HAPTERS

Living things in their environment

Ecology
• Ecology- study of living things in their habitats.
• Habitat- is the home of a plant or animal (place where it is adapted to live in)
• Community- large number of living things sharing the same habitat (community of
living things)
Environment
• Environment of a living thing is everything that could affect it’s survival.
• Abiotic factors (Factors due to non-living parts of the environment) - temperature,
oxygen levels, terrain, weather, water, amount of light, and more.
• Biotic factors (Factors due to living things in the environment) - Amount of food,
number of predators, number of offspring, and more.
Ecosystem
• Made up of community of living things and the abiotic factors.
• Living things and the abiotic factors are interdependent.
• Most ecosystems are self-sustaining, and only require sunlight as a form of energy -
unless there is something that throws off the balance of the ecosystem.
Biodiversity
• Term used to describe the number and variety of species in an ecosystem.
• Most ecosystems have a high biodiversity- meaning they have a large number of
different species showing great variety of features.
• If the balance in abiotic and biotic factors is disrupted, it can cause some plants and
animals to die out- leading to loss of biodiversity.
Food chains
Is the sequence of energy transfer between organisms through feeding.
• Producers- organisms that make their own food; plants.
• Consumers- organisms that eat the food.
• Herbivores- organisms that consume only plants.
• Carnivores- organisms that consume other organisms.
• Omnivores- organisms that consume both plants and other organisms.

•
Recording plant life
Quadrat
• Is a square frame.
• It is placed over an area of ground and the plants inside are recorded.
• The are of ground should not be chosen carefully- as it may not give a fair record of
plant life in that habitat, and instead supports the idea that ecologists have worked on beforehand.
• To make it a fair test- the quadrat is thrown and is allowed to land anywhere at
random.
• The number of plants of each species is recorded.
• The method is repeated a set number of times.
• The results of the random samples are used to build up a record of how the plants
are distributed.
• The average is calculated to determine how many kinds of plants are in the area.
Transect
• A line transect is used to investigate plant life along a bank/footpath/hedge in the
habitat.
• The position of the transect is chosen carefully so that it cuts across the feature
being examined.
 • It’s made by stretching a length of rope along the line to be examined.
• The number of plant species are recorded along the line.
• At certain intervals, abiotic factors such as pH, temperature or dampness of the soil
is measured when necessary.
Collecting small animals
Soil and leaf filter
• A Tullgren funnel is used to collect small animals from a sample of soil or leaf litter.
• A funnel is placed over a beaker that has water.
• The opening of the funnel is covered with gauze - and the sample is placed over this.
• A strip of paper is placed around the sample, to prevent the animals escaping.
• A warm lamp is turned on above this setup.
• The warmth from the lamp dries out the top layers of the sample, so the
animals/insects move down to the moister regions - where they fall through the gauze, and into the
water.\
Pitfall trap
• Is used to collect small animals that move over the surface of the ground.
• A hole is dug in the soil to hold two container - like yoghurt pots and are arranged
one inside the other.
• The containers are placed inside the whole.
• A few small leaves are placed inside the container, and 4 pebbles are placed on the
surface of the soil.
• A piece of wood is balanced over the 4 pebbles, which allows for a tiny gap for small
animals to crawl through.
• The wood makes a roof to keep out the rain and keeps out bigger predators.
• The small animals fall in and cannot climb out due to the smooth walls of the
container - and remain under the leaves until the trap is emptied.
Sweep net
• Is used to collect small animals from leaves and flower stems of herbaceous plants,
especially grasses.
• The lower edge of the net is held slightly forward of the upper edge to scoop out the
animals as the net is swept through the plants.
• After one or two sweeps, the wide opening of the net should be closed by hand, and
the contents emptied into a plastic jar.
• Here they can be identified, and counted, and then replaced back in nature.
Sheet and Beater
• Is used to collect small animals in bushes or trees.
• A sheet is et up below the branches, and the branch is shaken or hit with another
stick - hard enough to cause the animals to fall onto the sheet, but gentle enough to not cause any
harm to the tree.
Pooter
• Is used to collect extremely tiny animals from leaves, or the soil.
• Tube A of the pooter is placed close to the animal and air is sucked out of Tube B.
• This creates low air pressure in the pooter, so air rushes in through Tube A, carrying
the insect with it.
Pond animals
• Drag Net- used to collect organisms from the bottom of the pond.
• Pond-Dipping Net- used to sweep through vegetation around the edge of the pond
to collect animals living on the leaves and stems.
• Plankton Net- is pulled through open water to collect small animals swimming there
into a specimen tube.
Plant adaptations to daily changes
Flowers
• Some plants open their flowers during the day, and close them at night.
• The flowers are open during the day- and this allows the insects to rink nectar and
pollinate.
• They close at night to protect the delicate structures inside the petals from low
temperatures, and the dew.
• The cold can freeze parts of the flower, and the dew can wash the pollens off the
stamen- which prevents the flower from reproducing.
• The night-scented stock is an unusual plant. It’s flowers open only during the night-
so that moths can visit them, and pollinate.
Leaves
• Leaves not only provide food, but provide a large surface are for the evaporation of
water.
• During the day, the leaves are horizontal and spread out - to allow maximum light to
enter the cells, increasing rate of photosynthesis and food production.
• This also increases the surface area of the leaf, so a lot of water evaporates out of
the leaf. To make up for the loss of water, the roots quickly take in water from the soil.
• During the night, some leaves roll up or shrink to prevent more water leaving the
leaf.
• Leaves can control this by moving water in and out of the cells.
• More water in cells- plant swells up- leaf and stem is erect.
• Lesser water in cells- plant is flaccid and sags- leaf curls up.
Animal adaptations to daily changes
Owls
• Is a nocturnal bird.
• It has large eyes that are sensitive to the low intensity of light at night time - this
allows it to see well in the dark, and fly safely.
• The edges of the owl’s wings are shaped to move noiselessly in the air - so it’s prey
cannot sense the owl when it attacks.
• It has sharp talons on it’s toes that acts a dagger to kill it’s prey quickly, and carry it
away to eat in a safer place.
Bats
• Bats do not use their eyes, but have a highly developed echo-location system.
• They send out high-pitched squeaks that we cannot hear. These sounds reflect off all
the surfaces around the bat and travel back to the bat’s ears.
• The bat uses information from these sounds to work out the distance, size, and
shape of the objects around it.
• This allows the bat to fly safely and detect insects in the air.
Advantages of the nght
• The darkness allows for stealth, and hides the predators.
• The climate is much cooler during the night, and has an increased humidity.
• This causes water vapour to condense and form dew. This is ideal for slugs and
woodlice who have trouble retaining water in their bodies in warm conditions.
• They hide in damp spots during the day, and roam freely at night searching for food.
Animals during the day
• Many insects are active and fly during the day, as the nectar they eat from the
flowers open only during the day.
• Some insects like moths are active during the night, as the nectar they eat from the
flowers open at night.
Plant adaptations to seasonal changes
Trees and plants in the winter
 • The daffodil’s leaves die, and the plant forms a bulb inside the soil, and stays alive.
• Bark is an adaptation of trees that provide a protective insulating layer around the
woody shoot in the winter.
• In regions where the soil water freezes up, the trees can’t take up water through the
roots. These trees loose their leaves as their broad shape allows for more water loss.
• Trees that loose their leaves in the winter are called deciduous trees.
• Some trees have leaves that have lose very little water in the winter.
• Trees that have their leaves all year round are called evergreen trees.
Water plants in the winter
• Plants that float on the open water of a pond during spring and summer, don’t
remain here in winter.
• Duckweed produces individuals that sink to the pond floor.
• A water plant called Frogbit produces heavy seeds.
• The plants around the water’s edge die back and survive in the mud as thick stems
called rhizomes.
Animal adaptations to seasonal changes
Hair
• Lives in the woodlands in Europe and Asia
• In summer and spring, when it is warm, it ha a coat of short hair to keep it cool.
• In the autumn and winter, it grows longer hair that traps insulating layer of air next
to it’s skin - reducing heat loss.
Coat colour
• Stoats grows a white coat in the winter, which loses lesser heat than its darker coat
in the summer.
• Preys on rabbits, and the white coats allows it to camouflage in the snow.
• Ptarmigan has brown plumage in the summer, and this helps it hide from predators
while it nests and rears its young.
• In the winter, it has white plumage that reduces heat loss, and gives it camouflage.
• Feathers also grow on the Ptarmigan’s toes and make it’s feet into ‘snowshoes’
allowing it to walk on the snow without sinking.
Aestivation
• Lung Fish live in rivers, but when the rivers dry up in the dry season they can still
survive.
• They make a burrow in the riverbed and rest there, breathing air until rainy season
returns.
• This is called aestivation.
Hibernation
• In the woodlands of Europe, insects avoid winter conditions by spending their lives in
the inactive stages of their life cycles - the egg and the pupa.
• This means that insect-eating animals like the bat, have nothing to eat all winter.
• So the bats store up fat in the autumn, and this gives them enough energy to keep
them alive when they are in a continuous state of sleep in the winter.
• This is called hibernation.
Migration
• Some birds like the swallow spend winter eating insects in Africa.
• They return to Europe in the spring.
• When an animal moves it’s location as the seasons change it is said to migrate.
Adaptations to the desert
Plants
• Deserts have a short rainy season, followed by a long dry season.
 • Some flowering plants have very short life cycles so that their seeds can germinate as
soon as it rains.
• They can then grow, flower and seed before the soil loses all of its moisture.
• The cactus (plural cacti) survives this by storing water inside their bodies.
• They have a thick waxy covering to prevent water from escaping from their surfaces,
and spikes to prevent biting into them for a drink.
• Some cacti have long roots that spread out close to the soil surface, so that as much
water can be collected as possible from the soil surface when the rains arrive.
• Some cacti do the opposite, and have long roots that go down deep to collect the
draining rain water.
Animals
• The camel can drink hundred litres of water and walk for several days without taking
another drink.
• Its feet have thick pads, which insulate it from the hot desert sand. They are also
webbed so that their weight is spread out over a larger area- this reduces pressure on the sand and
stops the camel from sinking into it.
• It has long legs which hold the body above the hot air close to the ground.
• There are muscles in the camel’s nose that enable it to shut it’s nostrils, this keeps
sand out of it’s respiratory system when there’s a sandstorm.
• It has long eyelashes that prevents flying sand reaching the eye. If it does, it has a
third eyelid to get it out- it moves side to side until the sand particle gets out. It is so thin that camels
can see through it, and often camels keep this transparent eyelid closed when walking through
sandstorms.
• If camels don’t find food, it uses energy stored in the fat in its hump.
• Desert plants have tough leaves, but the camel has strong teeth to grind them up.
Adaptations to mountains
Plants
• There are long seasons when it is too cold for plants to grow, and the ground is
covered with snow.
• Plants may spend the cold season as seeds, and sprout into life when warm
conditions arrive.
• The plants complete their life cycles in a few weeks, so that the seeds are ready for
the next season of cold weather.
• Some plants survive the cold by having hairy leaves. The hairs prevent loss of water,
and trap air to provide insulation.
• Mountain plants grow close to the ground. If they were tall, they’d get damaged by
the frequent strong winds at high altitudes.
Animals
• Birds such as the Golden Eagle and Raven visit the mountaintops in summer to look
for food but avoid them in the winter.
• Large animals like mountain goats and red deer also visit the higher parts of the
mountains to feed on the plants in summer. But in the winter, they move closer to the foot of the
mountain to avoid being trapped in the snow.
• The ptarmigan is a bird that remains on the mountainside all year. It changes its
plumage to white to blend in with the snow and avoid predators.
• Mountain hares also change their coat colour from brown to white in the winter.
Adaptations to aquatic Habitats
Freshwater plants
• Roots of land plants have oxygen around them in the air spaces in the soil. In
waterlogged mud at the bottom of a pond there is very little oxygen for the root cells.
 • The stems of water plants such as water lilies have cavities in them through which air
can pass through the roots.
• Water plants use gaseous exchange they produce, to hold their bodies up in the
water, and therefore do not need strong supporting tissues as land plants do.
• Minerals can be taken in from the water through the shoot surfaces of the plants,
leaving the roots to act as an anchor.
• The leaves of submerged water plants are thin, allowing minerals in the water to
pass through. They also have feathery structures that make a large surface area in contact with the
water - which increase mineral intake.
• Floating plants have roots that stabilize them.
Freshwater animals
• The Diving Beetle lives underwater.
• It comes to the surface and pushes the tip of its abdomen out of the water.
• It raises its wing covers and takes in air through breathing holes called spiracles on its
back.
• Land insects have spiracles on the sides of their bodies.
• When the wing covers are lowered, more air is trapped in the hairs between them.
• It is able to breathe air while it swims underwater.
Marine algae
• Billions of algae live in the sunlit seas and oceans.
• They contain drops of oil to helps them float, and long spines to slow down the
speed at which they sink.
• The more slowly they sink, the greater the chance of a water current pushing them
back up near to the surface.
• These algae make food by photosynthesis, so it is important they remain under
sunlight.
• Seaweed are large algae that live at the edge of seas and oceans and on rocky
shores.
• They also need sunlit water.
• Since they live closer to the shore, there are strong currents due to the tides.
Seaweeds have root-like structures called holdfasts, which grip the rocks and stop the seaweeds from
being swept away.
Marine Animals
• Animals that live on the ocean floor, such as the sea spider - have long legs to help
them walkover the mud.
• In the deep ocean water where sunlight doesn’t reach, many animals have special
organs that generate light.
• Light generated by living things is called bioluminescence.
• Very little heat is generated by the chemical reactions that produce light, so the cells
of the organism are not damaged.
• The light is used by the animals to recognise each other and food.
• Animals on the seashore are in danger of being swept away by water currents.
Lugworms and molluscs burrow in sandy beaches to stay on the shore.
• Limpets have a fleshy foot, which acts like a sucker to hold it in place on a rocky
shore.
• Sea anemones also have a sucker-like base that helps them to grip the sides of a rock
pool.
Adaptations for feeding
Herbivores
• Organisms that eat plants are herbivores.
 • Plant material is tough, so herbivores have adaptations that allow them to break it
up for digestion.
• Herbivorous mammals like deer, cows, and sheep have strong back teeth that can
grind up the food.
• Caterpillars have strong jaws for nibbling along the edge of a leaf.
• Slugs and snails have a tongue covered in tiny teeth, which they use like sandpaper
to scrape away the surface of the food.
• Many herbivores from caterpillars to giraffes have body colours that help them blend
into their surroundings, protecting them from predators.
• Deer hides in vegetation during the day and come out at night when the predators
can’t see them.
• Rabbits have eyes on the sides of their heads, giving them a full rounded vision, so
they can detect the carnivores immediately.
• Rabbits also have large ears that can turn to face all directions, so the sound of an
approaching carnivore can be detected.
Carnivores
• Organisms that eat other animals are carnivores.
• Spiders set web traps to catch their prey.
• Frogs flick out their tongue to catch flies.
• Many carnivorous mammals have large conical canine teeth for stabbing their prey,
and molars that are adapted for holding bones while the jaw muscles crack them open for their
marrow.
• The shrew belongs to a group of mammals that feed on insects. It has pointed teeth,
and this allows it to catch the insect and chew it up.
• Owls and Eagles have long claws on their feet called talons, which they use to grab
and stab their prey. They also have hooked beaks for ripping up their prey into smaller pieces.
• Carnivorous mammals and birds both have eyes that face forward. This means that
the field of vision in each eye overlap one another. This allows them to judge how far away their prey
is.
• They need to be able to judge distance extremely accurately to pounce on their prey.
Else they will starve.
• As herbivorous mammals are constantly on the lookout for their predators,
carnivores have to be stealthy.