1. Habitats and Adaptations
How do adaptations help living things survive in different habitats?

2. Life in the Desert Objectives
Life in the Desert
Objectives
Explain that a desert habitat has a dry climate and dry, sandy soil.
Explain that desert plants and animals have specific adaptations to help them survive.

3. Desert Vocabulary
Some desert animals can hide in plain sight. Their body coverings blend in with the environment. Blending in is an adaption called camouflage. It helps animals stay safe.
Rattlesnakes and coyotes, among others, are nocturnal. This means they sleep during the day. They come out at night when it is cooler.
A desert is a habitat that has a dry climate. Less than 10 inches of rain falls in the desert each year.

4. Temperature and Soil
Temperature in the desert is very different between day and night.
During the day, the Sun’s heat warms the land and air. The desert is much cooler at night than in the day.
The soil in a desert is mostly sand. There is little humus to soak up rainwater.

5. What adaptations help desert plants?
What adaptations help desert plants?
Some plants can grow in deserts. Other plants cannot. Plants that grow in deserts have adaptations that help them survive with little water.
Special Roots: help take in water
Special Leaves and Stems: help store water
Spines and Thorns: protect them from thirsty animals

6. What adaptations help desert animals?
Sleeping the Day Away
Rattlesnakes and coyotes are nocturnal. They come out at night when it is cooler.
Keeping Cool
Large ears and thin bodies help animals such as the desert jackrabbit stay cool.
Blending In
Some desert animals can hide in plain sight. Their body coverings blend in with the environment. Camouflage helps animals stay safe.

7. Desert Lesson Review
Main Idea: What adaptations help desert plants and animals survive?
Vocabulary: What is a desert like? Describe it.
Critical Thinking: Buffalo have thick, dark coats. They eat mainly grasses. Could a buffalo survive in a desert? Explain your answer.
Test Prep: Deserts are habitats with…
Cold climate and frozen soil
Wet climate and marshy soil
Dry climate and sandy soil
Hot climate with lots of rainfall

8. Life in the Grasslands Objectives
Life in the Grasslands
Objectives
Explain characteristics of temperate and tropical grassland habitats.
Identify structures that enable plants and animals to help them survive in grasslands.

9. Grassland Vocabulary
Burrows- holes some animals dig in the ground to hide.
Grassland- habitat covered by grasses.
Herds- groups of animals that stay together for safety.
Prairies- grasslands of North America.
Savanna- grasslands of the Serengeti Plain.
Temperate- environment with a mild climate that has four seasons.
Tropical- environment that has a warm climate year-round because it is near the equator.

10. What is a grassland?
Grass is everything to a grassland. Grass is food for animals. Grass is both a hiding place and a shelter from the wind and cold. Grass holds down soil that would otherwise blow away in the wind.
A fox uses the grass to hide.
Grasshoppers have back legs built for jumping.

11. Two Types of Grasslands
Temperate Grassland
Means the environment has a mild climate and four seasons.
Have soil that is rich in humus.
Tropical Grassland
Means the environment is near the equator and is warm all year round.
Have a rainy season and a dry season.
Have more trees and poorer soil.

12. What adaptations help grassland plants survive?
Deep roots that work like a sponge.
Deep roots can survive fires.
Only grow leaves during wet season.
Fire resistant bark.
Thick trunk to store water.
Fire may burn the grass above the soil, but deep roots are not harmed. This means grass can grow back quickly after a fire.
Baobab trees have bark that resists fire.

13. What adaptations help animals survive in grasslands?
Many kinds of animals live in grasslands. All of them have adaptations that help them survive.
Flat Teeth
Animals have adapted for eating grass.
Burrows
Small animals can hide easily.
Speed
Animals running fast to catch prey.
Zebras bite grass easily with their flat teeth.
Prairie dogs can escape danger quickly by hiding in burrows.
Cheetahs have flexible spines that help them run fast.

14. Grasslands Lesson Review
Main Idea: What are grasslands?
Vocabulary: What word describes grasslands that are warm year-round?
Compare & Contrast: How are grasslands and deserts alike? How are they different?
Test Prep: Where are Tropical grasslands found?
A. near the North Pole
B. near the equator
C. in North America
D. in Antarctica

15. Life in the Forest Objectives
Describe different types of forest environments.
Identify adaptations of forest organisms.

16. Forest Vocabulary
Buttresses- these support a tall tree with shallow roots.
Camouflage- this allows an animal to blend in with its environment.
Coniferous- this type of tree has tough needles that help it to conserve water during winter.
Deciduous- this type of tree loses its leaves in fall so it can conserve energy in water.
Drip tips- these help leaves lose extra rainwater.
Forest- this habitat has many trees.
Hibernate- this is what squirrels do when they sleep all winter to store energy.
Mimicry- this is when a mantis is able to look like an orchid flower.

17. What is a forest? A forest is a habitat that has many trees
Tropical Rain Forest
Found near the equator
Have more kinds of living things than any other land habitat
hot and wet
About 200 to 460 centimeters of rain falls here in a single year
Temperature stays between 68 degrees and 93 degrees all year
Soil is not very rich in plant nutrients

18. What is a forest? A forest is a habitat that has many trees
Temperate Forest
Has four seasons (winter, spring, summer, and fall)
Temperatures and rainfall change from season to season
Winters are cold and dry
Summers are warm and wet
About 76 to 127 centimeters of rain fall each year
Soil is rich with humus

19. The Rain Forest The forest’s tallest trees reach the emergent layer.
Tree branches and leaves form the canopy.
Smaller trees and plants grow in the understory. This layer does not get much light.
The forest floor is dark and damp.

20. Forest Adaptations- Plants
Tropical Rainforest
Trees grow very tall and have shallow roots
Leaves have drip tips to lose extra water
Plants of forest floor have large leaves to soak up the very little sunlight that gets to them

21. Forest Adaptations- Plants
Temperate Forest
Deciduous trees- lose leaves in fall
Coniferous trees-make cones instead of flowers
Temperate Coniferous Trees

22. Forest Adaptations- Animals
Tropical Rainforest
Colors warn that a plant or animal could be poisonous
Mimicry is when one living thing imitates another living thing in color or shape
The poison arrow frog’s bright colors warn predators to stay away
Mimicry helps this orchid mantis stay safe
An iguana’s long tail helps it balance in the high branches of the tropical rain forest

23. Forest Adaptations- Animals
Temperate Forest: these animals have adaptations that help them survive the changing seasons and to keep them safe.
Eat extra food in fall to store energy for winter
Grow thicker coats in winter
Hibernate- go into a deep sleep that lasts through winter
Dormice hibernate during winter
A porcupine’s sharp quills help it stay safe
Skunks spray a smelly chemical to keep predators away

24. Forest Lesson Review
Main Idea: How are tropical rain forests different from temperate forests? In what ways are these two types of forests similar?
Vocabulary: What is mimicry?
Main Idea and Details: What adaptations help plants and animals survive cold winters in a temperature forest?
Test Prep: All of the following are layers of the rain forest EXECPT…
a. emergent
b. submergent
c. canopy
d. understory