Page 27 - Science Coursebook

2.2 Animal adaptations

Activity 2.2
Behavioural adaptations of woodlice

Most kinds of woodlice live in dark, moist places. This
helps them to avoid predators, and to make sure that they
do not lose too much water by evaporation.

You are going to plan and carry out an experiment to
investigate how the behaviour of woodlice helps them
to survive. A woodlouse.

You will need a piece of apparatus called a choice
chamber. The diagram shows a choice chamber. If you gauze on which
do not have one, you can make a simple one out of a Petri animals can walk
dish and a lid.
You can set up the choice chamber so that the conditions

are different on each side of it – for example, damp on
one side and dry on the other, or light and dark. Then chambers that can be used to
put the animals into it and count how many end up on create different conditions in the

each side.
area above, such as humid or dry
Once you have decided what to investigate you will need
to think carefully about which variables you are changing,
and how you will keep all the other variables constant. A choice chamber. Small animals
Record your results carefully and write your conclusion. can move freely inside it.

Compare your results with others in your class. Do they all
agree with each other? If not, can you suggest why not?

Questions

1 Using examples described on these two pages, describe:
a one structural adaptation that helps an animal to survive,
b one behavioural adaptation that helps an animal to survive.
A+I 2 Use particle theory to explain why oryx lose less water by evaporation at
night, when it is cooler.

A+I 3 It is thought that the first humans lived on the open, grassy savannahs of
Africa. Suggest how the structure of our bodies, and our behaviour, might be
adapted to help us to survive in that habitat.

Summary
• Animals may have structural and behavioural adaptations that help
them to survive in their habitats.

2 Living things in their environment 25