44 Habitats and the Environment-Low

Habitats and the Environment Written by Kira Freed

Introduction Can you imagine a wild polar bear in Hawaii? How about a palm tree at the South Pole? You may know that these things do not happen. But do you know why not? A habitat has the food, water, air, and shelter a living thing needs. Habitats have many parts that work together. As you read, you will learn why the pictures on this page could not be real.

The Building Blocks of Habitats Earth has many habitats. To know why, let's learn about the building blocks of habitats. The first building block is latitude. Latitude measures how far a place is from the equator. The Sun warms latitudes near the equator more. The Sun warms latitudes near the North Pole and South Pole less.

The second building block of habitats is elevation. Elevation is how high or low a place is. The Sun warms low places more than high places Why is that? The air around Earth is the atmosphere. It is like a blanket of air. The blanket is thick close to the ground, so it holds in more heat. The blanket is thin at high elevations, so it holds in less heat.

Climate is half of the third building block of habitats. Climate is weather over many, many years. Temperature, wind, and water in the air are all part of climate. Different places on Earth have different climates. Wowser! The North Pole never gets dark in the middle of summer (in June). The Sun never rises in the middle of winter (in December). At the South Pole, winter (in June) is completely dark. Summer in December is light but not bright.

The other half of this habitat block is water and land. Almost three- fourths of Earth's surface is water. Most of the water is in oceans. Other water is in lakes, streams, and underground. Earth's land is different from place to place.