IB Biology B4.2: Ecological niches (first exams in 2025)

This lesson can be purchased as part of the IB Complete course bundle (first exams 2025) at a heavily discounted price, formed of 40 fully resourced lessons, end of topic exams and student checklists. It can be found here

This PowerPoint contains everything you need to teach the B4.2 Ecological niches in the new IB Biology specification.

**YouTube video is a preview of the full resource (does not include all slides)
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This Powerpoint consists of 60 slides and contains the followings:

All the information the IB have included in the new spec.

Exam tips
Clear diagrams
Student research tasks
Clearly identified HL and SL content
Student checklist
Summary

The following content is included:

B4.2.1: Explain what biotic and abiotic interactions are and how they influence growth, survival and reproduction, including how a species obtains food.
B4.2.2: Explain the differences between obligate anaerobes, facultative anaerobes and obligate aerobes.
B4.2.3: Summarise the process of photosynthesis as the mode of nutrition in plants, algae and several groups of photosynthetic prokaryotes.
B4.2.4: Explain the various modes of holozoic, mixotrophic, saprotrophic nutrition.
B4.2.5: Give details of the diversity of nutrition in archaea.
B4.2.6: Summarise the relationship between dentition and the diet of omnivorous and herbivorous representative members of the family Hominidae.
B4.2.7: Infer the diet of several hominid species from anatomical features.
B4.2.8: Describe the adaptations of herbivores for feeding on plants and of plants for resisting herbivory.
B4.2.9:Describe the adaptations of predators for finding, catching and killing prey and of prey animals for resisting predation.
B4.2.10: Describe the adaptations of plants for harvesting light.
B4.2.11: Describe and explain the differences between the fundamental and the realised niches.
B4.2.12:Explain the concept of competitive exclusion and the uniqueness of ecological niches