10 / 116
Changes in the
Environment
Rice is one of the most important food
sources around the world. For this reason,
people use a lot of land to grow rice.
The
environment
changes when a rice
paddy is created.
Terrestrial
(dry land)
environments are changed into
aquatic
(water) environments.
Terrestrial organisms cannot live in
aquatic environments. Animals, such as
ground squirrels, snakes, and ants, must
find new places to live and raise their
young. Oak trees, sunflowers, and thistles
cannot live in water. The creation of a rice
paddy is
detrimental
, or harmful, to
terrestrial organisms.
However, the rice paddy creates a
new place for aquatic organisms to live.
Crayfish and frogs live among the rice
plants. Aquatic insects, such as damselflies,
mayflies, and mosquitoes,
thrive
.
Ducks and geese find water and food
in rice paddies. Rice paddies are
beneficial
to aquatic organisms.
Damselflies thrive in aquatic
environments.
Frogs live in water.
A rice paddy is an aquatic
environment.
10