[ ] A characteristic that is useful to an organism
[ ] A competition between two organisms
[ ] Only relevant to plants
[ ] Only relevant to animals
2. Which of the following adaptations help to make sharks such good predators?
[ ] Rough skin
[ ] Streamlined body
[ ] Poor sense of smell
[ ] All of the above
3. Plants compete for ...
[ ] only water and nutrients
[ ] water, nutrients, space to grow and light
[ ] only water and light
[ ] only space to grow and light
4. For which of the following do animals not compete?
[ ] Mates
[ ] Territory
[ ] Food
[ ] Light
5. Organisms that are tolerant of high levels of salt, high temperatures or high pressures are called what?
[ ] Extremophiles
[ ] Extremophobes
[ ] Extremocytes
[ ] Extremophages
6. The jackrabbit is an animal that lives in the desert. One of its adaptations is that it has much larger ears than rabbits living in Britain. Which of the following is the least likely to be true?
[ ] Bigger ears can help it to hear predators coming
[ ] Hot air muffles sound so it needs bigger ears to hear
[ ] It can lose heat from its ears instead of sweating
[ ] Big ears are more attractive during the mating season
7. What is the most likely reason from the answers below to explain why roses have thorns?
[ ] The thorns grip on walls to keep the rose plants from falling over
[ ] The thorns are there to stop animals from eating the rose plant
[ ] They grow thorns because they help form the flowers
[ ] Thorns attract insects for pollination
8. Why do polar bears have white fur?
[ ] To keep them warm when they lie on the ice
[ ] To absorb infra-red radiation from the Sun
[ ] To protect them from predators
[ ] It is camoflage to stop their prey spotting them
9. Some tribes of the Amazon rainforest obtain a poison for their hunting arrows from certain brightly coloured frogs. Why are these frogs brightly coloured?
[ ] To keep them cool
[ ] It makes their skin completely waterproof
[ ] The poison in the frogs makes their skin turn brightly coloured
[ ] For protection
10. The Sahel is the area at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert in Africa. As the human population in the Sahel has increased they have created more farmland for growing crops. The populations of the various wild animals has ...
[ ] increased because there is more food for them to eat
[ ] decreased because their normal food and habitat has been replaced by farmers' crops
[ ] increased because the farmers children like to feed the wild animals
[ ] decreased because they don't like farmers

You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - Adaptations, interdependence and competition - AQA

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Science Quiz - Biology - Adaptation (AQA) (Answers)
1. An adaptation is:
[x] A characteristic that is useful to an organism
[ ] A competition between two organisms
[ ] Only relevant to plants
[ ] Only relevant to animals
Adaptations are either a physical feature or a type of behaviour that helps a plant or animal compete and survive better in its environment
2. Which of the following adaptations help to make sharks such good predators?
[ ] Rough skin
[x] Streamlined body
[ ] Poor sense of smell
[ ] All of the above
A shark is perfectly adapted to a life as a predator, its fins are arranged to enable it to twist and turn quickly and accurately to chase prey. The tail is a powerful and efficient crescent shape that propels its smooth skinned, streamlined body through water at speed
3. Plants compete for ...
[ ] only water and nutrients
[x] water, nutrients, space to grow and light
[ ] only water and light
[ ] only space to grow and light
Plants that are successful at living in shady areas often have leaves that contain more chlorophyll than other plants
4. For which of the following do animals not compete?
[ ] Mates
[ ] Territory
[ ] Food
[x] Light
Animals do not need to compete for light because they don't photosynthesise
5. Organisms that are tolerant of high levels of salt, high temperatures or high pressures are called what?
[x] Extremophiles
[ ] Extremophobes
[ ] Extremocytes
[ ] Extremophages
Extremophiles are often, but not always, simple single celled organisms
6. The jackrabbit is an animal that lives in the desert. One of its adaptations is that it has much larger ears than rabbits living in Britain. Which of the following is the least likely to be true?
[ ] Bigger ears can help it to hear predators coming
[x] Hot air muffles sound so it needs bigger ears to hear
[ ] It can lose heat from its ears instead of sweating
[ ] Big ears are more attractive during the mating season
The main reason for this creature's large ears is that it uses its ears to cool down - when it finds any shade, the blood vessels of its ears automatically widen. This is an adaptation that increases the surface area from which heat can be lost. This is better than sweating in the desert where water is in short supply. There are other desert living animals with the same adaptation
7. What is the most likely reason from the answers below to explain why roses have thorns?
[ ] The thorns grip on walls to keep the rose plants from falling over
[x] The thorns are there to stop animals from eating the rose plant
[ ] They grow thorns because they help form the flowers
[ ] Thorns attract insects for pollination
Many plants have developed the adaptation of thorns for defence
8. Why do polar bears have white fur?
[ ] To keep them warm when they lie on the ice
[ ] To absorb infra-red radiation from the Sun
[ ] To protect them from predators
[x] It is camoflage to stop their prey spotting them
Polar bears are the top predator in the Arctic and the adaptation of white fur helps them to hunt more efficiently. They blend in better with the ice and snow and are able to get closer to their prey before making their attack
9. Some tribes of the Amazon rainforest obtain a poison for their hunting arrows from certain brightly coloured frogs. Why are these frogs brightly coloured?
[ ] To keep them cool
[ ] It makes their skin completely waterproof
[ ] The poison in the frogs makes their skin turn brightly coloured
[x] For protection
These are the 'poison dart frogs'. They have evolved brightly coloured skin to advertise that they are poisonous so that they won't be eaten. This adaptation makes them look as if they are not food
10. The Sahel is the area at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert in Africa. As the human population in the Sahel has increased they have created more farmland for growing crops. The populations of the various wild animals has ...
[ ] increased because there is more food for them to eat
[x] decreased because their normal food and habitat has been replaced by farmers' crops
[ ] increased because the farmers children like to feed the wild animals
[ ] decreased because they don't like farmers
By removing their natural food and destroying the wild animals' habitat, the farmers create more competition in the populations of wild animals. There isn't enough food to go round so some animals starve or migrate, whilst others are killed in fights over food
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