Urban Wildlife

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Urban Wildlife
http//www.tpwd.state.tx.us/learning/resources/pub
lications/posters.phtml
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Home is Where the Habitat Is

• Habitats and the Environment
• Part 1

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Spaceship Earth

• The Earth is the only planet that supports life
  as far as we know.
• It has everything we need to survive.

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Spaceship Earth
It provides just the right combinations of air,
water, soil, climate, and sunlight to support a
variety of plants and animals.
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Habitat and Environment
But, each living thing requires a certain type of
habitat to meet its specific needs.

• food
• water
• shelter
• space

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A Beavers Habitat

• A beaver lives in a healthy habitat if it
• has enough bark and twigs for food
• has calm waters to swim in and fresh water to
  drink
• has an area around or in the pond to build its
  lodge or shelter, and
• has all these things (food, water, shelter)
  within a suitable space to survive.

Where on Earth would you find a habitat like this?
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Habitat and Environment

• Some of the major ecosystems on earth include
• Deserts
• Tundra
• Forests
• Grasslands
• Wetlands
• Temperature and the amount of available moisture
  have a lot to do with what kind of plants and
  animals live in each one.
• Basically, wetlands are wet (for part of the
  year, anyway)! Deserts and tundra are dry, and
  grasslands and forests fall somewhere in between.

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Deserts

• Deserts provide a lot of space, but very little
  water.
• Deserts receive less than 25 cm (10 in.) of
  rainfall a year.

The Chihuahuan desert is the largest desert in
North America and occupies 1/5 of the land in
Texas.
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Deserts

• Temperatures can reach 120 degrees, although
  nights may be very cool.
• These extreme temperatures along with very little
  moisture affect the type of plants that can grow
  here.
• How have plants adapted to a desert environment?

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Deserts

• Desert animals have also adapted to extreme
  temperatures and little water.
• Some desert animals get the water they need from
  the food they eat.
• Many animals find ways to avoid the midday heat
  by burrowing or hunting at night.

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Would a desert provide a suitable habitat for
this animal? Why or why not?
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Deserts

• What other animals do you think would be happy
  living in a desert?
• Why?

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Tundra

• You will not find a tundra ecosystem in Texas.
• You will have to travel to the top of the world
  near the North Pole.
• Like the desert, the tundra receives very little
  moisture, and much of what it does receive is
  frozen ice and snow.

http//www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link/earth/image
s/tundra_map_big_jpg_image.html
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Tundra
Temperatures drop to teeth chattering, lows (-60
F) so the ground stays frozen under a thin layer
of soil most of the year.
Because there is little available moisture and
poor soil, only a limited number of plants can
grow here.
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Tundra Plants
Plants are small and stay close to the ground to
avoid the chilling winds.
Some plants, like lichens, grow on the rocky
surface.
Other plants have dark colors which help them
absorb as much heat as possible from the sun.
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Tundra Animals

• Because plant life is limited, animal species are
  limited, too.
• In order to survive the cold temperatures and
  frozen ground, animals dress in layers (thick fur
  and insulating fat) and have feet adapted for
  walking on snow and ice.
• Some arctic animals take a long nap (hibernate)
  during the winter, while others may pack their
  bags and head south to find food and shelter.

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Would the tundra provide a suitable habitat for
this animal? Why or why not?
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Tundra
What other animals do you think would be happy
living in the tundra? Why?