Habitats
A habitat is the natural home or local environment
of an organism. A habitat can be any size.
For example, it can be as small as a rock pool or
as large as a forest. Other examples of habitats
include a garden, pond, tree or desert.
Different living organisms live in
different habitats. For example, in a forest habitat
there will be trees, Owls, monkeys, caterpillars
and birds, whereas in a dry desert habitat there
will be scorpions and cacti. Plants and animals
get all the things they need like food, water,
shelter, light and mates in their habitat.
Organisms are placed into three main
groups based on their habitats. These are:
terrestrial organisms, like trees, elephants
and camels that live on land
aerial organisms, like birds that spend time
in the sky
aquatic organisms, like fish and water lilies
that live in water.
Adaptations of organisms to
their habitat
Animals and plants need to be well adapted to
their habitats. This means that they must have
features that help them to survive there. For
example, fish live in an aquatic habitat so they
must be able to move, feed, breathe, excrete and
reproduce in water. Fish that live in saltwater
need further adaptations to help them cope with
salty water. Desert plants need to be adapted to
surviving with little water, whereas forest plants
may need to survive with little light. A forest
plant could not live in the desert because it needs
plenty of water and cooler temperature:
Adaptations of terrestrial animals
Animals that live on land are well adapted
to their habitat in the following ways.
Many land animals have lungs. They breathe
Dy getting oxygen from the air around them,
they release carbon dioxide into the air.
T hey move on land by using legs to walk,
run and Jump.
hey reproduce using methods that do not
need water.
Figure 1.1: Chimpanzees are examples of terrestrial
animals in Nigeria.
Adaptations of aerial animals
Aerial animals like birds and bats spend time
fiying in the sky and then return to trees for
shelter. 1 hey are adapted to this way of living
by having8
wings for flying; birds have feathers and
bats have extensions of their Skin
hollow bones that make them light
strong flight muscles.
Adaptations of aquatic animals
Animals that live in water need to be adapted
in the following ways.
Their bodies are streamlined so that
there is little friction as they swim
through the water.
They have fins and flippers for swimming.
Some fish have swim bladders that help
them to remain buoyant.
They acquire oxygen, that is dissolved in
water, through gills.
Adaptations of terrestrial plants
Plants that live on land need to save (or
conserve) water. They survive by using:
roots, through which they absorb water
from the soil; the roots also anchor (or
hold) the plants in the soil
leaves that are adapted so that little water
is lost through them
stems that can sometimes be used to store
water (1.e. water retention stem).
Adaptations of aquatic plants
Aquatic plants are grouped together
according to where they are found in water.
Aquatic plants include algae, floating plants
like water lilies, submerged plants like those
found in fish tanks, and emergent plants
that have only their roots in the water.
Aquatic plants have the following adaptations:
they do not have large roots since they are
in water
they can have long flexible stems that do
not break when moving in water currents
they have leaves that are often large
and flat and contain air sacs, which help
them float.
The relationship between
organisms in the same
habitat
There are many different organisms that live in
the same habitat. They interact with each other
in many ways. Here are some examples:
Organisms of the same species will
compete with each other for available food
and mates.
Organisms of different species may eat
each other; some animals are herbivores
and eat plants. Some animals are
carnivores and eat other animals on their
habitat. Some animals eat both plants and
other animals in their habitat. These
animals are called omnivores.
Feeding relationships
Food chains show feeding relationships in a
habitat. Energy in the form of food is passed
from one organism to another.
algae shrimp frog heron
Figure 1.5: A food chain in a pond habitat
Frogs do not only eat shrimps, as shown in the
food chain. They can eat other things as well.
These relationships can be shown in another
type of diagram called a food web.