Transcript How Do Changes to Habitats Affect Living Things?

3rd Grade
Climate Affects Living Things
 Environments have different climates.
 Plants and animals have adaptations that help them
survive in their environments.
 What is the climate like where we live?
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Climate Affects Living Things
 If the climate in a place changes, it affects all of the
things that live there.
 A drought is a long period of time with very little rain.
 Plants that live in a place where it usually rains may
not survive a drought.
 A desert has a hot, dry climate.
 Few kinds of plants can grow in a desert because there
is very little water.
 As a result, few animals live there.
 Those that do live there have adaptations that help them
survive.
 When it does rain in the desert, many plants begin to
grow.
 After a rain, the desert may be covered with colorful
wildflowers.
 These wildflowers grow quickly to make seeds before
they die in the dry climate.
Fire Affects Living Things
 A fire can cause a lot of changes to an environment.
 It can kill living things.
 Sometimes a fire can help an environment.
 If a tree burns, it is likely to fall.
 It leaves an open space in the forest.
 New plants can get more sunlight and have room to
grow.
Fire Affects Living Things
 Fires can also be harmful.
 They can destroy animals’ habitats.
 Those animals may not be able to survive in a new
habitat.
Fire Affects Living Things
 Some plants have adaptations that help them live in
places that have fires.
 There are many fires in grassland environments.
 Grasses have many roots and can grow back quickly
after a fire.
 Other plants cannot.
Fire Affects Living Things
 Ashes from burned plants add nutrients to the soil.
 The nutrients help new plants grow.
Balance Between Living
Things
 An environment is in balance when there are not too
many and not too few of any kind of living thing.
 An environment needs the right amount of the right
plants.
 Without the plants, animals will have no food.
 The animals will have to find new places to live, or they
will die.
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