How Living Things Interact Adaptations Natural Selection Competition Predator/Prey Symbiosis

Adaptation - a characteristic that allows an organism to live successfully in its environment.

Natural Selection These characteristics, or adaptations, develop through a process called:

Natural Selection works like this: Individuals in a population have different characteristics. For example, some cheetahs can run faster than other cheetahs. The fastest cheetahs catch the most prey, remain healthy, and are able to pass on their fastness to their offspring. The slow cheetahs die. Over time, from generation to generation, cheetahs get faster and faster.

Natural Selection

Niche Every animal plays an important role in the ecosystem. They are food for some organisms and keep the population of other organisms in check when they eat. Sometimes organisms decompose dead things, pollinate flowers, aerate the soil, fertilize plants, provide shelter and help weather rocks.

Niche  The role or job of an organism in its environment.  Its like all the organisms complete this puzzle. If one piece is missing, it isn’t complete.

Competition  If two organisms fill the same niche, they become competitors. One organism will probably either die or move because they are like the same piece of the puzzle trying to fill the same space.

Competition  Two organisms could compete for the same food, shelter, water, or space.