Please join the Expedition Team in the Chat Room on Tuesday, May 1st from 9:00 - 10:00 AM CST and again from 12:00-1:00 PM CST. Teachers, please log your class in as one user using an LCD projector. We hope to see you there!

People have habitats, just like animals and plants do. A habitat is where certain organisms naturally live and grow. A habitat consists of ways that organisms to gather food, water, and shelter. In order to better understand what a person’s habitat is like, we’ll use Warren’s habitat as an example. As you read about Warren, consider your own habitat. How do you get the things you need to survive from your environment?

Warren lives with his family in Lagunas, Peru. His habitat consists of his home, garden, the surrounding community, and you could even say, the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve.

Warren’s home, or shelter, was made from materials that grow in the area. He built his house out of locally grown wood. It is awfully hard to build a house by yourself. Warren explained to us that a group of people builds a house in Lagunas. This is one way in which friends and family in his community come into play.

Warren gets food in many different ways. In his backyard, he has several banana plants. He also has a chacra, or garden, near the ranger station in Tibilo, where we entered the Pacaya Samaria Reserve. In his chacra, Warren grows a variety of fruits and vegetables. More banana plants, yucca, and sugar cane grow in his chacra. The plants that Warren grows for food don’t provide everything that his family needs. He also must work to earn money to buy the things that he and his family need.

His job is working as a guide in the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. He takes visitors on canoeing and camping trips in the reserve. Working in the reserve not only provides him with money, but it also gives him access to the plants and fish that are found here. Warren will volunteer his time to help park rangers do things like collect and incubate turtle eggs or build new buildings. In return for this volunteer work, he is allowed to fish in the reserve. Warren can also collect edible and medicinal plants. Warren depends on water from the river and from rain. He and his family need to drink water. He also needs water to help all of his plants grow.

Warren is also working on making another building. It won’t be a place for him to live, but it has to do with his job. Near the ranger station in Tibilo, where people access the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve, Warren is constructing another building. It will be a place for him to store his canoes and equipment from his guiding business. He also plans to make part of this building a store where he can sell local crafts and other things that tourists may need before entering the reserve.

You can see how Warren depends on the rainforest in several different ways in order to survive. He can harvest plants from the rainforest to eat and use for medicine. He grows plants to eat in his chacra. He fishes in the river. His house is made from materials found in the rainforest. He works as a guide in the Pacaya Samiria Reserve in order to make money to buy the other things that he and his family may need for survival.

Just like animals and plants, people have habitats. They may seem a bit more complex when you consider how a job and a community are part of one’s habitat. What is your habitat like? How is it similar or different from Warren’s? How do you get the things you need to live and grow?

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