[Short Notes – E&B] NCERT Class VI – The Living Organisms and Their Surroundings – Chapter 9 – Part-1
[Short Notes – E&B] NCERT Class VI – Science, Garbage in, Garbage out – Chapter 16
\/
Read complete book (must) at :NCERT Class VI – The Living Organisms and Their Surroundings – Chapter 9
\/
The sea and the desert are very different surroundings and we find very different kind of plants and animals in these two regions.
\/
In the sea, plants and animals are surrounded by saline (salty) water. Most of them use the air dissolved in water.
\/
There is very little water available in the desert. It is very hot in the day time and very cold at night in the desert. The animals and plants of the desert live on the desert soil and breathe air from the surroundings.
\/
CAMEL & FISH
\/
The body structure of a camel helps it to survive in desert conditions.
\/
Camels have long legs which help to keep their bodies away from the heat of the sand.
\/
They excrete small amount of urine, their dung is dry and they do not sweat.
\/
Since camels lose very little water from their bodies, they can live for many days without water.
\/
All the fishes have the streamlined shape, which helps them move inside water.
\/
Fish have slippery scales on their bodies. These scales protect the fish and also help in easy movement through water.
\/
Fish have flat fins and tails that help them to change directions and keep their body balance in water.
\/
Gills present in the fish help them to use oxygen dissolved in water.
\/
All organisms have certain features that help them live in the surroundings in which they are normally found.
\/
ADAPTATION
\/
The presence of specific features or certain habits, which enable a plant or an animal to live in its surroundings, is called adaptation.
\/
HABITAT
\/
The surroundings where organisms live is called a habitat.
\/
The organisms depend for their food, water, air, shelter and other needs on their habitat.
\/
Several kinds of plants and animals may share the same habitat.
\/
The plants and animals that live on land are said to live in terrestrial habitats.
e.g. forests, grasslands, deserts, coastal and mountain regions.
\/
The habitats of plants and animals that live in water are called aquatic habitats.
e.g. : Ponds, swamps, lakes, rivers and oceans
\/
The living things such as plants and animals, in a habitat, are its biotic components.
\/
Various non-living things such as rocks, soil, air and water in the habitat constitute its abiotic components. Sunlight and heat also form abiotic components of the habitat.
\/
Abiotic factors like air, water, light and heat are very important for growth of plants & living organisms.
\/
Adaptation does not take place in a short time.
\/
Over thousands of years, the abiotic factors of a region change.
\/
Those animals which cannot adapt to these changes die out, and only the adapted ones survive.
\/
Animals adapt to different abiotic factors in different ways.
\/
The result is variety of organisms present in different habitats.
\/
DIFFERENT HABITATS
\/
Some Terrestrial Habitats
\/
Deserts
\/
Camels (discussed above)
\/
rats and snakes > which do not have the long legs that the camel has. To stay away from the intense heat during the day, they stay in burrows deep in the sand.
These animals come out only during the night, when it is cooler.
\/
Desert plants lose very little water through transpiration.
\/
The leaves in desert plants are either absent, very small, or they are present in the shape of spines. This helps in reducing loss of water from the leaves through transpiration.
\/
The leaf-like structure you see in a cactus is, in fact, its stem.
\/
Photosynthesis in these plants is usually carried out by the stems.
The stem is also covered with a thick waxy layer, which helps to retain water.
Most desert plants have roots that go very deep into the soil for absorbing water.
\/
Mountain regions
\/
Normally very cold and windy. In some areas, snowfall may take place in winters.
\/
trees are normally cone shaped and have sloping branches.
\/
The leaves of some of these trees are needle-like.
This helps the rainwater and snow to slide off easily.
\/
There could be trees with shapes very different from these that are also present on mountains.
\/
Animals have thick skin or fur to protect them from cold.
\/
E.g. : yaks have long hair to keep them warm. Snow leopard has thick fur on its body including feet and toes
\/
This protects its feet from the cold when it walks on the snow.
\/
The mountain goat has strong hooves for running up the rocky slopes of the mountains.
\/
As we go up in the mountainous regions, the surroundings change and we see different kinds of adaptations at
different heights.
\/
Grasslands
\/
A lion lives in a forest or a grassland and is a strong animal that can hunt and kill animals like deer. It is light brown in colour.
\/
Lions have long claws in their front legs that can be withdrawn inside the toes.
\/
It’s light brown colour helps it to hide in dry grasslands when it hunts for prey (animals to eat).
The eyes in front of the face allow it to have a correct idea about the location of its prey.
\/
Deer is another animal that lives in forests and grasslands.
It has strong teeth for chewing hard plant stems of the forest.
\/
A deer needs to know about the presence of predators ( animals like lion that make it their prey ) in order to run away from them and not become their prey.
\/
It has long ears to hear movements of predators.
The eyes on the side of its head allow it to look in all directions for danger.
\/
The speed of the deer helps them to run away from the predators.
\/
Share it on Facebook/Twitter/G+
\/
More Coming Soon…
It is very useful