Thursday, August 28, 2014

Rock Racetrack Mystery at Death Valley Solved

For decades people have wondered how huge boulders on a dry lake bed could move. There were a number of hypotheses proposed involving wind,ice and water. Now two researchers have figured it out, and actually filmed the rocks moving. You can see more information and their video by clicking on the link below.
Click here to see the video

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Biome Review

br /> Biome Review
1. What are two important factors in determining what type of Biome one will find in a given area?

2. What causes the seasons here in North America?

3. What are three strategies plants have developed to survive in the cold, dry,and sometimes dark conditions of the Tundra?

4. What kind of adaptations have animals developed to survive in: A. The tundra B. The deserts

5. What is a rain shadow, and how does it account for different plant communities occurring at the same latitude, but on opposites sides of a mountain range?

6. In what biomes does fire play an important role, and what is this role?

7. How are coniferous forests different from deciduous forests?

8. Grasslands have fertile soil, and a wet humid time of the year. Why don't they turn into forests?

9. What do all deserts have in common?

10. In a tropical broad leaf forest, it often rains every afternoon. What do plants in this biome compete for? How are they adapted to compete for this resource?

11. What important role does fire play in a grassland biome?

Population Ecology Review


 Population Ecology and Interactions
1. Define resource partitioning and give an example of it.
2. How is logistic growth different from exponential growth?
3. How is a parasite different from a predator?
4. How are density dependent limiting factors different from density independent limiting factors? Give examples of each.
5. What do you have to know to determine if a population is growing or not?
6. Define and give examples of the following: mutualism, commensalism, social parasite.
7. What are common strategies predators use to capture prey, and common defenses found in prey?
8. Draw a food web that could occur in your backyard or here at Cerritos. Include all the trophic levels we discussed in class.
9. Why are there fewer members of the upper trophic levels as compared with primary consumers or the producers?
10. What is carrying capacity?

Animal Diversity

 Animal Diversity

1. What are two unique tissues found in animals?

2. Cnidarians all have _______symmetry and have an _______ digestive system.
3. Coral animals enter into a partnership with algae. Why is this important to the coral?
4. Flat worms have _____ symmetry and have an _______ digestive system
5. Tapeworms, and flukes are _____ worms that have a _______ lifestyle

6. Which of the following can you get from eating rare pork.
A. Hookworm
B. Ascaris worm
C. Trichina worm
D. Whipworm

7. Which of the following can you get from walking barefoot on contaminated soil?
A. Hookworm
B. Ascaris worm
 C. Trichina worm
D. Whipworm

8. What kind of animal are you?
A. acoelomate
B. pseudocoelomate
C. coelomate
 
9. During early development of an animal the first opening that forms becomes its mouth. This animal is A. a protostome
B. a deuterostome
C. an endotherm
D. a bird

 10. Jellyfish have a body form called a _______ .
11. How are the three groups of worms we have discussed different?
12. What characteristics do all Mollusks share?
13. What features of the Arthropods contribute to this group being the most successful group of animals?
14. What do all Arthropods share in common?
15. How are the Echinoderms different from the other invertebrate animals?
16. What are the characteristics of your Phylum?
17. Why are tunicates in our Phylum?

 Chordate Questions

1. To which group of mammals do you belong, and how are you different from a monotreme?
 2. Birds are part of the reptile clade, yet they are highly modified for flight. What are 3 adaptations they have to facilitate flight?
3. What makes a bird a bird?
4. How are reptiles better adapted for land than the amphibians?
5. Why do amphibians need to keep their skin moist?
6. Bony fish have some characteristics that the cartilaginous fish lack. What are these features and how are they a benefit to the bony fish?
7. What is present in the fins of the lobed finned fish?
8. How is a marsupial different from a monotreme?
9. What marsupial is found in the US?
10 Which group of chordates have the chordate characteristics as larvae, but retain the pharyngeal slits as adults?