by Elizabeth Ducie

Created on: March 06, 2010

Introduction

All living things have five necessities for survival: food, water, air, shelter and space.  Habitat describes where and how plants and animals live.  In simple terms, it is their address.  In more scientific terms, it is described as a Biome. 

There are five main types of habitat.  We’re going to look at each one: where it is found; what are its characteristics; examples of the animals that live there; and how do they adapt to their living conditions.

Water

We’ll start with water as it makes up a huge amount of our planet.  The two main types of water habitat are marine and freshwater.

Marine habitats are the oceans and seas which cover 75% of the earth’s surface and hold 97% of the earth’s water.  The main characteristic is that the water is ‘salty’.  Tiny amounts of minerals are picked up by river water as it moves seawards.  As water evaporates from the sea, the minerals stay behind.  Hence over time, the saltiness is increasing. 

There are five main oceans, all of which are interconnected.  In addition, there are many smaller seas, which are partly land-locked.  These bodies of water are full of wildlife and provide a home for some of the smallest (plankton and krill) to the largest (whales).  Marine animals are adapted to live in conditions of low temperature, low light levels and high mineral content. 

Freshwater habitats may be static (as in ponds or lakes) or moving (as in rivers).  Let’s think about just two: freshwater marshes and swamps.  Marshes are found at the mouths of rivers and are usually between one and six feet deep.  The largest example of a marsh is the Florida Everglades.  This is an area rich in wildlife with crabs and fish living below the surface, turtles living at the surface and beavers living along the margins.    

Swamps are areas of water-logged land and are often low in oxygen.  Animals living below the surface include shrimps; alligators live at the surface; racoons live above the water.

Woodland and Forests

This broad category covers four sub-types: rain forests; temperate forests; chaparral; and taiga.  Rain forests are located near the Equator and are always warm.  Most animals in this habitat live in trees.  There are so many insect species in the rain forests that many remain unidentified.

Temperate or deciduous forests are made up of trees

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