CHAPTER-9

THE LIVING ORGANISMS- CHARACTERISTICS AND HABITATS

QUESTION BANK -1
Q1. What is Adaptation?
Ans: ADAPTATION: The presence of specific features or certain habits, which
enable a plant or an animal to live in its surroundings, is called adaptation.

Q2. Write the adaptive features of fish to survive in water.

Ans: The adaptive features of fish to survive in water are:
A. Fish have streamlined body.
B. They have slippery scales on their bodies. These scales protect the fish and also
help in easy movement through water.
C. Fish have flat fins and tails that help them to change directions and keep their
body balance in water.
D. Gills present in the fish help them to use oxygen dissolved in water.

Q3. What is the difference between adaptation and acclimatisation?

Ans:
Adaptation Acclimatisation
The presence of specific features or The changes that take place in the body
certain habits, which enable a plant or an of an organism to adjust in the
animal to live in its surroundings, is surroundings are called acclimatisation.
called adaptation.

It refers to changes that take place over a It refers to changes in organism that take
long period of time. place over a short period of time.

Q4. What do you mean by biotic and abiotic components of environment?

Ans: Biotic and Abiotic Components:
a) The living things such as plants and animals, in a habitat, are called its biotic
components.
b) Various non – living things such as soil, water, air, rocks, sunlight, temperature,
and wind constitute the abiotic components of the habitat.

Q5. What are the necessary conditions for the germination of seeds?
Ans: Air, Sunlight (warmth) and water are necessary for the germination of seeds.
Q6. How are camels adapted for living in their habitat?
Ans: Adaptive features of camels to survive in deserts are following:
(a) They have long legs to keep the body away from the hot sand.
(b) Broad padded feet help them to walk on the sand without sinking into it.
(c) They can drink a lot of water at a time which they store in their stomach. They do
not sweat. They excrete very little urine. Their dung is dry. Their body conserves
most of the water.
(d) They store fat in the hump that acts as a food reserve.
(e) They have long eyelashes that protect their eyes from blowing sand.
(f) They can keep their nostrils closed to keep the sand and dust out.

QUESTION BANK -2
Q8. What are the adaptive features of plants found in mountain regions?
Ans: Adaptive features of plants found in mountain regions:
a) Trees are normally coned shape and have sloping branches.
b) The leaves of some of these trees are needle – like. This helps the rain water and
snow to slide off easily.

Q9. What are the adaptive features of animals found in mountain regions?
Ans: Adaptive features of animals found in mountain regions:
a) They have thick skin or fur to protect them from cold. For example, yaks have
long hair to keep them warm.
b) Snow leopard has thick fur on its body including feet and toes. This protects its
feet from the cold when it walks on the snow.
c) The mountain goat has strong hooves for running up the rocky slopes of the
mountains.

Q10. What do you mean by predators and prey?

Ans: The animals which kill other animals for food are called predators while that are
killed by other animals are called prey. For example: Lion is a predator and deer is its
prey.
Q11. Why do whales and dolphins come out of surface time to time?
Ans: There are some sea animals like dolphins and whales that do not have gills.
They breathe in air through nostrils and blowholes that are located on the upper parts
of their heads. This allows them to breathe in air when they swim near the surface of
water. They can stay inside the water for a long time without breathing. They come
out to the surface from time to time, to breathe in air.
Q12. What are two common types of aquatic plants?
Ans: Two common types of aquatic plants are:
 a) Free floating plants
b) Submerged plants
Q13. What are the characteristics and adaptive features of free-floating plants to
survive in ponds and lakes?
Ans: In these plants, leaves are flat. The leaves are covered with a waxy coating
which makes them waterproof and protect them from decaying effects of water.
Stems have air spaces which enables the plant to float. For example, water hyacinth,
lotus, water lily, etc.
Q14. What are the adaptations of lion to survive in grasslands?
Ans: Lions have the following adaptation to survive in a grassland:
1. They have eyes in front that help them see their prey (like deer) from a great
distance.
2. They have sharp teeth and long claws in their in their front legs to catch and
tear the flesh of their prey.
3. Their light brown colour helps them hide in dry grasslands, when they hunt
for their prey.
4. They are able to run very fast that allows them to catch their prey.

Q15. What are the adaptations of deer to survive in forests?

Ans: Deer have some adaptations to escape from predators like lions.
1. They have eyes on the side of the head, which gives them a wide range of
vision.
2. They have long ears to hear the movements of predators.
3. They can run very fast to save themselves from the predators.
Q16. What is the habitat of frog? Write the adaptive features of frog to survive in
water?
Ans: Frogs usually have ponds as their habitats. They can stay inside the pond water
as well as move on land. Some of the adaptive features to live in water are following:
a) They have webbed feet that help them swim in water.
b) They have strong and long back legs that help them in hopping on land and for
catching their prey.
c) Their skin in always moist that helps in breathing through the skin.
Q17. What are the characteristics and adaptive features of submerged plants to
survive in ponds and lakes?
Ans: Submerged plants: These plants remain completely submerged in water, for
example, Hydrilla and Vallisneria. In submerged plants, the leaves are thin, narrow
and ribbon -like. These can be bend in the flowing water. Such type of leaves allows
water currents to pass through without damaging the leaves.
Q18. What are the adaptations of octopus and squid to survive in oceans?
Ans: There are some other aquatic animals like squids and octopus which do not have
streamlined body. They stay deeper in the ocean, near the seabed and catch any prey
towards them. However, when they move in water, they make their body shapes
streamlined. These animals have gills to help them use oxygen dissolved in water.
QUESTION BANK -3
Q19. What are the characteristics of living organisms?
Ans: The characteristics of living organisms are:
a) Living things need food:
b) Living things grow
c) Living things respire
d) Living things respond to stimuli
e) Living things excrete
f) Living things reproduce
g) Living things can move by themselves
h) Living things have definite life-span
Q20. Define respiration? How do earthworms and fish breathe?
Ans: All the living things need energy to grow, move and stay alive. They get this
energy from food through respiration. When we breathe out, the air moves from
inside our body to outside and then we inhale, the air moves from outside to inside of
the body. Breathing is a part of respiration. In respiration some of the oxygen of the
air we breathe in, is used by the living body. We breathe out the carbon dioxide
produced in this process.
Earthworm breathes through its skin. Fish have gills for using oxygen dissolved in
water. The gills absorb oxygen from the air dissolved in water.
Q21. Explain the process of stimulus in plants and animals.
Ans: All the living things respond to changes around them changes in our
surroundings that makes us respond to them are called stimuli. The living things
show response to external stimuli such as heat, light, touch, smell, taste, etc. For
example,
a) Wild animals run away when bright light is flashed towards them.
Cockroaches begin to move to their hiding places if the light in the kitchen is
switched on at night.
b) Flowers of some plants bloom only at night. In some plants flowers close after
sunset. In some plants like mimosa, commonly known as ‘touch me not’,
leaves close or fold when someone touches them.
Q22. What do you mean by life-span?
Ans: The time period for which a living organism remains alive is called its life span.
All the livings things have a definite life span. For example, man has an average life
span of 60 – 70 years. It means that average duration of life of man on this earth is 60
– 70 years. Different living things have different life spans. For example, the life span
of some insects is only a few hours whereas the life span of a tortoise is more than
100 years.

Q23. Explain the process of excretion?

Ans: The removal of waste substances from the body of a living organism is called
excretion.
All living things take food. All the food that is eaten is not really used. The unused
part of the food becomes the waste material and this waste material can be poisonous
to the living things so they have to be removed.

Q24. Do non-living things grow? Explain.

Ans: Non-living things also appear to grow. For example, a cloud in the sky appears
to grow and become bigger. But the growth of the cloud is different from that of a
living thing because it occurs from outside by accumulation of more and more water
vapours so, even though a cloud appears to grow and become bigger in size, it cannot
be said to be a living thing.
Q25. How do plants reproduce?
Ans: Plants also have different modes of reproduction. Some of the common methods
of reproduction in plants are given below:
a) Many plants reproduce through seeds. Most of the common crop plants, such as
wheat, corn, paddy, Bengal gram, etc. are reproduced through their seeds.

b) Some plants reproduce through tubers. A potato is a stem tuber that has many
buds called eyes on its body. When a potato tuber is planted in the soil then all the
buds of the potato start growing to produce new potato plants.
c) Some plants reproduce through cuttings. A small part of a plant which is removed
by making a cut with a sharp knife is called a cutting. A cutting maybe a piece of
stem, root or even a leaf. The plants such as rose, henna, grapes, sugar cane and
cactus etc. can be grown by this method.
Q26. Write the difference between living and non-living things.
Ans: Difference between Living and Non-living things:

LIVING THINGS NON-LIVING THINGS

Living things need food, air and water. Non - living things do not need food,
air and water.
Living things grow. Non – living things do not grow.

Living things can move on their own.
Living things respond to stimuli.
Living things reproduce.
Non – living things can’t move on their
own.
Non – living things do not respond to
stimuli.
Non – living things do not reproduce.

Living things respire. They release Non – living things do not respire.
energy from food.

Living things excrete. They get rid of Non – living things do not excrete
waste materials from body.

Living things have a definite life span Non – living things exist forever.
after which they die.
bodybbbodytheir body.