Demonstrate understanding of adaptation in plants or animals to their way of life.
Achievement Standard 91155 (NCEA Biology 2.3) - Internally Assessed, 3 Credits.
You will show your understanding of how plants or animals are adapted to their way of life in a written report under assessment conditions. Your report will focus on how living things carry out important life processes, and how their structures and systems help them survive and function in their environment.
If you choose to study animals, the life processes you can focus on include: nutrition, internal transport, gas exchange, excretion, support and movement, sensitivity and coordination, and reproduction. If you choose to study plants, the relevant life processes are: nutrition, internal transport, transpiration, and reproduction.
There are two possible approaches for this assessment.
You may choose one life process and investigate how it is carried out by animals or plants from three different taxonomic groups. You will then compare how each group is adapted for that life process in relation to its way of life.
OR
You may choose two closely linked life processes (e.g. nutrition and internal transport, or gas exchange and internal transport). In this case, you will investigate one taxonomic group and explain how the systems involved in both life processes are adapted and how they work together to make each process more effective. If you choose to focus on plants for this option, studying angiosperms (flowering plants) is recommended.
Whichever option you choose, your work should clearly link structure, function, and way of life, using biological ideas and appropriate examples.
Your scientific report will be marked against a criteria that is similar to the following (comparision of one life process across three taxonomic groups):
For each of the three taxonomic groups: describes two adaptations that help with the chosen life process.Â
For each of the three taxonomic groups: identifies aspects of the adaptation that enable each organism to carry out the life process in its habitat.Â
As with Achievement and...
For each of the three taxonomic groups: provides one biological reason that explains how or why the adaptations enable each organism to carry out the chosen life process to survive in its habitat.Â
As with Achievement and Merit, and...
For each of the three taxonomic groups: comprehensively discusses how or why two adaptations for the chosen life process enable survival in their niche.Â
For each of the three taxonomic groups: comprehensively discusses one limitation of the chosen life process.Â
Compares the diversity of adaptations for the chosen life process across two requirements.
E.g. for the life process of gas exchange, requirements could be:
large surface area to volume ratio
a short diffusion distance
maximising the diffusion gradient
maintaining a moist surface
Learning Intention 1: I am learning about why animals need oxygen and where they obtain this oxygen from their habitat.
Learning Intention 2: I am learning about how animals obtain oxygen from their habitat through ventilation then gas exchange.Â
Learning Intention 3: I am learning about how gas exchange takes place through diffusion of gases across a specialised respiratory surface.
Learning Intention 1: I am learning about the four characteristics of an efficient gas exchange system, that is relevant to the gas exchange of any taxonomic group.
Learning Intention 2: I am learning about the benefits and challenges that come with terrestrial and aquatic habitats, for gas exchange systems.Â
Learning Intention 1: I am learning about aspects of the human ecological niche, that is relevant to gas exchange.
Learning Intention 2: I am learning about the parts of the human lung system and where gas exchange takes place.
Learning Intention 3: I am learning about how the human lung system is ventilated.
Learning Intention 1: I am learning about specific adaptations humans have for each of the four characteristics of an efficient gas exchange system.
Learning Intention 2: I am learning about specific limitations of the human lung system, and how they limit the efficiency of gas exchange in humans.Â
Learning Intention 1: I am learning about aspects of the snappers ecological niche, that is relevant to gas exchange.
Learning Intention 2: I am learning about the parts of the snapper gill system and where gas exchange takes place.
Learning Intention 3: I am learning about how the snapper gill system is ventilated.
Learning Intention 1: I am learning about specific adaptations snapper have for each of the four characteristics of an efficient gas exchange system.
Learning Intention 2: I am learning about specific limitations of the snapper gill system, and how they limit the efficiency of gas exchange in snapper.Â
Learning Intention 1: I am learning about aspects of the cricket ecological niche, that is relevant to gas exchange.
Learning Intention 2: I am learning about the parts of the cricket tracheal system and where gas exchange takes place.
Learning Intention 3: I am learning about how the cricket tracheal system is ventilated.
Learning Intention 1: I am learning about specific adaptations cricket have for each of the four characteristics of an efficient gas exchange system.
Learning Intention 2: I am learning about specific limitations of the cricket tracheal  system, and how they limit the efficiency of gas exchange in crickets.Â
aerobic cellular respiration: The process by which cells break down glucose using oxygen to produce energy, and water and carbon dioxide as by-products.
air sacs: Pockets of air that extend from the tracheae and increase the volume of air taken in, in flying insects.
alveolar lining fluid: A thin film of watery substance coating the surface of alveolus to keep it moist.Â
alveoli: Millions of tiny air-filled sacs where gas exchange happens; the specialised respiratory surface of mammals.
aquatic: To live in water.
breathing / ventilation: Movement of air/water in and out of the gas exchange system.
bronchi: Two medium-sized airways that connect the trachea to bronchioles in each lung.
bronchioles: Narrow, highly branched airways that connect the two bronchi to millions of alveoli.
buccal cavity: The space inside the mouth and throat area of a fish.
capillaries: Tiny blood vessels that form a network surrounding the alveoli, transporting oxygenated blood away from the lungs and deoxygenated blood toward the lungs.
carbon dioxide (COâ‚‚): Molecule produced during aerobic cellular respiration; makes up 0.04% of air.Â
cartilage rings: Rigid structures that prevent the trachea and bronchi from collapsing during inhalation.
chitin rings: Rigid ring structures that prevent the tracheae from collapsing during ventilation and rhythmic body movements.
cilia: Finger-like projections on cells that line the trachea. They move in a wave-like motion to sweep mucus and trapped dust and debris up the trachea.
concentration: A measure of mass (of solute) per volume (of solution). How crowded particles are in a specific space or volume.
concentration gradient: A difference in the concentration of a substance between two areas. This characteristic is the sole driver of diffusion.
countercurrent exchange: Describes the process where two fluids flow in opposite directions, allowing for efficient transfer of gases across a barrier, down the concentration gradient.
cricket: Example of an insect with a tracheal system for gas exchange.Â
dead space: Describes the 30% of air that enters the system but remains in the airways and never makes it to the specialised respiratory surface.
desiccation: Drying out
diaphragm: A large, strong sheet of muscle below the lungs that cause ventilation in mammals.
diffusion: Movement of molecules from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration.
ecological niche: the functional position of an organism in its environment (the environment being the habitat and the resources available in this habitat).
exoskeleton: Hard, waterproof external covering that supports and protects the body of insects.
gas exchange: The process of obtaining oxygen from the environment and releasing carbon dioxide.
gills: The respiratory organ of fish.
gill arches: Cartilaginous rods that support gill rakers and gill filaments
gill filaments: Finger-like structures that extend from each gill arch.
gill rakers: A hard, tooth like projection from the gill arch that prevents large particles of food & other materials from passing into the gill lamellae.
human: Example of a mammal with a lung system for gas exchange.
intercostal muscles: Muscles between the ribs that cause ventilation in mammals.
lamellae: Many folds of the gill filaments, where gas exchange occurs in fish.
large SA : V: Characteristic that increases the rate of diffusion because there are more sites for gases to enter and exit the respiratory surface.
lungs: The respiratory organ of mammals; contains bronchi, bronchioles, alveoli and blood vessels.
moist respiratory surface: Characteristic that increases the rate of diffusion because gases must first dissolve before they can diffuse.
mucociliary escalator: The process of cilia beating collectively and in a coordinated way to transport a sheet of mucus, debris and pathogens back up towards the throat to be swallowed.
mucus: A slimy substance produced in the nasal cavity and trachea to moisten and protect them.
nasal cavity: Hollow space behind the nose lined with mucus.
oxygen (Oâ‚‚): Molecule needed for aerobic cellular respiration; makes up 21% of air and 1% of water.
passive transport: Â Transport of a substance across a cell membrane by diffusion; energy is not required.
pressure: The force exerted by a gas (or liquid) per unit of area.
operculum (gill cover): A flap of bony plates and tissue that protects the gills.
operculum cavity: The space just behind each gill cover of a fish.
residual volume: Air that is always left behind in the lungs, even after forcefully exhaling; it is oxygen-poor.Â
rhythmic body movements: The process of compressing and expanding the air sacs to increase the rate of ventilation.
semi-permeable: Ability of cell membranes to allow some substances to pass it but not others.
snapper: Example of a fish with a gill system for gas exchange.
specialised respiratory surface: The site of gas exchange in an organism. It must be thin, moist and have a large surface area to volume ratio to maximise the rate of gas exchange.
spiracles: Openings in the exoskeleton of insects that connect to the tracheal tubes.
surfactant: A substance found in alveolar lining fluid that lowers surface tension and prevents the alveolus from collapsing.Â
taxonomic group: A collection of organisms classified together based on shared characteristics and evolutionary relationships. E.g. mammals, fish and insects.Â
terrestrial: To live on land.
thin respiratory surface: Characteristic that increases the rate of diffusion because the diffusion distance for Oâ‚‚ / COâ‚‚ is short.
tidal ventilation: Describes how air enters and exists the system through the same way, causing new oxygen-rich air breathed in to mix with oxygen-poor residual air trapped in the system.
trachea (insect): A network of airways that connect the spiracles to the tracheoles.Â
trachea (mammal): The wide airway that connects the nasal cavity to bronchi.
tracheoles: Many narrow, highly-branched airways that connect the tracheae and all cells of the body; their tips are the site of gas exchange in insects.
unidirectional pumping / ventilation: The process of pumping water in through the mouth, over the gills and out through the operculum in one direction.
volume: The amount of three dimensional space a substance takes up.
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