Habitats (Adaption to Environment) – IB Topic B4.1

Essential Idea(s): Anatomical structures in living organisms are specifically adapted to accommodate the ecosystems/environments in which an organism lives.

Unit Length: 3 Lessons (No AHL for this unit)

  Guiding Questions

◊ How are the adaptations and habitats of species related?

◊ What causes the similarities between ecosystems within a terrestrial biome?

Materials:

Self-Teaching Slides Quizlet Vocab Set
Teaching Slides Notes Template

 

IB Statement(s) and Objective(s)

 

B4.1.1: Habitat as the place in which a community, species, population or organism lives

  • Define habitat
  • Distinguish between physical and geographical locations
  • List characteristics that can be used to describe a habitat 

 

B4.1.2: Adaptations of organisms to the abiotic environment of their habitat

  • Define adaptation
  • Outline the different types of adaptations
  • State examples of the following types of adaptation: structural, behavioral, physiological, biochemical, developmental
  • Outline the adaptations of Marram grass to live in sand dune environments
  • Outline the adaptations of a mangrove tree that lives in a coastal intertidal zone 

 

B4.1.3: Abiotic variables affecting species distribution

  • Define abiotic
  • Define ecosystem
  • List abiotic variables that affect plant species distribution

 

B4.1.4: Range of tolerance of a limiting factor

  • Define “range of tolerance”
  • Describe a graph that illustrates the range of tolerance of an organism to an abiotic variable
  • Skill: Use of a transect to correlate the distribution of plant or animal species with an abiotic variable
  • Define quadrats and transects
  • Describe and interpret a kite graph

 

B4.1.5: Conditions required for coral reef formation

  • List abiotic conditions required for the formation of coral reefs
  • Discuss the relationship between the distribution of coral reefs and the coral’s range of tolerance to abiotic variables

 

B4.1.6: Abiotic factors as the determinants of terrestrial biome distribution

  • Define biome
  • State the two abiotic factors that are the principal determinants of biome distribution
  • Interpret a graph depicting the relationship between temperature, rainfall and most likely biome

 

B4.1.7: Biomes as groups of ecosystems with similar communities due to similar abiotic conditions and convergent evolution

  • Outline climate conditions that characterize: tropical rainforest, temperate forest, taiga, grassland, tundra and hot desert biomes
  • Describe an example of convergent evolution in two widely separated ecosystems of the same biome

 

B4.1.8: Adaptations to life in hot deserts and tropical rainforest

  • Outline the adaptations of an animal living in a hot desert
  • Outline the adaptations of a plant living in a hot desert
  • Outline the adaptations of an animal living in a tropical rainforest
  • Outline the adaptations of a plant living in a tropical rainforest

Activities: ⓟ = podcast / ⍰ = inquiry 5 / ⓦ = Write it /  Ӕ = The academy  / Ⓡ = Read it

Ⓛ: Make Yeast Fight to the Finish (🙋/👫 max 2)

In this experiment, you’ll give a population of yeast a small amount of food and place them in a closed environment. Organic materials will not enter or leave the environment. You’ll see how time affects the population of yeast – which you can monitor by measuring the turbidity, (or cloudiness) of the medium that contains the yeast.

As an alternative, consider this data-based yeast experiment (with results already provided)

 

Ⓛ (Analyzing Research): How Wolves Change Rivers, and Fish Change Bird Populations (🙋/👫 max 2)

Healthy ecosystems often have hidden relationships that biologists work hard to uncover. Start off by watching this video showing how they reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park started a cascade of effects that ended up changing the surrounding rivers. Then follow-up by reading this real-life investigation. It proposes a simple question: could the health of bird populations be heavily dependent on the health of salmon populations (even for birds that don’t eat salmon)? After reading the research article, discuss:

  • How is it that salmon could affect songbird populations, even when the 2 species don’t directly interact?
  • Comment on the methodology of they salmon/bird investigation – what sort of limitations were there?
  • What other hidden influences or relationships might there be in this kind of ecosystem? 

 

Ⓛ (Virtual Lab): The Pentadactyl Limb (🙋/👫 max 2)

Explore the skeletal archives of the Smithsonian’s Musuem of Natural History to explore the adaptations of the pentadactyl limb to various environments. Follow the directions on this slide show, then submit the answers on this form.

 

Extras:

 

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