A Civic Biology, Presented in ProblemsHunter, George W. (George William)
Science
A Civic Biology, Presented in Problems
Hunter, George W. (George William)
Biology; Sanitation
A goldfish placed in a small glass jar with no food or no green water
plants soon seeks the surface of the water, and if the water is not changed
frequently so as to supply air the fish will die. Again the artificial
environment lacks something that the fish needs. Each plant and animal is
limited to a certain environment because of certain individual needs which
make the surroundings fit for it to live in.
[Illustration: A natural barrier on a stream. No trout would be found above
this fall. Why not?]
Changes in Environment.--Most plants and animals do not change their
environment. Trees, green plants of all kinds, and some animals remain
fixed in one spot practically all their lives. Certain tiny plants and most
animals move from place to place, either in air, water, on the earth or in
the earth, but they maintain relatively the same conditions in environment.
Birds are perhaps the most striking exception, for some may fly thousands
of miles from their summer homes to winter in the south. Other animals,
too, migrate from place to place, but not usually where there are great
changes in the surroundings. A high mountain chain with intense cold at the
upper altitudes would be a barrier over which, for example, a bear, a deer,
or a snail could not travel. Fish like trout will migrate up a stream until
they come to a fall too high for them to jump. There they must stop because
their environment limits them.
[Illustration: A new apartment house, with out-of-door sleeping porch.]
Man in his Environment.--Man, while he is like other animals in requiring
heat, light, water, and food, differs from them in that he has come to live
in a more or less artificial environment. Men who lived on the earth
thousands of year ago did not wear clothes or have elaborate homes of wood
or brick or stone. They did not use fire, nor did they eat cooked foods. In
short, by slow degrees, civilized man has come to live in a changed
environment from that of other animals. The living together of men in
communities has caused certain needs to develop. Many things can be
supplied in common, as water, milk, foods. Wastes of all kinds have to be
disposed of in a town or city. Houses have come to be placed close
together, or piled on top of each other, as in the modern apartment. Fields
and trees, all outdoor life, has practically disappeared. Man has come to
live in an artificial environment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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