Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
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ScienceVariation, adaptation and survival30 min★★★ difficulty

Adaptation, competition and extinction

Being well adapted is never permanent. It means suited to conditions as they are now — and conditions move.

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand changes in the environment that may leave individuals within a species, and some entire species, less well adapted to compete successfully and reproduce, which in turn may lead to extinction

Key learning points

  • • Adaptation is measured by reproduction
  • • Competition sets the standard
  • • When conditions shift
  • • Specialists, generalists and extinction

This lesson at a glance

  • 30 minutes
  • 19 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

changesenvironmentindividualswithinspecies

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 19 · Discover5%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 19

Watch first

Adaptation, competition and extinction

An English teaching video on this topic from The Science Break. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand changes in the environment that may leave individuals within a species, and some entire species, less well adapted to compete successfully and reproduce, which in turn may lead to extinction

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 19

Before we start

What you already know

You should already know that individuals within a species vary, and that some variation is inherited.

3

Key words

Part 3 of 19

Key words

Words you'll need today

Adaptation
A feature that helps an organism survive and reproduce in its habitat.
Competition
Two organisms needing the same limited resource.
Specialist
A species adapted narrowly to particular conditions.
Generalist
A species able to live in a wide range of conditions.
Extinction
The loss of every individual of a species.
4

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 19

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Adapted to now, not forever

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 19

Learn

Adaptation is measured by reproduction

An adaptation is not simply an impressive feature; it is one that raises the chance of surviving long enough to reproduce. Thick fur, wide paws and a long tail suit a snow leopard to cold, steep ground. In lowland forest the same features would be a burden.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 19

Learn

Competition sets the standard

Resources are limited, so individuals compete for food, water, territory and mates. The variation between individuals decides who does better. Over generations, characteristics that help become more common in the population — the environment does the choosing.

7

Quick check

Part 7 of 19

Quick check

An adaptation is judged useful if it

8

Quick check

Part 8 of 19

Quick check

Competition happens when organisms need

9

Reset break

Part 9 of 19

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 19

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Why specialists fall first

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 19

Learn

When conditions shift

Warming mountains push treelines upwards and shrink the open, high ground snow leopards hunt across. Prey moves, competitors arrive, and features that once fitted now fit less well. Individuals that cannot compete leave fewer offspring, and population numbers fall.

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 19

Learn

Specialists, generalists and extinction

Generalists such as red foxes cope with change and even move into cities. Specialists such as pandas and koalas depend on narrow diets and habitats, so the same change hits them harder. Extinction is the end of that process, and it is faster when populations are already small and fragmented.

13

Quick check

Part 13 of 19

Quick check

Why do specialists face greater extinction risk than generalists?

14

Quick check

Part 14 of 19

Quick check

A rising treeline reduces snow leopard habitat because it

15

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 19

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • Animals do not choose to adapt during their lifetime; populations change across generations.
  • Well adapted means suited to current conditions, not permanently superior.
  • Extinction is not always caused by one dramatic event — slow habitat loss is the usual cause.
16

Challenge round

Part 16 of 19

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

17

Challenge round

Part 17 of 19

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

Resources are limited, so ____ compete for food, water, territory and mates.

Over generations, characteristics that help become more common in the population — the ____ does the choosing.

18

Mastery quiz

Part 18 of 19

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Adaptation, competition and extinction

6 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. Extinction means

  2. 2. Which is a generalist?

  3. 3. Fragmented populations are more at risk because

  4. 4. Adaptation happens over

  5. 5. Thick fur and wide paws would be a disadvantage in

  6. 6. The most common cause of modern extinctions is

19

Lesson round-up

Part 19 of 19

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Why the school greenhouse failed

A science club grew tomato plants in the school greenhouse. In June the plants grew well: leaves were dark green and the fruit set quickly. In July the club went away for two weeks and left the greenhouse door shut. When they came back, the leaves were curled and pale and most of the fruit had dropped.

The club had a data logger inside. It showed the temperature reached 46 °C on several afternoons and the soil moisture fell close to zero. The club knew photosynthesis needs light, water and carbon dioxide, and that enzymes in a plant work best in a narrow range of temperature. Above that range the enzymes stop working properly.

The club repeated the summer with the door propped open and a water bottle drip on each pot. Temperature peaked at 31 °C and the plants survived.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Name the variable the club changed the second time, and one variable they kept the same.
  2. Explain, using the words photosynthesis and enzymes, why the plants were damaged in July.
  3. Write a conclusion for the club's report, saying how far the evidence supports it.

  • Method and results

    Writing

    Write the aim, what you changed, what you measured and what you kept the same, then record your results in a table.

    1 page + results table

  • Conclusion

    Writing

    Explain what your results show and why, using the scientific words from the lesson. Say how you know you can trust them.

    6–8 sentences

  • Labelled diagram

    Diagram

    Draw the apparatus or the process in pencil, label it fully, and photograph it.

    1 labelled diagram

  • Reading and notes

    Reading

    Read the lesson text again and write the key ideas in your own words.

    Half a page of notes

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 19 · Watch & discover

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