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Biology - Adaptation
Poison dart frogs advertise the fact that they are poisonous with their brightly colored skin.

Biology - Adaptation

This Biology quiz is called 'Biology - Adaptation' and it has been written by teachers to help you if you are studying the subject at high school. Playing educational quizzes is a user-friendly way to learn if you are in the 9th or 10th grade - aged 14 to 16.

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Interdependence and adaptation is one of the subjects covered within science in high school. This quiz looks at the adaptation of different organisms to their environment. It is a key part of biology and an understanding of it will help students to comprehend the theory of evolution.

Adaptation can mean many things but in biology it means a characteristic that makes an organism suited to its environment. This helps them to compete for the resources they need for survival. You have probably heard the expression "survival of the fittest". This sums up one of the basic facts of biology - the plants and animals that are better adapted can compete more effectively and will be the most successful.

A plant of a certain species with long roots will be able to survive dry conditions better than one with shorter roots as it will be able to get water for longer. That's called variation. The shorter rooted plant may die but the other will live and be able to reproduce. Its offspring will have the longer roots so they will be able to survive as well. When the next drought happens, the new generation of plants will be suited to their environment - they will have adapted. The adaptation (also called an adaptive trait or adaptive characteristic) is root length.

Adaptations can enable organisms to live in extreme conditions, a good example of this being the emperor penguin. This lives in the Antarctic and breeds in temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees. They have many adaptations that enable them to do this - for a start, they are large birds. This means that they have a low surface area to volume ratio. Since heat is lost from the surface of an animal, in cold areas, the smaller this ratio is the better as it means that less heat will be lost than if they were smaller. They have a layer of fat just under the skin which keeps their body heat in; fine feathers that trap warm air next to their body; feathers that shed water very easily when the come out of the sea and some pretty neat tricks with the muscles and tendons of their wings and feet! But their key adaptation is behavioral. They huddle together for warmth. An individual penguin could not survive, in a large group their body heat is shared - you may even have done an experiment using hot water and test tubes to investigate this!

1.
Plants compete for ...
only water and nutrients
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
2.
Some tribes of the Amazon rainforest obtain a poison for their hunting arrows from certain brightly colored frogs. Why are these frogs brightly colored?
To keep them cool
It makes their skin completely waterproof
The poison in the frogs makes their skin turn brightly colored
For protection
These are the 'poison dart frogs'. They have evolved brightly colored 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
3.
An adaptation is:
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 behavior that helps a plant or animal compete and survive better in its environment
4.
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
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
5.
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
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
6.
Organisms that are tolerant of high levels of salt, high temperatures or high pressures are called what?
Extremophiles
Extremophobes
Extremocytes
Extremophages
Extremophiles are often, but not always, simple single celled organisms
7.
Which of the following adaptations help to make sharks such good predators?
Rough skin
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
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
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.
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
Many plants have developed the adaptation of thorns for defense
10.
For which of the following do animals not compete?
Mates
Territory
Food
Light
Animals do not need to compete for light because they don't photosynthesise
Author:  Kev Woodward

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