Part 2
2011
5
Grade
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Life Systems
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Grade 5 – Part 2
Contents
Chapter
Lesson
1. living things
interact
1. Ecology
2. The basic animals' needs
3. Ecosystem
4. Habitats and Niches
5. Limiting Factors
2. Animal
Adaptations
1. Adaptations
2. How do organisms compete and
survive in an ecosystem?
3. Behavioral Adaptation
4. Behavioral Adaptation ( Migration )
5. Behavioral Adaptation ( Hibernation )
6. Body Parts' Animal Adaptations
3. The Stages of Life
1. The Stages of Life (animals & plants)
2. The Stages of Life ( insects )
3. The Food Chain
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Grade 5 – Part 2
Unit 2
Life systems
Chapter 1: Living things interact
Lesson 1: Ecology
Ecology
is the scientific study of the relation of living organisms to
each other and their surroundings.
Ecology includes the study of plant and animal populations, plant and
animal communities and ecosystems.
Eco -logy
means home, habitat or environment.
means what is believed to be true about science.
Biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment.
A biologist studies living organisms.
An ecologist
organisms and
is a biologist who studies how the living
their non-living environments all relate to
each other.
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Lesson 2: The basic animals' needs
The basic animals' needs:
Animals have some basic needs in common.
The basic animals' needs are:
1. Food.
2. Shelter.
3. Right climate.
4. Oxygen.
5. Water.
6. Reproduction.
Animals meet their needs in the environment.
Lesson 3 : Ecosystem
The term ecosystem first appeared in a 1935 publication by the British
ecologist Arthur Tansley.
An
ecosystem
members
is
benefit
a
from
system
whose
each
other's
participation via symbiotic relationships.
The plants and animals that are found in a
particular location are referred to as an
ecosystem. These plants and animals
depend on each other to survive.
In a delicate balance, these life forms help to sustain one another in
regular patterns.
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Ecosystem - an area that contains organisms (e.g., plants, animals,
bacteria) interacting with one another and their non-living environment.
Ecosystems can be of any size (e.g., forest, meadow, and log).
Individual
A single organism in an environment.
Population
Individuals of the same kind living in
the same environment.
Community
All the populations of organisms
that live in an ecosystem.
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Physical environment
Non living things found in an ecosystem.
Ecosystem
A community and its physical environment
together.
Some examples of living and non-living things that make up our
environments are:
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Lesson 4: Habitats and Niches
Habitats and Niches
Every population has a place where it lives in an ecosystem (habitat).
Habitat
A place in an ecosystem where a population lives
Many different populations can share the same habitat but each
population has a certain role, or niche, in its habitat.
Niche
the role or part played by an organism in its habitat.
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Both eagles and great
horned owls share the
same habitat
Great horned owls hunt
mice at night
Eagles hunt mice during
the day
In a healthy ecosystem, populations are interdependent. That is, they
depend on each other for survival. See the following figure
Great horned owls eat mice, which may eat the seeds of one type of plant.
Since owls help keep the mouse population from getting too large , the plant
population never dies out. In a similar way, the mice control the size of owl
population. If there are too many owls and not enough mice for them to eat,
some of the owls will die. In addition the interactions of plants and animals
help keep the balance of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the atmosphere.
Plants and animals also give off water.
This is an important part of the water cycle.
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Grade 5 – Part 2
Lesson 5: Limiting Factors
Limiting factors
Things that prevent a population from growing any larger.
For example, 10 rabbits may live in a habitat that has enough water,
cover and space to support 20 rabbits, but if there is only enough food
for ten rabbits, the population will not grow any larger.
In this example, food is the limiting factor.
The environment determines the type of ecosystem that will develop in an
area. (FOR PLANTS)
Factors include:
1. Soil conditions
2. Temperature
3. Rainfall
4. Plant Life
5. Amount of Food
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There are many limiting factors (FOR ANIMALS) such as the:
1. Availability of food.
2. Water.
3. Shelter.
4. Presence of predators and natural enemies.
Food is a resource animals must have to survive
Most ecosystems have limited supplies of food and other resources
These limited resources make a competition, or a contest, among
organisms for these resources.
All organisms in a community compete in some way for resources.
Animals compete for food, water, and shelter.
Deer compete with each
other for food in winter
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In dray months, fish compete
for water in a swamp
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Plants compete for water and sunlight.
Chapter 2: Animal Adaptations
Lesson 1: Adaptations:
Adaptations:
A body part or behavior that helps an animal meets its needs in its
environment.
Every organism has adaptations that help it compete for resources or
limiting factors.
Adaptation
A female sea turtle
digs a deep hole in the
sand and lays as many
as 1800 eggs.
Life Systems
For every1800
eggs .Only 400 will
hatch and only 2 or 3
of the hatchlings will
live to become
adults.
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Limiting factor
In some ecosystems,
raccoons depend on sea
turtle eggs for food.
This limits the size of the
sea turtle population.
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Cheetah's speed allows it to
hunt. Yet cheetahs too are
limited by competition.
A pack of hyenas may chase away a
single cheetah feeding on prey such as
antelope and then eat the antelope
themselves.
This adaptation-hunting in packs- helps
hyenas compete with cheetahs.
1. In some communities, animals live together and share resources.
2. Raccoons feed on sea turtle eggs while shorebirds feed on newly
hatched sea turtles.
3. Although they share the resource, raccoons and shorebirds have
different niches in the community.
4. Many different herbivores eat the plants growing on the African plains
(see the following pictures)
Giraffes eat from the higher branches of
trees while rhinoceros eat from middles
branches
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5. Different kinds of organisms often live closely to each other for most or
all of their lives.
6. A long-term relationship between different kinds of organisms is called
symbiosis in which at least on organism benefits.
Lesson 2: How do organisms compete and survive in an
ecosystem?
Competition
The contest among organisms for the limited resources of an ecosystem
1. Because organisms might have limited resources, there might be
competition, or a contest, among organisms for these resources.
2. Organisms may compete for food, water, sunlight, or shelter.
3. If an organism competes successfully for resources, it is more likely
to survive and reproduce!
This is why there are PREDATORS and PREY!
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Predators vs. Prey
( vs. = versus )
• PREDATORS are the animals doing the hunting.
• While PREY are the animals being hunted.
Predator-Prey Relationships:
A predator is an organism that eats another organism.
The prey is the organism which the predator eats.
Some examples of predator and prey are:
 Lion and zebra.
 Bear and fish.
 Fox and rabbit.
The words "predator" and "prey" are almost always used to mean only
animals that eat animals,
But the same concept also applies to plants:
 Bear and berry.
 Rabbit and lettuce.
 Grasshopper and leaf.
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Predator
and
prey
evolve
together. The prey is part of
the predator's environment,
and the predator dies if it
does not get food, so it
evolves whatever is necessary
in order to eat the prey:
 Speed, stealth, camouflage (to hide while approaching the prey).
 A good sense of smell, sight, or hearing (to find the prey).
 Immunity to the prey's poison, poison (to kill the prey).
 The right kind of mouth parts or digestive system.
Likewise, the predator is part of the prey's environment,
and the prey dies if it is eaten by the predator, so it
evolves whatever is necessary to avoid being eaten:
 Speed, camouflage (to hide from the predator).
 A good sense of smell, sight, or hearing (to detect
the predator).
 Thorns and poison (to spray when approached or bitten.
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Cooperation and Sharing
In many ecosystems, organisms live together and share resources.
A great example of this is the African plain.
 Giraffes eat from the highest branches of a tree.
 Antelopes eat from the middle branches.
 Rhinos eat from the lower branches.
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Symbiosis:
A long-term relationship between organisms is called symbiosis.
Either
one
or
both
organisms
benefit from this arrangement.
A good example of this is the
clown fish that lives in a sea
anemone. The clown fish gets a
safe place to live while attracting
food for the sea anemone.
There are three types of symbiosis:
1. Mutualism, a symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit.
2. Commensalisms, a symbiotic relationship in which one species
benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed )
3. Parasitism one organism living on or inside another organism and
harming it.
Mutualism
The symbiotic relationship
that
benefits
both
organisms
involved.
Coral and algae
Birds and mammals eat berries and fruits while plant benefits by the
dispersal of it seeds.
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Commensalism
A symbiotic relationship that benefits one organism and doesn't harm or
help the other organism.
Clownfish lives among the
forest of tentacles of an
anemone and is protected
from potential predators
Parasitism
A symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits and the other
organism is harmed
Flea
Insects such as mosquitoes feeding on a host.
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Lesson 3: Behavioral Adaptation
Adaptations in animals are found in two ways:
1. Body parts.
2. Behaviors.
Wild animals have certain behaviors.
Most behaviors help animals survive in their communities.
Some behaviors are inherited (instinct) while others are learned
Learned behavior:
Behaviors that animals have learned from their parents, not inherited
from them
Instinct:
A behavior that an animal begins life with
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Lions are born with the instinct to kill and eat other animals.
To survive, however, young lions must learn hunting skills from
adult lions.
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Lesson 4: Behavioral Adaptation (Migration)
Migration:
The movement of a group of one type of animal from one region to
another and back again.
• Migration is a behavioral adaptation.
• Animals migrate to meet their needs.
• Examples for animals that migrate are monarch butterfly, grey whale,
pacific salmon and some birds.
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These birds migrate each year. In
the fall, they fly south. In the spring,
they return to the north to lay eggs
and raise their young.
Pacific salmon attempt to leap over
whatever id in their way as they
travel upstream to the place where
they were hatched.
Gray whales spend the summer in areas
where they can find food easily- near the
North Pole. In the winter they migrate to
the warm waters off Mexico, where they
give birth to their young.
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1. Not all animals have instinct to migrate to overcome lack of food and
cold winter.
2. Instead, some animals adapt to these changes by hibernating.
3. An animal prepares to hibernate by eating extra food and finding
shelter.
4. During hibernation the animal body temperature drops and its
breathing rate fall.
5. As result, the animal needs little or no food. The energy it does need
comes from fat stored in its body.
Lesson 5: Behavioral Adaptation (Hibernation)
)
Hibernation
• A period when an animal goes into a long, deep sleep.
1. Examples of hibernating animals are bears, ground squirrel, some kinds
of bats.
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Lesson 6: Body Parts' Animal Adaptations
)
Body Parts' Animal Adaptations
1. Birds have beaks that help them get food from their
environment.
2. The feet shape also adapted to meet the bird needs.
3. Feather keep birds warm and dry and help them fly.
4. Another adaptation for flying is hollow bones.
5. Some flightless birds have adaptation for running (e.g. the ostrich's
long legs).
6. Some water birds, like penguins don't fly or run, their
body parts have adaptations for moving in water.
Swimming
Filtering
Swimming / Walking
Probing
Walking
Catching Insects
Perching
Cracking Seeds
Seizing Prey
Tearing Meat
Climbing
Drilling Holes
Bird Beaks and Feet
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Body Coverings
 Every animal's body covering is an adaptation that helps the animal
survives.
The hedgehog rolls into a ball
when it is in danger.
The hairs of a polar bear's thick fur are
actually clear, not white. They allow
light to get to the bear's dark skin,
helping the bear stay warm in the cold
Arctic climate.
The scales of an iguana are an
adaptation that protects it from
enemies and helps keep it from
losing body moisture.
Dolphins and other marine
mammals have little hair on
their bodies. This helps them
glide through water easily.
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Camouflage
An animal's color or pattern that helps
it blends in with its surroundings.
Camouflage helps some animals compete for limited food resources
This spider blends with its
environment. It is hard to be
seen by predators
This insect looks exactly like
its background.
Mimicry
An adaptation in which an animal
looks very much like another animal.
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Example of mimicry is viceroy butterfly which looks like the monarch
butterfly. Monarch butterfly tastes bad to birds. Birds often mistake the
viceroy for monarch and leave it alone
Viceroy butterfly
Monarch butterfly
Chapter 3: The Stages of Life
Lesson 1: The Stages of Life (animals & plants)
Life span
The length of life of an individual or the average length of life in a
population or species. (A lifetime)
 Most organisms grow and mature through several distinct stages of
life.
 These
stages
make
up
the
organism's life cycle.
 All life cycles begin with a young
organism.
 Some organisms are born alive
such as mammals.
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 Others develop in eggs and then
hatch.( e.g. birds, reptiles)
 Still others sprout from spores or seeds.

Depending on its type, a young organism spends from a few minutes
to many years growing and developing. When an organism reaches
its final form and size, it is an adult.
 During the adult stage, an organism is able to reproduce.
 Some organisms reproduce during their lives.
 Others stop reproducing as they get older.
 Many organisms change a lot as they mature.
 But the young of some animals are identical to the adult, except in
size. Then they grow larger but with the same body features such as
shape.
This kind of growth is called direct development.
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Lesson 2: The Stages of Life (insects)
1. Incomplete metamorphosis
 Some animals, especially insects, have one kind of body when they
are young and a very different kind of body when they are adults.
 The changes in the shape or characteristics of an organism's body
as it grows and matures are called metamorphosis.
 The life cycles of many insects include metamorphosis.
Some insects, such as grasshopper and cockroaches go through
incomplete metamorphosis which has just three stages of development
(egg, nymph, and adult).
Incomplete Metamorphosis in Grasshopper
Nymph
Egg
The nymph looks like an
adult, except that it has
no wings.
Adult
The adult grasshopper has fully
developed wings. Females lay hundreds
of eggs.
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2. Complete metamorphosis
 Some animals go through complete metamorphosis.
 Animals whose bodies change dramatically during their life cycles
go through complete metamorphosis (e.g. beetles and butterfly).
 Complete metamorphosis includes four distinct stages (egg, larva,
pupa, and adult).
Complete Metamorphosis in Lady Beetle
Larva
Pupa
Eggs
Adult
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Lesson 3: The Food Chain
 Every living thing needs energy in order to live. Every time animals
do something (run, jump) they use energy to do so.
 Animals get energy from the food they eat, and all living things get
energy from food.
 Plants use sunlight, water and nutrients to get energy (in a process
called photosynthesis).
 Energy is necessary for living beings to grow.
 A food chain shows how each living thing gets food, and how
nutrients and energy are passed from creature to creature.
 Food chains begin with plant-life, and end with animal-life.
 Some animals eat plants, some animals eat other animals.
 A simple food chain could start with grass, which is eaten by rabbits.
Then the rabbits are eaten by foxes.
 A food chain is the sequence of who eats whom in a biological
community (an ecosystem) to obtain nutrition.
 A food chain starts with the primary energy
source, usually the sun or boiling-hot deep sea
vents.
 The next link in the chain is an organism that
makes its own food from the primary energy
source.
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an example is photosynthetic plants that make their own food from
sunlight (using a process called photosynthesis) .These are called
autotrophs or primary producers.
 Next come organisms that eat the
autotrophs- these organisms are
called herbivores or primary
consumers -- an example is a rabbit
that eats grass.
 The next link in the chain is animals
that eat herbivores - these are called
secondary consumers -- an example is
a snake that eats rabbits.
 In turn, these animals are eaten by
larger predators -- an example is an owl
that eats snakes.
 The tertiary consumers are eaten by
quaternary consumers -- an example is a hawk that eats owls.
 Each food chain ends with a top predator and animal with no natural
enemies (like an alligator, hawk, or polar bear).
 The arrows in a food chain show the flow of energy, from the sun or
hydrothermal vent to a top predator.
 As the energy flows from organism to organism, energy is lost at
each step.
 An organism "lower" in food chain is a source of food energy (is
consumed) for another organism on a "higher" level.
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
Some organisms' position in the food chain can vary as their diet
differs. For example, when a bear eats berries, the bear is
functioning as a primary consumer.
 When a bear eats a plant-eating rodent, the bear is functioning as a
secondary consumer. When the bear eats salmon, the bear is
functioning as a tertiary consumer (this is because salmon is a
secondary consumer, since salmon eat herring that eat zooplankton
that eat phytoplankton, that make their own energy from sunlight).
 Think about how people's place in the food chain varies - often within
a single meal.
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