Year 9 - Science
Competition
Adaptations, competition, natural selection and evolution
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit explores variation within and between species, competition, and natural selection. It focuses on asking questions, making predictions, planning scientific enquiries, and testing hypotheses. It also covers analysing results, explaining findings, and identifying new questions that arise.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to describe resources that organisms have to compete for and explain how adaptations can be helpful.
Key Notes
- All living organisms need resources from their habitat to enable them to survive.
- Resources are limited, so individuals are in competition for them.
- Organisms compete for resources such as food, water, space, shelter, light, mates, pollinators and seed dispersers.
- Variation means some individuals are better adapted to compete more successfully than others.
- These individuals have the best 'fit' to their environment.
Vocabulary To Learn
- competition: Living organisms struggle for access to limited resources. This struggle is known as competition.
- variation: Differences between organisms of the same species are known as variation.
- adaptation: An adaptation is a feature that helps an organism to function and survive.
- advantage: A feature that helps an organism to compete more effectively in its habitat gives the organism an advantage in the competition.
- fittest: Organisms that are the best adapted to their environment are said to be the fittest.
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Many learners think that the only way animals compete for resources is through physical aggression.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the scientific idea in this lesson using two key points.
All living organisms need resources from their habitat to enable them to survive. Resources are limited, so individuals are in competition for them.
2. Define this scientific word and use it in context. 'competition'
Living organisms struggle for access to limited resources. This struggle is known as competition. Include the word in a full scientific explanation, not as a single label.
3. Correct this common scientific misunderstanding.
Mistake: Many learners think that the only way animals compete for resources is through physical aggression. Correction: This lessons contains many examples of how animals and other organisms compete for resources.
More Lessons In This Unit
Browse all guides in the Year 9 Science guide library.