MODULE mod7A mod7B mod7C mod7D mod7E mod7F mod7G mod7H mod7I mod7J mod7K mod7L mod8A mod8B mod8C mod8D mod8E mod8F mod8G mod8H mod8I mod8J mod8K mod8L mod9A mod9B mod9C mod9D mod9E mod9F mod9G mod9H mod9I mod9J mod9K mod9L 7ca1
7Ca/1 Plants and moisture
The number and type of plants in an area depend on physical environmental factors. You are going to try to find out if the numbers of one type of plant (e.g. daisy) depend on the amount of moisture in the ground.
Plants need light, water and mineral salts to grow. When they are close together the plants are in competition to get these things. We say that they compete with each other.
Apparatus
- Quadrat
- Moisture meter
Method
You are going to take samples using a quadrat.
1 Take your quadrat and throw it about 3 metres in front of you. You are throwing it randomly so try not to look at exactly where you are throwing it. Be careful that other people are not in the way.
2 Count the number of plants that you are investigating. Count all the plants that are inside the quadrat and any plant that is more than half-way into the quadrat. Write the number down.
3 Press the moisture meter probe into the ground in the centre of the quadrat and write down the reading.
4 Apart from moisture, there may be other physical environmental factors that affect how many of your plants there are. Write down as many of these factors as you can (e.g. amount of light, steepness of the ground, pH of the soil).
5 Repeat steps 1-4 nine more times.
Recording your results
1 Fill your results into a table like this.
Considering your results/conclusions
2 Is there a pattern in your results? For example, are there more plants growing where there is more moisture? Describe the pattern.
3 Why do you think there is this pattern?
Evaluation
4 Other factors will affect the number of plants you found. If you did not see a pattern between the number of plants and moisture, try to think of another factor that might have caused the differences in the numbers of plants.
5 Each time you threw the quadrat you were taking a sample. Do you think you took enough samples to be sure that any pattern you can see is correct? Explain your reasoning.
6 If you did not see very much of a pattern, suggest another experiment you could do to see if the number of plants is affected by a different factor.
[ observing, considering, evaluating ]
7Ca/2 Home from home
Name _____________________________ Class ____________
1 Draw a line from each animal to the habitat you would expect to find it in. For each animal name one adaptation it has for living in that habitat.
For each habitat name another organism that lives there.
An adaptation of a stickleback is:
________________________________
Another organism that lives here is:
_______________________________
An adaptation of a limpet is: ________
An adaptation of a thrush is: ________
2 Copy and complete the sentences using words from the box.
adapted environment habitat organisms physical
Living things are called __________________. The area where an organism lives is called a
__________________. The surroundings of an organism are called its __________________.
The conditions in an environment are caused by __________________ environmental factors.
Animals and plants have to be __________________to the conditions where they live.
[ knowledge, literacy ]
7Ca/3 Homeward bound
1 Next to each of the words labelled a to j, write the word that best describes what it is. Choose from the words in bold below.
habitat organism microhabitat physical environmental factor
a rabbit _________________________ b wind __________________________
c sunshine ______________________ d under a log ______________________
e woodland _____________________ f sea ____________________________
g rain __________________________ h snow _________________________
i ant __________________________ j on a leaf ________________________
k For each of the habitats in the list above, write down the name of one animal that might live there.
______________________________________________________________________
2 The words below are all features of a seashore habitat. Circle the words which show the members of the community.
7Ca/4 Tree growth
As a tree grows, new rings are added to the outside of the trunk. Each year a new ring is formed. The rings towards the inside are the oldest. By counting the number of rings scientists can work out how old a tree is.
Some rings are wider than others. A tree grows better in some years than others. This depends on the weather. Scientists can often tell what the weather was like in a certain year by looking at tree rings.
1 How old is the tree above?
2 The tree was cut down in 2000, which two years had the best weather for growth?
3 Which two years had the worst weather for growth?
4 Which features of the weather do you think are the most important for tree growth?
5 Answer the same questions for the trees below.
TREE A TREE B
[ knowledge, considering ]
7Cb/1 Salty ponds
Can pondweed plants live in salty water as well as fresh water?
Prediction
1 Write down whether you think pondweed plants can live in salty water.
2 Why do you think this?
- Three large beakers
- Tap water
- Weak salt solution (3 g/litre)
- 60 pondweed plants
- Strong salt solution (30 g/litre)
1 Half fill the beakers, one with tap water, one with weak salt solution and one with strong salt solution.
2 Place 20 pondweed plants in each beaker.
3 Place all the beakers in a warm, light place.
4 Look at your beakers each day and record carefully what happens in each beaker.
3 Describe carefully what happened to:
a the pondweed plants in tap water
b the pondweed plants in weak salt solution
c the pondweed plants in strong salt solution.
4 Do your results agree with your prediction? If not, say what is different.
5 Plants that can cope with some salt are called 'salt tolerant'. Do you think pondweed plants are salt tolerant, slightly salt tolerant or not at all salt tolerant?
Explain why you think this.
[ observing, considering ]
7Cb/2 Presenting adaptations
At the bottom of the page there is some information about the adaptations of two organisms which live in a wood. You are going to use the information to write notes for a short talk about the adaptations of these organisms.
1 Cut out the boxes and put them into the order that you will use when you give your talk.
- Which organism will you talk about first?
- Will you talk about where the organism lives first, or how it feeds or what it feeds on?
2 Use a book, a CD-ROM or the internet to find out more about these organisms. You should concentrate on how they are adapted to where they live.
- Try to explain why each of the organisms has the features it does.
- Is there a way of linking the two organisms together by seeing what eats what in a wood?
3 Write your notes. You should think about:
- whether you will use pictures
- how you will display any pictures you use
- how you are going to keep your audience interested in what you are saying
- how you will make sure your audience understands what you are saying.
[ literacy, research ]
Only comes out at night
Excellent hearing
Owl
Has flowers in the spring
Bluebell plant
Has feathers
Has wings
Grows quickly in spring
Feeds on mice
Animals feed on it
Sharp claws
Spends most of the year as a bulb
Good eyesight
Has leaves
Lives in trees
It can't get enough light to make its own food in the summer because of the leaves on the trees above it.
7Cb/3 Adaptations for survival
1 Fill in the missing words in the sentences, using the words in the box.
adaptations cold dry fur water
Many animals have ____________________ to help them live in certain places. In a desert it
is very ____________________. A camel can drink a lot of ____________________ when it
finds some. In the Arctic it is very ____________________. A polar bear has very thick
____________________ to help keep it warm.
2 Look at these two pictures of foxes. One is a desert fox and one is an Arctic fox.
A B
a Which fox is the Arctic fox? _______________________________________________
b Write down two adaptations of the Arctic fox and explain why it has these adaptations.
c Which fox is the desert fox? _______________________________________________
d Write down two adaptations of the desert fox and say why it has these adaptations.
7Cb/4 Plant adaptations for survival
Look at the pictures of these three plants.
Plant A Plant B Plant C
1 Next to each of these areas, write the letter of the plant you would expect to find there.
Desert _____________ Flower bed _____________ Sea shore rock pool _____________
2 a What process do plants use to make their own food? ___________________________
b Name the part of each plant that is adapted for this process.
Plant A ___________________________ Plant B ___________________________
Plant C ___________________________
3 Name the part of each plant that is adapted to hold the plant in place.
4 Plants need mineral salts to grow. Plants living on land take water and mineral salts from the soil.
a Which part of plant A is adapted to do this? _________________________________
b Which part of plant C do you think is adapted to do this? _______________________
5 Explain why these plants have these adaptations.
a Plant B has spines. _______________________________________________________
b Plant C has air-filled bladders. _____________________________________________
[ knowledge ]
7Cb/5 Animals and their adaptations
The pictures below show different animals. For each one write down:
a the name of the habitat it lives in (some names of habitats are given at the bottom of the sheet to help you).
b what the environment of this habitat is like
c what adaptations the animal has to living in this area.
1 2
3 4
5
Arctic desert dry grassland (African savanna) marsh
pond river sea underground woodland
[ literacy, knowledge ]
7Cb/6 Extreme plants
1 Mountain regions have high winds and poor soils. The drawings show two sorts of mountain plants.
Gentian plants Mountain grass
Explain why:
a mountain plants have deep roots.
b gentian plants do not grow very tall.
c mountain grass seedlings start to grow on the parent plant.
2 The drawings show three sorts of desert plants.
Mesquite bush Cactus
a Explain how each plant is adapted to life in the desert.
b During the cold nights, water droplets (dew) can form on the ground. Explain why the cactus can make better use of the dew than the mesquite bush.
3 Many plants live among rocks on the sea shore. Write down two conditions that plants living in this area might be adapted to.
7Cb/7 Plants and their adaptations
The diagrams show two plants - a cactus and a cyclamen. Both plants are 10cm tall.
1 Which part of each plant carries out photosynthesis?
2 Assuming that the cactus is a cylinder, work out its surface area. The formula you need is:
surface area = 2prh + pr2
h = height, r = radius and p = 3.14.
Show your working. Give your answer to two significant figures.
3 Assuming that the cyclamen leaves are perfectly round, work out their combined surface area. The formula you need for the top surface of one leaf is:
surface area = pr2
4 Use your calculations to try to explain why a cactus grows so slowly.
5 Suggest why not all of the surface area that you calculated for the cactus can be used for photosynthesis at the same time.
6 Estimate the surface area of the cactus that can be used for photosynthesis at any one time.
7 Design a formula to calculate the amount of a cactus stem that may have sunlight at any one time.
8 Explain, with reasons, why a cyclamen plant would not last very long in the desert.
[ knowledge, numeracy ]
7Cc/1 Water fleas
You are going to do an investigation to find out if water fleas are found in different places during the day and at night. You will need to design the investigation yourself. This sheet will give you some hints.
Planning
1 What question will you investigate? Tick one box.
Where are water fleas at night? Where are water fleas in the day?
What are water fleas? How big are water fleas?
Is there a difference between where water fleas are during the day and at night?
Is there a difference between where water fleas are on Mondays compared with Tuesdays?
2 What factors (variables) could you change? Tick the boxes. There is more than one.
The amount of light The size of the water fleas
The time of day The day of the week
The temperature The number of water fleas
3 What apparatus will you use? Tick any of the following pieces of apparatus that you think would be helpful.
beaker test tubes water Bunsen burner
thermometer ruler black plastic bag hand lens
bung lamp stirring rod string
water fleas sand loudspeaker
4 On a separate sheet, write a plan for your investigation. You need to say:
- what you are trying to find out
- which factor you will vary (change)
- what apparatus you will use and how you will use it
- where you will get your water fleas from
- how many water fleas you will use (your sample size)
- how you will make this a fair test
- what you will write down for your results.
5 Water fleas feed on tiny plants. The tiny plants are nearer to the surface of the water during the day. Where do you think the water fleas will be during the day and at night? Explain your answer.
6 Write down your results in a neat table.
Considering your results/conclusion
7 Do your results agree with your prediction? If not, say how they are different.
8 a Did all the water fleas behave in the same way?
b What might your results have shown if you had only used one water flea?
c Was your sample size big enough?
9 What other factors that might affect your results did you not control?
10 How confident are you that your results are right?
[ planning, observing, presenting, considering, evaluating ]
7Cc/2 Changes
1 Plants often drop their leaves in autumn.
a Name one plant that does this. _____________________________________________
b Name one change in the environment that may cause this. _______________________
c Is this an example of a daily change or a seasonal change? _______________________
2 Most flowers open in the day and close at night.
a Why do flowers open during the day? ________________________________________
b Why do flowers close at night? _____________________________________________
c Is this an example of a daily or a seasonal change? _____________________________
3 Look at these pictures.
In summer In winter
a Complete the table below, showing how physical factors change.
Physical factor
How it changes from summer to winter
temperature
light
b A change in which physical factor causes people to wear more clothes in winter?
c How do extra clothes help? ________________________________________________
d How does a rabbit adapt to winter? __________________________________________
e Name another animal that adapts to winter. ___________________________________
f How does it adapt? ______________________________________________________
7Cc/3 Changes around a school
Some pupils at a school attached computer equipment to a light meter and a meter
for recording temperature. They left the meters outside for 24 hours. The graph
shows the results.
The scale on the left is for the amount of light. 10 is the brightest. The scale on the right is for temperature in °C.
1 At what time in the morning did it start to get light?
2 At what time in the evening did it go dark?
3 a What happens to the temperature when it gets light?
b Why does this happen?
4 Do you think these results were recorded in summer or winter? Explain your answer.
5 Look at the following information about animals that were found in the school grounds. For each animal say between what times of day you would expect to see each of them.
a Crows visit the dustbins when it is light.
b Slugs move around and feed on plants when it is dark.
c Foxes come out to look for food when the Sun has almost set (dusk). They go back to their dens just after dawn.
d Bats are only active when it is dark.
e Squirrels can be seen scampering around the grounds when it is quiet and there is sunlight.
6 Which of the animals in question 5 are nocturnal?
[ numeracy, knowledge ]
7Cc/4 A changing habitat
1 Copy and complete this table to show how some organisms adapt to seasonal changes in their environments.
Name of animal or plant
How it adapts to change in physical factor
swallow
drops
hibernates
drops its leaves
2 The drawing shows a limpet. Limpets live on rocks near the edge of the sea.
a What problems does a limpet face when the tide goes out?
b How is a limpet adapted to cope with these problems?
3 The wood sorrel plant opens its flowers at night. What does this tell you about the animal that pollinates a wood sorrel plant?
4 Some trees lose their leaves in autumn. Before the winter, the tree will make buds. New leaves grow from these buds in spring.
a What are trees like this called?
b Why do they lose their leaves?
c Why do you think the trees make buds before the winter, when they could make them in spring?
d Find out one way in which trees protect their buds in winter.
[ knowledge, research ]
7Cc/5 The changing wood
During the winter months many plants and animals become dormant. They are resting. In animals, like hedgehogs, this is called hibernation.
In winter, there is not much light for photosynthesis and water is often not available because it is frozen. Plants have to adapt to this. When the days start to become shorter, many trees lose their leaves. Other plants die, leaving dormant seeds or bulbs in the ground. These wait to grow again when conditions are right.
Bluebells produce seeds, but they also have bulbs. In spring, the bulbs can quickly sprout new leaves. These can start photosynthesising before the leaves of the trees grow and block out the sunlight. Bluebells flower in April. In early summer the bluebell plants start to die off, leaving seeds and bulbs in the soil ready for the following year.
Wood sorrel plants flower at the same time as bluebells. Unlike bluebells, their flowers only open at night. Some animals also come out at night. Owls fly out of the woods and use their excellent hearing to hunt over fields in the darkness. Bats also hunt at night. Some use echolocation to hunt. They send out a high pitched squeak which bounces back from things. A bat's sensitive ears detect the returning squeaks to work out where things are and what they are.
1 From the passage give one example of:
a a plant adapting to daily changes in light
b an animal adapting to daily changes in light
c a plant adapting to seasonal changes in light
d an animal adapting to seasonal changes in light.
2 What does the word 'dormant' mean?
3 a What name is given to trees that lose their leaves?
b Why do trees lose their leaves?
4 a Draw a diagram to show a bluebell in April, July and December. Show what happens above and below underground.
b Why does a bluebell produce leaves and flowers so early in the year?
c Why do bluebells not produce leaves during winter?
5 When do wood sorrel plants have flowers?
6 a What name is given to animals that are active at night?
b Give an example of this sort of animal and explain how it is adapted to hunting at night.
7Cd/1 Choice chambers
You are going to investigate how woodlice find their food. Woodlice feed on rotting leaves and wood.
Where are rotting wood and leaves found? _____________________________________________
Are the conditions there dry or damp, light or dark? _____________________________________
What do you think will happen to woodlice who are given the choice of either damp or dry
conditions? Make a prediction. ______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
- Choice chamber
- Calcium chloride
- Water
- Woodlice
Calcium chloride is harmful. Do not touch it.
If you spill any tell your teacher at once.
Wash your hands after touching woodlice or any chemicals.
1 Decide how many woodlice you will use.
2 Take the bottom half of the choice chamber. Put a layer of calcium chloride in one half.
3 Put a layer of water in the other half.
4 Place the mesh on top and push the lid on.
5 Add the woodlice through the hole in the centre of the choice chamber.
6 Count how many woodlice are in each half of the chamber every 5 minutes.
How many woodlice did you use? ____________________________________________________
Which two conditions are you testing? ________________________________________________
What does the calcium chloride do? __________________________________________________
Write your results in this table.
Time after adding woodlice
Number of woodlice in damp half
Number of woodlice in dry half
Which conditions do woodlice prefer? _________________________________________________
How does this help them find their food? ______________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Does this agree with your prediction? _________________________________________________
If not, try to explain why you got the results you did. ____________________________________
How might you do another investigation to see whether woodlice prefer dark or light areas?
[ planning, observing, considering, evaluating ]
7Cd/2 The lion and the hare
1 Aesop was an ancient Greek writer who lived between 620 and 564 BC. He wrote a series of fables about animals. A fable is a story that has a lesson that we can learn from. Read the story about the lion and the hare.
One evening, a lion found a hare eating some grass. He was very pleased and was just about to eat the hare when he noticed some deer nearby. Forgetting the hare, he jumped up and chased after the deer, making so much noise that the hare finally noticed him and ran away. After a long chase, the lion realised that he could not catch the deer. Remembering the hare, he returned to where it had been eating, only to find that, like the deer, it had run away. 'If I hadn't left the hare in the hope of getting something bigger,' he said, 'I could have had a meal'.
a Which animal or animals in the fable can be described by these words:
predator ___________________ prey ___________________
b Name another animal that is a predator. ___________________
c Name another animal that is prey for predators. ___________________
d In the fable, circle the phrase which tells you that a hare is a herbivore.
e In the fable, underline the name of a carnivore.
f What adaptation did the deer have to protect itself from being eaten?
g There is one thing in the fable that one of the animals does not do in real life. What is it?
h What lesson do you think the fable is trying to teach us. Tick the correct one.
Be careful if you go out after dark. Don't talk to strangers.
Take opportunities while you can. Be careful what you eat.
2 The phrases describe adaptations of predators and prey. Write the word 'predator' or the word 'prey' to show which adaptation each has.
a An animal with forward-facing eyes. ________________________________________
b An animal that is very shy and nervous. ______________________________________
c An animal with eyes on the sides of its head. __________________________________
d An animal that has large, sharp claws. _______________________________________
7Cd/3 Predators and prey
1 Look at the following animals. Write down whether each one is a predator or prey.
a b c
d e
2 For each of the animals in question 1, write down two adaptations that it has for either catching prey or avoiding being eaten.
3 Name two adaptations that many predators have for catching and killing prey.
4 Name two adaptations that many prey have to avoid being eaten.
5 a In Britain, what animal is the main predator of sheep?
b Sheep are nervous creatures. How does this help them to survive in the wild?
6 a The picture shows an elephant hawkmoth caterpillar. Suggest a predator of this caterpillar.
b Suggest how this caterpillar avoids being eaten.
7 The pictures below show two skulls. One is from a carnivore and one is from a herbivore.
a Which one do you think is which?
b Explain what you think the purpose is of each of the parts labelled.
Skull A Skull B
7Cd/4 Little parasites
Some organisms live in very special habitats, they live in or on other organisms. They are called parasites. The organisms that parasites live in or on are called hosts.
There are many parasites of humans. Headlice are insects that attach themselves to hair and feed on blood from the head. Many humans have worms, such as tapeworms, living in their intestines. This is common in developing countries. The tapeworm can absorb digested food through its skin. People can get infected with tapeworms by eating uncooked pork. The larvae of the worm live in the muscles of pigs. If these larvae are eaten, they get into the human intestine and grow into adults. The eggs of the adults leave the human's body in the faeces. If pigs are allowed into areas where there is human waste containing the eggs, the eggs may well be eaten by the pigs and the cycle starts again.
Not all human parasites are animals. Bacteria are microscopic organisms that can cause disease. Tuberculosis, a disease of the lungs, is caused by bacteria. Viruses are even smaller than bacteria. Colds and flu are caused by viruses. Athlete's foot is caused by a fungus which grows and feeds on the skin between your toes.
1 Explain what a parasite is and what it uses its host for.
2 Name one disease that is caused by a virus.
3 Fungi need damp places in which to grow. How might athlete's foot be prevented?
4 Suggest why many religions might class pork as an 'unclean' meat.
5 Explain these adaptations of adult tapeworms:
a flattened bodies with a large surface area
b a head with many hooks and suckers.
6 Draw a diagram showing the life cycle of a tapeworm.
7 Why do you think tapeworms infect many more people in developing countries than in the UK?
8 a What is the microhabitat of a tapeworm larvae?
b Describe the environment of an adult tapeworm.
7Ce/1 Garden food chains
Here are some food chains found in a garden.
A: rosebush → rose aphid → hoverfly lava
B: peach tree → peach-potato aphid → swallow → sparrowhawk
C: potato plant → beetle → mole → badger
D: hosta → snail → thrush → cat
E: peach tree → peach-potato aphid → spider → blue tit → cat
F: lettuce → rabbit → fox
G: lettuce → peach-potato aphid → hoverfly lava → blue tit → sparrowhawk
H: potato plant → badger
7Ce/2 Antarctic food web
Here is part of the food web from the ocean around Antarctica.
7Ce/3 Food chains and food webs
1 a Draw lines from the words in bold to the correct plant or animal in the food chain. One has been done for you.
b Frogs are also eaten by hedgehogs. Lettuce is also eaten by rabbits. Foxes will eat rabbits and hedgehogs. Write the names of these animals into the correct boxes above to form a food web.
c Food chains and food webs are like flow diagrams. They show how energy flows between plants and animals. Where does the energy originally come from?
d From the diagram write down the longest food chain.
e What do you think would happen if all the lettuces died?
f What evidence would you look for to show that slugs eat lettuces?
2 Write down a food chain that ends with humans and starts with grass as the producer.
___________________________________________________________________________
7Ce/4 Feeding relationships 1
You will need a copy of worksheet 7Ce/1 (Garden food chains). Use the worksheet to answer the following questions.
1 What sort of evidence would you look for to show that:
a rose aphids feed off rosebushes
b thrushes eat snails
c rabbits eat lettuces?
2 List the producers in the garden.
3 What is a consumer?
4 Use the food chains to make a food web for the garden.
5 List the top predators.
6 Which animal is an omnivore?
7 What else in the garden do you think a peach-potato aphid feeds on?
7Ce/5 Feeding relationships 2
You will need a copy of worksheet 7Ce/2 (Antarctic food web). Use the worksheet to answer the following questions.
1 Make a table, like the one shown below, to show all the organisms in the food web. Some organisms may appear in more than one column.
2 A food web is like a flow diagram. It shows how energy flows through the plants and animals in a habitat. Where does this energy originally come from?
3 Write down the longest food chain in the food web.
4 Write down the shortest food chain in the food web.
5 Humans eat Antarctic toothfish. Write out a food chain which includes this fish and humans.
7Ce/6 Food webs and numbers
1 Leaf litter (dead leaves) was collected from a single area (0.25 m2) in a wood. The leaf litter was placed in the apparatus shown below (called a Tullgren funnel). It was left for 24 hours. The organisms were then identified and counted. The results are shown in the table.
Name of organism
Number found
armadillo mite
102
centipede
2
ground beetle
hunting mite
36
spider
10
a Why do you think that the animals collect in the beaker?
b The numbers of animals get smaller as you go along a food chain. Draw a food web for the organisms.
c What do you think the armadillo mites were feeding on?
d What do you think would happen to the other organisms if all the hunting mites died off?
e Which two organisms are competing with each other?
f If all the leaf litter in the wood covered an area of 200 m2, calculate how many beetles you would expect to find in the wood. Show your working.
2 a All food chains need energy. Explain how energy gets into a food chain. Use the words producer, sunlight and chemical energy in your answer.
b Not all the chemical energy stored in one organism can be stored in the next organism in a food chain. Suggest why not.
7C Summary Sheets
Habitats
A habitat is the area where an organism lives. The surroundings of an organism are called its environment. The conditions in an environment are caused by physical environmental factors. Examples include how light it is and what the temperature is. Smaller areas in a habitat are called microhabitats.
Where you can find a certain organism in a habitat is known as the organism's distribution. A community is all the plants and animals in a habitat.
Jack rabbits are adapted to living in a desert habitat.
Animals and plants are adapted to where they live. This means that they have certain features that allow them to survive in a habitat. For example, fish are adapted to living under water. They have gills to take oxygen out of the water, fins to swim with and streamlined bodies to help them move easily through the water. Here is another example:
Physical environmental factors change from day to day (daily changes). Animals that only come out at night are called nocturnal animals (e.g. an owl).
Physical environmental factors change over the year (seasonal changes). Organisms adapt to these changes. When it starts to get colder, some birds migrate to warmer countries where there is more food. There are other ways plants and animals cope. Look at the picture to discover some of these.
Organisms are in competition with each other. Animals compete for food and space. Plants compete for light, water and nutrients (mineral salts).
Feeding relationships
An animal that hunts other animals is a predator. What it hunts is its prey. We can show what eats what on a food chain. Different words are used to describe what the organisms do in a food chain.
producer
consumers
herbivore
carnivore
prey for the robin
prey for the sparrowhawk
predator of the caterpillar
predator of the robin
top predator
grass ¾¾¾→
caterpillar ¾¾→
robin¾¾¾¾→
sparrowhawk
Food chains are joined to form food webs. Food webs can also show omnivores (animals that eat both plants and other animals).
Plants are producers because they can produce their own food. Energy from the Sun is used to help them do this. This light energy is turned into chemical energy in the producer. When a consumer eats a producer, the consumer gets the chemical energy.
Food chains and food webs show how energy flows through a community.
Animals that are predators have adaptations that allow them to catch their prey. Animals that are prey have adaptations for avoiding being eaten!
Many predators have...
Many prey have...
forward facing eyes to look out for prey.
eyes on the sides of their heads so that they can keep a lookout behind them.
large, sharp claws.
some form of protection (e.g. horns, spines or armour).
Often, animals have adaptations for eating, either in or on their mouths:
You can find evidence of what has been eating something by:
- seeing it happen
- finding animal droppings or footprints near a damaged plant or dead animal
- finding teeth marks in a damaged plant or dead animal.
We can use this evidence to draw food chains and webs for habitats.
7C Target Sheet
Topic
Targets
Before the unit
I have learned this
I have revised this
7Ca
1
Know the name of the areas where organisms are found.
Know the factors an environment contains.
3
Know that organisms are adapted to where they live.
4
Know about communities, distribution and microhabitats.
7Cb
Know how some organisms are adapted to living in woodland and underground areas.
Know some adaptations for living in hot, dry areas.
Know some adaptations for living in cold areas.
Know some adaptations for living under water.
7Cc
Know what changes happen in an environment.
Know how organisms respond to daily changes.
Know how animals respond to seasonal changes.
Know how plants respond to seasonal changes.
7Cd
Know the meanings of the words predator, prey, herbivore and carnivore.
Know some adaptations of predators.
Know some adaptations of prey.
Know how animals are adapted to their source of food.
7Ce
Know what food chains and webs show.
Know the words used to describe different organisms in a food chain.
Know what sort of evidence is needed to construct food webs.
Know that organisms compete.
7C Word Sheets
Word sheets that include new words from the 'Focus on:' pages are available on the Exploring Science website.
7Ca - Home sweet habitat
Word
Pronunciation
Meaning
adaptations
add-app-tay-shuns
The features that plants and animals have to help them live in a particular place.
community
com-mew-nit-ee
All the plants and animals that live in a habitat.
distribution
diss-trib-you-shun
The places where an organism can be found in a habitat.
environment
The conditions around a certain organism caused by physical environmental factors.
habitat
The place an organism lives in (e.g. woodland).
microhabitat
Small areas of a habitat with certain conditions (e.g. under a log in a woodland habitat).
physical environmental factors
The non-living conditions in the environment of an organism (e.g. temperature, light).
quadrat
A square frame, thrown randomly on the ground, which is used to sample plants in an area.
sample
A small part of something. If you sample something you take a small part of it. You use your results from the small part to suggest what the rest of it is like.
7Cb - Adept adaptations
No new words.
7Cc - All change
daily changes
Changes in the physical environmental factors which happen during a day (e.g. it gets dark at night).
deciduous tree
dess-idd-you-us
Tree that drops its leaves in winter (e.g. oak tree).
evergreen tree
Tree that keeps its leaves in winter (e.g. pine tree).
hibernation
high-ber-nay-shun
When animals hide during the winter and go to sleep.
migration
my-gray-shun
When animals move to different areas of the world depending on the season.
nocturnal animals
nock-tur-nal
Animals that are active at night.
seasonal changes
Changes in the physical environmental factors of an environment which happen during the course of a year (e.g. it gets colder in winter).
7Cd - Finding food
An animal that only eats other animals.
choice chamber
Equipment that allows scientists to test how environmental factors affect organisms.
decomposer
Something that eats dead plants.
An animal that only eats plants.
predator
An animal that catches and eats other animals.
prey
pray
An animal that is caught and eaten by another animal.
7Ce - Links and chains/Feeding evidence
chemical energy
A stored form of energy found in food.
consumer
con-syou-mer
An organism that has to eat other organisms to stay alive. Animals are consumers.
food chain
A way of showing what eats what in a habitat.
food web
Many food chains linked together.
omnivore
An animal that eats both plants and other animals.
pooter
A small container connected to two tubes. Used to catch tiny animals.
prod-you-sur
An organism that is able to make its own food. Plants are producers.
sweepnet
A net which is swept through long grass to catch tiny animals.
The last animal in a food chain.
tree beating
Hitting the branches of a tree and collecting small animals that fall out.