Adapatations for Survival

Main Idea

In this unit, students learn about the amazing adaptations of Great Barrier Reef creatures and their strategies for survival, including feeding, reproduction, communication and camouflage.

Key understandings

• Humans, plants and animals live together on the planet;
• The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is biologically diverse;
• It provides a home to many unique species;
• 43 Great Barrier Reef species are listed as rare or threatened by the World Conservation Union (IUCN);
• An adaptation is a characteristic that helps an organism survive. Adaptations may be structural (body form), functional (physiological) and/or behavioural;
• Structural adaptation is the external and internal arrangement and types of body parts eg. The barbels on the chin of a dash-dot goatfish;
• Behavioural adaptation is what the animal does in responses to certain stimuli. The behaviour of all living animals has been 'programmed over time so that individual animals of the same species will generally exhibit identical behaviour, whether they are sleeping, flying, swimming or staying perfectly still; and
• Reproductive adaptations are those directly related to the animal's need to reproduce. They may include behavioural adaptations such as courting behaviour, or structural adaptations such as special colouration designed to attract the opposite sex.

Focus questions

1. What is biodiversity?
2. Why is the biodiversity of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park important?
3. What do we mean by adaptation?
4. What adaptations help an organism survive?
5. How can an understanding of adaptations of animals and plants help us develop ecologically sustainable lifestyles and economies?
6. How can our understanding of marine organisms' adaptations help us better ensure their survival?

Key terms

Action, adaptation, animals, appendages, behavioural, buoyancy, camouflage, colouration, compete, conserved, courtship behaviours, environment, habitat, humans, importance, location, loss, micro-organisms, mouth parts, necessities, predators, preserve, plants, pressure, protect, schooling, skeleton, species, threats, types.

Key Learning Areas

• Studies of Society and Environment;
• Science;
• English.

Outcomes

On completion of this unit teachers should be able to make judgements about each student's level of achievement with respect to the following outcomes:

From Life and living:

4.1 Students examine the internal and external structure of living things and account for observed similarities and differences in terms of adaptation.

4.2 Students identify and analyse similarities and differences in the ways that different living things reproduce.

4.3 Students make generalisations about the types of interaction which take place between the living and non-living part of environments.

4.4 Students explain why some features are more useful than others when used as a basis for grouping living things.

4.5 Students describe how body structure and behaviour assist in reducing resistance to movement.

4.4 Students explain why some features are more useful than others when used as a basis for grouping living things.

4.5 Students describe how body structure and behaviour assist in reducing resistance to movement.

5.1 Students collect information about the structure and function of living things and relate structure and function to survival.

5.2 Students evaluate different processes and strategies or reproduction in terms of their relative efficiency in ensuring survival of offspring.

5.3 Students evaluate the consequences of interactions between the living and non-living parts of environments.

Theme overview

An adaptation is a characteristic of an organism that helps it to be well suited to the places where it lives and the kind of life it leads.

Competitive?   You bet!

There is a mind-boggling array of life in the sea.  Many things we cannot see, like microscopic bacteria. Other things we might love to see more often, like manta rays and giant whales.  Coral reefs are among the oldest, most diverse and complex of the world's ecosystems.  Corals are the basis of the amazing biodiversity in the Great Barrier Reef and provide food and homes for a huge number of marine animals.  Competition for the resources of the reef is fierce. Consequently the diversity of adaptations is wide.   To survive, the animals may deceive, confuse, mimic, intimidate, defend, scare, sense or even stowaway.  Their body structure, function and behaviour are adapted to the niche they occupy [that is their 'profession' or 'job'].  The goal of every living thing on the Reef is to survive at least long enough to reproduce.

Diverse?   Like nowhere else!

The Reef is home to approximately:

• 1500 species of fish;
• 360 species of hard corals;
• One-third of the world's soft corals;
• At least 4000 species of molluscs (e.g. clams, octopus, snails);
• 1500 sponges;
• 800 echinoderms (starfish, sea urchins);
• 500 seaweeds (marine algae);
• 23 marine mammals; and
• 6 species of marine turtles, all listed as rare or threatened.

Three broad categories of adaptations are:

Structural
Structure is the internal and external arrangement and types of body parts e.g. the suckers on the eight arms of an octopus or the barbels on the chin of a dash-dot goatfish.

Behavioural
Behaviour is what an animal exhibits in response to stimuli.   All living animals do things, whether they are sleeping, flying, swimming or sitting perfectly still. 

Reproductive
Reproductive adaptations are those directly related to the animal's need to reproduce.   They may include behavioural adaptations such as courting the opposite sex, or structural adaptations like colouration related to attracting the opposite sex.

Unit Sequence

Tuning In

Environmental Conditions

Visit your school pool and/or ask the students to imagine they are swimming underwater to help them understand the marine environment and the special characteristics required to live there.  Establish the features that make water unique. Ask questions such as:

• How does water feel against your body?
• What things can you do in the water?
• Can you breathe under water?
• Can you suspend yourself motionless, midway between the surface and the bottom?   Can fish do this?
• Can you change colour?  Can marine animals do this?  If so, why?
• Can you taste underwater?  Do fish taste underwater?  If so, how?
• Can you smell underwater?  Do fish smell underwater?  If so, why?
• Can you make noises underwater?   Can fish make noises underwater?  If so, why would they do so?
• If you were living in a very deep sea, where very little light penetrated, would you have large eyes, small eyes or no eyes?  Do fish that live in the deep sea have large, small or no eyes?
• Can you see forwards, sidewards and even backwards?
• Can you move extremely quickly when underwater?
• Can you eat or see well underwater?
• Can you swim very deeply?  If so, what do you need to do when going down?  How far can humans dive under the water?
• What 'people-made' things could you use that would enable you to perform better underwater?  If using things such as flippers, what shapes or features are they modelled on?
• If you were able to 'grow extra features or characteristics', what would they be?
• What marine animals already have these features? And
• What are common characteristics of animals that live in a marine environment?

Survey

To highlight the differences between the undersea world and other environments, take the students to an area of bush located in or close to the school.  Discuss environmental conditions and the physical (i.e. non-living) factors that affect the survival of the plants and animals that live there.

• Discuss some of the characteristics/adaptations plants in the area have developed to survive. 
• Explain that these features are directly related to the environmental conditions.
• Ask students to describe environmental conditions on the Great Barrier Reef. 

Discuss the similarities and differences between the environmental conditions in your schoolyard and those of coral reefs e.g. Temperature and other fluctuating conditions, oxygen availability and pressure.

Preparing to Find Out

Questions

Stimulate discussion about the special characteristics of animals by posing the questions such as:

1. What do reef animals do (behavioural adaptations)?
2. What features enable them to do it (structural adaptations)? And
3. How do they reproduce (reproductive strategies)?

Turn suggestions into headings such as 'Animals Eat,' or 'Feeding.'   A suggestion of 'Animals Hide,' could be titled 'Camouflage.'  Other categories could include reproduction, hunting and/or movement.  Explain that all of these characteristics could be placed into categories.

Introduce the term 'Adaptation.'  Explain its relationship to the term 'Characteristics.'  Discuss the three categories of adaptations you will be covering in your unit:

• Structure (internal and external structure);
• Behaviour (what the animal does); and
• Reproduction (what strategies it uses to reproduce).

Clarify the categories by explaining and giving examples of each. 

With the students' help, construct a simple concept map that groups their suggested characteristics into the three categories of adaptations and explains how they help the animals survive.

Ask students to suggest how the concepts from their mapping and swimming pool activities could be converted into questions to guide their study during the unit. For example:

• Which reef animals look after their young;
• Do large eyes help reef animals see better; and
• Does the movement of an animal have anything to do with its shape? 

List the questions under the various categories of adaptations and decide how students are going to answer them.  Encourage students to use the question grid below when formulating their questions.

Reproductive adaptations

Watch the video Sex on the Reef or Ocean Empires (available from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority's library at http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au). 

Talk about the term 'reproduce' and its derivatives, 'reproduction' and 'reproductive.'  Introduce terms such as egg, sperm, fertilisation and dispersal.

Ask the students to describe spawning of coral on the reef, and to write a poem, design some artwork or to prepare a multimedia presentation on coral spawning.

Asexual reproduction

Many corals are able to reproduce without spawning.   They are able to clone themselves by replicating, over and over again.  Replication is the process by which a living organism gives rise to a copy of itself. Many land plants can also reproduce asexually through replication.  Pieces of living coral can replicate in much the same way that gardeners can grow plants from cuttings. Set up a planting station to highlight forms of plant asexual reproduction including bulbs (onions), tubers (potatoes) and cuttings.

Coral - tree comparison

The landscape of a coral reef often reminds people of beautiful gardens.   Whereas the main scenic features in an underwater coral 'garden' are the corals, in terrestrial gardens it is often the trees and shrubs which are the outstanding features. Have the students discuss the similarities between coral and a tree, and then fill out a coral colony/tree comparison table (inside the attached document at bottom of this page).

Ask students to draw a picture of a coral colony.   The colony should be in a location that allows it to receive a lot of light.  Ask them to draw a tree.  Compare the two drawings.

Ask students to draw a picture of a coral colony, in a current.   Ask them to draw a tree in a breeze.  Compare the drawings.

Behavioural adaptations

Talk to the students about schooling behaviour in fish and what it means.  Ask them to explain any advantages and disadvantages of schooling behaviour.

Have students design and colour a fish tessellation (an arrangement of overlapping polygons) to represent fish schooling. 

The search

Using books, the Internet and magazines, ask students to locate as many structural, behavioural and reproductive adaptations of Great Barrier Reef creatures as possible.   Ask students to draw structural adaptations on a large sheet of paper with a small accompanying explanation.  Reproductive adaptations could be typed into a document on the computer and behavioural adaptations could be acted to the class.

Finding out

The Reef experience

Visit marine discovery centres or public aquaria, explore and observe adaptations first-hand or visit http://www.reefed.edu.au/library/movies/movies.html to see reef animals and plants up close.

Examine the external features of Great Barrier Reef inhabitants and explain the similarities and differences in their adaptations. Identify and analyse similarities and differences in the way reef life reproduces, and generalise about interactions between the living and non-living parts of the Reef.

Research

Ask students to work in small groups using the ReefED website http://www.reefed.edu.au/explorer. Each group should locate relevant information about the amazing adaptations of Great Barrier Reef creatures including feeding, reproduction, communication and camouflage. Invite students to produce:

• A chart of adaptations; or
• A calendar illustrated with twelve different adaptations; or
• A class game board incorporating interesting adaptations; or
• A database of different adaptations and their purpose.

Sorting out

Reef HQ information

Discuss your excursion to a marine discovery centre or public aquaria or the use of the ReefED GBR Explorer http://www.reefed.edu.au/explorer.   Ask students to reflect upon the adaptations observed and information recorded. 

Flow charts or learning maps

Ask students to use flow charts or learning maps to present their information about adaptations and to show the dynamic interactions on the Great Barrier Reef.

Going further

Structural adaptations - anatomy

In groups, have students research the specific external features (anatomy) of a Great Barrier Reef animal.  Students could then produce a diagram, clay plate with scratched skeleton, copper impression, rubbing or giant pasta skeleton to show the internal structure of their animal.  Each group should present their findings to the rest of the class.  They should explain specific animal structures followed by their role.

See references for useful websites.

Reproductive adaptations - Venn diagram

Discuss internal and external reproduction.

Ask students to create a Venn diagram to outline differences and similarities.

Behavioural adaptations - cartoon strip

Ask students to bring a cartoon strip or cartoon book from home.  Discuss the features.  Ask students reflect on the behaviour of the reef creatures they have seen or know about.  Encourage students to produce a cartoon strip illustrating the behaviour of a reef species.

Making connections

What we do at home and school affects the adaptation of animals

• Discuss how our coasts and oceans receive large amounts of waste from deliberate dumping or by run-off from the land.
• Talk with students about what we do at home and school and how these actions affect the animals living on the coast and the Reef.
• Using an example within or close to the classroom, explore where water goes when it enters a drain. Describe the types of liquid that people might put down a drain - water used for washing hands, paintbrushes, and glue pots, for example.
• Brainstorm ways the class might show more care when disposing of liquid down the drain - for example, by scraping left over paint into paint pots, cleaning paint palettes using newspaper, or by reducing the volume of detergent or soap used in washing dishes or clothes.
• Identify and chart water use in the school and home. Consider drains, gutters, downpipes, sprinklers, taps, showers, laundries, bathrooms, pools, ponds, toilets, or drinking fountains.
• Discuss ways human impacts might affect the animals and plants of the Reef and whether their adaptations will help or hinder their survival. Draw 'cause and effect' flow charts illustrating various environmental impacts, and the whether the adaptations of the Reef's plants and animals enable them to survive it.
• Discuss the effects of urban and agricultural run-off. Follow its path from the land to the sea and the Reef.
• Brainstorm ways in which the adaptations of different Reef animals and plants might affect their response to run-off.

Identifying Problems

Explore a range of information about animal adaptations and their response to chemical pollutants in the environment. Identify and define the issues described and how they affect marine organisms. Pose specific research questions with clearly defined purposes and goals.

Gather and organise information. Begin with the students suggesting likely sources. Determine how the information is to be obtained and processed.

Future perspectives

Ask students to select an issue they consider has affected plants or animals on the Great Barrier Reef. Write the issue in the centre of the circle and then surround this circle with three additional concentric circles, each bigger than the last - like a target.

Students identify first, second and third order consequences arising from the issue - one per outer circle.

In groups, students discuss and record why they think adaptation is important in coastal areas and reefs.

Taking Action

Share understandings

As a class, suggest how we can make sure people value the amazing array of adaptations that animals and plants have developed to live and survive on the Great Barrier Reef. Students could:

• Contribute to a class article for the school newsletter;
• Prepare a display of special adaptations and features of animals on the Great Barrier Reef or local coastal areas and invite other classes or parents to view it and ask questions;
• Speak to other classes about the amazing adaptations of animals on the Great Barrier Reef or local coastal area; and
• Make a poster to advertise the adaptations of animals on the Great Barrier Reef.

Reflection

• Ask the students about some of the things they have learnt during the unit.   Ask about some of the questions for which they still do not have answers
• Invite the students to design an experiment to answer their questions.  The experiment won't necessarily be conducted (although it could be if resources available). The objective is to have the students thinking about how to answer their questions.

Ask students to:

• Formulate a question about a reef animals or plant. (It could be one from an earlier investigation);
• Formulate a hypothesis;
• Write down some things they may need to know before they conduct the experiment;
• List materials needed;
• Time to be taken;
• People they need to help them;
• Procedure; and
• Conclusion.

References & Resources

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (1999), Reef Manual, GBRMPA, Townsville.

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (1998), Project Reef - Ed, Townsville.

Australian Academy of Science (1981), Biological Science - The Web of Life, Griffin Press, Netley.

Centre for Marine Conservation (1989), The Ocean Book: Aquarium and Seaside Activities and Ideas for All Ages, John Wiley & Sons, USA.

CRC Reef Research Centre (2000), Tropical Topics, Environment Protection Agency, Australia.

Murdoch, K & J. Hamston (1992), Integrating Socially: Units of Work for Social Education, Eleanor Curtin, Melbourne.

Musso, B. & E. Huchinson (1996), Corals and Coral Reefs and Mangroves: Teacher's guide 2, UNESCO.

Pepperell, J. (2001), Fish Tales, Random House, Milsons Point.

Young, J.Z. (1989), The Life of Vertebrates, Oxford University Press, New York.

Videos

Digital Dimensions (1999), Ocean empires, video recording, Townsville.

Natural Symphonies (1993), Sex on the Reef, video recording, Camden.

 

Attached Documents

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Adaptations for Survival - Teaching Unit Adaptations for Survival
File size: 161k

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External Links

ABC Online
http://www.abc.net.au/oceans/alive.htm

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Australian Institute of Marine Science
http://www.aims.gov.au

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Fascinating facts about fish
http://www.nefsc.nmfs.gov/faq/index.html

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Fish
http://http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Education/Diagrams.htm
Fish education

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Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au

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Marine Creatures
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects

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Marine turtles
http://http://www.seatrek.org/curriculum/reference/turtle_faq.htm
Education - Marine Turtles

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Reef Education Network
http://www.reef.edu.au

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Reef HQ
http://www.reefHQ.com.au

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Sharks
http://http://www.oceanofk.org/sharks/sharks.html
Education - Sharks

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Turtles
http://www.seaturtles.org/store.html

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Turtles - Euro Turtle
http://www.euroturtle.org/

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Whales Online
http://www.whales-online.org

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