Ecosystems, Habitats, and Niches

Ecosystems, Habitats, and Niches

An ecosystem includes all the living and nonliving things in an area. Living things include plants, animals, and other organisms. Nonliving things include soil, rocks, water, and climate. An ecosystem also includes climate. Climate is the pattern of weather in an area. Temperature, wind, rainfall, and humidity are part of an areas climate.

A desert is an example of an ecosystem. Desert plants include cacti and wildflowers. Desert animals include lizards, owls, rattlesnakes, and bats. The nonliving parts of a desert are sandy soil, water, and rocks. The climate of most desert ecosystems is hot and dry.

The living things in an ecosystem have features that help them live there. Deserts have little water and are generally

hot. A cactus can live in these conditions. It has thin spines for leaves. The spines keep the cactus from losing water. A cactus also has a waxy coating to keep water inside its body. Cactus plants also store water inside their thick stems to use during dry periods.

Some desert animals only come out at night. Bats and foxes wait until the sun goes down and the air cools before they leave their homes to look for food. Many animals burrow into the soil to escape the heat and stay cool.

An ecosystem includes different habitats. A habitat is the place where an organism lives. The shrubs in a desert are habitats for roadrunners. Rattlesnakes and desert tortoises also live in desert shrub habitats. Another type of desert habitat is a sand dune. Sand dunes are homes for grasses, lizards, kangaroo rats, and foxes.

Within an ecosystem, each type of organism has its own niche. A niche is the job or role of an organism. A niche includes the type of food an organism eats. A niche also

A desert is a type of ecosystem.

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Cacti are suited to live in a desert ecosystem.

Ecosystems, Habitats, and Niches

includes the organisms type of shelter, the predators that eat it, and the time of day it is active. For example, a rattlesnake eats rats, lizards, and birds. It lives among the low-lying bushes in a desert shrub habitat. It is active at dawn and dusk. Its predator is the roadrunner. These characteristics make up the niche of the rattlesnake. Each type of organism has its own niche in an ecosystem.

A rattlesnakes niche includes the food it eats, the time of day it is active, the type of shelter it lives in, and its predators.

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