Define a habitat, in the chapter's own words, and give an example that shows how small a habitat can be.
Hint. The chapter's definition is a single short sentence, followed immediately by a surprising example.
✦ 'A habitat is simply [a] place where an organism lives.' The chapter's own example of how small this can be: 'It could even be just the bark of a tree.'
Distinguish biotic from abiotic components of a habitat, using Activity 12.1's pond and forest comparison.
Hint. One category is alive; the other never was.
✦ Biotic components are the living beings recorded in a habitat — in a pond, this includes fish, frogs, turtles, snails, algae and lotus; in a forest, grass, trees and birds. Abiotic components are the non-living things present — water, soil, air, sunlight and temperature — this is because the chapter states: 'The living beings you have recorded... are termed as the biotic components and non-living things as the abiotic components of a habitat.'
How does a pond meet a fish's needs, distinguishing which needs are biotic and which are abiotic?
Hint. The chapter names four things a pond provides, then separates food from oxygen by source.
✦ 'A pond provides food, oxygen, shelter, and space to grow — conditions essential for survival of organisms.' Fish obtain their biotic needs, such as food, from small plants and animals living in the pond, and their abiotic needs, such as oxygen, from the water itself — which is why even one organism's survival depends on both categories of component working together.
A snake that comes out at night and a rodent active during the day both live in the same forest habitat. Explain how they can coexist despite facing different conditions.
Hint. Same habitat doesn't mean identical experience — what varies for each organism even within one shared space?
✦ A single habitat's physical conditions change across the day — the chapter notes 'a forest might be warm during the day and cool at night' — so organisms active at different times face genuinely different conditions even while sharing the same space. By being active at different times, the nocturnal snake and the daytime rodent avoid competing directly for the same resources at the same moment, which is exactly how, in the chapter's words, 'living organisms coexist in harmony in the same habitat.'
Why does exploring two different habitats (rather than just one) help reveal what biotic and abiotic components actually are?
Hint. Comparison is what makes the pattern visible — think about what stays the same and what changes between a pond and a forest.
✦ Comparing two habitats side by side shows that both share the same basic STRUCTURE — living beings plus non-living things — while the actual living beings and non-living things present are completely different between them, which is exactly the insight the activity is built to produce: that biotic and abiotic components are a general pattern true of every habitat, since the same basic structure shows up wherever you look, not something specific to just one place.
Solutions written by the tuition.in editorial team and checked against NCERT Curiosity — Textbook of Science for Grade 8, Chapter 12 (hecu112.pdf), Reprint 2026-27, pages 190-209. Questions are referenced from the NCERT textbook for identification.
Pair self-study with a tutor, a live course or a coaching centre.
