Interdependence in Nature: Backyard 5/29/11

Some flowers depend on other factors to help them pollinate. Here, a bee is collecting pollen on its feet. When the bee stops at another flower, the pollen will be transfered, and fertilization will hopefully take place.

Structure Function: Zoo 5/20/11

The monkey's tail is structured in a way to act as a third arm in order to hang from tree limbs, or in this case ropes.

Continuity and Change/ Evolution/ Natural Selection: Zoo 5/20/11

All of these fish are from the class Actinopterygii but they all belong to a different species. All of these different species are thought to have evolved from a common ancestor but differenciated based on natural selection.

Energy Transfer/ Scavenger: Nature Center 5/29/11

The vulture would be considered a scavenger because its diet involves organisms that have already been killed. Once it eats, the food is broken down using energy to create useable energy for cells.

Regulation/ Thermal Regulation: Nature Center 5/29/11

These lizards were trying to burry themselves in the sand to regulate their body temperature by moving further away from the heat lamp, under the cool sand in their habitat.

Universal Solvent: Nature Center 5/29/11

Water (H2O) is a universal solvent. Many different substances are dissolved in water. Oxygen and other nutrients are dissolved in this pond in order to keep the organisms inhabiting it alive.  

Organisms with a Gilled Respiratory System: Nature Center 5/29/11

This fish has a gilled respiratory system. This means that gas exchange occurs at a localized extension in the body surfaces of aquatic animals.

Organism with a Closed Circulatory System/ Primary Consumer: Nature Center 5/29/11

The rabbit has a closed circulatory system because its blood is confined in blood vessels and is kept separate from the interstitial fluid. The rabbit is also a primary consumer because they eat producers such as grass and hay.

Bulk Feeder: Nature Center 5/29/11

This boa would be considered a bulk feeder because it eats prey that is relatively large compaired to its body size.

Fluid Feeder/ Organism with an open Circulatory System/ Example of an Arthropod: Backyard 5/29/11

A bee is an example of an arthropod because its body is segmented, has jointed appendages, has a segmented coelomate, and a chritinous exoskeleton. It is in the process of sucking nutrients from the flower. Because it gains nutrients by sucking fluids from other organisms, it would be labelled as a fluid feeder. The bee would also be considered an organism with an open circulatory system because it's hemolymph (equivilent of blood) is not contained in vessels, but it interacts with the organs directly.  

Suspension Feeder: Nature Center 5/29/11

This starfish sifts and consumes small particles from the water. It would be labelled as a suspension feeder.

Insect Exoskeleton: Nature Center 5/29/11

These cockroaches have a cuticle of protection and muscle attachment called an exoskeleton.

Nest: Porter Creek 5/26/11

This nest was found high up in the trees at porter creek, where a bird can lay her eggs, and where the baby birds will grow and develop until they are old enough to leave the nest.

Example of Photosynthesis/ Chlorophyll a/ Chlorophyll b: Porter Creek 5/26/11

These leaves are carrying out photosynthesis by absorbing sunlight and using its energy to make sugars and oxygen. Chlorophyll, located in chloroplasts absorb the light. Chlorophyll a is involved directly in the light reactions of photosynthesis, and it is a blue-green photosynthetic pigment. Energy is transfered to chlorophyll a by chlorophyll b, which is a yellow-green accessory photosynthetic pigment.

Science, Technology, and Society: Porter Creek 5/26/11

Wood from trees are used to make a variety of furniture types in society, including bed frames, dressers, couches, and even benches.

Simple Leaf: Porter Creek 5/26/11

A single, undivided blade is called a simple leaf.

Compound Leaf: Porter Creek 5/26/11

Compound leaves have blades that consist of multiple leaflets with no axillary buds at their bases.

Decomposer: Porter Creek 5/26/11

Fungi and prokaryotes are in the process of decomposing this fallen branch, by absorbing nutrients from it.

Substrate Feeder/ Example of an Annelid: Porter Creek 5/26/11

This earthworm in an example of an annelid. It has a cylindrical, segmented body. It moves using its hydrostatic skeleton. It is also a substrate feeder, because it lives in the soil that it eats.

Identified Animal Track: Porter Creek 5/26/11

This is a picture of a dog print at Porter Creek after a few rainy days, so the ground was nice and wet, perfect for making animal tracks!

Ectothermic Animal: Zoo 5/20/11

Fish are examples of ectotherms. Since ectotherms do not generate enough metabolic heat, they rely on energy from the environment and behavioral adaptations to regulate their body temperatures.

Endothermic Animal: Zoo 5/20/11

Lemurs are endothermic animals, and this means that their body heat is regulated by metabolism. Their body heat is usually maintained at a stable temperature.

Example from the Class Aves: Zoo 5/20/11

Parrots belong to the aves class. Aves, or birds, are terrestrial endotherms. They lay eggs with hard shells. Their skeletons are strong, but light. Aves have a high metabolic rate, and their gas exchange is assisted by air sacs.

Example from the Class Reptilla: Zoo 5/20/11

Turtles belong to the class reptilla. They are ectotherms. Reptiles have only one type of teeth. They lay eggs with a soft, leathery shell, and they do not have larval stages. Most reptiles are terrestrial.

Example from the Class Amphibia: Rainforest 5/20/11

Frogs and toads are examples of animals found in the class amphibia. Adult amphibians have lungs, where some of the young amphibians may have gills. Gas is exchanged through their skin. Amphibians live both in aquatic environments and damp terrestrial environments.

Example from the Class Mammalia/ Imprinting: Zoo 5/20/11

Black Rhinos are animals in the class mammalia. They are endotherms with hair. Their skin contains glands, and they produce milk from their mammary glands. Mammals have external ears and different types of teeth. There is also a diaphragm located between their thorax and abdomen. Mammals give birth to live young. This baby rhino has already gone through many phases of imprinting, or phases of learning. It has learned from the other female rhinos how to act and when to eat. Here she stays close to the older females, because she is in the process of learning the ropes of her habitat and how to react to all of the visitors.

Example of a Nonvascular Plant: Backyard 5/18/11

Moss is an example of a bryophyte (nonvascular plant). Because they do not have vascular systems, mosses reflect some traits of the earliest plants.

Example of a Vascular Seedless Plant: Zoo 5/20/11

Ferns are seedless vascular plants. They reproduce through the dispersal of spores, and they have branched vascular systems.

Seed Dispersed by Wind/ Sepals on a Flower/ Plant with Tap Root System: Backyard 5/18/11

This is an example of a seed that is dispersed by wind. The seeds of this dandelion are designed so that wind can carry the seeds over long distances, where they can eventually develop into new dandelions. The sepals can be seen at the base of this flower. They surround the reproductive parts of the flower and protect the new growing shoot. Dandelions also have a tap root system. This means that it has an enlarged root that grows vertically, and other roots grow horizontally from its center.

Adhesion/ Surface Tension/ Cohesion: Backyard 5/18/11

The water molecules form hydrogen bonds with one another because they are polar. This means that the oxygen has a slight negative charge, where the hydrogens have a slight positive charge. Since opposites attract, the hydrogens of one water molecule are attracted to the oxygen of another water molecule. This property of water is called cohesion, the ability for water to form hydrogen bonds with other water molecules. The cohesion of water allows the water molecules to form droplets seen in the picture above. Another property of water, adhesion, can be seen above as well. The water "sticks" to the leaves because it is adhesive. The parts of the water molecules are attracted to the leaves, causing it to stay on the leaf without falling off onto the ground. Surface tension is also seen in these water droplets, because the water stays in the form of a droplet without the surface breaking and the water dispersing across the leaf. This property of water is also due to hydrogen bonds between water molecules.

Example of a Fungi: Backyard 5/18/11

A mushroom is a perfect example of a fungi. They are heterotrophic, they have a cell wall made of chitin, they feed on dead or decaying material and they are terrestrial and immobile. Mushrooms also reproduce by means of spores.