Chapter 1: How do Living Things Survive and Change?

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LIVING THINGS

Lesson 2, p. 10 - 15

Animal Adaptations

• How is the body of the shark different from other fish?

• How did the shark get those nice, pointy teeth?

• How do these adaptations help the shark survive in its environment?

Adaptations are characteristics that help organisms survive or reproduce.

Animal Adaptations

• What are some of the physical characteristics of this Pangolin?

• How did the Pangolin get these characteristics?

• How do you think these adaptations help the Pangolin survive in its environment?

Animal Adaptations

Shark Pangolin

• What do all these photos have in common?• Which feet are most like human hands? How are they alike?• Why are Gecko’s feet ideal for climbing trees?• Why are reindeer’s feet useful in its environment?

Give it a Try

These Galapagos Finches have different physical adaptations, each species has a different beak.

Click on the link below to explore how these physical adaptations will help each finch survive in their specific environment:

Finch Game

Animal Senses

• How do senses help these animals survive?

Give it a Try

Let’s test out our knowledge of physical adaptations and animal senses to build a monster and see if it survives in its environment.

Click on the link below to get started.

Monster Game

Plant Adaptations

• What do pitcher plants do that makes them unusual?

• How does trapping insects help pitcher plants survive?

• What kind of plant part makes up the pitcher?

Review

Watch the video segment: Cave Specialists

As you watch think about:• What types of physical adaptations you observe.• How each adaptation helps an animal survive in its environment.

State part of the question in your answer.

Locate the evidence for your answer in the text.

Add your own information by summarizing the text.

Make a meaningful connection

BEHAVIORS HELP ANIMALS SURVIVE

Lesson 3, p. 16 - 23

Instinct and Learned Behaviors

• What are some examples of this animal’s behaviors?

Behavior is any way than an animal interacts with its environment.

Behavior

Instinct• A behavior that an

animal can do without ever learning how to do it.

• Instincts are always performed the same way.

Learned• Learned behaviors are

changes in an animal’s behavior that come about through experience.

Behavior

• How does the dragonfly know how to hunt other insects?• Why do insects behave mostly according to instinct, instead of learning new behaviors?

• How is the behavior of these leopards like that of the dragonfly?• Why is the leopard cub staying close to its mother?

BEHAVIORSTypes of Behaviors that Help Animals to Survive

ProtectionWhen it is threatened, this moth spreads its wings to display “eyespots” on its wings.

• Why might other animals think that the moth looks dangerous?• How does this help the moth survive?• What are other examples of how animals behave to protect themselves?

Raising Young

A female insect, fish, or frog might lay hundreds, even thousands of eggs at once. But a mother lemur usually has only one young at a time.

How does having only one young at a time help lemurs survive?

Shelter

• Why do animals need shelter?• Why can’t these animals trade shelters with each other and still survive?

Communication

Communication is any behavior that lets animals share information.

• What are some ways that animals communicate?• Is all communication made using sound?

Review

Watch video: Underwater Astonishments

As you watch, be thinking of:• Examples of physical adaptations• Examples of behavioral adaptations• Which behaviors are learned & which are instinct• Examples of communication

State part of the question in your answer.

Locate the evidence for your answer in the text.

Add your own information by summarizing the text.

Make a meaningful connection

LIFE CYCLE ADAPTATIONSLesson #4

Life CycleThe pattern of growth and development of a kind of organism.

Life Cycle AdaptationsLiving things also have life cycles that are adapted to help them survive. For example, deer do not typically give birth in the fall or winter, because a young deer would have difficulty surviving. Instead, deer have their young in the spring – that way young deer have time to develop and grow before weather conditions make survival more difficult.

Let’s look at some other examples by watching this video clip:

Planet Earth: Deserts (Impact of Water on the Desert Ecosystem)

Be looking for:• Examples of how plant life cycles are adapted to their environments• Examples of how animal life cycles are adapted to their environments

Plant Life Cycles

Wildflowers Death Valley, USA

• What causes desert plants to grow and bloom?• Why do these wildflowers live only a brief time?• What life cycle adaptations allow the wildflower to survive in this environment?

Animal Life Cycles

African LocustSahara Desert, Egypt

• What life cycle adaptations do locusts have that help them survive in a desert environment?• What would happen if locusts did not have this adaptation?

WHEN ENVIRONMENTS CHANGE

Lesson #5

Variation

Even of among animals of the same species, like a group of butterflies, there are often small differences, or variations.

Differences Among Individuals

Here is an example of variation, or differences between individuals, of a species of Peppered Moth:

• How are they alike? • How are they different?

Differences Among Individuals

Peppered moths originally lived in an environment where the white variation was able to blend in to the environment better than the dark variation. So there were a lot of white variations, and very few dark variations.

• Why did the variations that could not blend in not do very well?

Differences Among Individuals

During the Industrial Revolution, however, pollution coated the trees with black coal-dust. How do you think this changed which variation of moth would survive?

Let’s test out that hypothesis!

Peppered MothsNatural Selection in Black and White

Changes in Populations

Natural Selection

Next, let’s revisit our Galapagos

Finches and examine how

variations in beak size can have an

affect on a population:

Changes in Populations• Why was beak size and shape important to the finches?• On the Galapagos Islands, why did birds with larger, thicker beaks become more common?

State part of the question in your answer.

Locate the evidence for your answer in the text.

Add your own information by summarizing the text.

Make a meaningful connection