ADAPTATIONS

Different environments:
o The climate, habitats, and adaptations of different places are different.
o The type of animals and the vegetation vary from place to place depending on
their altitude, climate, and type of soil.
Rainforests:
o Orang utan’s live in rainforests, there’s not much food on the ground, so they
can climb trees and eat a lot of leaves, fruits and seeds.
o It has long arms to hold onto trees, it’s face faces the front to judge distances
accurately.
o As rainforests have a lot of trees even frogs need to learn to live outside the
water, there are flying frogs in rainforests.
o It has sucker like toes and fingers to have grip to climb the tree.
o And the webs between its toes help in gliding from one tree to another.
Desert:
o The water holding frogs in Australia, spend most of their time underground,
they grow fast when it rains, they fill their bladders with water and bury
themselves in the mud.
o They stay trapped for a year or more, they come out when it starts raining
again, once they pop out, they feed and breed; they repeat the whole process
again.
o The native Australians used to dig them, squeeze them and drink water.
o Camels and oryx have adapted to the desert life.
o The features of camels are:
* Wide feet- to not sink into the sand.
* Leathery kneepads- to protect the knees.
* Leathery mouth- to eat thorny food.
* Long eyelashes- to protect the eyes from the harsh wings and sand.
* Huge hump- to store water for energy.
* Silt like nostrils- to prevent sand going inside the nose.
o The features of oryx’s are:
* Wide feet- to not sink into the sand.
* Concentrated urine and dry faeces.
* Large body- so it’ll heat up slowly.
* It doesn’t sweat.
* It moves in the night to feed.
Antarctic:
o The Antarctic is dark for 4 months a year, and it’s mostly covered in snow.
o There are very few plants; there are microscopic plants called plankton.
o Small shrimp like animals filter plankton from the water.
o The most populous animal on earth is krill.
o First the krill eats plankton and then the krills are eaten up by fish, penguins,
and seals and whales.
Definitions:
o Herbivores- eat only plants; they have sharp senses and they can run fast.
o Carnivores- eat both plants and animals.
o Omnivores- eat only animals.
o Predators- attack on their prey; lions are the main predators.
o Prey- it’s eaten up by its predator; the largest prey is a giraffe.
o Scavengers- eat only dead organisms.
o Decomposers- they decompose the scavengers once they die.
o Biomass- the material for a living thing to exist.
o Producers- they make their own food.
o Consumers- they consume plants, for their own living.
o Food webs- they show the food chain.
Pollution:
o Insecticides- farmers use this to avoid invasive species eat their crops; they kill
useful insects like bees.
o Fertilisers- they increase the growth of the crops by supplying minerals; they
run into rivers which destroy the fish.
o Herbicides- they stop weeds growing on the plants; they stop wild plants from
growing.
o When these chemicals are overused it causes pollution.
o When any specie is gone it spoils the food chain.
o Invasive species- they like maize and cassava they feed onto them and spoil the
crops. Insecticides are used to kill them.
Growing more producers;
o We could use more micro organisms to make fuels, and more animal feeds, so
that we can have more land left to grow food.
o We can build high rise greenhouses in city centres; it can grow more crops in
lesser space.
o Plants grow faster indoors as there’s no bad weather or pests; we can provide
artificial carbon dioxide and light.
The ozone layer:
The ozone layer acts as a blanket to the earth and protects the earth from harmful
Ultra violet rays which can cause:
o Skin cancer
o Premature aging and skin damage.
o Cataracts and eye damage.
o Immune system suppression.
o ultraviolet rays may lead to minimal growth, flowering and photosynthesis in
plants
o Planktons are greatly affected by the exposure to harmful ultraviolet rays.
Ozone layer depletion is the gradual thinning of the earth’s ozone layer in the upper
atmosphere caused due to release of chemical compounds containing gaseous
bromine or chlorine from industries or other human activities.
Depletion of ozone layer is caused by:
o Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC)
o Greenhouse gases

Depletion of ozone layer can be prevented by:

o Afforestation
o Using air purifiers in industries
o Reducing or completely refusing the usage of CFCs by:
* Replacing air conditioners with fans.
* Refusing perfumes and products that emit CFCs.
o Awareness programmes.
o Prohibiting the Use of Nitrous Oxide
o Minimising the Use of Vehicles.
o Using Eco-friendly Products.
Acid rains:
o Fuels contain small amounts of sulphur.
o When theses are burnt an acidic gas is released into the air; it dissolves in the
rainwater to cause acid rains.
o It damages monuments/ buildings, plants and vegetation, and small insects.
o The ways to reduce the risk of acid rains are:
* Take sulphur out of the fuel before it’s burnt.
* Neutralise the acidic gasses before they’re released.
* Neutralise the lakes and soil once they’re damaged.
Carbon dioxide:
o Plants take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and human exhale
carbon dioxide when we respire.
o When oil, coal and gas is burnt it produces more carbon dioxide than
plants can use; deforestation makes the problem worse.
o The more carbon dioxide the hotter the world will become.
o Carbon dioxide works like the glass in greenhouses.
Preventing extinction:
o Conservation- the process to save animals from extinction.
o Wildlife sanctuaries- these are special areas, where the animals can be
protected.
o Criminals shoot rhinos so they can saw of their tusks and sell them; to
conserve the rhinos conservationists shift rhinos to wildlife sanctuaries.
o It takes a lot of land to support large predators like Bengal tigers. They
need large forests to find their prey.
o To save tigers conservationists need to save their habitat.
Captive breeding:
o This is to save the endangered species, when there are only few animals
left of a particular specie captive breeding is the only way to save them.
o Scientists started to breed oryx from zoos. Once the process was done,
the oryx were sent to their own homes and it was pretty successful.
OBTAINING ENERGY
Fossil fuels:
o It produces electricity, it runs vehicles and planes.
o These fuels are developed from fossils.
o They are present in limited amount.
o They are non-renewable sources of energy.
o These fuels cause pollution, as they release sulphuric and nitrogenous
oxides which causes acid rain.
o This increases global warming.
Solar energy:
o Its energy obtained from the sun via solar panels and solar cells.
Biofuels:
o These are fuels made from plants; decomposing animal manure gives
methane gas which is a useful fuel for cooking.
Geothermal Energy:
o This energy is made from the hot rocks present inside the earth.
o It doesn’t cause any pollution
o It’s economical, but it’s not available everywhere.
Wind Energy:
o Unequal heating of the water bodies and the landmasses generates
air movement and causes the wind to blow.
o It’s used to generate electricity.
Hydroelectricity:
o Dams control the flow of water to generate electricity.