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Different kinds of living organisms are present in different locations. For example, the mountains have trees like oaks, pines, deodars while the hot deserts have different kinds of cactus plants.
In the sea, plants and animals are surrounded by saline water. Most of them use the air dissolved in water. On the other hand, there is very little water available in the desert. The animals and plants of the desert live on the desert soil and breathe air from the surroundings.
The sea and the desert are very different surroundings and we find very different kind of plants and animals in these two regions. Let us see two different kinds of organisms from the desert and the sea – a camel and a fish. The features of a fish help it to live inside water similarly, the features of a camel help it to survive in a desert.
Hence each and every variety of organisms has certain features that help them to live in their surroundings.
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Adaptation: The presence of specific features, which enable a plant or an animal to live in its surroundings, is called adaptation.
Habitat: The surroundings where organism lives is called a habitat. The organisms depend on their habitat for food, water, air, shelter and other needs.
Several kinds of plants and animals may share the same habitat.
Terrestrial habitats: The habitats of plants and animals that live on land are called terrestrial habitats. Some examples of terrestrial habitats are forests, grasslands, deserts, coastal and mountain regions.
Aquatic habitats: On the other hand, the habitats of plants and animals that live in water are called aquatic habitats. Some examples of aquatic habitats are ponds, swamps, lakes, rivers and oceans.
Abiotic and Biotic components
The living things such as plants and animals, in a habitat constitute biotic components. Various non-living things such as sunlight, rocks, soil, air and water in the habitat constitute are its abiotic components. These abiotic factors are very important for growth of plants and all living organisms.
Adaptation does not take place in a short time. Over thousands of years, the abiotic factors of a region change and animals which cannot adapt to these changes die out. Only the adapted ones survive. Animals adapt to different abiotic factors in different ways. The result is variety of organisms present in different habitats.
Deserts
Desert regions are normally very hot during day and cold during night. Also water is very scarce in desert regions. Plants and animals living in the desert regions show wide variety of adaptations.
Desert animals like rats and snakes, which do not have the long legs like camel stay in burrowed deep in the sand, to keep themselves away from the intense heat during the day. These animals come out only during the night, when it is cooler.
Desert plants lose very little water through transpiration. The leaves in desert plants are either absent, very small, or they are present in the shape of spines. This helps in reducing loss of water from the leaves through transpiration.
The leaf-like structure you see in a cactus is actually its stem. Photosynthesis in these plants is usually carried out by the stems. The stem is also covered with a thick waxy layer, which helps to retain water. Most desert plants have roots that go very deep into the soil for absorbing water.
Mountain regions
Mountain regions are normally very cold and windy with snow fall in winter in some areas. There are a large variety of plants and animals living in the mountain regions. As we go up in the mountainous regions, the surroundings change and we see different kinds of adaptations at different heights.
Animals living in the mountain regions have thick skin or fur to protect them from cold. For example, yaks have long hair to keep them warm. Snow leopard has thick fur on its body including feet and toes. This protects its feet from the cold when it walks on the snow. The mountain goat has strong hooves for running up the rocky slopes of the mountains.
The trees in mountain region are generally cone shaped and have sloping branches. The leaves of some of these trees are needle-like. This helps the rainwater and snow to slide off easily. Other mountain trees with different shapes show different adaptations to survive on the mountains.
Grasslands
Let us see the features of a lion, a deer that help them to survive in their habitat.
A lion lives in grassland and is a strong animal that can hunt and kill animals. It is light brown in colour. Lions have long claws in their front legs that can be withdrawn inside the toes. Its light brown colour helps it to hide in dry grasslands when it hunts for prey. The eyes in front of the face allow it to have a correct idea about the location of its prey.
A deer has strong teeth for chewing hard plant stems of the forest. A deer must know the presence of its predators to run away and not become prey. It has long ears to hear movements of predators. The eyes on the side of its head allow it to look in all directions for danger. The speed of the deer helps them to run away from the predators.
Oceans
Generally sea animals have streamlined bodies to help them move easily in water. Some sea animals like squids and octopus do not have this streamlined shape as they stay deeper in the ocean, near the seabed and catch any prey that moves towards them. When they move in water they make their body shapes streamlined. These animals have gills to help them use oxygen dissolved in water.
There are some sea animals like dolphins and whales that do not have gills. They breathe in air through nostrils or blowholes that are located on the upper parts of their heads. This allows them to breathe in air when they swim near the surface of water. They can stay inside the water for a long time without breathing. They come out to the surface from time to time, to breathe in air.
Ponds and lakes
Plants growing in ponds and lakes have their roots fixed in the soil below the water.
In terrestrial plants, roots normally play a very important role in the absorption of nutrients and water from the soil. Whereas in aquatic plants, roots are much reduced in size and their main function is to hold the plant in place.
The stems of these plants are long, hollow and light. The stems grow up to the surface of water while the leaves and flowers, float on the surface of the water.
Some aquatic plants are totally submerged in water. All parts of such plants grow under water. Some of these plants have narrow and thin ribbon-like leaves. These can bend in the flowing water.
In some submerged plants, leaves are often highly divided, through which the water can easily flow without damaging them.
Frogs live in ponds habitat. Frogs can stay both inside the pond water as well as move on land. They have strong back legs that help them in leaping and catching their prey. They have webbed feet which help them swim in water.
It is often not so easy to decide if something is living or not living. For example, plants are living things, but they do not appear to move like a dog or a pigeon. On the other hand, a car or a bus can move, still we consider them as non-living. Also plants and animals appear to grow in size with time. But then, sometimes even clouds in the sky also seem to grow in size. So, we must know the characters distinguishing the living things from the nonliving things.
All the living organisms need food to live
Plants make their own food through the process of photosynthesis. Animals depend on plants and other animals for their food. Food gives organisms the energy needed for them to grow. Organisms also need this energy for other life processes.
All living things show growth
Young ones of animals also grow into Adults. Pups of a dog grow into adults. A chicken hatched from an egg, grows into a hen or a cock. Even the plants around us grow. Some plants may be young and small while some must have grown big. Hence, growth seems to be common to all living things.
All living things respire
When we inhale, the air moves from outside into our body. When we breathe out, the air moves from inside our body to outside. Breathing is part of a process called respiration. In respiration, some of the oxygen of the air we breathe in is used by our body. We breathe out the carbon dioxide produced in various process of our body.
The process of breathing in animals like cows, buffaloes, dogs or cats is similar to humans. Respiration is necessary for all living organisms. It is through respiration that the body finally obtains energy from the food it takes.
Some animals may have different mechanisms for the exchange of gases, which is a part of the respiration process. For example, earthworms breathe through their skin. Fish has gills for using oxygen dissolved in water. The gills absorb oxygen from the air dissolved in water.
Exchange of gases in plants mainly takes place through their leaves. The leaves take in air through tiny pores in them and use the oxygen. They give out carbon dioxide to the air.
In sunlight, plants use carbon dioxide of air to produce their own food and give out oxygen. Plants produce their food only during the daytime whereas respiration in them takes place day and night.
We must remember that the amount of oxygen released in the process of food preparation by plants is much more than the oxygen they use in respiration.
All living things respond to stimuli
Changes in our surroundings that make us respond to them are called stimuli. Wild animals run away when bright light is flashed towards them. Similarly, cockroaches begin to move to their hiding places if the light in the kitchen is switched on at night.
Flowers of some plants bloom only at night. In some plants flowers close after sunset. In some plants like mimosa, commonly known as ‘touch-me-not’, leaves close or fold when someone touches them. These are some examples of responses of plants towards changes in their surroundings.
All living organisms excrete
All living things take food and only a part of the food taken by living organisms is used by the body while the rest has to be removed from the body as wastes. The process of getting rid of these wastes by the living organisms is known as excretion.
The mechanism of excretion in plants is a little different. Some harmful or poisonous materials do get produced in plants as wastes. Some plants find it possible to store the waste products within their parts in a way that they do not harm the plant as a whole. Some plants remove waste products as secretions.
All living organisms reproduce their own kind
Living things produce more of their own kind through reproduction. It takes place in many different ways, for different organisms.
Animals reproduce their own kind. The mode of reproduction may be different, in different animals. Some animals produce their young ones through eggs. Some animals give birth to the young ones. Many birds lay their eggs in the nest. Some of the eggs may hatch and young birds come out of these.
Like animals, plants also differ in their mode of reproduction. Plants produce seeds, which can germinate and grow into new plants. Some plants also reproduce through parts other than seeds. For example, a part of a potato with a bud grows into a new plant. Plants also reproduce through cuttings.
Living organisms move
Animals move from one place to another and also show other body movements. While plants are generally anchored in soil so they do not move from one place to another. But various substances like water, minerals and the food synthesized by them move from one part of the plant to other. Some plants also show movement in response to certain stimuli.
All living organisms die
Another common characteristic of all living organisms is that they die. Because organisms die, organism types can survive over thousands of years only if they reproduce their own kind. One single organism may die without ever reproducing, but, the type of organism can exist only if there is reproduction.
All living things seem to have some common characteristics. They all need food, respire, respond to stimuli, reproduce, show movement, grow and die. Even some of the nonliving things also show few of these characteristics. Like a car shows movement and a cloud grows in size.
In general something that is living may have all the characteristics that we have discussed, while non-living things may not show all these characteristics at the same time. But even this may not be true always.
For example, we go to buy a packet of moong from a shop. This packet must have been lying there for quite a time and the grains do not show movement or growth or for that matter any other characteristics that a living organism shows. But if we put the same seed in soil and water it regularly it will grow into a whole plant.
Did the seed need food; did it excrete, grow or reproduce when it was in the shop for many months? We see that there can be cases when we cannot easily say that a thing has all the characteristics that we have discussed, for it to be called living.
When we put our hands inside a seed bag, we can feel the heat inside. This is because the seeds respire and in that process give out some heat. So, respiration is a process that takes place in seeds even when some of the other life processes may not be very active.
Finally, it is not an easy question to answer “What is life?”
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