The living organisms

• Habitat is the surroundings where plants and animals live
• Several kinds of plants and animals may share the same habitat
• Adaptation refers to specific features and habits that enable a plant or an animal to live in a particular habitat
• Habitats can be broadly grouped as terrestrial (on land) and aquatic (in water)
• There is a wide variety of organisms present in different habitats
• Biotic components of habitats include plants, animals, and microorganisms
• Abiotic components of habitats include rocks, soil, air, water, light, and temperature
• Characteristics of living things:

  • Need food to grow and for processes
  • Young ones grow into adults
  • Respire: Animals breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. Plants take in carbon dioxide and give out oxygen
  • Respond to changes in the surroundings (stimuli)
  • Get rid of wastes produced in the body (excretion)
  • Reproduce their own kind
  • Show movement
• Habitat: The surroundings where organisms live, consisting of biotic (living things like plants and animals) and abiotic (non-living things like rocks, soil, air, and water) components
• Types of Habitat:

  (a) Terrestrial Habitat: Plants and animals live on land. Example: forest, grasslands, deserts, coastal and mountain ranges.

  (b) Aquatic Habitat: Plants and animals live in water. Example: ponds, swamps, lakes, rivers, and oceans
• Adaptations refer to the presence of specific features or habits that enable an organism to live in its surroundings
• Terrestrial adaptations:

  • Deserts:
  • Small animals stay in burrows deep in sand during the day and come out at night
  • Plants have either absent or very small leaves that are spines
  • Stem has a thick waxy coating
  • Roots go deep into the soil
  • Mountains:
  • Animals have thick skin or fur
  • Mountain goat has strong hooves
  • Trees are cone-shaped with sloping branches
  • Leaves are needle-like
  • Grasslands:
  • Animals are light brown in color
  • Lion has long claws in front legs that can be withdrawn inside the toes, eyes in front of the face
  • Deer has strong teeth, long ears, eyes on the sides of the head
• Aquatic adaptations:

  • Ponds:
  • Plants with roots fixed in soil have long, hollow, and light stems; leaves float on water
  • Plants with submerged roots have narrow and thin ribbon-like leaves
  • Oceans:
  • Animals have a streamlined body and gills to respire (dolphins and whales have blowholes)
  • Animals like squids and octopus do not have a streamlined body and stay deep in water