CLASS 6 SCIENCE · CHAPTER 2 · STUDY NOTES
Diversity in the Living World
Learn to observe, compare and connect: plant features, animal movement, habitats and the care living things need.
01 / EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
Start by noticing differences
A small patch of land may contain many kinds of living things. Look carefully before naming or grouping them.
1. Record a feature you can actually see
A leaf may be long or round; a stem may look woody; an animal may walk or fly. Record the place, the feature and the date. A photograph or a sketch can help you compare later.
2. Observe without damaging
Listen for birds and look for plants and small animals. Leave nests, insects and growing plants undisturbed. If you collect leaves for a school activity, use fallen leaves. Local names and community knowledge can help you learn more.
Your turn
Question
A learner records “a small brown animal” but not where it was seen. What useful detail is missing?
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02 / EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
Living things depend on one another
Biodiversity is not only a list of names. The organisms also have relationships.
1. Follow one useful connection
A tree can provide fruit and shelter to birds. Some fruit-eating animals carry seeds away from the parent plant. The tree supports the animals, and the animals may help spread its seeds.
2. Think beyond one organism
Removing a tree can remove a feeding or nesting place. The effect may reach other organisms too. Different species play different roles, so protecting a habitat means protecting these relationships as well.
Your turn
Question
Why might protecting a fruit tree help more than just the tree?
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03 / EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
Choose a clear rule for grouping
The same living thing can belong to different groups when the question changes.
1. Say which feature you are comparing
You could group plants by their stems or by their leaf veins. You could group animals by movement or habitat. “These are together” is not enough: explain the shared feature.
2. Allow an animal more than one movement
A pigeon walks using its legs and flies using its wings. A movement chart should allow both. A group made for one question does not tell us everything about an organism.
| Animal | Walks on legs | Flies with wings |
|---|---|---|
| Pigeon | Yes | Yes |
| Goat | Yes | No |
Your turn
Question
A pigeon appears under both “walks” and “flies”. Must one entry be removed?
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04 / EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
Herb, shrub or tree? Look at the stem
Height is one clue. The stem and the place where branches begin are important too.
1. Compare three familiar examples
A tomato plant is a herb: it has a soft, green stem. A rose plant is a shrub: its woody branches begin near the ground. A mango tree has a thick woody trunk, with major branches higher up.
2. Do not judge only by today’s height
A young tree can be short. Look at several features and, when needed, how the plant grows. These categories help us compare plants; they are not simply “small, medium and large”.
| Example | Stem clue | Branching clue |
|---|---|---|
| Tomato: herb | Soft and green | No thick woody trunk |
| Rose: shrub | Woody | Branches near the ground |
| Mango: tree | Thick woody trunk | Main branches higher up |
Your turn
Question
A short mango sapling and a tomato plant are the same height. Does that make both herbs?
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05 / EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
Some stems need support
A weak stem may climb with support or spread along the ground.
1. Notice how the plant is supported
A climber cannot remain upright in the same way as a sturdy tree trunk. It grows upwards using something for support. The support may be another plant or a structure.
2. Separate growth habit from size
A creeper spreads over the ground. To distinguish it from a climber, ask how it grows and uses support—not only how long the stem is.
| Growth pattern | How it grows | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Climber | Uses support to grow upward | Grapevine |
| Creeper | Spreads along the ground | Pumpkin |
Your turn
Question
A long stem lies along the ground. What should you observe before calling the plant a climber?
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06 / EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
Read the pattern of leaf veins
The thin lines in a leaf are veins. Their arrangement is called venation.
Follow the veins, not just the leaf outline
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1. A branching network: reticulate
In a hibiscus leaf, small veins branch and join to form a net-like pattern. Look on both sides of the thick middle vein. This is reticulate venation.
2. Veins running alongside: parallel
Grass and banana leaves show parallel venation. Follow several veins instead of judging only the leaf’s outline. The shape of a leaf and its vein pattern are different features.
Your turn
Question
A leaf is long. Is that enough to say it has parallel venation?
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07 / EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
One main root or a bunch of thin roots?
Roots can look different even when plants grow close together.
One main root—or a bunch of roots?
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1. Find the main root first
Mustard has a taproot system. Follow the main root down from the stem, then notice smaller roots branching from it. “Taproot” does not mean the plant has only one root.
2. Compare it with grass
Grass has many similar thin roots arising near the stem base. That is a fibrous root system. Use the book figure or a teacher-prepared plant; do not pull up wild plants just to identify them.
Your turn
Question
A plant has one thick root and many smaller branches. Why is it not a fibrous root system?
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08 / EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
Connect seeds, veins and roots
Use three clues together, while remembering that the pattern has exceptions.
Count the seed leaves
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1. Count cotyledons, not pieces made by breaking
Chickpea is a dicot with two cotyledons. Maize is a monocot with one. Breaking a seed into pieces does not create more cotyledons; they are structures of the seed.
2. Use the usual pattern carefully
Dicots generally have reticulate venation and taproots. Monocots generally have parallel venation and fibrous roots. These clues help us predict, but “generally” matters: check the plant rather than treating a clue as proof.
Your turn
Question
A learner sees parallel veins and predicts fibrous roots. How should this prediction be described?
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09 / EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
Body parts help animals move
Connect the movement with the body part and surroundings.
Different body parts help animals move
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1. Match the part to the movement
A goat walks and jumps using legs. A pigeon walks with legs and flies with wings. Fish use their body, tail and fins to move and steer through water.
2. Notice the connection with surroundings
A streamlined fish body moves through water with less resistance than a broad flat obstacle. A fish’s fins and a goat’s legs are suited to different ways of moving. This does not mean all water animals have fins.
Your turn
Question
Why is “all animals that swim are fish” an unreliable grouping rule?
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10 / EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
A feature can help in a particular place
A cactus and a deodar face different conditions. Compare a feature with the challenge it helps meet.
A water-storing stem
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Branches slope downward
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1. Water storage in a dry place
A cactus has a thick, fleshy stem that stores water. This helps when water is scarce. The feature and its usefulness belong together: “thick stem” is the observation; water storage explains its role.
2. Sloping branches in snowy mountains
A deodar has a conical shape and sloping branches that help snow slide off. Different plants can have different features even within mountain regions. The chapter compares shorter rhododendrons in windy Nilgiri areas with taller ones in Sikkim.
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Question
Is “the cactus is green” enough to explain how it copes with little water?
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11 / EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
Not every desert animal has the same features
Hot and cold deserts both have little water, but their temperatures differ.
Two environments, different features
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1. Compare the two camels in the book
The hot-desert camel shown has one hump and long legs. The cold-desert camel has two humps and a thicker coat, especially in winter. The extra hair helps in cold conditions.
2. A hump stores fat, not a tank of water
Stored fat is an energy reserve when food is scarce. Camels also conserve water through several body processes, including producing concentrated urine and dry dung. A picture can show the hump and coat, but cannot show all these internal processes.
3. Broad feet help on sand
The hot-desert camel has broad, padded feet that spread its weight on soft sand. The book also compares the leg lengths of hot- and cold-desert camels. These pictures illustrate features; they are not drawn to the same scale.
Your turn
Question
A poster labels a camel’s hump “water bottle”. What should you correct?
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12 / EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
A habitat supplies the needs of life
A habitat is more than an address. It provides resources and conditions for living.
1. Compare land and water habitats
Forests, grasslands, deserts and mountains are terrestrial habitats. Ponds, lakes, rivers and oceans are aquatic habitats. Organisms need food, water, air, shelter and suitable conditions, but meet these needs in different ways.
2. Some lives connect both settings
Frogs are amphibians, and many use both water and land during their lives. But merely entering water does not make an animal an amphibian: a swimming dog is still a mammal. Habitat and animal group are different ideas.
| Habitat | Example living thing | What the place provides |
|---|---|---|
| Pond | Fish | Water, food and space to live |
| Forest | Deer | Food, shelter and space |
| Hot desert | Cactus | Dry land; the plant has water-saving features |
Your turn
Question
A pond is filled with rubble. Why is moving just one fish away not enough to protect its biodiversity?
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13 / EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
Protect habitats, not only individual animals
To protect biodiversity, keep the places and relationships that living things need.
Protecting a whole living place
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1. People and science both contribute
The chapter describes sacred groves protected by communities and the movement to save Silent Valley. Botanist Janaki Ammal helped document and protect plant diversity. Salim Ali studied birds and their habitats. Careful records help people recognise what needs protection.
2. Choose actions that protect a living place
Avoid disturbing nests, leaving litter or damaging plants. Learn about local habitats with a teacher and share reliable observations. Conservation projects need suitable habitats as well as attention to particular species.
A little deeper: Examples of conservation in the chapter
The book introduces Project Tiger (1973), the cheetah reintroduction project (2022), and protection of Great Indian Bustard habitats. These examples show different conservation efforts; they are not a claim that every species has recovered.
Your turn
Question
A school wants to help wildlife. Why could keeping a pond clean be more useful than putting up only an animal poster?
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Sign inNew here? Sign up freeCHAPTER RECAP
Take these ideas with you
- Observe real features before grouping living things.
- Stem type and branching help distinguish herbs, shrubs and trees.
- Leaf veins, roots and seed leaves show useful general patterns—not rules without exceptions.
- Adaptations help living things in particular surroundings.
- Protecting habitats also protects relationships among living things.
Use your understanding in a new situation
Question
A plant has a network of leaf veins. What root pattern might you expect, and why should you still check?
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Sign inNew here? Sign up freeQuestion
A school keeps one bird feeder but removes all its nesting trees. Explain why the feeder may not meet the birds’ needs.
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Sign inNew here? Sign up freeNCERT · Chapter source PDF, pages 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22, 26 · Original Learnijoy explanations and practice.