This document provides information about habitats and ecosystems in Georgia. It discusses 5 main regions in Georgia: mountains, piedmont, coastal plain, swamps/marshes, and the Atlantic Ocean. For each region, it describes the non-living characteristics, plants, and animals commonly found there. It also covers habitats, environments, ecosystems, and how changes can affect living things. Key terms like traits, adaptations, reproduce, and survive are defined. Examples are given of physical and behavioral adaptations that help plants and animals live in their environments.

1. Unit 1 Organisms and Their Habitats Georgia’s mountains Georgia’s swamps and marshes Georgia’s Atlantic Ocean Georgia’s coast Georgia’s piedmont

3. Air

4. Energy

5. Water

6. Food

7. Space

8. What makes up your environment?

10. Vocabulary Ecosystem: An ecosystem is made up of living and non living things that interact in the same place. An ecosystem is a community of animals, plants and micro-organisms, together with the habitat where they live. Georgia has many different ecosystems, such as the Okefenokee Swamp and a forest ecosystem. In an ecosystem, things interact (when things in the environment have a relationship). Okefenokee Swamp Jekyll Island Beach Cumberland Island

11. What do you see interacting, or relating, in this pond ecosystem? Birds hunt for fish and frogs near the pond’s edge. Water lilies float on the surface of the pond. Frogs often rest on their leaves. Turtles resting on a log. They are faster in water than on land. They eat small fish, worms, and plants. Ladybugs crawl on the plants that live in the shallow water near the pond’s edge. Fish live in the water. They may reach up to eat insects just above the surface.

12. Vocabulary Habitat: A habitat is a specific place inside of the ecosystem where organisms live, such as a home or a shelter, or the general area, such as your neighborhood. An example is fish…they live in the water. A duck lives in the same pond, but it doesn’t live underwater with the fish. It lives on top of the water. Which is larger? A turtle’s habitat or a pond ecosystem?

13. What does a habitat provide… …for you? Your habitat provides you all the things you need to survive. It provides a shelter (house), food (stores/gardens), air, temperature control (air conditioning or heat). …for a living thing? A living thing has a habitat that provides everything it needs to live there and to survive. Which habitat do these living things find all that they need?

15. What happens to the animals who live in or by flowing streams where the dam has stopped the flow of water?

18. get more rain and snow than any other part of the state.

19. are warm in the summer and below freezing in winter.

20. provide habitats for many plants and animals.

22. have plants like rhododendrons, azaleas, and mountain laurel.

23. provide shelter for red squirrels, smoky shrews.

24. are home to bobcats, skunks, bats, snakes, turtles.

25. have birds and other animals that can’t survive the winters and migrate south every winter.Habitats in Georgia: Mountains

27. Birds, chipmunks, deer, fox, squirrels, and white-footed mice are some of the animals.

28. Some water animals are shoal bass, sunfish, and catfish.

29. You will also see spotted salamanders, beavers, butterflies, foxes, and coyotes. This is the area just south of the mountains.

30. It has rolling hills, red clay soil, streams and rivers, and different kinds of trees.

32. The coastal plain is the southern part of Georgia that used to be covered by oceans millions of years ago.

33. The land is flat and sandy. It has mild winters and hot summers. Sweet gum, magnolia, bay, and hickory trees grow along the streams.

34. There are Flatwoods that have pine, oak, wax myrtle, and wiregrasses.

35. You will find deer, bobcats, diamondback rattle snakes, skunks, opossums, raccoons, quail, and songbirds.

36. You will also see woodpeckers, gopher tortoises and gopher frogs.

37. Many crops are grown in this area including peanuts, pecans, peaches, watermelons, and even Vidalia onions.

38. The fall line separates the piedmont from the coastal plain and has many waterfalls located along it.Habitats in Georgia: The Coastal Plain

40. Georgia's coastal plain is a low flat region of sandy, well drained, gently rolling hills and poorly drained flatlands.

41. Examples in Georgia are mountain bogs, piedmont marshes, and swamps in the coastal plain.

42. Soil is wet and spongy. Lots of water lilies grow there.

43. In marshes, fresh water from rain, streams, and rivers mixes with the salty ocean water, so it is not as salty.

44. A swamp is like a lake, but shallower. A marsh has lots of grasses and reeds instead of trees.

47. Muddy soil is called “peat”. If you tried to walk through the swamp, your legs would sink deeper and deeper with every step!

48. It is made up of lakes, islands, marshes, and forests.

49. More than 600 kinds of plants live there, such as saw palmettos, cypresses, black gums, and red maples.

50. Prairies are covered with several inches of water and have water lilies, golden club, sedges, and grasses growing on them.

51. You will find sandhill cranes, alligators, ducks, white ibises, egrets, and herons. There are also songbirds, hawks, wild turkeys, black bears, and more than a dozen kinds of frogs.

53. They must move to a new habitat or they may die.

54. A drought is a long period of time with very little rain. Plants that live in a place where it usually rains may not survive a drought.

55. In deserts, very few animals live there because it is so dry and hot, and there is very little water. The animals that do live there have adaptations to help them survive. When it rains in a desert, plants grow very quickly and make seeds before they die in the dry climate.

56. Fires can help and harm. They can help because a burning tree might fall down, allowing sunlight to come in and make more room for plants to grow. Some plants have adaptations to help them survive where there are a lot of fires. In grassland environments, grasses have many roots and grow back quickly after a fire.

58. Features of Georgia Plants and Animals

60. All living things have traits. In plants, it might be the size, shape, and color or leaves. In animals, it might be their beaks, the shape of their feet, or color of their body.

61. Flower color, size and shape

62. Stem thickness or thorns

63. Leaf roundness, waxiness

64. Woodpecker’s long narrow beak for making holes to get bugs

65. Tortoise’s shovel-like feet for digging

66. Spots on the wings of a moth that confuse animals to think the spots are the eyes of larger animals

68. Plant roots take in water from the soil.

69. Some plants have thorns that keep animals from eating them.

70. Roots and stems help hold the plant up in the ground.

72. Adaptations may be on the inside or outside of a plant or animal.

73. Adaptations may be a way of acting.

74. Adaptations come in many shapes and sizes.

75. Adaptations help plants and animals survive, grow, and reproduce.

77. Vines have an adaptation for growth too. They have stems that wrap around other plants and help them grow up towards the sunlight. A vine is supported by other plants.

78. Roots are used for getting water and nutrients. Some roots are fat and store food. Some roots of desert plants grow deep into the soil and reach water that is far underground. Other desert plants have roots that are along the surface so they can get water quickly.

80. Only living things can reproduce themselves.

81. Plants make seeds so they can reproduce.

82. Adaptations that help plants reproduce are:

83. Smell: a plant might smell fragrant to attract insects to carry the pollen or seeds to other places.

84. Color: a plant might have a bright color to attract insects to it so that seeds or pollen can be spread.

88. Eagles eyes can spot prey from a mile away.

89. It has strong wings to help it fly.

90. They have sharp claws to help it grab hold of its prey.

91. They have sharp beaks for eating their food.

92. Eagles don’t features to help them survive in the water.

93. Fish have gills for oxygen.

94. They use their tail and fins to move through the water, like an eagle uses its wings for flying. Tuck your thumb into the palm of your hand Without moving your thumb, try to pick up an object. Now try to write your name. How is the thumb a useful adaptation for humans??

96. An animal doesn’t need food when hibernating because it stored up enough fat from eating over the other months.

97. When animals hibernate, their heart rate slows down because they aren’t moving.

98. They eat less and grow thicker fur because their bodies will get colder.

100. Gray whales that live near Alaska swim South in the cold winters. They migrate to warm waters near California. Then in spring, they swim North again.

101. Animals do not need to learn how to migrate. They are adaptations and the animals are born knowing how to do this.

102. Some animals migrate because they cannot find enough food.

104. Stonefish look like rocks so smaller fish swim close and get eaten!

105. A green anole can change its colors to match its background so other animals don’t see it.

106. The Arctic hare has brown fur in the summer so it matches the rocks and the ground. The hare turns white in the winter to blend in with the snow.

107. Some animals survive by looking like other animals.

108. The milk snake is not deadly, but the coral snake is. These snakes look very much alike and animals that eat snakes cannot tell them apart.

109. Some animals don’t take care of their eggs. So they lay hundreds of eggs so that enough will survive.