What Makes Something Alive - Virginia Department of Education

TOPIC 3 – What is a Habitat?
Topic 3: Overall Information
Overview
In this group of lessons students will define the components of a habitat and the
interrelationship of habitats and ecosystems.
Topic 3 Virginia SOL
Science English Mathematics History & Social Science
2.2 a, b, c, e
2.12 b
2.3 a, b, c, d, e
2.7 d, e
2.8 c
2.9
2.10
2.12
2.13
2.14
2.1 a, b, c, d, e, g, h, i, j, k,
l, m
2.5 a, b, c
2.7 a
2.8 b, c
64
2.1 a
2.4 a
2.5
2.6
2.7
2.8
2.9
2.11 a
2.12
2.16
2.17
2.18
2.19
2.21
Teacher Background Knowledge
• Animals need air, food, water, shelter, and space, all in a suitable arrangement. These
items together are called a habitat.
• All living things are affected by and interact with their physical environment.
• An ecosystem is a combination of individual habitats where animals meet their life needs.
Ecosystems are usually characterized by a dominant plant community (e.g., salt marsh,
deciduous forest).
• Each organism has a niche within an ecosystem.
• All forms of life depend upon nonliving components (abiotic) of the environment – water,
oxygen, nutrients, space, and/or sunlight in some combination for survival and growth.
• All plants and animals are adapted to survive within the framework of their habitats‟ nonliving
components.
• Ecosystems are comprised of living and nonliving components that interact and are
dependent upon each other.
• Changes in the nonliving components of an ecosystem have an effect on the living
components of that ecosystem (e.g., decline in water quality).
• Climatic conditions can affect living systems. (e.g., Drought can alter reproduction of
waterfowl; spring rains can flood the shallow nests of rabbits, mice, and other prey species
and can affect the survival of predator young.)
Virginia Animals and their Habitats
Topic3