Habitats are regions where certain species of plants and animals grow or live. The term ‘habitat’ is derived from the Latin term ‘it inhabits’. In other words habitats are the native environment which influences and are utilized by a specific populace.
Ecology has allowed the maximum use of the word habitat. According to the definition of Clements and Shelford in 1939, habitats are physical conditions that surround a species, or species population, or assemblage of species, or community.
A habitat that is shared by many species is called a biotope in ecology. Otherwise a habitat where a set of flora and fauna grow and live occupying a specific geographical territory is called a ‘biome’.
Today’s world faces the major problem of the devastation of habitats making certain species endangered and even leading to extinction.
Now we will classify different types of habitats
The City Of Water
Water habitats are of two types, fresh water habitats and salt-water habitats. Water habitats are the dwelling places of numerous fish, aquatic animals, birds and microscopic organisms.
Fresh Water Habitat
Rivers and lakes have fresh water unlike the salty seawater and different species of fishes, animals, plants and other lives flourish in the riverbeds, lakebeds and banks.
Fish is a water animal equipped with gills for underwater breathing. It swims in the water living on the aquatic plants and animals. Animals like oyster and starfish live all their lives in water. Amphibians like frogs and salamanders spend half their life in water and the rest in land. Animals like herons and crabs live in the lands near water. All these species depends on water for their lives.
Seawater Habitats
Sea is a different world with layers of ecological strata decorating its aquatic lives. One life revolves round shallow water and another turns out in the deep dark depths of the heart of the ocean. There are arrays of coral reeves, skeletons of millions of tiny sea beings, which dazzles with the hustle and bustles of colorful fishes in the sunny shallow water.
Salty water is essential for survival of animals like whales, dolphins and sharks. Many animals like the clams, oysters and jellyfish and plants like seaweeds live in salty water all their lives.
The Citi Of Forest Habitat
Forest is the jade colored residence of different species of plants and animals. The classification of the tree family is:
Coniferous Trees
Coniferous trees grow closely in high altitude cold regions and can survive snows in long winters. They have needle like tough leaves and seeds inside the cones. Nothing much grows in the ground. Insects feed on the floor covered with pine needles and some birds feed on these insects.
Deciduous Trees
Deciduous trees grow in temperate warm zones. These trees have broad leaves, which fall with the fall of autumn. Woodpecker is a common bird of this forest. Deer eat the plants and trees; squirrels live on the trees and feed on the oak tree acorns, skunks live in dens burrowed out of the earth and rotten tree trunks feeding on berries, insects and bird eggs stolen from the bird nest, spiders weave webs to catch insects and feed on them, snails live on fallen leaves and raccoons live on snails.
The City Of The Underground World
The underground habitats are a safe house from the enemies, from the extremities of temperature and overtly dry climates.
The muddy world of the underground is the permanent habitat of different living creatures like the earthworms. Moles, armadillos and aardvarks are fossorial animals that burrow the earth and build their residences underground. Animals like the prairie dogs live some of their life underground and some above. Some creatures like some insect larvae spend a part of their life cycle in the underground citi.
The Underground world provides food like tubers, roots, insects, worms, larvae and insect eggs to many animals.
The Desert Habitats
The world of desert, which is dry and deprived of rains, stages the extremity of temperature. Desert sizzles at the day and shivers at night. The topography is generally dry rocky sands, thus desert population of plants and animals have to survive with meager water.
The monotony of desert is broken with sparse cacti, which stores water in their fleshy stems with thorns in the body to repulse thirsty animals from eating them.
Camels also store food in their humps and store huge amount of water when they get the chance, thus can survive long without water. Whereas, lizards love the sultry weather of the desert, they like to lie in the rocks and take sunbaths.
The prevention of the habitats is the essential base to maintain the proper ecology of the earth.