1. Think about what you know about insects. Are insects arthropods? Explain why or why not. Please use specific examples of different arthropod characteristics to support your answer.
-Insects are arthropods because they have a jointed legs, an exoskeleton, and a segmented body.
2. In the class lecture, it was said that Isopods are dorsoventrally compressed. What in the world does that mean? What are other things in nature that can be described as dorsoventrally compressed? Explain.
- Dorsoventrally compressed means that isopods are generally flat-shaped. Most animals are dorsoventrally compressed, with the exceptions of primates.
3. Do you eat anything that Isopods eat? What “foods” do you have in common with Isopods? What “foods” do not have in common with Isopods? Elaborate please.
-Humans eat vegetation, just as isopods do; however, most humans aren't very enthusiastic scavengers.
4. Many female scorpions will carry their young on their back to protect them until the young are more able to protect them selves. What would life be like if human mothers and fathers carried all of their young around on their backs? How is this similar to what humans already do and how is it different?
-Life would be considerably more difficult, particularly for the parents, if humans carried their young around on their backs. For the children though, life would be good. Figuratively speaking, parents already do carry their children, no matter how old the child in question is, around in their minds.
5. Cathedral Termites build quite interesting homes for themselves. Pretend that you lived in a Cathedral Termite mound. What are the advantages and disadvantages of life in the mound?
- Personally, I see no advantage to living in a termite mound. I highly value the times of the day when I can be alone, doing nothing, i.e. being lazy. I suspect that these moments would be limited in a community of a million other people.
6. The Huntsman spider lives in Australia. Although it is quite large, the spider’s bite is essentially harmless. If this is true, how does the Huntsman spider cause harm to humans? Would the Huntsman spider affect you in the same way?
- Huntsman spiders sometimes get into cars, which will startle the drivers if they have anywhere from moderate to very weak nerves. If I lived in Australia, I would abstain from driving anywhere.
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1 comment:
Lilli - all of your answers are really thoughtful and show that you have a good understanding of the material. The only thing that needs improvement is the length of your answers. Each answer should be in the form of a paragraph. Since, your answers do demonstrate that you know and understand the material, I will not make you go back and correct this (unless you want to). However, in the future you will need to answer in paragraph form for your assignment to be accepted. You are welcome to make this correction if you would like to improve your grade for this assignment as well.
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