Adaptations to Arid Habitats Worksheet 2

The aim of this activity is to compare how effective different adaptations are at helping a species to conserve water. You will be given sponges soaked in water to represent your arid animals. Your task is to design an experiment to measure how much water your sponges lose under various conditions that represent different adaptations. You need to weigh the sponges before and after the experiment so that you can record how much weight (water) each has lost. Your teacher will show you the materials you have available to set up your experiment. As a group, your first task is to think about how you can use these materials to replicate the adaptations shown in the table below:

Adaptation Sponge 1 Sponge 2 Sponge 3 Sponge 4 None Shade Impermeable (waterproof) skin Burrow

Start Weight

End Weight

Weight Lost

Questions to be completed before you start:

1. What is the purpose of including Sponge 1 (with no adaptations) in the experiment?

2. How will you ensure that this experiment is a fair test?

3. Which sponge do you think will lose the most weight (water) and why?

4. Which sponge do you think will lose the least weight (water) and why?

Questions to be completed at the end of the experiment:

1. At the end of the experiment, calculate the total weight (water) lost for each sponge and fill in the results table. 2. Using your results, create a graph to show the weight lost from each sponge. 3. Which sponge lost the most water? Which sponge lost the least? 4. Do these results match your predictions?

5. How do these results relate to the adaptations that help animals and plants survive in arid habitats?

6. Think about the other adaptations you have been learning about. How could you test some of these?