Evolution Of Mimicus Essay

“Everything in Australia is trying to kill you, haven’t you heard?” (Rosalind James). Physalia, or Portuguese Man of War, is a salt water species of hydrozoa that thrives in dead zones of tropical and subtropical waters. The animal is often confused with a jellyfish, but it actually is a siphonophore. Blue Bottle, Physalia, is not just a multicellular creatures called zooids. The zooids work together to provide defense, help with feeding, to produce offspring, find a safe habitat, and use all the tools necessary to live a full life. While movement and shape are uncontrollable, they play a vital role in the creature living. The Portuguese Man of War is a beautiful creature that plays in an important role in the ecosystem

One key way that cuckoos mimic other animals is by copying their physical appearance. Cuckoos’ striped bellies look quite similar to the feather patterns of the Eurasian sparrowhawk; a fierce bird of prey. Other

As seen with Anolis, single species of organisms have the ability to undergo adaptive radiation and become new species by filling niches in a given environment. This is prevalent not only in Anolis, but other model organisms as well, such as finches, sticklebacks, and cichlids. All of these organisms have gone through the similar mechanisms and processes to evolve into different species. Alike to Anolis, they have gone through reproductive isolation, adaptation, and convergent evolution. Due to a poor fossil record of Anolis, the other model organisms may give better outlook on how they have diverged overtime. Further investigations on all of these organisms and their evolutionary mechanisms would not only give better a better idea of ecological speciation, but more comprehension on the origin of all

Key traits were noted out of 73 lab-bred octopuses. Discoveries showed temperamental variations at different maturity levels. Young octopuses tended to be active and aggressive whereas more mature ones tended to be more alert and quick to react to danger (Scigliano, 2003). Evidence that even though their lifespan is short their brain evolves and adapts quickly.

The emperor moth, or Saturnia pavonia, is a species of moth most notable for its beautiful collection of four eyespots on its wings; two on its front wings and two on its back wings. Because the eyespots are so visible and prominent on the wings of the moth, it can be proposed that this trait was adapted by the moth to increase its chances of viability by intimidating or confusing predators, compared to the common heath moth Ematurga atomaria which is a simple brown or grey colour (i.e. no eyespots). Eyespots on an organism is an example of mimicry – when an organism evolves a specific trait that is similar to a different organism (usually a predator), which in turn can help to improve its chances of survival. The theory behind mimicry proposes that the certain traits that a species adapts (in this case, eyespots), appear as confusing to predators, therefore hindering the predator’s ability to accurately perceive the identity of the species which allows said species even the slightest chance to escape from harm’s way (Howse 2013). There is also proof that large eyespots, such as those on the Saturnia pavonia, are beneficial to the organism because they are visibly similar to the eyes of predators such as owls (Howse 2013). The results from one experiment conducted by Blest (1957) studied the number of averted attacks by birds on a butterfly with eyespots compared to the number of averted attacks on a butterfly with the eyespots concealed from rubbing the wings (Stevens).

10. Study Figure 1.22, which shows an evolutionary “tree.” What is indicated by twig? What do the branch points represent? Where did the “common ancestor” of the Galápagos finches originate?

Their life span is about 45 years in captivity and about 35 years in the wild

First, a few octopuses were introduced to a closed glass box (in full view of potential predators) containing items such as rocks, sand, and algae which are found in their natural environments. Unsurprisingly, this resulted in the octopuses adapting effortlessly to their surroundings. Then, the items inside the glass box were replaced by a piece of canvas printed with a geometric pattern, something that an octopus would never encounter in its natural habitat. The colors of the canvas were not random, however, but corresponded to the pigmentation abilities of octopuses. Once again, the octopuses easily completed the task. Finally, the geometric

The 59-year-old author, Sy Montgomery, has written 20 books, each based on a specific research or expedition she has taken part in. Her studies, which she descriptively incorporates into her novels, have warranted her various book awards and acclaims. She plunges herself into the lives and mysteries of Earth’s wildlife in order to gain a further understanding of how particular organisms thrive in their wild, dangerous environments. Although Montgomery was no expert in the field of cephalopods, she quickly learned all she could about the intriguing invertebrates through fellow researcher, experts, aquarists, divers, and colleagues encountered throughout her studies about octopuses. Through diligent research via articles, studies, field

It can be stated by an identity theorist, there is insufficient evidence to show that octopuses can feel pain or hunger (115). Octopuses are not actually feeling mental state of pain or hunger, but they are instead feeling something that is similar to the mental state of pain or hunger, if at all, as the mental state of pain can only be felt with the physical state of the firing of c-fibers and mental state of hunger can only be felt with a certain physical state. If the mental state pain is the physical state of c-fibers firing and if the mental state of hunger is a certain physical state common in humans, then it is impossible for the mental state of pain and hunger to be felt without certain physical states. Therefore, octopuses do not actually feel the mental state of pain or hunger, but they instead might feel something similar to the mental state of pain and

Evolution has been a very debatable topic since the theory of evolution first evolved. By definition, evolution is “the process by which different kinds of living organism are believed to have developed from earlier forms during the history of the earth”, but there are many different types of “evolution” such as coevolution, divergent, parallel and convergent – all with different theories. Jean Baptiste Lamarck was a French naturalist who invented the theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics (aka. “soft inheritance”). This evolutionary theory described how the natural environment affected the way an animal used their body parts. The features used regularly or for survival are passed onto the creatures offspring, and the parts that weren’t used, weren’t. On the other hand, another English naturalist Charles Darwin established a theory of “natural selection”. A process in which creatures that survived in their environment would pass their genes through the generations, compared to the weaker species with a lower survival rate, who reproduce less offspring or none.

The researchers focused their study on determining whether cuttlefish adjust their body pattern intensity with reference to artificial and natural substrate intensity under different light conditions of bright light, moderate light, low light, and extremely low light. For each set of experiments, 10 adult Sepia officinalis were confined with an artificial or natural substrate placed the floor and walls of a seawater-filled tank and was left to get accustomed to low light for 20 minutes. After those 20 minutes, a photo was taken using a flash, digital camera. The cuttlefish is then left to adapt in a set light condition with the same substrate for another 20 minutes. Following the 20 minutes, the light is turned off and a flash photo was

Gammarus setoseus is a kind of tiny, shrimp-like oceanic organism. Adult G. setosus is typically 20-35mm long (Weslawski 2009), but the organism we use in our research is generally 5-10mm, which can be classified as juvenile. The head and body of G. setosus is covered with grey and translucent thin shell, which have a function of support and protection. On the top part of G. setosus, there are two dark black eyes and a mouthpart, as well as two slender extended tentacles. It has a dozen of limbs arranged in two lines under its body, which

Most treehoppers have an expansion of the T1 (1st thoracic segment; prothorax) dorsal sclerite which has led to a number of hypothesis for it’s evolutionary novelty (Stegmann,1998). The origin of novelty is one of the major issues in biology due to its inherent definitional variability (Brigandt & Love, 2012). According to Wagner & Lynch (2010) most definitions of evolutionary novelty can be summarized into two categories based on functional and structural novelty consisting of the genetic origin of such traits. The treehopper helmet may be considered functionally novel due to its unique adaptations to the environment. Although its morphological and genetic basis of novelty remain a controversy (Heffer & Pick, 2013).

The title of the poem “Batesian Mimicry”, is a form of mimicry typified by a situation where a harmless species has evolved to imitate the warning signals of a harmful species directed at a common predator. This definition relates to the poem because Ann Kendall use of imagery in the poem, “Batesian Mimicry”, conveys the reason behind peer pressure. Peer pressure is the influence of one’s action on another whether positive or negative. Kendall shows how profusely she wanted to be like Susan, that when she was offered a cigarette by Susan, she took it readily. Ann even describes how she tried to imitate how Susan walked, “I try to match my fifteen-year-old hips to her meandering behind.”.