Environment (non-mammalian)

Question 1

Name 4 mechanisms to conserve heat in birds

Answer 1

Insulation (down and feathers).
Behaviour (nest building, huddling and perching).
Large volume to surface area ratio in colder climates.
Countercurrent heat exchange.

Question 2

Name some behavioural adaptions to keep cool in birds

Answer 2

Panting
Ruffling feathers
Soaring
Bathing
Restricting activity
Shade
Migration.

Question 3

Name some physical adaptations to keep cool in birds

Answer 3

Respiration rate
Bare skin
Beak size

Question 4

Describe north-south migration in birds

Answer 4

Breeding and feeding in north and overwintering in the south.

Question 5

Name 2 physiological changes that birds show just before migration.

Answer 5

Increased fat levels for energy

Increased flight muscle size

Question 6

Name some adaptations for flight

Answer 6

Large keel bone
Hollow bones
barbules connecting feathers

Question 7

Name some physiological adaptions of birds that enter water.

Answer 7

• Webbed feet
• Waterproof feathers for insulation and buoyancy
• Salt glands, allows excretion of excess salt from drinking sea water.
• Countershading.
• Vision, flexible lenses or red oil droplets in cones.

Question 8

What is the ‘rete mirable’?

Answer 8

the “wonderful net” interlinked network of veins and arteries in the body periphery of tuna.

Question 9

What body temps are tuna able to maintain even in waters of 6 degrees?

Answer 9

24-35 degrees.

Question 10

TMAO in greenland sharks

Answer 10

Helps protect sharks enzymes and structural proteins against cold and extreme pressure by preventing the formation of ice crystals.

Question 11

Describe the state that the antarctic cod enters that is similar to hibernation

Answer 11

6 months during winter
Reduces metabolic rate by up to 60%
Growth stops
Unresponsive to stimuli
Inter-bouts every 4-12 days lasting 1-3 hours.
Triggered by change in daylight hours and change in melatonin levels.

Question 12

How are the gills of freshwater fish involved in osmoregulation?

Answer 12

Have chloride cells which take up chloride and calcium ions and pavement cells which take up sodium ions.

Question 13

How do gills change in Pacific salmon?

Answer 13

Chloride cells adapt for freshwater and saltwater.

Question 14

Name a species of fish that aestivates.

Answer 14

African lungfish.

Question 15

Name the receptors involved in thermoregulation in snakes and crocodiles

Answer 15

Snakes- Pit organs

Crocodiles- Integumentary sensory organs

Question 16

Name two behavioural responses to environmental temperatures in reptiles

Answer 16

Basking

Burrowing

Question 17

Name 3 metabolic/long term response to environmental temperatures in reptiles

Answer 17

Brumation (reduced metabolic state in response to cold temperatures)
Hibernation
Aestivation.

Question 18

How do lizards excrete excess water?

Answer 18

Through lymphatic spaces below the eyes.

Question 19

Name some methods reptiles use to catch prey

Answer 19

Camouflage
Venom and constriction
Long tongues
Deceptive tactics (tongue looks like worm)

Question 20

What are the functions of colour change in reptiles?

Answer 20

Camouflage, communication and thermoregulation.

Question 21

Explain ‘super cooling’ in the Red Flat beetle

Answer 21

Produce antifreeze proteins which bind to sites where ice may form. They produce glycerol which drives the freezing point down.

Question 22

What is diapause? what induces it?

Answer 22

A state where development is halted, mediated by hormones produced in the brain.
In most cases day length induces it.

Question 23

What internal temperature must bees maintain?

Answer 23

35 degrees.

Question 24

How do bees prepare for flight?

Answer 24

Shivering, abdominal or thoracic muscle vibrate.

Question 25

What is cutaneous respiration in amphibians?

Answer 25

Gas exchange takes place across the skin, aiding respiration whilst submerged.

Question 26

Give an example of an amphibian where the skin is the only respiratory organ

Answer 26

Lungless salamander.

Question 27

What adaptations do amphibians have for gas exchange through the skin?

Answer 27

Highly vascularised skin
Mucous on skin to allow efficient gas exchange
Counter current system.

Question 28

How do tadpoles thermoregulate?

Answer 28

Metabolic compensation

Thermal selection.

Question 29

How do adult frogs thermoregulate?

Answer 29

Hibernation
Colour change
Freeze tolerance
Retreat to water
shelter in shade
evaporative cooling

Question 30

How does the water-holding frog aestivate?

Answer 30

Stays in a watertight mucous cocoon.