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What Are Extreme
Environments?
9.1
TRY THIS: DESCRIBE YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Skills Focus: observing, inferring
How hot does it get in summer where you live? How cold does it get
in winter? Your answers describe the extremes of temperature in your
environment. But what would happen if the temperatures became even
more extreme?
1. Describe how hotter or colder temperatures would affect the way you
live. Think about the effect on your outdoor activities, the clothing you
would need, and the home you live in.
2. What would you and your community have to do to adapt to the
changes in temperature?
You are surrounded by your environment. Other living organisms,
non-living objects, such as soil and buildings, and even the weather
all make up your environment. To survive, you, like all living things,
must be able to meet your basic needs for water, food, air, and shelter
within your environment (Figure 1).
Figure 1
Winter can be severe in the northern town of Stewart and other parts of British
Columbia. However, people survive extreme temperatures by building structures that
withstand the cold and snow, and by wearing protective clothing.
NEL
9.1
What Are Extreme Environments?
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LEARNING TIP
Review this section to
identify the main ideas.
Can you identify the most
important idea? If anything
isn’t clear to you, reread
the section.
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Some environments have very harsh conditions. They may be
extremely hot or extremely cold, there may be no water, or there may
be no air to breathe. These extreme conditions make it difficult,
and in some cases impossible, for humans to survive. For humans,
these are extreme environments.
However, not all organisms need the same living conditions as
humans do. Living things are found everywhere on Earth—in the
hottest deserts, in the coldest oceans, and even deep inside Earth!
There are heat-loving bacteria that thrive in hot springs and
volcanoes. Many organisms, including fish and giant squid (Figure 2),
are found in the deep sea. In fact, scientists recently discovered 38 000
new species of ocean life in just four years of research!
Figure 2
Scientists recently discovered a giant squid,
nicknamed "Colossal Squid," living deep in
the ocean. It weighed over 150 kg and was
over 5 m long.
These organisms can survive conditions that are considered
extreme for humans because they have adapted to the conditions.
Obviously, to these organisms, the conditions are not extreme, but
are just right.
CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
1. What makes an environment extreme?
2. What conditions would make life difficult or impossible for humans to
survive?
3. Why can some bacteria live in volcanic vents?
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Unit C
Exploring Extreme Environments
NEL