Lose…lost…lost

‘Lost’ is the past tense and past participle of ‘lose’.

Eg. I often lose my things because I am forgetful.

I lost my pencil case yesterday.

My pencil case was lost yesterday.

Stay Vs Live

Stay – remain in a place, to live at a place for a short period of time

Live – to have your home there

There is a feel of permanence to the word ‘live’ that ‘stay does not have.

Eg. I stay at my grandmother’s place during the weekends.

I live in Woodlands with my parents.

Environment

There are many different types of environment – desert, forest, grassland, tundra and estuary.

Environment includes all the factors that affect the growth, development and survival of organisms.

Physical factors

· Amount of light

· Temperature

· Amount of water

· Type of soil

Other factors

· Availability of food

· Other organisms that compete for food

· Other organisms that cause diseases

· Presence of predators

The way all the factors in an environment interact determines which organisms can live in that environment.

Ecology is the interactions of organisms with one another and with the environment in which they occur.

The factors that affects the environment are:

· sunlight

· temperature

· Rainfall

· climate

· soil conditions

o loamy, clayey and sandy

· presence of other organisms

o disease causing, prey, predator

Changes in the environment can be natural or influenced by humans.

Plants and animals in the environment must adapt to the changes in the environment or they will extinct.

Pollution is a change in the environment that can influence health, survival or activities of organisms.

A group of organisms of the same kind is known as the population.

When different groups of organisms live together, they form a community.

A habitat is a special place where the organisms live and grow together.

An animal needs food, water, shelter and a place to raise its young. If the habitat is not suitable, it will move to a better habitat.

Animals use plants for shelter and for food, while plants depend on the animals to carry their pollen and to disperse their seeds.

Food Web

The main source of energy for life on Earth comes from the Sun.

When being eaten, the energy is passed from one organism to another.

Organisms that use the Sun for producing food are called food producers.

Organisms that get energy by eating other organisms are called food consumers.

Food consumers must eat food producers or other food consumers to obtain their energy indirectly from the Sun.

Primary consumers are animals that feed on plants (herbivores).

Secondary consumers are animals that feed on other organisms (carnivores and omnivores).

The waste and dead animals are broken into smaller pieces by detrivores ( earthworms, millipedes, ants , etc)

Decomposers, bacteria and fungi, will break the waste into simpler substances.

When the number of prey increased, the predators will also increase because there is plentiful of food.

When the number of predator, the number of prey will decrease because they are being eaten up.

The factors that can cause the population to increase are:

· Birth

· Plentiful of food – more animals move into the habitat

The factors that can cause the population to decrease are:

· Death – due to illness, and increase in the number of predators

· Lack of food – animals move to other habitat.

Adaptation – Plants

Adaptation to the hot weather:

Ø Desert plants reduce the size and number of leaves to prevent the loss of water.

Ø Some plants have long roots to reach water sources beneath the soil.

Adaptation to the light:

Ø Lianas climb over other plants so that it can receive more sunlight.

Ø Plants have dark green leaves with red underside. The red serves to reflect light back into the leaf.

Ø Grapes have tendrils that cling onto support.

Ø Morning glory has twining vines.

Ø Some plants have clasping roots to climb by tendrils with disk-like adhesive tips that attach themselves to any surface.

Adaptation to getting more water:

Ø Cacti store water in their stems. They keep their stomata closed during the day to prevent loss of water.

Ø Deciduous plants shed their leaves to prevent the loss of water.

Ø Some plants slow growth to help use less water, food and energy during the hot season.

Ø Some plants have long roots so that they can obtain water from deep under the ground.

Aquatic plants’ adaptation:

Ø All floating plants have either air spaces trapped in its roots or large air spaces to help it float to obtain sunlight.

Ø They have air on its leaves to trap air.

Ø Water hyacinth has swollen stem at the base of its leaves to help it float.

Ø Duckweed leaves are small and the tiny roots dangle below the water surface.

Ø Water lily (partially-submerged plant) have large floating leaves. The flat round leaves have a waxy water repellent upper side and are able to float on water.

Adaptation - Animals

An adaptation is a way an organism’s body helps it survives or live in its environment.

Having the ability of adapt to changes in the environment is important for an organism’s survival.

Adaptations in animals help them to:

Ø Obtain food

Ø Keep safe

Ø Build homes

Ø Withstand weather

Ø Attract mates

Physical adaptations help animals to get food and water or protect themselves.

Ø Birds have different types of beaks meant for the different type of food they consume.

Ø Birds have different types of feet to suit their movement and way to get their food.

Animals adapt certain behaviours or actions to increase its chances of survival.

• Having a special appearance, camouflaging


• Moving in groups

Adaptation to the cold weather:

Ø Polar bears have thick hair to protect them from the cold.

Ø Some birds migrate to warmer places during the colder months.

Ø Bears hibernate during the colder months.

Ø Beavers and squirrels store food prior to the winter months so that they have constant supply of food.

Ø Squirrels and mice hurdle together to keep warm.

Adaptation to the hot weather:

Ø Having light colouration to reflect light, so that the animals do not take in too much heat.

Ø Desert animals reduce water loss by avoiding the heat and are active in the night

Ø Owls and nighthawks gape open-mouthed to dissipate the heat.

Ø Jackrabbit have long ears to release heat.

Ø Some animals are able to retain water in their body for long period of time.

Adaptation to the light:

• Use of echolocation by bats.
• Owls have the ability to rotate their neck 270 degree to aid their vision.

Adaptation to movement in water:

• Fish have fins to help them balance and move in water.
• Fish have streamlined body to help it move faster because it can cut through the water more efficiently than other shapes.
• Amphibians have webbed feet to help push against the water.
  
  
• Crocodiles and polar bears close their nostrils when swimming in the water.

• Dolphins and sea turtle have flippers that acts like paddles to help steer through the water.

• Water birds have special oil which does not allow water to penetrate their feathers.

Adaptation to breathing in water:

• Whales and dolphins have blowholes to breathe out air.
• Fish have gills to breathe in the water.
• Water scorpion and the wriggler have breathing tubes.
• Diving beetle and water spider trap air in bubbles in order to breathe in water.

Adaptation to getting more water:

Ø Desert tortoise store water under their shell.

Ø Gila monster and camels store fats in so that they can live off this fat when there is not enough water.

Ø Most animals conserve water by keeping cool and are active in the morning, evening and after dark.

Adaptation for obtaining food and feeding:

Ø Most predators have sharp teeth, claws and jaws that they use to eat meat.

Ø Plant eating animals have small, pointy teeth or chopping or large flat teeth for crushing and grinding.

Ø Hummingbird has small, long and hallow beak to probe into flowers.

Ø Hawk has curved beak with sharp point to rip the flesh of its prey.

Ø Toucan has long, thick beak that helps to pluck the fruit on trees.

Ø Some animals will ambush their prey and make surprise attack.

Eg. Sparrowhawk.

Ø Lions, killer whales live and hunt in family teams so that they can protect their young at the same time.

Ø Some species of spider inject venom into their insect preys, paralyzing them and dissolving them from within.

Ø Animals have sharp sense of vision. Hearing and smell that helps them to hunt for food.

Adaptation for escaping predators:

Ø Rhinoceros have horns to fight off predators.

Ø Some animals are active only at night so that it is harder for the predator to find them.

Ø Some butterflies appear to look like other organism so that the predators thought them to be poisonous or bad-tasting and thus leave them alone (mimicry)

Ø Some butterflies have eyespots on their wings to fool the predators to think that they are other animals.

Ø Bumblebee and the yellow wasps have bright warning colours to tell the predators to stay away.

Ø Some animals give unpleasant taste or poison when the predators eat them.

Ø The ostrich has long legs to flee, the mice have holes that the predators cannot enter and the octopus give off black ink clouds so that they can escape.

Camouflage is the use of colours to match the place where the animals live so that they cannot be spotted easily.

This method can be used by the predator so that they are not easily spotted by the prey when they approached.

Some preys also use this method so that the predator cannot see them easily.

Adaptation - Plant Dispersal

Plant adaptation for seed dispersal:

Plants that have flowers have many adaptations that allow them to successfully reproduce.

Plants need to disperse their seeds so that it will not be overcrowded and the young plants will be overshadowed by their parent plant.

Some flowers have smells, shapes, colours and sizes in order to attract certain pollinators.

Some flowers that depend on wind pollination often have small unimpressive flowers since they do not need t o attract a pollinator.

Dispersal by animals:

v Animals eat the fruit and either discards the seeds or pass them out through their system.

These fruits are usually juicy and fleshy.

v Animals also help to disperse seeds tat ‘hitch-hike’.

These seeds containers have hooks, barbs or sticky coating so that they can be caught in the animals’ fur.

Eg. Love grass and mimosa.

Dispersal by wind:

v Seeds dispersed by the wind are very light.

Eg. Orchids and ferns

v Many have hairy growth which acts like little parachutes.

Eg. Lalang and dandelion

v Some seeds have wing-like structure that slow down their fall.

Eg. Shorea, angsana and sycamore

Dispersal by water:

v The seeds can float on water. Eg. Water

Dispersal by splitting:

v Some plants have pods that explode when ripe and shoots out the seeds.

Eg. African tulip, rubber tree and flame of the forest.

v Some plants have pods that will split open and the seeds subsequently being carried by wind.

Eg. Pea and bean plants