Living things (plants and animals, including humans) depend on their surroundings to get what they need, including food, water, and shelter, to survive. Behavior patterns between parents and offspring can help animals, including humans, to survive.

Living things (plants and animals, including humans) depend on their surroundings to get what they need, including food, water, shelter, and a favorable temperature. The characteristics of surroundings influence where living things are naturally found. Plants and animals affect and respond to their surroundings.

Living things (plants and animals, including humans) depend on their surroundings to get what they need, including food, water, shelter, and a favorable temperature. Plants and animals have external features that allow them to survive in a variety of environments. Young plants and animals are similar but not exactly like their parents. In many kinds of animals, parents and offspring engage in behaviors that help the offspring to survive.

Living things (plants and animals, including humans) need water, air, and resources from the land to survive and live in habitats that provide these necessities. The physical characteristics of plants and animals reflect the habitat in which they live. Animals also have modified behaviors that help them survive, grow, and meet their needs. Humans sometimes mimic plant and animal adaptations to survive in their environment.

Organisms (plants and animals, including humans) have unique and diverse life cycles, but they all follow a pattern of birth, growth, reproduction, and death. Different organisms vary in how they look and function because they have different inherited traits. An organism's traits are inherited from its parents and can be influenced by the environment.

Through the study of organisms, inferences can be made about environments both past and present. Plants and animals have both internal and external structures that serve various functions for growth, survival, behavior, and reproduction. Animals use different sense receptors specialized for particular kinds of information to understand and respond to their environment....

Matter cycles within ecosystems and can be traced from organism to organism. Plants use energy from the Sun to change air and water into matter needed for growth. Animals and decomposers consume matter for their life functions, continuing the cycling of matter. Human behavior can affect the cycling of matter. Scientists and engineers design solutions to conserve Earth's environments and resources.

The study of ecosystems includes the interaction of organisms with each other and with the physical environment. Consistent interactions occur within and between species in various ecosystems as organisms obtain resources, change the environment, and are affected by the environment. This influences the flow of energy through an ecosystem, resulting in system variations...

The great diversity of species on Earth is a result of genetic variation. Genetic traits are passed from parent to offspring. These traits affect the structure and behavior of organisms, which affect the organism's ability to survive and reproduce. Mutations can cause changes in traits that may affect an organism. As technology has developed, humans have been able to change the inherited traits in organisms which may impact society.

Genetic variation and the proportion of traits within a population can change over time. These changes can result in evolution through natural selection. Additional evidence of change over time can be found in the fossil record, anatomical similarities and differences between modern and ancient organisms, and embryological development.

Interactions of matter and energy through geologic processes have led to the uneven distribution of natural resources. Many of these resources are nonrenewable, and per-capita use can cause positive or negative consequences. Global temperatures change due to various factors, and can cause a change in regional climates...

Ecological habitats are shaped by abiotic factors that determine the living organisms that live there. Energy is a limiting factor for population size and growth in an ecosystem. Behaviors and interaction between organisms also have a role in the dynamics of an ecosystem.

Ecological habitats are shaped by abiotic factors that determine the living organisms that live there. Energy is a limiting factor for population size and growth in an ecosystem. Behaviors and interaction between organisms also have a role in the dynamics of an ecosystem.

Understanding the quantitative and qualitative data for an environment or population is critical to understanding its health. There are techniques used to collect data for quantitative and qualitative characteristics of a population. Mathematical reasoning and statistical principles are used to estimate current population sizes based on a sample and to predict how a population may change based on environmental factors. Wildlife Biologists investigate how changes to an ecosystem may affect the ecosystems dynamics.

Human activities have an effect on ecological systems and wildlife. Humans have found some solutions to minimize or reduce the effects of their actions. Species go extinct for specific reasons and their extinction may have an impact on their environment. Humans identify and protect endangered species to limit the effects of this extinction. Ecological collapse can occur if significant changes to the environment occur...

Animals share common life functions necessary for survival. They also have similar yet diverse structures that they use to fulfil these life functions. Some animals have a unique life cycle. Animals depend upon their environment for survival.

Evolution by natural selection allows populations to adapt to environmental changes. Some animals have coevolved with plants or other animals. Animals are classified into major taxa and this classification can be used for phylogenetic context. Most animals show increased complexity in different ways when comparing them from phyla to phyla.

Animal structures are used for different purposes by humans. Human activities may have an impact on natural habitats and populations of animals. Humans can also create management plans and legislation that can reduce or reverse the impacts humans have on animals in the wild. Management plans can be used to control invasive species and conserve native animal species.

Ecological systems have multiple levels of biological organization. Abiotic factors affect ecosystems and populations. Energy is transferred in ecosystems and predictable ways. Matter is cycled through environmental processes and necessary for ecosystem sustainability. Changes in ecosystems occur due to ecological succession. Biodiversity is critical for ecosystem resilience.

Ecological systems have multiple levels of biological organization. Abiotic factors affect ecosystems and populations. Energy is transferred in ecosystems and predictable ways. Matter is cycled through environmental processes and necessary for ecosystem sustainability. Changes in ecosystems occur due to ecological succession. Biodiversity is critical for ecosystem resilience.