Competition Corner
Who competes for what, the living and non-living factors that shape a habitat, and how organisms are adapted to survive it.
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Competition Corner 🏞️
No living thing survives alone. In every habitat, organisms **compete** for what they need, **depend** on each other, and are shaped by their surroundings. Learn who competes for what, the factors that decide where things live, and how organisms are **adapted** to survive.
Competing for resources 🌿
Where resources are limited, organisms **compete**: • **Plants** compete for **light**, **space**, **water** and **mineral ions** from the soil. • **Animals** compete for **food**, **mates** and **territory**.\n\nThe best competitors survive, reproduce, and pass on their genes.
Plant rivalry
Pick the THREE things that **plants** compete with each other for.
- Light
- Water
- Mineral ions
- Mates
- Territory
Interdependence ⚖️
Species also **depend on each other** — for food, shelter, pollination and seed dispersal. This is **interdependence**: remove one species and others are affected. A **stable community** is one where the species and environmental factors are in **balance**, so population sizes stay roughly constant.
What stays steady?
What is meant by a **stable community**?
- One where species and abiotic factors are in balance, so population sizes stay roughly constant
- One where no organisms compete
- One with only a single species
- One where every population is growing
Two kinds of factor 🌡️
The factors that shape where organisms live come in two kinds: • **Abiotic** (non-living) — light intensity, temperature, moisture, soil pH and minerals, wind, CO₂ and oxygen levels. • **Biotic** (living) — availability of food, new predators or pathogens arriving, and one species outcompeting another.
Living or non-living?
Pick the TWO **abiotic** (non-living) factors.
- Light intensity
- Soil moisture
- Availability of food
- A new predator
Name the factor
A new predator arrives in a habitat and starts eating the mice there. What type of factor is this?
- A biotic factor — it is a living thing
- An abiotic factor
- A structural adaptation
- A stable community
Built to survive 🐾
**Adaptations** are features that help an organism survive in its environment. There are three types: • **Structural** — a physical **body feature** (thick fur, camouflage). • **Behavioural** — the way an organism **acts** (migrating, hibernating). • **Functional** — an **internal process** (making antifreeze, concentrating urine). Some organisms — **extremophiles** — are adapted to extreme conditions, like bacteria in scalding deep-sea vents.
Classify the adaptation
- Thick fur for insulation
- Hibernating through winter
- Making antifreeze proteins in the blood
- Bacteria thriving in a boiling deep-sea vent
- Structural (a body feature)
- Behavioural (an action)
- Functional (an internal process)
- An extremophile
Name the type
A body feature is a _____ adaptation; a way of behaving is a _____ adaptation; an internal process is a _____ adaptation.
Which type?
A kangaroo rat produces very concentrated urine so it loses hardly any water in the desert. What type of adaptation is this?
- Functional — it is an internal body process
- Structural — a body feature
- Behavioural — the way it acts
- It makes the rat an extremophile
In the exam 🎓
Habitat mastered. Grade-9 habits for this topic: • **Plants** compete for light/space/water/minerals; **animals** for food/mates/territory. • Treat an **abiotic or biotic** factor as the **cause** of where things live — give the mechanism, not just a correlation. • Classify adaptations precisely: **structural** (body feature), **behavioural** (action), **functional** (internal process).