8th Grade Habitats, Adaptations, and Relationships PDF

Habitats, Adaptations and Relationships Habitats • All living things (organisms) have a place where they live called their habitat. • To help an organism survive and reproduce, its habitat must provide: • • • • • • Food Water Shelter and living space A suitable temperature (climate) Mating partne...

Habitats, Adaptations and Relationships Habitats • All living things (organisms) have a place where they live called their habitat. • To help an organism survive and reproduce, its habitat must provide: • • • • • • Food Water Shelter and living space A suitable temperature (climate) Mating partners for reproduction Gases such as oxygen The needs of living things can be divided into two groups. Biotic Factors These are the living factors that include: • partners for mating • organisms to eat • organisms they may compete with for food and shelter. Abiotic Factors These are the non-living factors, including: • The amount of light • wind, • Temperature • Soil type • Gases present • List the biotic and abiotic factors present in the picture below. Adaptations • Adaptations are characteristics that assist organisms to survive and reproduce. • Adaptations enable animals to: • Protect themselves from predators • • • • Examples include Camouflage defences such as poison or stings built for speed http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/ocr_gateway_pre_2011/environment/3_adapt _to_fit1.shtml Can you spot me? Do I scare you? • Survive hot and cold temperatures, and wet and dry seasons. • Move from place to place (flippers, legs and wings) • Catch and eat food • Take in oxygen • Reproduce Describe 6 adaptations that polar bears have. Plant adaptations • Include the ability to: • protect themselves from grazing animals (spines and thorns). • take in oxygen and carbon dioxide • Take in water (very long roots) • Capture light (large leaves) • reproduce Relationships • Organisms within ecosystems are interdependent. This means they depend on each other for survival. • There are three main types of interdependence or symbiosis. • Commensalism • Mutualism • Parasitism Commensalism • Interactions between living things when one benefits and the other is not affected. E.g. Clown fish and anemones. Clown fish gain protection from the anemones(which has stinging tentacles) and some food not eaten by the anemones. The anemone is not affected by this. Mutualism • Interaction where both the organisms benefit. • In many cases neither organism can exist without the other. E.g. the oxpecker (a kind of bird) and the rhinoceros. Oxpeckers land on rhinos and eat ticks and other parasites that live on their skin. The oxpeckers get food and the rhino’s get pest control. Also, when there is danger, the oxpeckers fly upward and scream a warning. Parasitism • Where one organism (the parasite) benefits and the other (the host) is harmed. E.g. tapeworms can live inside an animal, gaining nutrition but causing harm. Predators and Prey • Animals that eat other animals are called predators. • The animal that is eaten is the prey. predator prey • If two or more animals eat the same sort of food and live in the same habitat they are competitors. • Animals can compete for food, living space, shelter, water, and mates. Food chains • All living things require energy. • Plants get their energy from sunlight. • Animals get their energy from the food they eat. • The flow of energy from organism to organism is called a food chain. • Food chains start with the sun. • Plants trap the sun’s energy in their leaves using chlorophyll. • Plants use this trapped energy, along with carbon dioxide (from the air) and water (from the soil) to make glucose (a sugar) and oxygen. • This process is called photosynthesis. • Plants are called producers. • Animals cannot make their own food and must consume (eat) plants and animals to get the energy and nutrients they need. • Animals are also called consumers. Types of consumers • Herbivores: only eat plants • Carnivores: only eat animals • Omnivores: eat both plants and animals • Decomposers: feed off and break down dead/decaying organisms. E.g. include fungi Producers and consumers can be described on food chains. Food Webs • Joining a number of food chains from a single habitat makes a food web.