Study guide: Habitats, Adaptation and Change
Use environment records to reason about survival without purposeful evolution claims.
Ideas to explain in your own words
- Organisms require resources. Available food, water and space can limit a population. A resource change can affect more than one species, so a simple model is a starting point.
- A trait may help in one environment and not another. Organisms do not choose inherited traits because they need them. These supplied models describe survival differences, not intent.
- A changed environment may remove resources or alter conditions. Distinguish migration, local population decrease, local persistence and lack of evidence in the supplied records.
- A proposal should connect an action to a documented need. Benefits and tradeoffs may coexist. These paper cases are not instructions to release animals or alter real habitats.
Useful vocabulary
- food limit
- not enough listed food
- camouflage
- appearance reduces visibility against background
- migration
- organisms move to another place
- restore food
- address missing feeding resources
Watch your reasoning
- Check what food limit and water limit each mean. They describe different clues.
- Check what camouflage and insulation each mean. They describe different clues.
- Check what migration and decrease each mean. They describe different clues.
A worked review example
Worked reference-card problem: a card states “not enough listed food”; a second states “not enough listed water.” The first fits food limit and the second fits water limit. The reason is the described function or change, not the order of the cards or a favorite name. If their descriptions exchange places, their category labels exchange too. Keep the supplied descriptions attached to the correct case. Worked reference-card problem: a card states “appearance reduces visibility against background”; a second states “covering reduces heat loss in this record.” The first fits camouflage and the second fits insulation. The reason is the described function or change, not the order of the cards or a favorite name. If their descriptions exchange places, their category labels exchange too. Keep the supplied descriptions attached to the correct case. Worked reference-card problem: a card states “organisms move to another place”; a second states “fewer organisms remain locally.” The first fits migration and the second fits decrease. The reason is the described function or change, not the order of the cards or a favorite name. If their descriptions exchange places, their category labels exchange too. Keep the supplied descriptions attached to the correct case. Worked reference-card problem: a card states “address missing feeding resources”; a second states “address missing protective places.” The first fits restore food and the second fits protect cover. The reason is the described function or change, not the order of the cards or a favorite name. If their descriptions exchange places, their category labels exchange too. Keep the supplied descriptions attached to the correct case.
Make a practice plan
- Use an example from Connect resources to populations. Say what happens and point to the clue that helps explain it.
- Complete Recognize trait advantages in context and correct the specific misconception in its feedback.
- Resolve a changed case from Read a changed habitat, then combine the four ideas in the transfer task.