Photo/Illustration Credits: Cover: Jerry Tobias/Corbis, (inset) Kevin Schafer/Getty Images; 2 Jim Richardson/Corbis, (inset) Corbis; 3 Ron Chapple/Getty Images; 5 Kayte Deioma/PhotoEdit; 14 Stephen Frink/Corbis. GRADE 6 AL Book 1 WORD COUNT 350 GENRE Expository Nonfiction LEVEL Above-Level Harcourt Leveled Readers Online Database www.eharcourtschool.com ISBN 978-0-15-362472-8 ISBN 0-15-362472-8 If you have received these materials as examination copies free of charge, Harcourt > School Publishers retains title to the materials and they may not be resold. Resale of examination copies is strictly prohibited and is illegal. Possession of this publication in print format does not entitle users to convert this publication, or any portion of it, into electronic format. j]Y+6.%3'Z[W by Sharon Kahkonen Copyright © by Harcourt, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be addressed to School Permissions and Copyrights, Harcourt, Inc., 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777. Fax: 407-345-2418. HARCOURT and the Harcourt Logo are trademarks of Harcourt, Inc., registered in the United States of America and/or other jurisdictions. Printed in Mexico ISBN-13: 978-0-15-362467-4 ISBN-10: 0-15-362467-1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 126 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 Visit The Learning Site! www.harcourtschool.com First Encounter It was a perfect day for George and MaryÕs favorite activityÑ beachcombing! The pure white sand felt warm under their bare feet. The crystal clear water of the Caribbean Sea was a beautiful turquoise blue. George and Mary were looking for shells, bits of coral, and anything else that the waves may have washed up on shore. They thought that someday they would like to open a museum in their back yard for the other kids in the neighborhood, or maybe even for the tourists. They had found some pretty interesting thingsÑcrab shells, shark teeth, and sea shells of all different shapes and sizes. But on this day they found something truly extraordinary. Mary was turning over a piece of coral in her hand, wondering what it looked like when it was alive, when she caught something out of the corner of her eye. ÒGeorge, look!Ó Mary shouted, as she pointed out to the sea. 2 Something big and black was coming toward them out of the water. Their Þ rst impulse was to run, but they were too curious. They stood very still, frozen in their tracks. It looked like the head of a sea creature, with one huge eye! Slowly, its shiny black body emerged from the water. Very clumsily, it waddled to the shore. Its huge webbed feet were obviously better suited for swimming than for walking. Once on shore, off came the mask, off came the tank, and off came the ß ippers. It wasnÕt a weird sea creature after all: it was a scuba diver! ÒHi there!Ó the scuba diver greeted them. ÒHi!Ó Mary replied. ÒWhat are you doing?Ó ÒMy name is Dr. Fonseca. IÕm a marine biologist,Ó the woman answered. ÒIÕm studying the coral reef out there. WeÕre trying to Þ nd out more about why local Þ shers arenÕt catching as many Þ sh as they used to, and why the corals are fading. The reef and the economy of the entire island may be in trouble.Ó 3 ÒOh, yes, we know about the Þsh,Ó George replied, with a concerned look. ÒMy father is a Þsher, and he has been catching fewer and smaller Þsh every year.Ó ÒSo what do you think might be causing this?Ó asked Mary. ÒIt could be because of global warming, or pollution, or sediments washing into the ocean, or over-Þshing, or some combination of these factors. We still donÕt know for sure. Hopefully, our research will help shed some light on this mystery.Ó ÒWhat do you have in those sacks?Ó asked George. ÒIÕve collected some specimens to take back to the laboratory.Ó She pointed down the beach to a cement, two-story building. ÒItÕs down there. IÕm studying the effects of pollution on their growth.Ó ÒCan we come with you? Can we help you in some way?Ó asked Mary. Setting down her sacks, Dr. Fonseca thought for a moment. She was extremely busy, but Mary and George looked keenly interested. She realized that saving the reefs would require everyoneÕs help. She needed to convince Þshers, farmers, and people in the tourist business to do things differently. They needed to know how important it was to save the reefs and how they could help. And they needed to be educated about the biology of the reefs to understand how to take better care of them. Maybe some energetic young people could help. She could tell them about the reef. They could tell their parents. In turn, their parents could tell other people. ÒHow would you like to bring your whole class to the lab?Ó she asked. ÒDo you mean it? That would be fantastic!Ó said Mary. ÒOkay, let me see what I can arrange with your teacher. Just now, I have to get back to work. But I promise, weÕll meet again soon.Ó ÒThis is George, and IÕm Mary. We go to Middletown School, and our teacherÕs name is Mr. White,Ó Mary called after Dr. Fonseca, who was already making her way down the beach. ÒIÕll give him a call. See you soon, Mary and George!Ó she called back. ÒDonÕt forget!Ó exclaimed George. ÒI wonÕt,Ó Dr. Fonseca replied. ÒI promise.Ó 4 At the Marine Biology Lab Later that week, the students in George and MaryÕs class went to Dr. FonsecaÕs lab. There were rows and rows of tanks, Þ lled with corals, sponges, and Þ sh of all colors, shapes, and sizes. ÒAll of these things live out there in the reef?Ó asked George, eyes wide with wonder. ÒYes, and many more. There are thousands of different animals living out there. These are only some of the most common types.Ó ÒThese animals donÕt look common to me. IÕve never seen some of them before. TheyÕre dazzling!Ó replied Mary. 5 Dr. Fonseca smiled. ÒYouÕre right, Mary, coral reefs are dazzling. Nowhere else in nature has so much beauty and variety of life been crowded into so small an area. Every square foot holds new surprises.Ó ÒWhat are these things, Dr. Fonseca?Ó ÒAre they plants or animals?Ó ÒCan they move?Ó ÒHow do they eat?Ó The students bombarded her with an endless string of questions. ÒHold on!Ó Dr. Fonseca laughed, happy to hear the childrenÕs interest. ÒLetÕs take this a step at a time. To answer one question that many of you have, yes, all of these creatures are animals, just like we are.Ó ÒThey sure donÕt look like animals. Why donÕt they move like other animals?Ó asked George. Dr. Fonseca began to lecture, ÒCorals and sponges are two phyla of very primitive animals. First, letÕs talk about all of the different kinds of animals that exist and how they are arranged into groups. You see, scientists have classiÞed all animals into groups according to their traits. That is, animals with similar traits are placed together in the same group.Ó Alicia, a friend of MaryÕs, asked, ÒSince humans are animals, what group do we belong to?Ó ÒGood question,Ó Dr. Fonseca answered. ÒFirst of all, as you all know, humans belong to the animal kingdom. But kingdom is just the Þrst level of classiÞcation. A kingdom includes the largest number of different organisms.Ó ÒAre there just two kingdomsÑplants and animals?Ó asked George. Dr. Fonseca explained, ÒActually, many scientists use a Þve-kingdom classiÞcation system. It was once believed that all living things were either plants or animals. Then scientists created another kingdom for the fungi, including mushrooms and molds, because they are so different from plants. And as scientists learned more and more about different organisms, including microscopic one-celled organisms like bacteria, they decided that they needed more kingdoms for classiÞcation. In the future, as scientists learn more, they may need more than Þve kingdoms. But today weÕre only going to talk about the animal kingdom.Ó 6 ÒLetÕs see whether you can keep track of the seven levels of classiÞcation,Ó said Dr. Fonseca. ÒThere are seven levels in the classiÞcation system. The highest level is the most general and contains the most organisms. Each level gets more specialized until you get to the lowest level, which contains only one organism. Starting at the top, or most general level, the levels are: Kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species.Ó ÒHow can you remember all those levels?Ó said George with a bit of surprise. ÒIÕve had practice,Ó said Dr. Fonseca. ÒBut you can use tricks to help remember things like this. Some people use a sentence, ÔKing Phillip came over for great spaghetti.Õ The ÔkÕ in King is for kingdom, the ÔpÕ in Phillip is for phylum, and so on.Ó She started to write. ÒHumans would be classiÞed like this.Ó This is what Dr. Fonseca wrote: Kingdom: Animal Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Primate Family: Hominid Genus: Species: Alicia looked puzzled.