Arthropod- The Giraffe Weevil

                                      The Giraffe Weevil

The giraffe weevil also known as Trachelophorus giraffa, is a weevil that is found in Madagascar.The giraffe weevil can grow up to 25 millimeters. It has a black body and has red wings. The female giraffe weevil has body a length of just under an inch. It was discovered in 2008 and has a long neck like a giraffe which is and adaption that helps in building nests and fighting. The neck can grow up to 3 times longer than a female weevil's neck. When a female giraffe weevil lays it's egg, it rolls u p a leaf and lays the egg within in. It will then cut off the leaf from the plant to let the egg hatch. The leaf provides protection and food for the newborn giraffe weevil.

Cnideria

Feeding

Cnideria feed in many different ways like predation, absorbing dissolved organic  chemicals, filtering food particles out of the water, and getting nutrients from symbiotic algae within their cells. Most cnideria get food from predation.

Respiratory
Cnideria don't have any respiratory organs. Both cell layers absorb oxygen and expel carbon dioxide into the water. When water in the digestive cavity becomes stale, it has to be replaced and the nutrients that had not been absorbed yet are also expelled with it.



Circulation
Cnidaria don't have any organs or special tissues that are for circulation. They would get nutrients through diffusion.

Exertion
Gland cells in the gastroderm release enzymes that turn the food into a slurry. It circulates through the digestive cavity and throug connecting tunnels , so the gastroderm cells can absorb the nutrients. Absorbtion takes a few hours and digestion takes a few days. The nutrients circulate by water currents produced by cilia in the gastroderm or by muscular movements so the nutrients reach all parts of the digestive cavity. Nutrients reach the outer cell layer by diffusion. Indigestable remains of prey are expelled through the mouth. The main waste product of cells' eternal  processes is ammonia which is removed by external and interanl water currents.

Response
Cnidaria have no brains or central nervous systems.Instead they have decentralized nerve nets consisting of sensory neurons that generate signals to respond to types of stimulus like odors, motor neurons that tells muscles to contract and cobwebs of intermediate neurons to connect them. Intermediate neurons also form  ganglia that act as local coordination centers. The cilia of cnidocytes detect physical contact. Nerves inform cnidocytes when prey or attackers are detected. Most communication between nerve cells are through chemical synapses.

Movement
Adult cnidaria are either swimming medusae or sessile polyps. In medusae the only supporting structure is the mesoglea. Medusae swim by a form of jet propulsion. Hydras and some sea anemones move slowly over rocks. 

Reproduction
Sexual reproduction involves a complex life cycle with noth polyp and medusa stages. All known cnidaria can reproduce asexually by various means in addition to being regenerated when fragmented.

Simple Animal Phyla

Cnidaria- Sea Pen

Porifera- Glass Sponge

Plant Photo Journal

Mosses:
We found the mosses around our school. Mosses need to live in moist areas because they need water for reproduction and to get nutrients. Mosses grow close to the ground because they don't have vascular tissues,so they get water throughout the plant by using diffusion. They can also grow on rocks because since mosses need moist environments to live in the rocks found on those areas are suitable for mosses to grow on.

Ferns:
Ferns need to live in moist environments because they have vascular tissues that help them transport water throughout the plant and to cells. They also need water to reproduce.The structure of plants and ferns are different because ferns are vascular and mosses are non-vascular. The vascular structure allows ferns to grow taller. Also ferns have a horizontal root-like structure which is called rhizomes. Ferns need to grow in the soil to get nutrients and minerals.

Gymnosperms:
Gymnosperms can live in varied environments because of they do not require water for reproduction.Instead they use pollen for reproduction.Also gymnosperms produce seeds.The difference between pollination and fertilization is that pollination is when pollen is transfered to the stigma of a plant and fertilization is when an egg and sperm join together.

Angiosperms:
Angiosperms are well adapted to life on land because they can depend on insects to transfer pollen or they can also depend on the wind to carry the pollen through the air and transfer it to another plant.The roots help them absorb water.The purpose of the fruit is to protect the flower and make sure the seed gets dispersed.

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Flower Dissection

The yellow tip is the anther and the filament is what holds the anther.

The top part is the stigma and the style is what holds the stigma up.

This is the ovary.

This is the flower petals.

Pollination:

Pollination is when the male gametophyte comes into contact with the female

parts. 

Cross-pollination is when a pollinator takes pollen from one plant and transfers it to another plant. Self-pollination is when a plant puts pollen into itself and reproduces without the help of another plant.

Angiosperm Classification:

We dissected a dicot plant. It is a dicot plant because it had more than 3 petals and the leaf had branched veins. The stigma was in three parts.

Vascular Structure- Leafs

Monocot Leaf

Dicot Leaf

The Deadly Cordyceps

The cordycep is a killer fungi that releases its spores which gets into the bodies of insects and takes it over. The fungi controls the brain of the insect and slowly kills it. Other insects that are infected by the fungi are wuickly taken away the the other insects in its family and are dumped away so the other insects in the colony also don't get infected. After the insect dies the body of the cordycep arupt from the body of the dead insect. It takes about 3 weeks for the cordycep to fully grow from the insect's body.When it is fully grown the spores will burst out of the tips and start the deadly process again.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuKjBIBBAL8&list=PLCC07E66503F99BB5