Science Class 7 - Nutrition In-Plants-And-Animals Notes

Nutrition in Plants and Animals

Welcome to the chapter on Nutrition in Plants and Animals for Class 7. In this chapter, you will learn how plants and animals get their food, the different types of nutrition, and why nutrition is important for living things. By the end of this chapter, you will understand how living things grow and stay healthy!

Introduction

Nutrition is the process by which living things get and use food for growth, energy, and staying healthy. Both plants and animals need nutrition, but they get their food in different ways.

Nutrition in Plants

• Autotrophic Nutrition: Plants make their own food using sunlight, water, and air. This process is called photosynthesis.
• Photosynthesis: Green plants use their leaves to take in sunlight and carbon dioxide. They make food and release oxygen.
• Other Modes: Some plants, like mushrooms, do not make their own food. They get food from dead plants and animals (saprotrophic nutrition). Some plants, like the pitcher plant, eat insects (insectivorous plants).

Nutrition in Animals

• Heterotrophic Nutrition: Animals cannot make their own food. They eat plants or other animals.
• Types of Animals:
  • Herbivores: Eat only plants (cow, deer).
  • Carnivores: Eat only animals (lion, tiger).
  • Omnivores: Eat both plants and animals (human, bear).
• How Animals Eat: Some animals chew food, some swallow, and some suck (like butterflies).

Importance of Nutrition

• Nutrition helps living things grow and repair their bodies.
• It gives energy for work and play.
• It keeps the body healthy and protects from diseases.

Fun Activity: Observe and Record!

Watch a plant and note how its leaves look in sunlight. Observe what different animals eat at home or in your neighborhood. Make a chart!

Summary

• Plants make their own food by photosynthesis.
• Animals get food by eating plants or other animals.
• Nutrition is important for growth, energy, and health.

Practice Questions

1. What is photosynthesis?
2. Name two herbivores and two carnivores.
3. Why do animals need food?
4. What is the difference between autotrophic and heterotrophic nutrition?
5. Give an example of an insectivorous plant.

Challenge Yourself

• Draw and label the process of photosynthesis.
• Make a list of foods you eat in a day and classify them as plant or animal sources.

Did You Know?

• The Venus flytrap is a plant that catches and eats insects!
• Some fungi, like mushrooms, get their food from dead plants and animals.

Glossary

• Nutrition: The process of getting and using food.
• Photosynthesis: The process by which green plants make food using sunlight.
• Autotrophic: Making own food (plants).
• Heterotrophic: Getting food from other living things (animals).
• Herbivore: Animal that eats only plants.
• Carnivore: Animal that eats only other animals.
• Omnivore: Animal that eats both plants and animals.

Answers to Practice Questions

1. Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants make their own food using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide.
2. Herbivores: cow, deer; Carnivores: lion, tiger.
3. Animals need food for energy, growth, and to stay healthy.
4. Autotrophic nutrition means making own food (plants); heterotrophic nutrition means getting food from other living things (animals).
5. Venus flytrap or pitcher plant.

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Nutrition helps all living things grow strong and healthy. Observe plants and animals around you to learn more!