What is habitat?
The surroundings where plants live are called their habitat. Each and every organism needs a place to live and reproduce. Such a dwelling place is called habitat. From the depths of the ocean to the top of the highest mountain, habitats are the places where plants and animals live.
The two major habitats are:
1. Aquatic habitat
2. Terrestrial habitat
1. Aquatic habitat: When we visit a pond, we see some plants appear to float on water. One of the common plants is the Lotus plant. Its leaves float on the water. There is a small frog sitting on a leaf. It is ready to catch the insects flying / fluttering around the flowers. The stem of the plant is seen to be inside (submerged) in the water. Its roots are found within the muddy floor of the pond. Aquatic habitat includes areas that are permanently covered by water and surrounding areas that are occasionally covered by water.
There are two types of habitat, namely,
• fresh water habitat
• marine water habitat.
•Fresh water Habitat: Rivers, lakes, ponds and pools are the fresh water habitats. Water hyacinth, water lily and lotus are seen in the fresh water habitat. In these plants, roots are very much reduced in size. Stem and leaves have air chambers that allow aquatic plants to float in water.
•Marine water habitat: From outer space Earth looks like an awesome blue marble, that’s because more than 70% of Earth’s surface is covered by oceans. Oceans also supports the growth of plants. Marine plants perform about 40% of all photosynthesis that occurs on the planet.
Example: Marine algae, Sea grasses, Marsh grass, Phytoplanktons.
2. Terrestrial habitat: Terrestrial habitats are the ones that are found on land like forest, grassland and desert. It also includes man-made habitats like farms, towns and cities. They can be as big as a continent or as small as an island. They make up about 28% of the entire world habitat.
Example: Evergreen forest, scrub jungles.
Terrestrial habitat is classified into three types. They are:
a. Forest
b. Grass land
c. Desert
a. Forest habitat: Forest is a large area dominated by trees. There are three types of forests.
They are:
Tropical forests, Temperate forests and Mountain forests. Annual rain fall here ranges from 25 to 200 cm.
b. Grass land habitat: Grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses. Grasses range from short to tall.
Example: Savanna Grassland
c. Desert habitat: A habitat without much water is called deserts. Deserts are the driest place on earth. They get less than 25 cm of rainfall annually. Deserts cover at least 20% of the Earth. The plants which grow in this habitat have thick leaves that store water and minerals. The plants like cactus store water in their stem and the leaves are reduced to spines. They have long roots that go very deep in the soil in search of water.
Types of desert habitat include:
(i) Hot dry deserts
(ii) Semi arid deserts
(iii) Coastal deserts
(iv) Cold deserts.
Example: Cactus, Agave, Aloe, Bryophyllum
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