Life Science: Lesson 7

Stamen

Male reproductive organ of flowering plants

Why do many species of mammals stay with their young for the extended periods of time after birth?

Mammals have few offspring and parent for long periods of time to ensure that their offspring have a better chance of survival.

Many songbirds, like the cardinal, will swoop down at a potential predator, like a snake, as it approaches the cardinal's nest. This behavior could result in the bird being killed. Why would the cardinal do this?

A cardinal will swoop down to distract the snake, an action that could protect its young from being harmed.

Germinate

When a seed begins to grow

Most flowers rely on more than just one pollinator to help them reproduce and pollinators will visit more than one species of flower. Why would attracting more than one pollinator be advantageous to a plant? Why would visiting one than one type of flower be advantageous to a pollinator?

Attracting different types of pollinators provides a better chance of a plant reproducing. Visiting different types of flowers would provide more options for food within the pollinators. In both cases, relying on more than one species provides higher probability of their survival. If one species of pollinator or flower happens to die off due to disease, the pollinator or flower has other options to rely on.

Pistil

Female reproductive organ of flowering plant

Do you think all animals do this for their offspring? Provide some examples to strengthen your argument.

No not all animals are this involved in parenting their offspring. In the case of several species of fish, the mother lays eggs, and the father fertilizes the eggs with his sperm and both parents leave. The same is also true of many species of worms and insects.

b. How are "perfect" and "imperfect" flowers different from one another?

Perfect flowers have both stamens and pistils within their flower. An imperfect flower has a pistil or stamen but not both.

What are some ways that pollen can move from flower to flower?

Pollen can be moved by pollinators such as insects, birds, and mammals and also by wind and water.

What behavior is the blackbird expressing in this picture?

The bird is expressing parenting behavior in which it is feeding its young.

Why would this bird put forth the effort to do this? The birds invest energy and time in feeding their young, or parenting, which increases the likelihood that their offspring will survive.

Surviving will indicated reproductive success because their genes are passed on to the next generation.

What are some other potential costs to a male peacock growing long, vibrant feathers?

The cost of a peacock growing long, vibrant feathers could include a decrease in energy because most of its energy is utilized by the formation of the feathers, or the long feathers may increase the time is takes to fly away from a predator. The vibrant feathers can also make the male peacock a target for predators because their bright colors are more easily spotted in nature.

Cross pollination

The transfer of pollen from anther of a plant to stigma of another plant.

Self polllination

The transfer of pollen from the anther of one flower to the stigma of the same flower on the same plant

Once an egg has been fertilized, a seed begins to grow and the ovary swells into a fruit. Why would a plant use the energy and resources to grow a fruit?

_The plant would use energy and resources to grow fruit so that its seeds are protected and able to be transported away from the parent plant. This provides a greater chance of offspring surviving.

What are the male and female structures called in a flower?

__Males structures are called stamens and female structures are called pistils.