Adapting to change

Describe different short-term adaptations that animals use to survive seasonal changes in their environment, providing examples.
Describe different short-term adaptations that plants use to survive seasonal changes in their environment, providing examples.
Define a predator-prey relationship, and describe the cyclical pattern often seen in their population sizes.

Plants and animals must constantly adapt to changes in their environment from season to season and year to year.

Hibernation: Many animals enter a state of hibernation during the winter to reduce their metabolic rate and conserve energy.
Migration: Some animals migrate to warmer regions during the winter to find food and avoid harsh conditions.
Growing thicker coats: Animals like sheep and bears grow thicker coats to stay warm during the winter.

Losing leaves: Deciduous trees lose their leaves in winter to conserve energy and reduce water loss.
Storing nutrients: Some plants store nutrients in their roots or stems to survive during harsh conditions.
Changing color: The leaves of many trees change color in autumn to prepare for winter.

Predator-prey relationships are examples of interdependence, where the populations of two species are closely linked.
Changes in the population of one species can directly affect the population of the other.
Predator-prey relationships often exhibit cyclical patterns.
When prey populations increase, predator populations also increase. However, as predator populations grow, they consume more prey, leading to a decline in the prey population. This, in turn, causes the predator population to decline, and the cycle repeats.

A typical predator-prey cycle graph

Short term adaptations: Changes in behaviour or physiology that help an organism survive seasonal or temporary environmental changes.
Hibernation: A state of inactivity and lowered metabolic rate that some animals enter during winter to conserve energy.
Migration: The seasonal movement of animals from one region to another, often to find food or avoid harsh conditions.
Predator-prey relationships: The interaction between two species where one species (the predator) hunts and kills another species (the prey) for food.
Predator: An animal that hunts and kills other animals for food.
Prey: An animal that is hunted and killed by another animal for food.
Interdependence: When two different species rely on each other for survival.
Cyclical patterns: Regular, repeating increases and decreases often seen in the population sizes of predators and their prey.

Research a specific example of a well-studied predator-prey population cycle (such as the Lynx and Snowshoe Hare) and examine real or modelled data showing the relationship between their population sizes over time.
Investigate how climate change is impacting the timing of seasonal changes (like spring warming or autumn cooling) and how this is affecting the effectiveness of short-term adaptations in animals (like hibernation or migration) and plants (like leaf drop or flowering).