All the animals and plants that live in a habitat make

up a community. Members of communities may have

similar adaptations to cope with the problems of living
in a particular habitat. For example, many organisms
that live in fast-flowing rivers have suckers to allow
them to attach to rocks and stop them being swept
away.
The community of organisms and all the physical
environmental factors in a habitat form an ecosystem.

Draw a design for a plant that could live in

the same habitat as a hogsucker fish.

II Describe the Arctic ecosystem.

Inherited variation
Many of an organism's features come from its parents.
These features are inherited.
Variation between these features is inherited variation.
There is a great deal of inherited variation between
different species, such as polar bears and meerkats.
There is also inherited variation between members of
the same species (intra-specific variation) because of
what happens in sexual reproduction. All gametes
contain slightly different instructions for features. These
instructions are carried on genes inside the nucleus. A
different sperm cell and egg cell are used to produce
each offspring, and so each inherits a slightly different
mix of features. The exception to this is identical twins,
who both develop from the same fertilised egg cell (or
zygote).

Ill Name three features you have inherited.

m Look at photo F, which shows a family group. There

are four adult women in the picture. Who are their
children? Use the labels to identify them.

m Kim's mother has blue eyes and blond hair. Kim's

father has brown eyes and brown hair. Kim has blue
eyes and brown hair. Her brother, Harry, has brown
eyes and brown hair.
I can ...
a I From which parent has Kim inherited blue eyes?
identify and describe some adaptations for
different habitats
bl Why are Kim and Harry's features slightly different?
describe how inherited variation is caused.

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