Habitats are the particular places where animals and plants live and interact together. Just as some people prefer to live in the country or in the city, many plants and animals can only thrive in a certain type of place. An elm tree needs wet soil, a bluebird must have a field, a pileated woodpecker must have a mature forest and so on.

​The type of habitat is determined by many factors including whether the soil is wet or dry, the amount of sunlight available, the underlying rock–hard granite or soft limestone, the location–high on a hilltop or down in a valley–and the land’s previous usage–whether it was farmland, whether it was logged, or whether it is residential.