Animal life cycles involve a process of birth, maturation, opportunity for reproduction, death and decomposition
Plant life cycles involve a process of germination, growth, opportunity for reproduction, death and decomposition
Living things prosper within an environment that suits them
EXAMPLE QUESTIONS
What happens to humans and other animals after they have been born?
What would happen if a group of animals stopped having young?
Where do plant seeds come from?
What happens once they begin to grow?
What do you happens to living things when they die?
LIVING THINGS REPRODUCE
Living things reproduce to keep their species in existence.
They create new versions of themselves through the process of reproduction.
These offspring grown and mature into adults which, in turn, reproduce.
The processes of reproduction and growing can involve different stages with different creatures.
For example, mammals are born; birds hatch from eggs; frogs eggs change into tadpoles and later change again (or metamorphose) into new frogs; butterfly eggs change into caterpillars and then into chrysales form which new butterflies emerge; oak trees produce fruit (acorns) which are seeds that grow into new trees.
Many living things reproduce sexually, that is by fertilizing a female egg with a male sperm.
The fertilized egg eventually develops into a young adult, sometime through intermediate stages (for example, egg to tadpole to frog, or , egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly).
In plants, a fertilized egg can become a seed and be contained in a fruit (for example, an apple or tomato).
Many plants reproduce asexually without fertilization by a process
called vegetative reproduction (eg runners or rhizomes).
LIVING THINGS EVENTUALLY DIE
No individual living thing lasts forever, although some live for a very long time (some trees, for example).
When living things die, the matter from which they are made decays and decomposes.
The matter rots and is broken down into small parts by bacteria.
This decayed matter is not wasted.
It is a rich source of new material that provides nutrients for other living things and is returned either to the atmosphere or the soil.
