GCSE · Biology · AQA · Spec 8461

Adaptations

Too hot, too dry, too cold, too salty: every place makes staying alive hard. Adaptations are how organisms answer back, and plenty of them aren't body parts at all.

Sort the adaptations

Body part, behaviour, or something inside?

Each feature helps an organism survive where it lives. Pick one, then choose its column: is it part of the body, something the organism does, or something going on inside the body?

Still to sort

Structural (0)

A part of the body, inside or out, or its shape, size or colour.

Where the line is: If you could point to it on a diagram of the organism, it's structural, and that includes parts under the skin, like a layer of fat.

Behavioural (0)

Something the organism does: an action you could watch it carry out.

Where the line is: You could film it: moving, hiding, huddling, leaving. If it happens inside the body where no camera could see it, it's functional instead.

Functional (0)

A process going on inside the body, such as a chemical it makes.

Where the line is: Not a part, and not an action you could watch. It's the body at work inside, like kidneys making urine or blood carrying a chemical.

7 of 7 still to sort.

Every one of these features helps an organism survive where it normally lives. That's what makes each one an adaptation, whichever column it goes in.

Watch out: Don't stop at body parts. Hiding from the heat is an adaptation. So is a kidney that saves water. You just can't see those in a photo.

Build the explanation

?

Reason it through

How does thick fur and a layer of fat help an Arctic mammal survive?

Link 1 of 4

First link · your turn

Start with the place, not the animal. What is it like where this mammal lives?

2
Locked — reveal the link above first
3
Locked — reveal the link above first
4
Locked — reveal the link above first

Life at the extremes

Could anything live there?

Deserts and the Arctic are tough. Now picture somewhere far more extreme: very high temperature, very high pressure, or a very high concentration of salt.

Which is closest to what you think about places like that?
How sure are you?

Your turn

An animal you haven't met

A hare lives in a northern forest. For months each winter the ground is covered in deep, soft snow. Foxes and birds of prey hunt the hare. The hare has these features: in winter its fur turns white; its back feet are very large and wide; its eyes are on the sides of its head.

Use the information to suggest how each of the hare's three features helps it survive where it lives. [3 marks]

0 words · your answer stays on this page and is not sent anywhere.

WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED

A quick recap of today's lesson.

Start with what a place makes hard. Then find the feature that answers it.

What you need to know

  • Adaptations are features that help an organism survive in the conditions where it normally lives.
  • Adaptations can be structural (a part of the body), behavioural (something the organism does) or functional (a process inside the body).
  • To explain an adaptation, link the feature to a condition and say how it helps the organism survive.
  • Extremophiles live in very extreme conditions, such as high temperature, pressure or salt concentration. Bacteria in deep-sea vents are extremophiles.

The big picture

Organisms have features called adaptations that help them survive in the conditions where they normally live. An adaptation can be structural (a part of the body), behavioural (something the organism does) or functional (a process inside the body). To explain an adaptation, link the feature to the condition it helps with and say how it helps the organism survive. Some organisms, called extremophiles, live in very extreme conditions, such as the bacteria living in deep-sea vents.

Key points

1Start from the condition: ask what the place makes hard, then look for the feature that answers it.
2Behavioural means you could watch it happen. Functional means it happens inside the body.
3A part under the skin, like a fat layer, is still structural. Functional is about processes, not parts.
4Extreme doesn't mean empty: organisms such as deep-sea vent bacteria are adapted to those conditions.

Worked example

Problem

A small bird lives in woodland where winter nights are well below freezing. On cold nights it fluffs up its feathers. Is this a structural, behavioural or functional adaptation? Explain how it helps the bird survive.

⚠ Watch out

Listing features without linking them. 'It has big ears, spines and thick fur' describes an organism but explains nothing. For each feature, say which condition it helps with and how it helps the organism survive.

🧠

Memory hook

Built, Behaves, Body-works. Structural is how it's BUILT, behavioural is how it BEHAVES, and functional is how its BODY WORKS inside.

✓

Check yourself

Without looking back: name the three types of adaptation and give an example of each, then say what an extremophile is and give one example.

Flashcards

(8)
What is an adaptation?
A feature that helps an organism survive in the conditions where it normally lives.
What is a structural adaptation?
A part of the body, or its shape, size or colour. For example, a desert plant's leaves are narrow spines rather than broad and flat.
What is a behavioural adaptation?
Something the organism does. For example, a bird migrating to a warmer region for the winter.
What is a functional adaptation?
A process inside the body. For example, a desert mammal's kidneys producing small amounts of very concentrated urine.
Behavioural or functional: how can you tell them apart?
If you could watch the organism do it, it's behavioural. If it happens inside the body, it's functional.
What four links make a full explanation of an adaptation?
The condition, the problem it causes, the feature, and how the feature helps the organism survive.
What is an extremophile? Give an example.
An organism that lives in very extreme conditions, such as high temperature, pressure or salt concentration. Bacteria in deep-sea vents are extremophiles.
You're given information about an organism you've never studied. Where do you start?
With the conditions. Find what the place makes hard, then match each feature to the problem it solves.

Tap any card to flip it, or use Study as deck to go through them one at a time. In the full lesson these run as a spaced-repetition deck — you rate each card Hard, Good or Easy and the tricky ones keep coming back until they stick.

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