Living Things in Their Environments
Essential Question: How do the characteristics of an environment influence the organisms that live there? Types of Environments Lizards and polar bears live in different environments. An environment is everything around an organism, or its surroundings. What an environment is like affects which organisms can live there. Living things depend on their environments to meet their basic needs. Without these things, plants and animals cannot survive, or stay alive. Earth has many different kinds of environments. Some of these are deserts, tropical rain forests, polar regions, swamps and rivers and streams. Each kind of environment has different features. |
Swamps A wetland is an area of land that is covered with shallow water all or much of the time. A swamp is a warm wetland with many plants.
In swamps, tall ferns and reeds grow close together. These plants block sunlight, so small bushes and small trees cannot survive. Like rain forest trees, trees in swamps grow very tall to get sunlight. The trees’ trunks spread out to support them in the standing water. Trees in swamps include cypresses and mangroves. Cypress trees have roots that stick up out the water. These cypress “knees” let the roots take in oxygen from the air. Like swamp plants, swamp animals are adapted, or suited, to their watery environment. Small fish and crayfish live in the water. Frogs live near the edges of swamps and lay their eggs in the water. Swamp animals include snapping turtles and alligators. Snapping turtles often stay on the muddy bottom. Their long necks let them stick their nostrils out of the water to breathe. Alligators can lie mostly underwater and still breathe. That is because their nostrils are on the top of their snouts. Both snapping turtles and alligators have long tails that help them swim in the shallow water. Many birds live in or near swamps. Egrets and herons have long legs for wading in shallow water. Ducks have webbed feet that help them swim. |
Write a synthesis statement explaining how the characteristics of a swamp influence the organisms that live in that habit. (Use scientific vocabulary in your synthesis statement.)
|
*Write Like a Scientist:
Explain how the speed of water in rivers and streams affect the types of plants and animals that live there. |
Streams and Rivers A stream is a small body of flowing water.
A river is a large body of flowing water. These bodies of moving water are found in warm and cold areas. The kinds of plants and animals that live in streams and rivers depend on how fast the water flows. Many grasses, reeds, bushes, and trees live along the banks. Water plants such as water lilies live in the water. Land animals, rivers and streams and come to them to drink. Fish, crayfish, snakes, and insects use water plants for food and shelter. |
Deserts In deserts, water is hard to find. A desert is an area that gets very little rainfall. Temperatures in a desert can range from very hot during the day to very cold at night. Some of the hottest temperatures on Earth are measured in deserts. Some deserts are covered with dry sand and have few plants. When rain does fall, it quickly sinks into the sand or dries up in the hot, dry air.
Desert plants and animals must be able to survive extreme temperatures without much water. Cactuses have roots that spread out near the surface. When rain falls, the roots soak up water quickly. Cactuses store the water in their thick trunks and branches. Some other desert plants, such as mesquite trees, have very long roots. The roots reach down to water far below the surface. Plants lose water through their leaves. Most desert plants save water by having very small leaves. Mesquite trees have small leaves with a waxy coating. The coating helps keep the leaves from losing water. Many lizards and snakes live in deserts. Lizards and snakes have scales. The scales help keep the animals from losing water through their skin. Many desert animals are active at night, when the air is cool. They sleep in shady places during the day, away from the hot sun. Desert animals also include scorpions, rats, coyotes, and jackrabbits. |
Formative Assessment:
In your notebook, synthesis how an animal adapts to the characteristics of an environment in order to thrive in it. *You must record plants and animals present in this habitat. |
Write Like a Scientist:
Compare living organisms found in deserts with organisms found in polar regions. Cite specific evidence on how they are similar and how they are different. |
Polar Regions The polar regions are the cold land and water areas surrounding the North and South Poles. The Arctic is near the North Pole. The Antarctic is near the South Pole. The polar regions also include areas called the tundra. Tundra is very cold land with small plants but no trees.
The polar regions are cold all year long. Ice and snow cover the ground for all or most of the year. The amount of daylight changes much more there during the year than it does where you live. Winter is mostly dark. The only light during much of winter is moonlight and starlight. In summer, daylight lasts up to 24 hours. Only a few kinds of plants grow in the polar regions. They include lichens, shrubs, and mosses. They grow close to the ground and for only a short time each year. Animals include polar bears, walruses, reindeer, seals, arctic foxes, and penguins. They survive by having thick layers of fat or fur that keep them warm. |
Tropical Rain Forests Tropical Rain Forests are warm, wet areas with many trees and other plants. Rain forests get huge amounts of rain, so plants there have plenty of water. But the trees and other plants grow so close together that they block the sunlight. Plants need sunlight to make their own food. Many rain forest trees have very long trunks. The trees stretch above other plants to get sunlight.
Rain forest plants tend to have wide, flat leaves. These leaves gather as much sunlight as possible. Besides tall trees, vines, ferns, orchids, and other colorful flowering plants grow in tropical rain forests. The branches of rain forest trees form a leafy layer called the canopy. Many colorful birds and other animals live in the canopy. Monkeys in the rain forest have tails that can grab onto branches. They can move from tree to tree without touching the ground. Bats, snakes, and tree frogs also live in tropical rain forests. |
Britannica Elementary Article: Rainforests
Capstone eBook: Rainforest Animal Adaptations Brain Pop: Tropical Rainforest Write a synthesis statement explaining how the characteristics of a tropical rainforest influence the organisms that live in that habit. (Use scientific vocabulary in your synthesis statement.)
|