The desert.
The polar region. The tropical
rain forest. The diversity of biomes is
primarily due to two abiotic factors. First, the amount of HEAT that reaches
the earth’s surface per unit area decreases as the angle of incident increases
near the poles. Second, the amount of PRECIPITATION varies with regional air
and water circulation patterns and local geographic features.
Animals need to be adapted
specifically for their biome in order to be successful. In this zoo assignment,
you will select six different animals from six different biomes to observe. As
you visit the exhibits, you will analyze the physical characteristics of the
animals in search of adaptations that may make them more fit to live in its
environment.
Create and complete a chart for
six different animal species from six different biomes. Refer to the questions
below for more details about completing the table. Gather information as you
visit the exhibits.
1.
Common
name and exhibit number.
2.
Scientific
name
3.
Biome:
What biome is the animal naturally found in?
4.
Habitat:
What is the habitat of the animal? Does it live in water, on land, or in both
places?
5.
skeleton:
Does the animal have an endoskeleton? Or an exoskeleton?
6.
Segmentation:
Is the animal naturally found in?
7.
Appendages:
Does it have paired appendages? How many?
8.
Respiration: How does the animal obtain oxygen? ( Through
lungs, gills, skin, or a combination of these?)
9.
Sense
organs: Are there any sense organs visible? If so, what kinds are they? Where
are they located?
10.
Locomotion:
How does the animal move from one place to another?
11.
Feeding:
How does the animal capture and take in food?
12.
Body
Heat: Is the animal and ectotherm
(“cold blooded”) or an endotherm (“ warm blooded”)
13.
Heat
adaptions: If the animal lives in an arid region, how does it get rid of extra
heat? If the animal lives in a cold region, how does it conserve body heat?
14.
Behavior:
are there any behavioral adaptations that you have ovserved that would be an
advantage in the species natural environment?
You will find and review two web
sites for each of the animals that you chose in Part A. for each site give the
URL and title of the site, then write a brief review . your review will
summarize the content of the site, comment of the quality of the links, and
evalutate the site’s usefulness to other community college students. Be sure to
end with your name, the class, and the semester.
Also, print the first page of
the sites and submit these with your project. You will also submit your reviews
electronically via E-mail. Your reviews may be posted for use by your peers on
the class web page.
C.
Essay:
For each animal, write an essay
summarizing how the animal is adapted to its biome. Specifically, how do some of the characteristics that you observed
in Part A make this animal more successful in its biome. Use our text, as well as other sources, to
discover what some of the specific abiotic characteristics of your biomes are,
including average daily temperature ranges and average yearly precipitation. Be sure to support our statements with
information that you discovered in your Internet research in Part B.
D.
Conclusion
End the project (1) restating
the main points of the project, (2) discussing what you liked and disliked
about completing this project, and (3) suggesting improvements to this project
