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Time: 10 hours
Level: Introductory
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 Introduction Resource- In this unit, we study one aspect of the fluctuating nature of an organism's environment. We consider how organisms living in a temperate climate, such as that in Britain, are adapted to cope with winter....
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- 1.1 Living in a fluctuating environment Resource
- The great majority of organisms live in environments that fluctuate extensively and cyclically. For example, an animal such as a limpet living on a sea-shore experiences a 12-hour cycle in which it is...
- 1.2 Response to winter: understanding at different levels Resource
- Winter in a temperate region poses a number of environmental problems for organisms. Most obviously, average temperatures are lower than at other times of year and there are frequent frosts. Frost is highly...
- 1.3 Strategy 1: Remaining active through the winter (‘tough it out’) Resource
- In temperate regions, the most prominent evergreen plants are coniferous trees, or conifers (phylum Coniferophyta). Conifers dominate large portions of the Earth's land area, particularly at northern latitudes...
- 1.4 Strategy 2: dormancy in winter (‘opt out’) Resource
- During the winter months, a combination of factors, including lower temperatures, reduced light intensity and shorter days, means that plants can only photosynthesise at a slow rate and for restricted...
- 1.5 Strategies 3 and 4: juvenile survival and migration Resource
- For organisms that are able to complete their life cycles within a year there is the possibility of spending the winter in various juvenile stages. We have already considered annual plants, the adults...
- 1.6 Conclusion Resource
- This unit has presented an overview of the ways in which organisms living in temperate habitats are adapted to survive the winter. The unit has shown how a limited set of environmental changes associated...
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- SAQs Resource
- Read the following account and then state which strategy from Table 1.1 it best fits.
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| | References and Acknowledgements | |
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