THE LIVING ORGANISMS AND THEIR SURROUNDING

ORGANISM

An organisms an individual living being whether a plant, an animal or a human being.

Characteristics of living organism

• Made up of cells
• The ability to reproduce
• Growth and development
• Movement
• Reproduction

ENVIRONMENT

Everything that we see surroundings us; living, non-living, physical, chemical etc. is called environment.

Biotic and Abiotic Component of Ecosystem

• Biotic component: The biotic factors refer to all living beings present in an ecosystem. such as plants, animals, and bacteria.
• Abiotic Component: The abiotic factor refers to all non-living components.  Such as water, soil and atmosphere.

ECOSYSTEM

In the word “ecosystem”, “eco” means environment and “system” refers to connected processes or elements.

Ecosystem are made up of both biotic and abiotic environments.

Habitat

The region or place where an organism lives is termed as its habitat.

Types of habitats

1.Terrestrial habitat

2.Aquatic habitat

• Terrestrial habitat: Animals and plants which live on land are called terrestrial animals and plants.

Terrestrial habitat is further classified into:

• Forests
• Grass lands
• Deserts
• Mountains
• Polar Region

Forest: Forests are one of the most common types of terrestrial habitats. Organisms living in the forest depend upon abiotic factors like air, sunlight and water.

Grasslands: Grassland habitats are characterized by the presence of grasses, herbs and other types of plants. Animals like elephants, cheetahs and deer’s lives in grasslands.

Deserts: A desert is the land made up of sandy soil. Due to the sandy soil the temperature of the desert area is high in the daytime and drop at night. The adaptation of animals and plants in the desert is difficult due to the shortage of water.

• Desert plants: aloe vera, cactus
• Desert animals: camels, lizards

Mountains:  These areas are rocky and dry. The mountains habitat animals are adapted to various conditions like inadequate oxygen, food harsh whether due to low temperature.

Polar region: These regions are covered with high snowy peaks. The animals are mostly carnivores and have thick fur to survive in cold.

• Polar region animals: penguin, reindeers
• Polar region plants: cotton grass, Antarctic lichens
• Aquatic habitat: It refers to the region covered with water where plants and animals survive

Aquatic habitat is further classified into;

• Freshwater habitat
• Marine habitat
• Coastal habitat

• Freshwater habitat: These are the water bodies filled with fresh water. These include rivers, ponds and lakes.
• Marine habitat: Marine habitats include oceans and seas, which both have saltwater. Different varieties of organisms exist in marine habitat.
• Coastal habitat:  Coastal habitats are where the land and ocean meet. Like mangrove forest, sandy shores.

Adaptation

The presence of specific features or certain habits which enables a plant or an animal to live in its surrounding is called adaptation.

Respiration

The process of breathing in oxygen and breathing out carbon dioxide.

Excretion:

The process of getting rid of material such as solid waste or urine from the body.

Stimuli

The changes in the surrounding to which living things respond are called stimuli.

Response to stimuli

 Living beings respond to changes in their surroundings.

The factors like food, water, light, gravitational force etc., are stimuli to which plant and animal respond.

EXAM RELATED QUESTION

1.List two examples of biotic and abiotic components?

Ans. Biotic components: Animals, birds and plants

Abiotic components: Water, air and sunlight

2.Define ecology?

Ans. The study of relationship between living organisms and their surroundings is called ecology.

3.Name any four single celled living organisms?

Ans. Amoeba, paramecium, Bacteria and yeast.

4.What do you mean by vegetative propagation in plants?

Ans. It is a process of growing plants from any vegetative part of plant like leaf, stem, root etc.

5.Explain the features of fish which help it to adapt to live in water?

Ans.1. The shape of the fish is streamlined which help in the movement.

2. They have gills which help in breathing in water.
3. They have flat fins and tails which help them to swim, change direction and to keep the body balanced

6. Frog can live both on land and in water, name the adaptation seen in these animals.

Ans. Frogs have strong back legs that help them in leaping and catching their prey. They have webbed feet which help them to swim in water.

7. Explain the adaptation of trees to live in water region.

Ans. 1.The shape of the tree is normally cone type.

2. Branches are sloping.
3. The leaves of these trees are needle like.

8 .Differentiate between xerophytes and hydrophytes.

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