samantha10's Journal

Adaptation is a way to explain how organisms change in their environment. The organisms gather certain structural, behavioral, and physiological traits that support them to have the ability to survive and reproduce. Structural adaptations is a feature that an organism uses to survive and succeed it its environment. For instance, a turtle uses its shell for protection, to protect them from other animals. The shells are also used for housing. A cactus uses its long roots to capture the water from the desert. Behavioral adaptations are the way the specific organism acts. Such as, A Chipmunk assembles and stores their food so they can be able to find it when needed, Or when a plant such as a sunflower, grows towards the sun to capture more sunlight. Lastly, a Physiological adaptation is when an organism has special functions like making venom or secreting slime. A cobra snake is one of the examples of physiological adaptation because it creates venom to protect themselves from larger animals. They also use the venom to capture their prey.

Symbiotic relationships are interactions between different species that sometimes have either Beneficial , or harmful relationships to other organisms. Their are 3 different types of symbiotic relationships, Mutualism , Parasitism , and commensalism. Mutualism is when two organisms are involved. For example, A bumble bee and a flower. The bee lands on the flower and starts to take the pollen from the flower. This helps the bee live. This helps the flower produce. Parasitism is when a species is being harmed from the host. But the host is actually benefiting from the species. For instance, A milkweed plant is being harmed from a lice because it is sucking up the sap from the plant. But the lice (scientifically called a aphid) is benefiting from the plant so that it lives. Lastly commensalism is when its nither harming or benefiting from the organism. For example, when a bird is in a tree in its nest. The nest is neither harming or benefiting from the bird.

An Biotic factor is a living part of the ecosystem, like animals, and plants. Abiotic Factors are nonliving organisms of the ecosystem, like rocks or temperature . They are both alike because they determine the growth and survival of an organism. The difference is that abiotic is physical and biotic is biological. The abiotic and biotic have an affect on the sea preserve. The affects are when the ecosystem begins to make a change in the temperature that may affect the plants that are growing there. Some animals will have to adapt to the changes and move to a different ecosystem. This can happen to animals that depend on their food and shelter. In the Flagler County River to Sea Preserve, their are some very good habitats that seem to be very interesting to view. For instance, they have a river ( named the Intercostal Waterways) where dolphins, sea turtles , river otters etc, are observed. The wonderful preserve has a live oaks that helps provide food and shelter to the songbirds and woodpeckers.