NCERT Solutions for Class 6 Science Chapter 2 Diversity in the Living World (PDF) – 2027

Yes. Around my home and school I see many kinds of plants — grass, tulsi, a gudhal (hibiscus) shrub, tall neem and peepal trees, a money plant climbing a wall — and many animals — crows, sparrows, squirrels, ants, butterflies, lizards and cows. Even each bird has its own unique chirp. This variety of plants and animals around us is called diversity.

Completed Table 2.1 (write the plants you actually observed; these entries show the kind of detail to record):

Similarities: all the plants had roots, a stem and green leaves, and most had flowers; all of them stay fixed in one place.

Differences: the stems were tall or short, hard or soft, thick or thin, green or brown; the leaves differed in shape, size and arrangement on the stem; the flowers differed in colour, shape and scent.

Completed Table 2.2 (add the animals you actually observed):

Similarities: all of them need food, move from place to place on their own, grow and produce young ones.

Differences: they differ in where they live, what they eat and how they move.

The class drew a large variety of plants and animals — trees, flowers, grass, birds, a rabbit and small creatures. Hardly any two drawings were the same, though a few common plants and animals were drawn by several students. This shows the great diversity of living things even in our own surroundings.

Count the different kinds drawn on your own board and write that number, counting a repeated plant or animal only once.

Sample answer (a class of 40):

Yes, there are many more varieties. The board shows only the plants and animals that one class remembered. Many others live in our own area (bats, owls, snails, bamboo), and other regions have quite different ones — cactus in the desert, deodar in the Himalayas, corals in the sea. Many living things are also too small to notice.

Yes. Bees and butterflies carry pollen from flower to flower so that fruits can form; earthworms loosen the soil and turn dead leaves into manure that helps plants grow; birds and bats eat banyan and peepal fruits and spread their seeds; frogs and birds eat insects that harm crops. These examples show that plants and animals depend on each other.

Yes. I would group my books and notebooks by subject (the Science book with the Science notebook, and so on), keep textbooks and notebooks in separate sections, and pack only the books needed for the day’s timetable. Grouping helps me find a book quickly without searching the whole bag, so the bag stays organised.

Sample grouping (use one feature at a time and put every card into one group):

While sharing, state the single feature used as the basis (for example, “presence or absence of flowers”) and show that every card fits into one group.

Each plant or animal has many features, and different groups chose different features as the basis. One group may use the height of plants, another the presence or absence of flowers, another a hard or soft stem. The cards collected and the students’ own interests and experiences also differ. No single basis is the only correct one.

Grouping makes it easier to understand and study plants and animals on the basis of their similarities and differences. Instead of remembering thousands of living things one by one, we remember a few groups; members of a group can be compared quickly, and knowing the group of a plant or animal tells us some of its other features.

Completed Table 2.3 (add rows for the plants you observe):

Herbs are short, with soft, green, thin stems (tomato). Shrubs are of medium height, with many hard, brown, thin woody stems branching close to the ground (rose). Trees are tall, with a hard, thick, brown woody stem and branches starting higher up on the stem (mango). So we group plants by their height, nature of stem and where the branches arise.

Yes. The leaves differ in shape (long and narrow in grass, broad in gudhal, heart-shaped in money plant), in size, in their edges (smooth or toothed), in their surface, and in the pattern of veins — net-like in some leaves and parallel in others.

In the hibiscus leaf (Fig. 2.4a) the veins form a net-like pattern on both sides of a thick middle vein — this is reticulate venation. In the banana leaf (Fig. 2.4b) the veins run parallel to one another — this is parallel venation.

Besides height and the nature of the stem, plants can be grouped on the basis of the venation of leaves (reticulate or parallel), the type of root (taproot or fibrous), the number of cotyledons in the seed (dicot or monocot), the presence or absence of flowers, the shape and arrangement of leaves, and where they grow (land, water, desert, mountains).

Yes. Plants can be grouped into two groups: those with reticulate venation (hibiscus, mango, tulsi, chana) and those with parallel venation (banana, grass, wheat, maize). Venation is easy to observe on a single leaf.

Almost all the plants around us have roots, which hold the plant in the soil and take up water and minerals. The roots are not all similar. A mustard plant has one main root with small side roots, while a grass plant has a bunch of thin roots of similar size arising from the base of the stem.

Similarities: all the roots grew underground, were not green, and held the plant firmly in the soil.

Differences: some plants had one main root with small side roots (taproot, as in mustard); others had a bunch of similar-sized thin roots from the base of the stem (fibrous roots, as in grass).

Fig. 2.5a (mustard) has one main root with small side roots arising from it — this is a taproot. Fig. 2.5b (grass) has a bunch of similar-sized thin roots arising from the base of the stem — these are fibrous roots.

Yes. Other grasses such as doob grass, lemongrass and young wheat, maize or paddy plants all have fibrous roots — a bunch of thin roots of nearly the same size from the base of the stem, with no main root.

Yes, there is a relation. Plants with reticulate venation generally have taproots, and plants with parallel venation generally have fibrous roots. We can find this out by observing the leaf venation and the roots of many different plants, recording both in one table, and looking for a pattern (Activity 2.7).

Completed Table 2.4 (use the saplings you actually observed):

Yes. A sadabahar plant has a taproot and reticulate venation, while lemongrass has fibrous roots and parallel venation. Other plants follow the same pattern — chickpea (reticulate, taproot) and wheat (parallel, fibrous). So, generally, plants with reticulate venation have taproots while those with parallel venation have fibrous roots.

No, all seeds are not similar. A chickpea seed splits into two parts (two cotyledons) — it is a dicot; a maize seed has a single cotyledon — it is a monocot. Yes, the three features are related: dicots generally have reticulate venation and taproots, while monocots generally have parallel venation and fibrous roots.

Animals can be grouped on features that are easy to observe, such as how they move (fly, walk, crawl, swim), the body parts used for movement (legs, wings, fins), where they live (land or water), what they eat (plants or other animals), the number of legs, and the body covering (feathers, hair, scales).

They are different. The soaked chickpea seed splits into two parts (two cotyledons), so chickpea is a dicot. The maize seed does not split; it has a single thin cotyledon, so maize is a monocot.

Dicot plants (two cotyledons in the seed) generally have reticulate venation and a taproot system, while monocot plants (one cotyledon) generally have parallel venation and a fibrous root system.

Body parts used for movement: ant, cow and rabbit — legs; butterfly and birds — wings and legs; fish — fins; frog and tortoise — legs; centipede — many pairs of legs; snake and earthworm — the whole body (they have no legs).

Completed Table 2.5:

From Table 2.5 we can conclude that:

1. Different animals have different types of movement — they fly, walk, run, crawl, hop, jump or swim.
2. They use different body parts to move — legs, wings or fins; some, like the snake and the earthworm, use the whole body.
3. Some animals move in more than one way — a pigeon walks and flies; a frog hops and swims.

We can group animals by the type of movement or by the body part used to move, for example:

• Animals that can fly — pigeon, housefly, butterfly; animals that cannot fly — cow, fish, ant, snake.
• By body part used — legs (goat, ant), wings (pigeon, housefly), fins (fish), no limbs (snake, earthworm).

Yes. Animals move in ways that suit their surroundings. Fish live in water and have a streamlined body and fins for swimming; goats live in grassy areas on land and move with the help of legs; birds use wings to fly through the air.

Completed Table 2.6 (add the plants and animals you know):

The plants and animals found in one kind of region are different from those found in another kind of region. Camel and cactus are found in the desert, deodar and yak on mountains, fish and whales in the ocean, and lion and tall trees in the forest. The living things of each region have features that suit its conditions.

Because the conditions in the two regions are very different. The desert has very little water and is very hot by day, so the cactus has thick, fleshy stems that store water. The mountains are very cold with frequent snowfall, so the deodar is conical with sloping branches that let the snow slide off. Thus biodiversity varies from region to region because of diverse conditions.

• The hot-desert camel is taller, with long legs and wide hooves, which help it walk on sand without sinking. The cold-desert camel has shorter legs and height, which let it walk easily in mountainous regions.
• The hot-desert camel has one hump; the cold-desert camel has two humps. Humps store food for times when food is scarce.
• The cold-desert camel has long hair from head to neck, which helps it survive the cold winters of Ladakh.

Camels excrete small amounts of urine, their dung is dry, and they do not sweat. So very little water is lost from their bodies, and they can survive for many days without drinking water.

Other helpful features: long eyelashes that keep out blowing sand, thick pads on the knees for sitting on hot sand, and the ability to drink a large amount of water at one time.

Based on their habitats, plants and animals can be grouped into:

• Terrestrial — those that live on land (forests, deserts, grasslands, mountains), e.g. camel, lion, cactus, neem.
• Aquatic — those that live in water (ponds, lakes, rivers, oceans), e.g. fish, whale, lotus.

Animals such as frogs, which can live in water as well as on land, are called amphibians.

If a habitat is damaged, its plants and animals lose their homes, food and other resources, and this leads to loss of biodiversity. If a goat does not get grass to eat, it will go hungry, become weak and may not survive unless it finds food elsewhere. No, a fish cannot survive without water — it takes in the oxygen dissolved in water and can move only in water.

My grandmother says that in her childhood house sparrows nested in almost every house, vultures flew over the fields, fireflies glowed in the rainy season and frogs croaked all night near the pond. Today she sees very few sparrows and fireflies and no vultures, because old houses have been replaced, the pond has been filled in and more pesticide is used in the fields.

Sacred groves are undisturbed patches of forest protected by the local community. No one is allowed to cut trees, harm animals or disturb the area, so they are home to many plants and animals, including medicinal plants. Write the name and place of the sacred grove in your region (for example, devrai in Maharashtra, kavu in Kerala, oran in Rajasthan).

Wheat is a monocot (one cotyledon): its plant has fibrous roots and leaves with parallel venation. Kidney bean (rajma) is a dicot (two cotyledons): its plant has a taproot and leaves with reticulate venation.

A (aquatic): Dolphin, Whale
B (terrestrial): Horse, Sheep, Squirrel, Earthworm, Pigeon
C (both): Frog, Crocodile, Tortoise

Dolphins and whales live only in water; the animals in C move about both in water and on land.

A radish is a taproot — one thick main root (swollen with stored food) with thin side roots growing from it. Plants with a taproot generally have reticulate venation, so the leaves of the radish plant show reticulate venation (a net of veins on both sides of a thick middle vein).

Similarities: both have four legs with hooves, horns and hair on the body, and both eat grass and leaves.

Differences: the mountain goat has a thick, long, woolly coat and short, strong legs with hooves that grip rocks; the plains goat has short, thin hair and longer, slender legs.

Reasons: these are adaptations. The mountains are cold, steep and rocky, so a thick coat keeps the goat warm and strong legs help it climb; the plains are warm and flat.

Basis: whether the animal lays eggs or gives birth to young ones.

(Another correct basis: animals with a backbone — cow, pigeon, bat, tortoise, whale, fish, lizard — and without a backbone — cockroach, grasshopper.)

Effects: cutting forests destroys the habitat of many plants and animals, so they lose their homes and food and biodiversity is lost. It also causes soil erosion and floods, reduces rainfall, makes the surroundings hotter and the air more polluted, and wild animals may stray into villages.

How to address it: plant more trees than we cut; use paper and wood carefully and recycle; use alternatives such as LPG instead of firewood; protect forests, national parks and sacred groves; and spread awareness.

A = plants whose leaves have reticulate venation, e.g. hibiscus (gudhal), mango, neem, tulsi, mustard, chana.
B = plants whose leaves do not have reticulate venation, i.e. they have parallel venation, e.g. banana, grass, wheat, maize, rice, sugarcane.

Sanjay can ask:

1. How tall is the plant — short, medium or tall?
2. Is its stem green or brown, soft or hard, thin or thick?
3. Do its branches arise close to the ground or higher up on the stem?
4. Does it have many stems coming up from near the base?

If the gudhal is of medium height with hard, brown, thin stems branching close to the ground, then Raj is right — it is a shrub.

(a) Plants of group A also have reticulate venation in their leaves, and their seeds have two cotyledons (they split into two parts).
(b) Plants of group B also have parallel venation in their leaves, and their seeds have a single cotyledon.

The duck has webbed feet — its toes are joined by a flap of skin, so the foot is broad like a paddle. Other birds, such as the pigeon, have separate toes with claws. Using its webbed feet, the duck can swim (paddle) in water.

Sample report: Janaki Ammal (1897–1984) was an Indian botanist from Kerala. She studied sugarcane and many other plants, and as head of the Botanical Survey of India she started programmes to document India’s plant diversity. She also played a key role in the Save Silent Valley movement, which saved an evergreen forest in Kerala. Her work shows that we must know and record our plants in order to protect them.

Sample report (any three):

• Divya Mudappa restores damaged rainforest patches in the Anamalai hills of the Western Ghats by planting native trees.
• Vidya Athreya studies leopards living close to people and has shown how people and leopards can share the same area.
• Uma Ramakrishnan uses DNA from droppings and hair to study tigers and other wildlife and to check whether small populations are getting cut off from one another.

Sample list (label the plants with your teacher or gardener and write the list like this):

Sample class biodiversity register (combine every student’s notes and remove repeats):

Sample presentation points: Project Tiger was started in 1973 to protect the declining Bengal tiger through tiger reserves. The Cheetah Reintroduction Project (2022) brought cheetahs back to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Habitats of the Great Indian Bustard have been declared protected areas in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. Other projects include Project Elephant (1992) and the crocodile conservation project (1975).

Sample group report — our suggestions:

• Plant and care for native trees in the school; keep water bowls for birds in summer.
• Do not pluck flowers, disturb nests or keep wild birds as pets.
• Use cloth bags, avoid single-use plastic, and keep ponds and parks clean.
• Protect old trees and local groves, and spread awareness through posters and talks.

Sample findings (from talking to elders; write down your own):