Stayin Alive VCE Biology Unit 1: How do living things stay alive? VCE Biology Unit 1 How do living things stay alive? Skull Analysis 1. Determine the structural adaptations that enhance an animal s survival. Skull 1 Skull 2 Skull 3 Dentition: Upper Incisors Upper Incisors Upper Incisors Lower Incisors Lower Incisors Lower Incisors Canines Canines Canines Molars Molars Molars Carnassial Teeth Carnassial Teeth Carnassial Teeth Mandible length: (lower jaw) Diastema: The gap between the incisors and molars. Eye position: Long Short Forward Facing Long Short Forward Facing Long Short Forward Facing Saggital crest: A ridge extending along the skull. It is a site for muscle attachment. Zygomatic Arch: The arch of bone beneath the eye sometimes referred to as the cheek bone. Name of Animal: Side Facing Wide Narrow Side Facing Wide Narrow Side Facing Wide Narrow Diet group: Rodent Skull saggital crest incisors zygomatic arch diastema mandible molars 1 P a g e
Scats 2. Observe the scats provided. Draw or photograph the scats of different animals in VCE Biology Unit the 1 table How below. do living things stay alive? Area of Study 2: Observations, How do living systems e.g. size, sustain life? Animal name particles present Dietary group, e.g. herbivore, ruminant, etc. Common Hippopotamus Hippopotamus amphibious 3. Based on your observations of the herbivore skulls and scats in Questions 1 and 2 would you classify the Common Hippopotamus as a foregut or hindgut fermenter? Discuss. 4. What is considered to be the closest living relative to the hippopotamus? List the evidence scientists have used to come to this conclusion. 5. Annotate the diagram below with the structural adaptations that you observe on the hippopotamus. 2 P a g e
Animal Behaviour VCE Biology Unit 1 How do living things stay alive? Area of Study 1: Ethology, How do organisms the study function? of animal behaviour, involves the investigation of the relationship Area of Study 2: of How animals do living to their systems physical sustain environment life? as well as to other organisms. Ethology considers the factors that determine the behavioural responses in animals and how the behaviour helps the animal to survive. Studying animal behaviour in captive environments such as zoos may assist scientists to predict how humans may impact on animals and their environment. By gaining an understanding of animal behaviour in captivity, scientists can then look for those behaviours in the wild, test out hypotheses and answer questions. 6. Applying a behaviour sampling tool: What activity do hippos spend most of their time doing? Method: All occurrence sampling. This method records each time a behaviour is performed, either for an individual or all of the animals present. Prediction/s: Start time: End time: Behaviours Occurrences Total Percentage Total Behaviours: 7. What does your data tell you? 3 P a g e
Explanations of animal behaviour Niko Tinbergen s Four Questions about Animal Behaviour - WHYS (1963) VCE Biology Unit 1 How do living things stay alive? Area of Study 2: Ultimate How do (Why?) living systems an explanation sustain life? in terms of the processes and forces in evolution Proximate (How?) an explanation in terms of immediate factors relevant and potentially measurable in current time MECHANISM ADAPTIVE VALUE OTOGENY PHYLOGENY 1. What is the cause of the behaviour? What triggered it just now? Answers may include both the external stimuli that affect behaviour, and the internal hormonal and neural mechanisms that control behaviour. 2. What function or functions does the behaviour serve? Helps determine the behaviour s effect on the animal and its value in helping the animal to survive or reproduce successfully within its environment. 3. How did the behaviour develop within the individual s lifetime? Helps scientists learn how behaviour changes over the lifetime of the animal, and how these changes are affected by both genes and experience. 4. How did the behaviour evolve over time? Helps determine the origins of behaviour patterns and how these change over generations. 8. Apply Tinbergen s 4 questions to provide an explanation for one of the behaviours you observed in the hippopotamus or have learnt about today. Mechanism: Adaptive Value: Otogeny: Phylogeny: 9. How could the explanation you have developed for a hippopotamus behaviour be used to effectively manage a group of hippopotamus in captivity? 4 P a g e
A keystone species is an organism that performs a crucial role in the functioning of an ecosystem. Without keystone species, the ecosystem would be altered VCE Biology Unit dramatically 1 How do or living completely things stay break alive? down. Area of Study 2: 10. How Explain do living why systems hippopotamus sustain life? are considered to be a keystone species. 11. List the threats that the Common Hippopotamus face in the wild that have led to them being listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Safari Tour 12. The African savanna is shared by many herbivores competing for resources. While on safari select a species to observe and record in the table below one example each of a structural and a behavioural adaptation that may: a. help to reduce competition for food with other species b. conserve water loss Structural Adaptation Behavioural Adaptation 13. Draw a food web to represent the interactions between species in the African savanna. 5 P a g e
Putting it all together back at school VCE Biology Unit Consider 1 How utilising do living some things or stay all alive? of the questions below as a basis for establishing a report on the fieldwork activity. a. The skulls and digestive systems below are representative of a carnivore, omnivore and two types of herbivore; ruminant and non-ruminant. Draw a line to match the skulls with the digestive systems. System Skull Digestive A 1 B 2 C 3 D 4 b. The skulls and digestive systems above belong to the zebra, giraffe, chimpanzee and cheetah. Label the skulls and digestive systems you have matched together with each of these animal names. Give reasons for your choices. Cheetah: Zebra: Chimpanzee: Giraffe: 6 P a g e
Compare ruminants and non-ruminants by circling your responses: VCE Biology Unit Comparative 1 How do amounts living things stay alive? Area of Study 1: Time How spent do organisms eating function? Ruminants high / low Non ruminants high / low Nutrition derived from herbage eaten high / low high / low Time take to digest herbage large / small large / small Quality of herbage digested high / low high / low Location of microbes in digestive foregut / hindgut foregut / hindgut system needed to break down cellulose Absorption of water high / low high / low Cud chewing present / absent present / absent Examples bison / giraffe / rhinoceros / deer /antelope / zebra bison / giraffe / rhinoceros / deer /antelope / zebra / Refer to the observations you made of the Hippopotamus structural adaptations Suggest how the hippopotamus skin ties it to the water and their stomach to the land. Relationships between organisms in an ecosystem Commensalism: One organism benefits from another without affecting it. Ammensalism: One species hurts the other but doesn t benefit from the interaction. Mutualism: Each individual benefits from the activity of another. Parasitism: One species benefits at the expense of another. Predation: Predator feeding on prey. Using the definitions above of the types of relationships that exist between organisms, provide one example of a relationship that exists between the Common Hippopotamus and another organism. List the issues with trying to implement conservation action for hippos. 7 P a g e