Friday, August 30, 2013

9/50 - Endotherm

Endotherm is a term used to describe an animal who uses internal sources of body heat. These animals are warm-blooded and can regulate their body temperature. Examples of Endothermic animals are all mammals and birds.

8/50 - Ectotherm

Ectotherm is a term used to describe an animal who uses external sources of body heat. These animals are cold-blooded and cannot regulate their body temperature. Examples of Ectothermic animals are reptiles, amphibians, fish and sea turtles.

Thursday, August 29, 2013

7/50 - Cuticle layer of a plant

The cuticle layer of a plant is like a protective sleeve covering the epidermis and leaves. The cuticle protects the plant from a lot of possible physical and chemical damage. It also protects the plant in a similar way that skin protects humans.


6/50 - Autotroph

An Autotroph is an organism like a plant that produces complex compounds. Autotrophs are producers on the food chain and are capable of making their own food. They take energy from  sunlight or inorganic chemicals and use it to create  molecules such as carbohydrates. Almost all other organisms need Autotrophs for food.


5/50 - ATP

ATP, which is also known as Adenosine triphosphate is an energy carrier in the cells of all known organisms. In plants, ATP is made through cellular respiration and is used for Photosynthesis. Without ATP, photosynthesis could not be completed and it wouldn't be able to create energy for the plant to live.

4/50 - Analogous structures

Analogous structures are part of a species body that have the same appearance, structure or function as another species but do not share a common ancestor. The wings of a bird and an insect both serve the same function but they evolved separately and share no common ancestor.

3/50 - Adaptation of an animal

Domestic dogs come in a lot of different colors and sizes, for example a Chihuahua and a Husky look and act very different from each other but they're both dogs. For over thousands of years dogs have been specifically bred to gain different behaviors, sensory capabilities and physical attributes. Other animals may adapt for a different reason then dogs do but the process of adaptation is the same for almost all animals.

Monday, August 26, 2013

2/50 - Animal that has a segmented body

A segmented body is an animal's body that can be divided into three parts (the head, thorax and abdomen). If you take a close look at this photo you can see that this insect has a segmented body. You can easily tell if an animal has a segmented body if it has jointed appendages such as this insect and all other Arthropods.

1/50 - Adaptation of a plant

Like animals, Plants have adaptations to help them survive in different places. This is why some plants are better suited to their environment than others. It's also why some plants might not survive as well in other places, this is because they already made adaptations to a different environment.