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How environments change and what happens to the plants and animals that live there.
Imagine you woke up tomorrow and your entire neighborhood was covered in a deep, blue ocean. Where would you go, and how would you find your lunch?
An animal's home is called its habitat. Sometimes, a habitat changes very fast. A forest fire can burn down trees in hours, or a flood can cover the ground in water instantly. Other changes are slow. A drought happens when there is no rain for a long time, making the land dry over many months. Whether fast or slow, these changes mean the plants and animals living there must face a big challenge to stay alive.
Quick Check
What is the difference between a flood and a drought in terms of time?
Answer
A flood is a fast change that happens quickly, while a drought is a slow change that happens over a long time.
When a habitat changes, living things have three main paths. First, they can migrate, which means moving to a new place. Second, they can adapt, which means changing their behavior or having traits that fit the new environment. If they cannot move or adapt, they may not survive. Over a very long time, if a whole species cannot handle the change, they might become extinct, meaning they are gone forever.
Imagine a pond where frogs live. Suddenly, the summer is too hot and the pond dries up. 1. The frogs realize their skin is getting too dry. 2. Most frogs hop away to find a nearby stream (migration). 3. Some frogs might hide deep in the cool mud to stay moist (behavioral adaptation). 4. If a frog cannot find water or shade, it will not survive.
Quick Check
If a bird flies to a different forest because its old forest was cut down, which path did it take?
Answer
The bird chose to migrate (move to a new place).
Some animals are better at surviving changes because of their physical adaptations. These are body parts that help them. For example, if a grassy field turns into a snowy forest over hundreds of years, animals with thick, white fur will survive better than animals with thin, brown fur. This is because the white fur keeps them warm and hides them in the snow. Plants do this too! Cacti have thick skin to hold water during a drought.
In a forest with light-colored trees, light-colored moths are hard for birds to see. 1. Suppose smoke from factories turns the tree trunks black. 2. Now, the light moths are easy to spot and get eaten. 3. The few moths that were born with darker wings survive better. 4. Over time, more dark moths are born because the dark parents survived to have babies.
When humans build cities, they destroy the natural forest habitat. 1. Many animals leave the area entirely. 2. Raccoons stay and use their 'hand-like' paws to open trash cans for food. 3. This is a behavioral adaptation to a human-made change. 4. If a raccoon couldn't find new food sources, it would have to leave or it would starve.
Which of these is a FAST change to an environment?
What does it mean when an animal 'migrates'?
True or False: All animals can easily adapt to any change in their environment.
Review Tomorrow
Tomorrow, try to remember the three choices animals have when their home changes: Move, Adapt, or...?
Practice Activity
Look out your window. If it stopped raining for a whole year, which animals in your neighborhood would leave, and which ones might stay?