Aquatic Adaptations : Aquatic Insect Habitat And Adaptations

The purpose of our experiment is to test animal behavior and reactions to a change in environment. Our guiding question is, “Why do living organisms respond to environmental factors?” This is basically a question that is asking why living things will react a certain way to environmental changes. The task to answer this question is to experiment with changing environmental factors with pill bugs.

Pill bugs, Armadillidium vulgare, are terrestrial isopods [Gibbs, Smigel, 2008]. Thus, they are not very well adapted to land [Gibbs, Smigel, 2008]. Water loss is a reoccurring theme because terrestrial isopods lack “cuticular lipids and the elaborate spiracular apparatus of insects” [Gibbs, Smigel, 2008]. Most of the water loss is evaporation from the respiratory organs [Gibbs, Smigel, 2008]. The respiratory organs are called pleopods, and are gill-like organs “located on the ventral abdominal segments” [Gibbs, Smigel, 2008]. Interestingly, pill bugs are capable of conglobation, the ability to roll up in a ball [Gibbs, Smigel, 2008]. In addition to protection from predation, conglobation may also conserve water [Gibbs, Smigel, 2008].

In our experiment our team answered the question, “Why do living organism respond to their environment factors?” using pill bugs or Armadillidiidae. Our purpose to answer the question is to understand the characteristics of a living organism. Specifically, the characteristic of how Living Things Respond to Their Environment. Our hypotenuses that where that if the pill bug is exposed to water, then the pill bug will be close to water; If the pill exposed to heat, then the pill bugs will stay a distance and our third hypotenuse is if the pill bugs is exposed to a stable environment exposed to nothing, then it will search for a suitable environment. The purpose of using pill bugs is to have a creature that can be manipulated and record data easily.

Some plants and animals have to adapt to the amount of oxygen and visibility underwater. For example, plants have adapted to the amount of sunlight they receive in certain environments, and cattails and water lilies have adapted to be able to survive humid climates. For animals, certain fish like trout have adapted to clear and cool water with a large amount of oxygen. On the other hand, other types of fish, like catfish, are able to survive in an area with a low oxygen level and gloomy visibility. Since otters live on the land surrounding the water, they have adapted to be able to swim to catch their food. Frogs and alligators have adapted to their environment by being able to live on the land after coming from underwater as an egg. Lastly, beavers have adapted to use their teeth to create the dams they live

Over the last several years, evolution has been playing an increasingly important role in determining how various species are evolving. This is because ecology will have an impact on how quickly a particular organism is able to adapt (with: the unique challenges for a particular environment). To determine the effect that this is having requires carefully examining different species over the course of many years. This will be accomplished by comparing these changes on Darwin and Wallace Islands. Once this occurs, is when specific insights will be provided that are highlighting the underlying challenges affecting the development of organisms. This is the point that these transformations will be evident among the various life forms. (Fasolo, 2011, pp. 53 68)

Adaptations in terrestrial environments involve the structural and functional qualities of the organism, to achieve the adequate intake of oxygen and other essential substances for the animal to survive, the evolution of more complex anatomical structures were required. Gravity is stronger on land than water, which means terrestrial organisms have to be more structural than aquatic organisms. Also, the balance of gas exchange with water loss is a key feature to survive in land. For example plants, when doing photosynthesis require carbon dioxide and water to produce oxygen, at the end of this process a lot of water is lost and terrestrial plants have to compensate the water being lost and the water taken from soil. Furthermore, the dispersal of gametes by wind or other animals have helped plants reproduce in large amounts and create varieties of species of the same kind. Short-term weather patterns as well as long-term climate conditions based on precipitations, temperature, wind, humidity as well as other factors are survival obstacles that organisms in land have to adapt to live; endothermic organisms have to maintain a constant internal

Read "Lab 3: Biodiversity." This lab will allow you to investigate how various organisms alter their environments. Additionally, it will allow you to

Know the adaptations of organisms found in the tidal pool ecosystem – to do this, match up the following

Different aquatic invertebrates live in different micro habitats (smaller habitats) at Lake Tonetta. Some live on the surface of the water. Others live in the bottom of the lake, or deep within the sediments at the bottom of the lake. The water pH is important because they only can live in a specific pH 6.5-7.5.When we visit the lake our group checked the biodiversity (The variety of plants and animal species in an environment)of Lake Tonetta by counting the aquatic invertebrates in a sample obtained using dip nets and bottom scrapers. During our trip, we found beetles, snails, worms ,

Why do organisms respond to environmental factors? Organisms keep themselves in the most favorable conditions in order to survive. Pill bugs are members of the terrestrial isopod family. Terrestrial Isopods retrieve oxygen through their gills and live in dark damp environments. These organisms eat decaying plant and animal matter. Sow bugs, also known as pill bugs were tested to see how they react or respond to environmental factors. In this lab two different experiments were conducted. During the first experiment pill bugs were tested to see if they prefer a light environment or a dark environment. Throughout second experiment the pill bugs were tested to see how many of the bugs prefer an environment with vinegar or environment

The species Eucalyptus Camaldulensis has adapted well to Australia’s detrimental environment consisting of periods of flooding, drought and fires. It has a range of weapons in its arsenal that allows it to withstand the pressures of the environment such as heat. An adaptation is a feature of an organism that enables it to be well suited to its particular environment.

Examples of animals adapting to the environment have been known as far back as the case of the black peppered moths of England in the mid-1800s. In that case, entire populations of the black peppered moths were observed to change color in response to changes in their environment. More recently, bacteria have been known to develop resistance to antibiotic drugs, insects have developed various forms of resistance to insecticide, and plants have adapted to accommodate higher levels of heavy metals in the soil and water.

Natural selection is an important component of evolution. Natural selection occurs when some members of a population are better fit for survival and reproduction than the others in that population (Phelan 284-85, 2011). The environment in which organisms live plays a part in natural selection as well. Depending on the conditions of the environment, the organisms may pass down selected traits to their offspring. These selected traits will allow for the next generation to better adapt and survive longer. One example of evolution that has occurred in the past ten years is that of hypolimnas bolina, or the blue moon butterfly. The blue moon butterfly evolved through the process of natural selection in order to survive. The male blue moon

The characteristics that contribute to the diversity and abundance of arthropods is the ability to adapt because of their rough, exterior skeleton and joint appendages.

An investigation into the effects of varying seawater concentrations on two marine invertebrates’ osmoregulatory abilities; Carcinus maenas and Arenicola marina.