Selection Pressures and Their Effects
This post will be an introduction to the effects of the environment on organisms and will go through selection pressures and their effects for Prelim Biology.
Topic: Effects of the Environment on Organisms
- Predict the effects of selection pressures on organisms in ecosystems, including:
- Biotic factors
- Abiotic factors
What are Selection Pressures?
Selection pressures are factors that exist in an environment that make it easier for some organisms to survive and others less likely to survive. For example, many arctic or antarctic animals have flubber (a layer of fat) that are favourable in those cold conditions because it retains more heat, imagine how easy it would be to freeze if they didn’t have it!
This video goes through selection pressures in more depth.
Abiotic relates to non-living factors (e.g. temperature, sunlight) while biotic relates to living factors (e.g. plants, animals). Selection pressures can be abiotic or biotic. This video looks at abiotic and biotic factors.
