Adaptations

Adaptations

Organisms have features called adaptations that enable them to survive in the conditions in which they normally live.
- Structural adaptations are physical features (e.g. tigers have sharp teeth to allow them to kill their prey).
- Behavioural adaptations are behaviours that benefit an organism (a courtship display to attract a mate).
- Functional adaptations are physiological processes organisms complete to aid survival (e.g. producing venom to deter predators from killing them).
Adaptations allow organisms to outcompete others and provide them with an evolutionary advantage.
Organisms called extremophiles live in environments that are very extreme.
- Extreme conditions include extremely hot or cold temperatures, high pressure or salt concentration, and highly acidic or alkaline environments.
- For example, bacteria living in deep-sea hydrothermal vents are extremophiles evolved to feed on the sulfur compounds released by the vents, toxic to almost all other life.

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