Show ! i In these pages you’ve seen — you an amoeba a blue whale — that all life on Earth EARTH DAY 1991 mmmmm FAST FACT: needs four life support systems to stay alive Those systems are: air water soil and sunlight These life support systems provide us with food warmth energy and more These four systems also combine to create habitat Plants and animals have different requirements to stay alive These requirements are provided by their habitat the place where a plant or animal lives Look at the list of three It takes animal lives in? Let’s give you a choice of field forest or Take a look inside a community sunlight 8 minutes More than one animal lives in one habitat Rabbits for example live in fields All the rabbits in one field make up the population of rabbits The field also includes populations of beetles of daisies of grasses of robins and of mice All the plants and animals of one habitat — all the populations of plants and animals in one place — form the community to reach the Earth 6 stream Which animal lives in which habitat? Can you then name something which that animal gets from its habitat? animals above Can you name the kind of habitat that each ! There’s a community of plants and animals along the seashore that includes crabs algae dune grasses gulls terns clams oysters horseflies and more Communities share habitats Can you complete the table below? Each line has a pair of animals on it One member of each pair belongs in the forest community the other creature belongs in the pond Read each pair decide which lives where and write that creature’s name on the correct line One living creature is an organism All the organisms of one kind in one habitat are a population Groups of populations in one place are the community Now let’s go one step further The forest down the street is more than a community of plants and animals The forest is the soil in which the trees are roofed It’s the air that blows through the trees And the rain that falls on the leaves and needles And the shade that cools the soil These are called the abiotic factors Abiotic means “without life” Abiotic factors are the factors — air water soil sunlight and more — that affect the quality of life in a community g factors add to a to community become the ecosystem An ecosystem is the home for an entire community g abiotic plus the factors that affect life in that community Habitat is the home for one creature ecosystem is the home for an entire community non-livin- g Non-livin- non-livin- Forest community Creature Pond community 1 1 FROG RED FOX DEER LILYPAD 2 2 3 3 WOODPECKER MOSQUITO 4 4 DRAGONFLY SKUNK 5 5 CATTAIL BAT 6 6 OAK TREE ALGAE Here are some equations to examine: ORGANISM POPULATION ORGANISM POPULATION COMMUNITY ORGANISM POPULATION POPULATION ABIOTIC FACTORS COMMUNITY ECOSYSTEM |