The Living Organisms - Characteristics and Habitats
This chapter explains habitat and adaptation, terrestrial and aquatic habitats, biotic and abiotic components, and the seven characteristics of living organisms: nutrition, growth, respiration, response to stimuli, excretion, reproduction, and movement.
Quick Revision: The Living Organisms - Characteristics and Habitats
- Habitat: The place where an organism lives, providing food, water, air, and shelter.
- Terrestrial Habitats: Land habitats like forests, grasslands, deserts, mountains.
- Aquatic Habitats: Water habitats like oceans, rivers, lakes, ponds.
- Biotic Components: Living things in a habitat (plants, animals).
- Abiotic Components: Non-living things in a habitat (soil, water, air, sunlight, temperature).
- Adaptation: Specific features or habits that enable an organism to live naturally in a place.
- Acclimatisation: Short-term changes in an organism to adjust to environmental changes.
- Desert Adaptations: Camels have long legs, store fat, excrete little urine. Cacti have spines, thick waxy stems, deep roots.
- Mountain Adaptations: Cone-shaped trees with sloping branches, needle-like leaves. Animals have thick fur (yak, snow leopard).
- Grassland Adaptations: Lions have eyes in front, light brown colour. Deer have eyes on sides, long ears, speed.
- Aquatic Adaptations: Streamlined body, gills, fins, slippery scales. Whales/dolphins have blowholes.
- Characteristics of Living Things: Need food, grow, respire, respond to stimuli, excrete, reproduce, move.
- Respiration: Process of using oxygen to release energy from food. Plants respire day and night.
- Stimulus: Change in surroundings that makes organisms respond (light, touch, food).
- Excretion: Removal of waste products from the body.
- Reproduction: Producing more of one's own kind (seeds, eggs, giving birth).
Chapter Summary: The Living Organisms - Characteristics and Habitats
Every organism lives in a specific habitat that provides food, water, air, and shelter. Habitats are either terrestrial (land: deserts, mountains, grasslands, forests) or aquatic (water: oceans, rivers, ponds). Each habitat has biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) components. Organisms develop adaptations - special features that help them survive in their habitat. For example, camels and cacti are adapted to deserts, while fish are adapted to water.
Living organisms share common characteristics: they need food, grow, respire (use oxygen to release energy), respond to stimuli (changes in surroundings), excrete waste, reproduce (produce offspring), and show movement. Plants may not move from place to place but show growth and response to stimuli like light. Non-living things may show some of these characteristics but not all. Understanding these characteristics helps us distinguish between living and non-living things.
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