Science 4th grade Saint George's School

Unit 2 - Environments and Feeding Relationships

Unit 2 - Environments and Feeding Relationships

Subtopics 1. Environment 2. Adaptations to daily changes 3. Adaptations to seasonal changes 4. Adaptations to feeding 5. Food chains and Food webs 6. Species 7. Inherited vs. Environmental Variation

1. Environment
Environment: The surroundings and conditions in which an organism lives. The same type of environment can be found in different regions of the world.

The conditions that describe an environment can be sunlight, water, soil, rock, air and other organisms.
Some examples of environments are: dessert, rainforest, polar, ponds, sea, beach, woodlands, grasslands.

Desert Environment
A dessert is an environment that receives very little rainfall. This means it is very dry.

Rainforest Environment
A rainforest is an environment that receives a lot of rainfall. This means it is very wet.

Polar Environment
A polar environment is very cold. These areas either receive sunlight or shade 24 hours a day because of the earth's tilt.

Other environments
Pond Sea

Forest

Grassland

Habitat
A habitat is the specific place where an organism lives. It is like the organism's address.
An organism may live in only some small regions of an entire environment. This map shows where the African elephant lives.

Adaptation
All organisms are adapted to the conditions in their habitats. An adaptation is a characteristic or feature that an organism has that help it survive in their habitat and environment. The Saguaro cactus has many characteristics that help it survive in the dessert. This characteristics are called adaptations.

Daily changes in a habitat

2. Adaptations to daily changes in a habitat

The conditions in any environment vary during a day. Organisms are adapted to these daily changes in their habitats. There are 2 main daily changes: a. Day and Night: During the day there plenty of light and it is warm. During the night it is dark and cold.
Organisms that are active during the day and sleep at night are called diurnal. Squirrels are diurnal animals that live in forests (woodland environment).

a. Day and Night

Organisms that are active during the night and sleep during the day are called nocturnal. Owl are nocturnal woodland animals.
Exercise (4 min): Write down 2 adaptations that help the owl hunt at night.

a. Day and Night

Owl's adaptations to nocturnal life: 1.Hearing sense developed: face with shape of satellite disc improves hearing capacities to hunt prey at night. 2.Sensitive sight: Owls have some of the largest eyes relative to its skull of all birds. 3.Big wings to glide without making noise and be undetected by their prey. 4.The owl kills its prey by using its talons to crush the skull and knead the body. Owls have some of the biggest talons.

b. Tides
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the Moon. Tides are a daily change in beach environments.

b. Tides
Tides occur usually twice a day but the time and intensity vary depending on the moon and the location of the beach. Beach organisms need are adapted to the tides.

1. When the tide is in (high tide): All organisms are underwater.

2. When the tide is changing: The water pushes or pulls all the organisms. 3. When the tide is out (low tide): All organisms are exposed to air and they may dry out.

b. Tides
Adaptations of seaweed of tidal regions:
1. When the tide is high seaweed float so that it can receive sun and make photosynthesis. 2. Seaweed like the rocky shores because the solid rocks give them something to attach to during changing tides. 3. Algae loses its moisture during low tide but yet it remains alive due to the slimy and gooey exterior.

Season changes in a habitat

Sprin g

Summer

Autumn

Winter

3. Adaptations to seasonal changes in a habitat

The conditions in any environment vary during the year. Organisms are adapted to these seasonal changes in their habitats. Winter: During winter there is less sunlight, this means that plants make less food during winter.

Plant winter adaptations

Some plants are adapted to winter by loosing its leaves and shutting down during this season. Oak tree. Some plants survive winter as bulbs. Daffodils flower.
Some plants are adapted to winter by producing seeds that survive winter. Poppy flower.

Animal winter adaptations

Write down 3 different ways that different animals adapt to winter conditions.

Animal winter adaptations

Some animals get fatter before winter and grow thicker fur for isolation. Red deer. Some animals hibernate, deep sleep state, during winter. Rodents - groundhog. Some animals migrate to a new habitat during winter. Goose.
Some animals change its camouflage to white colours during winter

Season changes in a habitat

Rainy season

Dry season

Orinoco grasslands in Colombia and Venezuela are flooded during rainy season and dried out during the dry season. Organisms are adapted to the flooded and dry times of their environment.