(a) What is meant by competition.
(b) Explain briefly the terms: (i) interspecies competition: (ii) intra species competition.
(c) Explain two ways each by which the toad/frog is structurally adapted to the following: (I) obtaining me food (ii) protection (iii) movement.
Explanation
(a) (i) Competition; is the process by which living organisms in a habitat struggle/compete with one another for limited essential needs such as food/light/nutrients/mates/shelter/space in the environment.
(b)(i) Inter-species competition exists between individuals of different species, e.g. Iroko tree and terminalia in a forest competing for light and competition for grazing land between a herd of cattle and a herd of antelopes on a grazing land.
(ii) Infra - species competition is the competition between individuals of the same species / kind, e.g. tomato seedlings in a nursery/ a population of laboratory rats in a cage.
(c)(i) The toad is structurally adapted to obtain food by:
(1) possessing special olfactory organ in the head for smelling/perceiving the odour of its food
(2) the ability to draw eyes in so that they make bulges in the roof of the mouth which helps to prevent their prey from escaping/ help in swallowing,
(3) the tongue being attached at the front of the mouth which can be rapidly extended to capture/trap prey
(4) the tongue being long and sticky to help hold the prey
(5) the tongue being long to help catch prey.
(ii) Special adaptation by toad for protection include:
(1)The skin is slimy with mucous gland which makes the animal difficult to catch by predators.
(2) Slimy fluid keeps the skin moist and prevents the skin from drying up.
(3) Toad has poison glands on the skin which is poisonous/ distasteful to the predators.
(4) Brownish colour/cryptic colouration helps to blend with the colour of the surrounding and this prevents them from being noticed by enemies/ predators (5) The colour can be altered to match the type of background.
(iii) special adaptation by toad for movement are:
(1) A toad has long hind limb with powerful muscles which enables it to hop/jump efficiently away from predators/ on land.
(2) The absence of tail facilitates hopping/jumping movement while webbed hind limb can be used as paddle for efficient swimming in water.
(3) The stout/short nature of fore limb absorbs shock on landing