This definitions covers Key Definitions within Competition Adaptations for GCSE Biology. Topic 2: Competition Adaptations It is section 9 of 15 in this topic. Make sure you can use the exact wording confidently, because definition marks are often lost through vague language.
Key Definitions
Competition: The struggle between organisms for a limited resource (food, water, space, light, or mates) that both need to survive and reproduce.
Intraspecific competition: Competition between individuals of the same species; always more intense because they have identical resource requirements.
Interspecific competition: Competition between individuals of different species that share overlapping resource needs.
Adaptation: An inherited feature (structural, behavioural, or functional) that makes an organism well suited to its environment, increasing its chance of survival and reproduction.
Structural adaptation: A physical feature of an organism's body that aids survival (e.g., thick blubber in polar bears for insulation).
Behavioural adaptation: An action or pattern of behaviour that aids survival (e.g., migration to avoid food scarcity in winter).
Functional (physiological) adaptation: An internal biochemical or physiological process that aids survival (e.g., production of concentrated urine in desert animals to conserve water).
Extremophile: An organism adapted to survive in extreme environmental conditions such as very high temperature, high pressure, high salinity, or extreme pH.
Practice questions for Competition Adaptations
Which of the following do plants compete for?
Explain how the spines of a cactus are an adaptation to its desert environment.
Quick recall flashcards
What do plants compete for?
Light, water, nutrients (mineral ions), and space.
Why are adaptations important?
They increase an organism's chance of survival and reproduction in its environment.