A habitat is a identify where an organism makes its dwelling house. A habitat meets all the environmental conditions an organism needs to survive. For an animal, that ways everything it needs to find and gather food, select a mate, and successfully reproduce.

For a plant, a good habitat must provide the right combination of light, air, water, and soil. For example, the prickly pear cactus, which is adapted for sandy soil, dry climates, and bright sunlight, grows well in desert areas similar the Sonoran Desert in northwest Mexico. It would not thrive in wet, cool areas with a large amount of overcast (shady) weather, like the U.S. states of Oregon or Washington.

The main components of a habitat are shelter, water, food, and infinite. A habitat is said to have a suitable arrangement when it has the correct amount of all of these. Sometimes, a habitat tin run across some components of a suitable arrangement, but not all.

For example, a habitat for a puma could have the right amount of food (deer, porcupine, rabbits, and rodents), water (a lake, river, or spring), and shelter (trees or dens on the forest flooring). The puma habitat would not have a suitable organization, however, if it lacks plenty space for this big predator to found its own territory. An fauna might lose this component of habitat—space—when humans beginning building homes and businesses, pushing an animal into an area also small for it to survive.

Space

The amount of infinite an organism needs to thrive varies widely from species to species. For example, the mutual carpenter ant needs only a few square inches for an entire colony to develop tunnels, find food, and consummate all the activities it needs to survive. In dissimilarity, cougars are very alone, territorial animals that need a large amount of space. Cougars can cover 455 square kilometers (175 foursquare miles) of country to hunt and find a mate. A cougar could not survive in the same amount of space that a carpenter ant needs.

Plants demand space, as well. Coast redwood trees, like the ones in Redwood National Park in the U.Due south. state of California, tin can achieve more than iv.five meters (15 feet) in diameter and 106 meters (350 feet) in height. A tree that massive would not have enough infinite to abound and thrive in a typical customs park or yard.

Space is not the same every bit range; the range of an animal is the part of the world it inhabits. Grassland, for example, is the habitat of the giraffe, but the animal'southward range is central, eastern, and southern Africa.

Food

The availability of food is a crucial part of a habitat'south suitable organization. For example, in the northern office of the U.S. land of Minnesota, blackness bears eat mostly plants, like clover, dandelions, and blueberries. If there were a drought, plants would become scarce. Even though the habitat would still have space (big forest), shelter (caves, forest floor), water (streams and lakes), and some food, information technology wouldn't have enough to consume. It would no longer exist a suitable arrangement.

Too much food can likewise disrupt a habitat. Algae is a microscopic aquatic organism that makes its own food through the process of photosynthesis. Nutrients like phosphorous contribute to the spread of algae. When a freshwater habitat has a abrupt increase in phosphorous, algae "blooms," or reproduces quickly. Algae likewise dies very quickly, and the decaying algae produces an algal bloom. The algal blossom tin discolor the h2o, turning it green, carmine, or dark-brown. Algal blooms can also absorb oxygen from the h2o, destroying the habitat of organisms like fish and plants. Backlog nutrients for algae can destroy the habitat's food chain.

Water

Water is essential to all forms of life. Every habitat must have some form of a water supply. Some organisms need a lot of water, while others need very little. For example, dromedary camels are known for their power to carry goods and people for long distances without needing much h2o. Dromedary camels, which take i hump, tin travel 161 kilometers (100 miles) without a drinkable of water. Fifty-fifty with very little admission to h2o in a hot, dry out climate, dromedary camels accept a suitable arrangement in northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

Cattails, on the other hand, are plants that grow all-time in wet areas, like marshes and swamps. Dense colonies of these alpine, spiky plants grow directly in the mud beneath lakes, stream banks, and even neighborhood ponds. A cattail habitat'southward suitable arrangement depends on water. Imagine a pond at the lesser of a dirt-covered cliff. If enough loose dirt slid down into the pond, information technology could fill up up the pond and absorb the h2o, not leaving enough for the cattails to grow.

Shelter

An organism'southward shelter protects it from predators and weather. Shelter also provides a space for eating, sleeping, hunting, and raising a family. Shelters come in many forms. A single tree, for instance, can provide sheltered habitats for many different organisms. For a caterpillar, shelter might exist the underside of a leaf. For a mushroom mucus, shelter might be the absurd, damp surface area near tree roots. For a bald eagle, shelter may exist a high perch to make a nest and watch for food.

habitat

Carmine-eyed tree frogs live in a tropical rain forest habitat.

Ruddy-Eyed Tree Frog
The ruby-eyed tree frogs habitat is in tropical areas from southern Mexico to northern S America. Although they are not endangered, their habitat is growing smaller. If their rainforest home continues to shrink, the blood-red-eyed tree frog will not have the space it needs to survive.

algae

Plural Noun

(singular: alga) various group of aquatic organisms, the largest of which are seaweeds.

algal bloom

Substantive

the rapid increase of algae in an aquatic environment.

animal

Substantive

organisms that take a well-divers shape and express growth, tin movement voluntarily, acquire food and digest it internally, and can respond apace to stimuli.

aquatic

Describing word

having to do with water.

bald eagle

Noun

white-headed bird of prey native to Northward America.

black bear

Noun

large animal (mammal) native to Due north America.

carpenter ant

Noun

common wood-eating black or dark-brown ant.

caterpillar

Substantive

larva of a butterfly or moth.

cattail

Substantive

aquatic plant.

cave

Noun

underground sleeping room that opens to the surface. Cavern entrances can be on country or in water.

Noun

steep wall of stone, earth, or ice.

climate

Noun

all weather condition conditions for a given location over a period of time.

coast redwood

Noun

tallest, but not the largest, tree species on Earth.

colony

Substantive

grouping of one species of organism living shut together.

cougar

Noun

large cat native to the Americas. Also chosen puma, mountain panthera leo, and panther.

crucial

Describing word

very important.

damp

Describing word

slightly moisture.

decay

Verb

to rot or decompose.

dumbo

Adjective

having parts or molecules that are packed closely together.

Substantive

area of land that receives no more 25 centimeters (10 inches) of atmospheric precipitation a year.

destroy

Verb

to ruin or brand useless.

discolor

Verb

to modify from something's natural colour.

dromedary camel

Noun

large pack animal with one hump, native to N Africa and the Heart East.

Noun

period of greatly reduced precipitation.

plant

Verb

to class or officially organize.

excess

Substantive

extra or surplus.

Noun

material, ordinarily of found or animal origin, that living organisms use to obtain nutrients.

Noun

group of organisms linked in social club of the nutrient they eat, from producers to consumers, and from prey, predators, scavengers, and decomposers.

forest

Noun

ecosystem filled with trees and underbrush.

freshwater

Adjective

having to do with a habitat or ecosystem of a lake, river, or spring.

fungus

Noun

(plural: fungi) type of organism that survives by decomposing and absorbing the cloth in which it grows.

giraffe

Noun

large mammal with a long neck, native to Africa.

grassland

Substantive

ecosystem with large, flat areas of grasses.

Noun

environment where an organism lives throughout the yr or for shorter periods of fourth dimension.

hunt

Verb

to pursue and kill an animal, normally for food.

impact

Noun

pregnant or issue.

Noun

body of water surrounded by land.

Noun

wetland surface area ordinarily covered past a shallow layer of seawater or freshwater.

massive

Describing word

very large or heavy.

microscopic

Describing word

very modest.

mushroom

Substantive

mucus, commonly with an umbrella-shaped cap on top of a slender stalk.

Noun

an area within a larger city or town where people live and interact with one some other.

Noun

substance an organism needs for energy, growth, and life.

organism

Noun

living or once-living affair.

overcast

Adjective

very cloudy.

oxygen

Noun

chemical element with the symbol O, whose gas form is 21% of the Earth'due south temper.

park

Noun

surface area of land set aside for recreational use.

perch

Verb

to sit or rest on a tree branch or other elevated position.

phosphorus

Noun

chemical element with the symbol P.

Noun

procedure by which plants turn water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide into water, oxygen, and simple sugars.

plant

Noun

organism that produces its ain food through photosynthesis and whose cells have walls.

pond

Noun

small body of water surrounded past land.

predator

Noun

fauna that hunts other animals for food.

prickly pear cactus

Noun

American constitute with spiny, apartment pads.

puma

Noun

mammal, relative to a cat, native to the Americas. Also chosen a cougar or mount lion.

range

Noun

agricultural state where livestock graze.

reproduce

Verb

to create offspring, by sexual or asexual ways.

root

Noun

part of a found that secures information technology in the soil, obtains water and nutrients, and often stores food fabricated by leaves.

shelter

Noun

structure that protects people or other organisms from weather and other dangers.

soil

Noun

peak layer of the World's surface where plants tin can grow.

solitary

Adjective

alone or preferring to be alone.

space

Noun

corporeality of habitat an organism needs to thrive.

jump

Noun

small flow of h2o flowing naturally from an clandestine water source.

suitable arrangement

Noun

habitat with the correct amounts of food, water, shelter, and space for an organism.

Noun

land permanently saturated with water and sometimes covered with information technology.

territorial

Adjective

very protective of a specific expanse, especially defending it against intruders.

Noun

land an animal, human, or government protects from intruders.

thrive

Verb

to develop and exist successful.

tree

Noun

type of large plant with a thick trunk and branches.

typical

Adjective

ordinary.

yard

Noun

state surrounding a business firm or edifice.

  • Credits

    Media Credits

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    Writers

    Kim Rutledge
    Tara Ramroop
    Diane Boudreau
    Melissa McDaniel
    Santani Teng
    Erin Sprout
    Hilary Costa
    Hilary Hall
    Jeff Hunt

    Illustrators

    Mary Crooks, National Geographic Society
    Tim Gunther

    Editors

    Jeannie Evers, Emdash Editing
    Kara Due west

    Educator Reviewer

    Nancy Wynne

    Producer

    Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Society

    Sources

    Dunn, Margery G. (Editor). (1989, 1993). "Exploring Your World: The Adventure of Geography." Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.

    Terminal Updated

    January. 21, 2011

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