The World Of Plant And Animal Communities (1981)

[Music] A community can be many different places. Anywhere living things depend on other living things for food or shelter, they make a community. For instance, anywhere people get together to share food, they make a community. Even plants and animals can make communities. And there are many kinds of plant and animal communities in many kinds of places. Let's look at part of a small community, a tree. Its high branches provide shelter for birds. Bees build hives in the tree trunk. Raccoons may have a den in a tree. The tree supplies animals with food, too. Insects eat its leaves and bark. So do deer. And when they eat parts of the tree, they also get the water stored in its leaves and stems. Every tree is part of a small community. But trees are part of even bigger communities called forests. Many plants live in forests. The plants provide shelter for animals and for each other. The larger plants protect the smaller plants from the heat of the sun. Plants are homes for many animals. Insects might attach a nest to a plant. Wasps, tent caterpillars. Most plants make their food from sunlight, air, and water. The leaves of green plants are special food factories. They make all the food the plant needs from sunlight, air, and water. Plants also get nourishment from minerals in the soil. Green plants are the only living things that use these things to make food and at the same time give off the oxygen in the air we breathe. Plants are an important source of food and water in the forest community. Plants store water in their stems and roots. When animals eat the plants, they get the stored water, too. Many forest animals eat plants or parts of plants every time they eat. They are the planteaters. Bees eat the nectar and pollen from flowers and use them to make honey. Not all forest animals eat plants. Some animals live by eating other animals. They are the animal eaters. A raccoon might find a crayfish a tasty treat, but the crayfish might not like it. Birds eat worms, insects, and other small animals. When animals die, flies, crows, and worms feed on them. Animal droppings fertilize the soil and help new plants grow. When living things eat other living things, either plants or animals, it is called a food chain. Every community has food chains. One of the food chains in the forest community begins with grass. Grass is a plant that makes its own food from sunlight, air, and water. The grasshopper gets its food by eating the grass. The grasshopper is eaten by a toad. The toad is captured and eaten by a garter snake. The snake is snatched by a redtailed hawk. When the hawk dies, its remains are eaten by flies, crows, and worms. Animals that eat animal remains are called scavengers. The droppings from these animals fertilize the soil and help plants to grow so the food chain can start over again. [Music] Plants and animals depending on each other for food. This makes a food chain. [Music] Each living thing, plant or animal is a link in the chain. [Music] There are many food chains. Food chains are found in every community. But the plants and animals in these chains are different from place to place. The desert looks almost lifeless. Its days are hot and dry under the burning sun. Even though it doesn't rain much on the desert sands, the desert too is a community of plants and animals, it too has food chains. A tall cactus has roots that hold it in place and help it to collect water. Water is stored in the cactus with the help of a thick tough skin. The spines protect the cactus from many animals that might eat it. The cactus provides shade and shelter for animals. [Music] The desert has planteaters, the tortoise, and insects such as beetles. [Music] Some animal eaters in the desert catch their food quickly. The roadrunner hunts many small animals such as the mouse. Another link in the desert food chain is the vulture, a scavenger. Although plants provide shade during the day, many animal eaters hunt at night when the desert air is cooler. [Music] The desert community is most active during the night. The ocean is a community with water everywhere. Most of the earth is covered by the oceans. Most of the air we breathe is made by underwater plants. Plants so tiny they can't be seen. There are also large plants. Large or small, ocean plants need sunlight. Animals live everywhere in the water. Whales, the largest animals on Earth, spend most of their lives near the surface to breathe and feed. Crabs spend most of their time at the bottom. The stingray lives at the bottom, too. Some fish swim all over to find food. Other animals stay in one place. A sea anemone may look like a flower, but it's really an animal. It is an animal eater, too. Almost all fish are animal eaters. [Music] Ocean animals find shelter from animal eaters in many ways. The kelfish looks just like a leaf. It can hardly be seen until it moves. Halibet are even harder to see. [Music] The eel lives deep in the rocks. [Music] Some fish swim in large groups called schools. In large numbers, the fish can find food more easily. They are also safer from an enemy like the shark. [Music] The ocean is a community where plants and animals live, where they find food and shelter. Grass as far as the eye can see. There are very few trees in the grassland community. The tall grasses have long roots that hold them in place and help them get water. Many animals depend on the grasslands for water, food, and shelter. [Music] Even large animals eat plants. the American bison, the prongghorn. The mouse is a planteater and it may become food for an animal eater such as the rattlesnake. Owls eat snakes, mice, prairie dogs, and other animals. The prairie dogs live in underground homes. When they leave these homes to eat, the prairie dogs can be in danger of being caught by larger animals. When planteaters and animal eaters die, their remains are eaten by scavengers whose droppings are food for ants. The ants condition the soil, helping plants to grow in the grasslands. [Music] Most human food chains begin on the farm. Many kinds of plants grow on a farm, and they all use sunlight, air, and water to make their own food. Some farm plants are fed to farm animals. [Music] The animals might become food for people. Other farm plants become food for people, too. People are planteaters and animal eaters. People need food to live. Food comes to us through food chains. Everyone who is part of a food chain is part of a community. Anywhere living things depend on other living things for food or shelter. They make a community. People, plants, animals all live in different types of communities and all live in one big community, the planet Earth. [Music]