Sunday, December 30, 2012

39,40,41... detritovore, catabolism, r-stratigist

This small cocoon is a nifty example of an r-stratigist(big idea 4#19). This term refers to any organism that produces a large anount of offspring but puts forth little to no parental effort. Many of the offspring die but some will grow up to adulthood and reproduce. The other strat many organisms follow is having few offspring but investing a lot of parental time and support, almost ensuring survival. Butterflies, moths, and most other insects will have tens or sometimes hundreds of offspring, few of which will ever make it to the cocoon phase of their lives. a great example is sea turtles, which produce hundreds of eggs but leave them and never see them again.
This is a cool hole in the side of a tree that turned out to be mostly hollow(how is it still alive?), and contained twigs and bird feces, meaning that it was once a nest of a bird which is an example of catabolic(big idea 2#7). Catabolism a series of pathways that breaks down a molecule into smaller bits that can be used by the organism. It is done in all hetrotrophs that consume other bits of organic materials to gain nutrients. It is done by glycolysis and the krebs cycle and produces ATP by oxidative phosphorylation.
My poor buddah was forced to sit by some fecal matter, probably from a deer, which can demonstrate  detritovores(big idea 4#7). dertitovores are organisms that get their nutrients and energy from eating non-living matter such as feces or dead things such as carrion or fallen leaves. They are decomposers of ecosystems and are vital in recycling nutrients. examples are fungi, worms,ect.

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