St.

Francis School, Indirapuram

Science
Ch. 9 The living Organisms Characteristics and Habitat
Worksheet I Solution

Answer the following question:

1. Visit a pond and make a list of animals found inside the water.
Answer: The animals like frogs, fish, molluscs and certain insects are found inside the water.
Protozoans like amoeba and turtles, water spiders, water skaters, dragon flies, king fishers, ducks
and many other types of animals are inhabiting the ponds.

2. Name some plants which live in dry areas.

Answer: Plants like cactus, munj, kaner, accacia (keekar), seesam, etc., live in dry areas.

3. Mention a few aquatic plants found in a pond.

Answer: Water hyacinth, hydrilla, spirogyra, water lily, lotus, lemna, etc.

4. Name the places of living of following plants: (i) Cactus (ii) Hydrilla
Answer: (i) Cactus: Desert (ii) Hydrilla: Pond.

5. What is adaptation?
Answer: The change in specific features or certain habits, which enables a plant or an animal to live
in its surroundings is called adaptation.

6. What is habitat?
Answer: The surrounding where organisms survive, flourish and reproduce is called a habitat.

7. What are aquatic habitats?

Answer: Habitats of plants and animals that live in water are called aquatic habitat.

8. What are terrestrial habitats? Give examples.

Answer: The plants and animals that live on land are said to five in terrestrial habitats. ‘
For example, forests, grasslands, deserts, coastal and mountain region.

9. What are biotic components?

Answer: The living things such as plants and animals in a habitat are its biotic components.

10. Explain abiotic components.

Answer: Various non-living things such as rocks, soil, air and water in a habitat constitute its
abiotic components.

11. Why does a fish have slippery scales on its body?

Answer: A fish has slippery scales on its body. These scales protect the fish and also help in easy
movement through water.

12. Out of desert and aquatic plants, whose roots are almost absent?
Answer: Aquatic plants.

13. Give three main adaptive features in desert plant.

Answer: (i) Well-developed root systems.
(ii) Leaves are either very small or converted to spines.
 (iii) Stem is green and fleshy in some plants.

14. What adaptation of desert animals protect themselves from deficiency of water?
Answer: Animals living in hot places such as desert, for example, snakes, desert rats and lizards are
not able to get sufficient water. So these animals have thick skin, which prevents evaporation. Since
they do not sweat, they can survive without water for longer period.

15. What is the ultimate source of energy for every living organisms? Which biotic component can trap
solar energy and how?
Answer: Sun is the ultimate source of energy. Green plants are capable to trap solar energy by
leaves in the process called photosynthesis, using water and C02 in the presence of sunlight.

16. Mountain is special terrestrial habitat where temperature is very low and most of the areas are covered
with snow. Name some plants and animals of this habitat at higher altitudes?
Answer: Plants: Grasses, pines, mosses and lichens.
Animals: Snow leopards, yak and mountain goats.

17. Why do camels have long legs?

Answer: Long legs of camels help them to lift their body above the ground. Thus, they are able to
avoid direct contact with the hot ground.

18. What are nocturnal animals? Give two examples of nocturnal animals.
Answer: Some animals are active during night time. These are called nocturnal animals. e.g., bats,
cockroaches and owls.

19. Why head and snout of snake is tapering?

Answer: It is adapted to burrowing and digging habit.

20. Which plants have leaves without pores?

Answer: Underwater plants.

21. Plants in hilly areas have to bear high speed winds and cold. Which adaptation best helps them to face
such conditions?
Answer: Tall, thin and straight trunk with needle-shaped leaves.

23. Give one example of : (i) free floating plant

Answer: (i) Lotus, water lily

24. Name the respiratory organ in: (i) terrestrial animals (ii) aquatic animals (fish)
Answer: (i) Lungs (ii) Gills.

25. How do the skins of animals living in cold places protect them from cold conditions?
Answer: The skin of animals like walrus, seals and penguins are thick and protect them from cold.
Another way of protection from cold is by having thick fur.

26. How is a fish adapted to live in water?

Answer: Fish has the following adaptations to live in water:
 In all the fish, the head and tail portions are smaller than the middle portion, that is,
the body tapers at both the ends. This shape of the body provides least resistance to the
fish when they swim in water.
 Skin of fish is covered with scales. These scales are slippery, the slippery scales help the
fish in swimming.
 We have lungs, which is an organ for respiration. Similarly, fish has gills for
respiration. It utilises oxygen dissolved in water and releases carbon dioxide into the
water.
27. What do you mean by camouflage?
Answer: Camouflage is the ability of an organism to blend in with its surroundings.

28. What is known as ‘Lungs of the world’?

Answer: Amazon Rainforest is known as ‘Lungs of the world’.

29. What are blowholes?

Answer: The organs by which dolphin or whales breathe are called blowholes or nostrils.

30. Define predators and prey.

Answer: Predators: The animals which kill other animals for their food are called predators.
Prey: The animals which’ are killed by predators for their food are called prey.

31. List the important characteristics of living things, which differentiate them from non-living things.
Answer:
living things Non-living things

1. Living things need food, air and water. 1. Non-living things do not need food, air
or water.
2. Living things grow. 2. Non-living things do not grow.

3. Living things can move on their own. 3. Non-living things cannot move on their own.

4. Living things Eire sensitive. They respond to 4. Non-living things are not sensitive. They do not
changes around them. respond to changes around them.
5. Living things reproduce themselves. 5. Non-living things do not reproduce.

6. Living things respire. They release energy from 6. Non-living things do not respire.
food.
7. Living things excrete. They get rid of waste 7. Non-living things do not excrete.
materials from their body.
8. Living things have a definite life span. 8. Non-living things exist for ever.

9. Living things Eire made up of living cells. 9. Non-living things are made up of molecules.

32. Indicate which of the following are living and which are non-living: buffalo, grass, grasshopper, table,
aeroplane, pencil, bicycle, crow, banyan tree.
Answer: Living things: Buffalo, Grass, Grasshopper, Crow, Banyan
Non-living things: Table, Aeroplane, Pencil, Bicycle, tree

33. Name any four single-celled living organisms.

Answer: Amoeba, Paramecium, Bacteria and Yeast.

34. What is reproduction?

Answer: It is a process by which living organism gives birth to the next generation of its own kind.

35. What do you understand by life cycle and life span of a living thing?
Answer: Life cycle: Life cycle is the series of changes in the life of an organism including
reproduction. All the living things have a life cycle. The single cell or unicellular organisms, change
into multicellular organism. The multicellular organisms also start their life from a single cell.
Life span: All the living things start their lives from birth. These living things grow into adults,
remain alive for a certain period of time and finally die. The time period for which living things
remain alive is called its life span. All the living things have a definite life span.

36. Name the organs which are used by following animals for walking: Birds, Fish, Horse
Answer:

Names of the animal Organ used for locomotion

1. Birds Wings

2. Fish Fins

3. Horse Limbs

37. Name the type of locomotion in following animals:

fish, earthworm, cow, birds, frog
Answer:
Names of the animal Type of locomotion

1. Fish Swimming

2. Earthworm Crawling

3. Cow Walking

4. Birds Flying

5. Frog Jumping
38. What is stimulus?
Answer: The change in environment that makes an organism to react or produce a change in its
activities is called stimulus.

39. Write the differences between respiration and breathing.

Answer: Respiration: It is the process through which living things utilise oxygen to release the
energy stored in food they eat.
Breathing: During breathing, when we inhale, air rich in oxygen moves from outside of
our body to inside. When we breathe out, the air rich in carbon dioxide moves from inside
of our
body to outside.

40. Differentiate between locomotion and movement.

Answer:
Locomotion: It is the movement of an organism, bodily from one place to another. It involves the
whole body as in walking, running, etc.
Movement: It is the change in the position of any part of the body with respect to its axis, e.g.,
shaking of head.

41. What kind of movement do we see in plants?

Answer:

 Opening and closing of a flower.

 Growth of a stem and leaves.
 Movement of water, minerals, food from one part of the plant to another.
 Movement of stem towards sunlight and root towards water in soil.

42. “All living things respond to external stimuli.” Explain.

Answer: All living things respond to changes in their surroundings. These changes which they
respond to, are called stimuli. The living things show response to stimuli such as heat, light, touch,
sound, smell, taste, etc. The response of living things is usually in the form of some movement of
their body part. Plants also perform movement, though at a slow rate. For example, chhui-mui,
kachhan flowers of lotus and water lily show such type of activity. So all living things (animals and
plants) respond to external stimuli.

43. Place a potted plant in a room a little away from a window through which sunlight enters some time
during the day (Fig.). Continue watering the plant for a few days.
Does the plant grow upright, like plants out in the open? Note the direction in which it bends, if it is not
growing upright. Do you think, this may be in response to some stimulus?
Answer. No, the plant will not grow upright. It will bend in the direction of the window. It is due to
the stimulus of the sunlight.

44. Give one word for the following sentences:

1. Anything that has mass and occupies space. matter
2. The process of taking food by organisms. nutrition
1. The process of getting rid of wastes. excretion
2. The process of removal of wastes in plants. secretion
3. The factors like food, water, light, temperature to which organisms respond. stimuli
4. Production of new organisms of own kind. reproduction
5. Increase in the size along with mass using energy. growth

45. Choose the correct option in the following questions:

(i) Which one of the following statements is correct?

(a) Several kinds of plants and animals may share the same habitat.
(b) All the animals and plants in a habitat are adopted to it.
(c) Both the statements are correct.
(d) None of these is correct.
Answer:
(c) Several kinds of plants and animals may share the same habitat and adopt it.

(ii) Animals and plants have certain features which make them to survive in a particular habitat. This is
called
(a) adaptation
(b) speciation
(c) specialisation
(d) evolution
Answer:
(a) Presence of features which enable plants and animals to live in a habitat is called adaptation.

(iii) Which is a biotic component of environment?

(a) Plants
(b) Animals
(c) Microorganisms
(d) All of these
Answer:
(d) All of these constitute biotic components.

(iv) Which is not an abiotic component of environment?

(a) Soil
(b) Bacteria
(c) Water
(d) Air
Answer:
(b) Bacteria are living beings.

(v) Which is an example of an animal found in mountain region?

(a) Leopard
(b) Yak
(c) Mountain goat
(d) All of these
Answer:
(d) Leopard, mountain goat and yak are found in mountain region.

(vi) What are the characteristics of a desert plant?

(a) No leaves or very small leaves
(b) Spines
(c) Deep roots
(d) All of these
Answer:
(d) All of these characters help the plants to survive in the scarcity of water.

(vii) Respiration in aquatic animals occurs by

(a) lungs
(b) gills
(c) nostrils
(d) legs
Answer:
(b) Aquatic animals use gills for respiration.

(viii) Which is an aquatic adaptation?

(a) Streamlined body
(b) Light and hollow bones
(c) Hair on body
(d) Gills
Answer:
(a) Streamlined body helps them to swim.

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