How Organisms Shape Habitats
Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals can change the environment to meet their needs
What a learner can do afterwards
- Give at least three examples of organisms changing their environment (beaver dams, bird nests, plant roots breaking rock)
- Explain why organisms change their environment (to meet needs for shelter, food, water)
- Construct an argument with evidence showing how a specific organism changes its environment
The lesson
Think about the things you need: shelter, food, and water. Animals and plants need these things too. Sometimes they change their world to get them.
A beaver needs a safe home. It cuts down trees with its teeth. It piles logs and mud across a river. This builds a dam. The dam blocks the water and makes a pond. The beaver builds its lodge in the new pond.
Birds build nests in trees to stay safe. Tree roots can grow into cracks in rocks. As roots grow, they can crack the rock apart. These changes help the plant or animal survive.
Look for clues outside. A pond where a river used to be shows a beaver's work. A cracked sidewalk might show tree roots underneath.
Plants and animals change their homes to get shelter, food, and water.
Watch it
Where it sits
Learn first
This opens up
Nothing builds on it yet.
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.