INTERDEPENDENCE AND ADAPTATION
QCA Unit number 6A

WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?

Green plants can do something you can't do - they can make their own food. All they need is sunlight, water and a gas from the air called carbon dioxide. This is why green plants are so important to us - they produce the food (and the oxygen) we need to live. They do this vital job in their leaves. The better the conditions, the better the plants will grow. Plants grow better in good soil, for example. We can improve this growth by giving plants tiny amounts of fertilisers. Sometimes people call these 'plant foods,' but plants need no real food to grow.

The roots of a plant anchor the plant in the soil and take in what the plant needs to grow.

Plants and animals both live in habitats that meet their special needs. There are many different kinds of plants and animals in any habitat. They depend on each other. The animals eat the plants; the animals fertilise the soil and many animals carry the plant seeds to new habitats. The way the animals eat the plants - and each other - is called a food chain. Here is one:

Sun - grass - rabbit - fox

The grass is the producer, using the light of the Sun. The rabbit is the first consumer, a herbivore (plant-eater) that eats the grass. The fox is another consumer - a carnivore or meat-eater. The fox is a predator, and the rabbit its prey.