How does an organism survive? Including its habitat, how it obtains food, shelter, and how it avoids danger.

Organisms need basic elemental things to survive.  The things they need depend on the biome they are living in, but basically boil down to the following:  sunlight, water, food, temperature, and air.  Animals will also need some form of shelter, a place to call home, to rest, to recharge.  Sunlight is the primary energy source; all green plants require the radiation from the sun to manufacture food in a process called photosynthesis.  Water is required...

Organisms need basic elemental things to survive.  The things they need depend on the biome they are living in, but basically boil down to the following:  sunlight, water, food, temperature, and air.  Animals will also need some form of shelter, a place to call home, to rest, to recharge.  Sunlight is the primary energy source; all green plants require the radiation from the sun to manufacture food in a process called photosynthesis.  Water is required on both plants and animals, some more, some less, depending on the life form.  Food is eaten by animals, some in plant form, some consume other organisms, all to produce energy for their cells in a process called cellular respiration.  Animals need oxygen to survive, while plants need carbon dioxide to participate in photosynthesis. 

Depending on the habitat, all these factors must be covered.  An animal living in the rain forests of South America will have unlimited supplies of water, sun, and food.  Animals in the polar extremes, like polar bears, have exactly the opposite in terms of availability, but manage to find resources where they live.  Then, compare animals and plants living in desert biomes, where water is scarce, food is scarce, and sun and temperature are abundant.  This is why you find the variety of different organisms worldwide, depending upon where and how they make their living.

Avoiding danger is another concern for survival.  In the wild, there is an established food chain.  Depending upon an organism's location on the food chain, being consumed by a larger consumer is a real concern.  Not only do they have to consume for themselves, they have to avoid becoming food.  Beavers do this by building a beaver dam, which has several entrances, from underwater.  This is a safe haven from which they may procure food, and avoid becoming food, for say, a hungry bear.