Vocabulary
Animals that live underwater breathe with these.
Gills
A giraffe's long neck helps it reach leaves shorter leaves other animals cannot get. This is called an...
adaptation
To make new living things of the same kind.
Reproduce
Organisms that make their own food, like plants, are called this.
Producers
The addition of an unwanted substance to the environment is known as...
pollution
An animal without a backbone is called this.
Invertebrate
True or False: Adaptations can be physical or behavioral.
True
True or False: Offspring are always the same kind of organism as their parents.
True
A series of connected food chains is called a...
food web
One kind of moth lives on the bark of trees. Their color is dark in areas where the trees and moths are located near factories. Where there are no factories, the same kinds of moths and trees are light-colored. What is the most likely cause for this color change?
a) diet b) instinct c) environment d) learned behavior
c) environment
A body part or behavior that helps a living thing survive in its environment is called...
adaptation
Why does the arctic fox change fur color during the seasons?
To blend into its environment.
People ________ their eye and skin color.
inherit
True or False: Natural disasters do not change ecosystems much.
False
Name a way people need the environment.
Air to breathe, water to drink, food, making shelter, make clothing
A pattern of body coloring that helps an animal blend in.
Camouflage
When it is cold out and fish and frogs rest at the bottom of a pond, they do not move or eat much. What is this called?
being dormant
True or False: A scar is an example of an inherited characteristic.
False
Name an example of a decomposer.
Mushrooms, fungi, earthworms
Name two ways human activities affect the environment
polluting, land development, mining, roads, landfills, logging
All the living things found in an area. A grassland one of these might include giraffes, grasses, trees, grasshoppers, and zebras.
community
What is the difference between migrating like geese do and hibernating like a bear does?
Migrate means to travel somewhere warmer or follow food sources for a few months. Hibernate means to go into a deep sleep during winter and live off of stored fat in their bodies till spring.
Lauren has a pet cat. Which of these is an inherited characteristic?
a) The cat chases birds in the yard.
b) The cat has extra toes on its paws.
c) The cat drinks water by lapping it up with its tongue.
d) The cat stands by the door when it wants to go outside.
b) The cat has extra toes on its paws.
What is bigger, a habitat or an ecosystem? Why?
An ecosystem is all the living and nonliving things in an area. A habitat is a place in which a certain kind of organism lives, like a rotting log that is a home to an insect. Therefore, an ecosystem is bigger.
How can fertilizers harm an ecosystem?
Fertilizers can get washed into nearby water sources, causing too many of one type of organism to grow. This plant may take over an area because it is getting so much nutrients, causing other plants to die out.