Plant and Animal

Adaptations
Lesson Objectives
• explain the ecological significance of
environmental temperatures
• describe the environmental
circumstances, especially temperature
conditions, in which organisms acquire
and conserve water
• define the major forms of trophic biology
• explain how social relations can influence
evolutionary fitness
• describe behavioural ecology and explain
how it forms social systems
• describe various morphological,
behavioral, and physiological adaptations
that enable organisms to communicate
and increase reproductive fitness
01
Temperature
01 Temperature

Temperature
1. Temperature is one of the most ecologically significant
environmental factors.

2. Many organisms have evolved varied mechanisms for

regulating the temperature of their bodies or the temperature
of parts of their anatomy.
01 Temperature

In terms of temperature regulation, animals

can be characterized as:
• Poikilotherms
• Homeotherms
• Endotherms
• Ectotherms
01 Temperature

Poikilotherms
• Animals whose internal temperature
varies considerably.
• Poikilotherms have to survive and
adapt to environmental stress.
• Poikilothermic animals include types
of vertebrate animals, specifically
some fish, amphibians, and reptiles,
as well as many invertebrate
animals.
01 Temperature

Homeotherms
• Animals having a relatively uniform
body temperature maintained nearly
independent of the environmental
temperature : warm-blooded.
• There are several mechanisms by
which homeothermic animals
increase their heat production,
including shivering, sympathetic
nervous system activation and
stimulation of thyroid hormone
secretion.
01 Temperature

Endotherms
• Endotherms use internally
generated heat to maintain body
temperature.
• Their body temperature tends to
stay steady regardless of
environment.
01 Temperature

Ectotherms
• Ectotherms depend mainly on
external heat sources, and their
body temperature changes with the
temperature of the environment.
01 Temperature

Ectotherms
• Ectotherms depend mainly on
external heat sources, and their
body temperature changes with the
temperature of the environment.
01 Temperature

Endothermic homeotherms
• Endothermic homeotherms alter their metabolic rate in
response to environmental temperature.
• The response to temperature depends in part on how
precisely or not endotherms maintain body temperature.
• Over a range of intermediate temperatures, called the thermal
neutral zone (TNZ), metabolic rate remains constant.
01 Temperature

Endothermic homeotherms
01 Temperature
01 Temperature
01 Temperature

Temperature Regulation by Animals

(ectotherms)
Basking
Varying pigmentation
01 Temperature

Temperature Regulation by Animals

(terrestrial endotherms)
Increase metabolic rates
Prevent radiative heat loss
Insulation
Increase heart rate and
blood flow
Vasoconstriction and
vasodilation
Counter-current heat
exchange
Evaporative cooling system
01 Temperature

Temperature Regulation by Animals (aquatic

endotherms)
Air breathing
Insulation
Counter-current heat
exchange
01 Temperature

Temperature Regulation by Plants (tropical

alpine)
Retain dead leaves
Thick pubescence
Water storage
Parabolic mirrors
 Leaves close at night
01 Temperature

Temperature Regulation by Plants (desert)

Decrease heating by
conduction
Increase rates of
convective cooling
 Decrease rates of radiative
heating
01 Temperature

Temperature Regulation by Plants (arctic

and alpine)
Increase rates of radiative
heating
Decrease rates of
convective cooling
 Increase heating by
conduction
01 Temperature

Survival at Extreme Temperatures

Torpor
a state of decreased physiological activity in an animal, usually
marked by a reduced body temperature and metabolic rate.
Torpor enables animals to survive periods of reduced food
availability
01 Temperature

Survival at Extreme Temperatures

Hibernation
the condition or period of an
animal or plant spending the
winter in a dormant state.
01 Temperature

Survival at Extreme Temperatures

Estivation
“summer sleep”, on the
other hand, is the low
metabolic process by the
animals during summers..
02 Water
02 Water

Water
• Water plays a central role in the lives of all
organisms.
• However, water acquisition and conservation
are particularly critical for desert organisms.
• As a consequence, many ecologists studying
water relations have focused their attention
on desert species.
02 Water

Water Acquisition
• Drinking or taking in water with food
• Sometimes can be absorbed from air
• Extension of plant roots.
02 Water

Water Acquisition
02 Water

Water Conservation
• Store water
• Use metabolic water
• Reduce water loss
• Evaporative cooling system
03
Energy and Nutrient
03 Energy and Nutrient

Energy and Nutrient

• Evidence of nutrient and70%energy acquisition by animals

and plants can be seen everywhere in nature.

• How do we group organisms?
• We generally group them on the basis of shared
evolutionary histories, creating taxa such as vertebrate
animals, insects, coniferous trees, and orchids.
• However, we can also classify organisms by their trophic
(feeding) biology.
03 Energy and Nutrient

Trophic classification of organisms

• Photoautotrophs
70%

• Chemoautotrophs
• Chemoheterotrophs
• Heterotrophs
03 Energy and Nutrient

Some of the specific types of heterotrophy

are:
• Carnivory
70%

• Herbivory
• Hematophagy
• Coprophagy
• Kleptoparasitism
• Scavenging
04
Social Interaction

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04 Social Interaction
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Social Interaction
• One of the most fundamental social interactions between
individuals takes place during sexual reproduction. Darwin (1871)
proposed that the social environment, particularly the mating
environment, could exert significant influence on the
characteristics of organisms.
• He was particularly intrigued by the existence of what he called
“secondary sexual characteristics,” the origins of which he could
not explain except by the advantages they gave to individuals
during competition for mates.
04 Social Interaction
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Social Interaction
• Darwin used the term secondary sexual characteristics to mean
characteristics of males or females not directly involved in the
process of reproduction.
• In order to explain the existence of such secondary sexual
characteristics, Darwin proposed a process that he called sexual
selection.
• Sexual selection results from differences in reproductive rates
among individuals as a result of differences in their mating
success.
04 Social Interaction
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Two types of sexual selection

•Intersexual selection.
• one sex, typically the males, will
display a certain trait or behavior
with the goal of attracting and
mating with the opposite sex.
• Members of the competitive sex
show off for mates and the opposite
sex chooses the best display.
• Some examples include dancing,
singing, or showing bright colors.
04 Social Interaction
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Two types of sexual selection

•Intrasexual selection.
• members of the same sex attempt to outcompete rivals, often
during direct encounters.
• An example of this can be seen in elephant seals, polar
bears, or any other animal that fights a same sex individual
for mating, food, or territorial purposes.
04 Social Interaction
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Sexual selection
•Although sexual selection is well documented in animals, its
occurrence among plants remains a controversial and open
question.
•While the existence of sexual selection in plants remains
controversial, nonrandom mating is well documented.
•Nonrandom mating would suggest the potential for mate choice
and sexual selection.
•There are evidences that nonrandom mating occurs in populations
of wild radish.
04 Social Interaction
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Sexual selection
• Nonrandom mating result from
maternal control over the
fertilization process, competition
among pollen, or a combination
of the two processes. If it does
occur in plants, nonrandom
mating establishes the
conditions necessary for sexual
selection in plants. Figure 5. The wild radish, Raphanus sativus, has become a model for studying the mating
behavior of plants. The graphs shown above provide evidence for unequal mating success
among wild radish pollen donors in a greenhouse environment.
04 Social Interaction
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Kin selection
• Kin selection is an evolutionary force
favoring a behavior where help is given to
relatives or kin.
• This can be seen in species called
cooperative breeders.
• Species that live in groups often
cooperate or help during the process of
producing offspring.
• Help may include defending the territory
or the young, preparing and maintaining a
nest or den, or feeding young.
05
Behavioral Pattern

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05 Behavioral Pattern
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Behavioral Pattern
• One factor that greatly affects the survival of an
organism is how it behaves in the environment.
• Behavioral pattern describes an organism's dominant
way of life.
• In different environments, different behavioural patterns
can also be observed.
05 Behavioral Pattern

Some of these behavioural patterns are the

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following:
• Epiphytic
• Fossorial
• Troglophilic
• Arboreal
• Nocturnal
• Nomadic
• Sessile
• Swarming
• Parasitic
• Symbiotic
05 Behavioral Pattern

Some of these behavioural patterns are the

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following:
• Epiphytic
• Fossorial
• Troglophilic
• Arboreal
• Nocturnal
• Nomadic
• Sessile
• Swarming
• Parasitic
• Symbiotic
06
Communication and
Senses
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06 Communication and Senses
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Communication and Senses

• Essential to survival is how an organism perceives the
world - for instance through scent or sight - and how it
sends messages or warnings to others.
06 Communication and Senses

Plants and animals communications can be

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in the following form:

• Echolocation & ultrasound
• Acoustic communication
• Visual communication
• Chemical communication
• Bioluminescence
• Aposematism
• Tactile sense
• Mimicry
06 Communication and Senses

Plants and animals communications can be

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in the following form:

07
Morphology

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07 Morphology
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Morphology
• Most of the adaptations that we already discussed are
variations in morphology of the organisms. Morphology
is anythingMorphology
to do with what a plant or animal looks like -
its size, shape, color or structure – which can actually
aid in the organisms survival. Adaptations related to
morphology also include:
• Camouflage
• Sexual dimorphism
08
Reproductive
Strategies
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08 Reproductive Strategies
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Reproductive Strategies
• Reproductive strategies are set of adaptations that
enable organisms to find prospective mates, improve
the chances of mating and fertilization, and enhance the
survival of offspring.
08 Reproductive Strategies
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Types of birth
• Precocial
• Altricial
• Oviparous
• Viviparous
• Ovoviviparous
08 Reproductive Strategies
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Modes of reproduction:
• Sexual
• Flowering
• Spawning
• Hermaphroditism
• Asexual
• Parthenogeny
• in animals, the embryo develops from an
unfertilized egg.
• Parthenocarpy
• the natural or artificially induced production of fruit
without fertilisation of ovules, which makes the fruit
seedless.
08 Reproductive Strategies
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Mating system:
• Monogamy
• the practice or state of having a sexual relationship
with only one partner
• Polyandry
• one female mated to several male.
• Polygyny
• one male mated to several female
08 Reproductive Strategies
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According to reproductive episodes:

• Semelparous
• reproducing or breeding
only once in a lifetime
• Iteroparous
• used to describe
organisms that reproduce
multiple times
Thank You