#22) Big Idea 1 Term 41: Vestigial Structure

A vestigial structure is a structure in or on an organism that it obtained from evolution but is no longer needed. Common examples are foot bones in whales, coccyx on gorillas, or, in the case above, pinky toes on humans. The apes that are our ancestors used their smallest toes to grab onto trees for climbing but today our pinky toes do not affect our balance so they are useless.

#21) Big Idea 1 Term 39: Tetrapod

Above sleeps Pogona vitticeps, also known as a bearded dragon. He walks on four legs like all other tetrapods. Tetrapods are though to have evolved from the lobe-finned fish from about 395 million years ago in the Devonian Period. Tetrapods include any organism that walks on four legs.

#20) Big Idea 1 Term 28: Modified Leaf of a Plant

Above is a spineless opuntia cactus bred by world famous botanist Luther Burbank. Its large pads act as photosynthetic leaves, but also as water storage areas. Because this plant has spent so much time in the desert it has adapted to its dry environment by producing modified leaves.

#19) Big Idea 1 Term 25: Gymnosperm Leaf

Depicted above are the needles of a California redwood. They are a prime example of the leaves of a gymnosperm; they are needles, as gymnosperms usually have (an exception is the gingko), and they do not produce flowers but pinecones.

#18) Big Idea 1 Term 21: Gastropod

The term gastropod refers to a class within in the mollusca phylum. It is the second largest class with 80,00 different species, second only to insects. Animals in this class are snails, slugs, sea cucumbers, sea slugs, and limpets. The gastropod depicted above is a California garden slug.

#17) Big Idea 1 Term 24: Gymnosperm Cone

Above is the cone of a long-needled pine tree. It is the cone of a gymnosperm or a non flowering plant. The cone is a food source to birds and squirrels and a way to produce seeds for the gymnosperm.

#16) Big Idea 1 Term 18: Distinguishing Characteristics between monocots & Dicots

Another difference between monocots and dicots are their sprouts. the garlic monocotyledonous sprout has one shoot coming up with a furled up leaf and one main root going down while the other dicotyledonous sprout, on the other hand, has two cotyledonous leaves and root going in many directions.

#15) Big Idea 1 Term 18; Distinguishing Characteristics Between Monocots and Dicots

One difference between a dicot and a monocot is the pattern of their veins on the leaves. above the monocotyledonous grass has many veins that run parallel to each other while, on the other hand, the dicotyledonous swiss chard has one main vein, and many other veins that  branch off of it in directions.

#14) Big Idea 1 Term 17: Deuterostome

Above floats the angelic Betta splendens (more commonly known as the Siamese fighting fish or the beta fish). It is a deuterostome  due to its development as an embryo. All chordates like this fish, along with echinoderms, hemichordates, and xenoturbelliates, are considered deuterostomes because during their development their anus forms before their mouth. note: lego Luke is behind the glass of the beta tank.

#12) Big Idea 1 Term 11: Artificial Selection

Artificial Selection is when humans breed animals and plants so that they develop desired traits. It has been used in agriculture for thousands of years as in how teosite was bred to grow larger exposed kernels to become maize. The dog above is a mixture of a greyhound and a chocolate lab (Canis lupus familiaris) and it was bred to be athletic like a greyhound, but also to be loving and a great companion like a lab.

#10) Big Idea 1 Term 20: Fungus

The mushroom depicted above is most likely from the boletus genus. The Kingdom of fungi includes mushrooms like this one, yeast, and mold. Fungi are eukaryotic organisms that are detrivores and have cell walls made of chitin. Fungi are vital in the fermentation of wine and beer, because they can turn sugar into CO2. Mycology is the study of fungi and is often regarded as a branch of botany even though plants and fungi are from two different domains.

#9) Big Idea 1 term 14: Chordate

Chordata is a phylum that includes almost all land animals, including amphibians, mammals, birds, and reptiles, and fish. all organisms in this phylum must have a hollow dorsal nerve chord, a post anal tail at some time in their development, an endostyle, and a notochord. The chordate depicted above is a Gallus gallus domesticus (a common domestic chicken).

#8) Big Idea 1 Term 13: Bryophytes (nonvascular plant)

The bryophyte depicted above is most likely a moss from the bryopsida class just as 95% of all mosses are. This moss (and all other mosses) are considered bryophytes because they all are nonvascular plants that produce spores instead of flowers and seeds. Other types of bryophytes are hornworts and liverworts.

#7) Big Idea 1 term 12: Bilateral Symmetry

The leaf of Rubus ursinus (the California black berry) is a prime example of bilateral symmetry.
Bilateral symmetry in nature is when an organisms exhibits a design or shape that can be intersected with a single line and be symmetrical. Examples of this are the wings of a butterfly, the face of a spider, avocado tree leaves, the human body, etc. About 99% of animals are bilaterally symmetric in some way.

#6) Big Idea 1 Term 10: Arthropod

Above is type of Scutigeromorpha (a.k.a. a house centipede) that is very small and and fast. As demonstrated by it lack of vertebrae, its exoskeleton, its segmented body, and its jointed legs, it is an arthropod. All insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and myriapods are arthropods. All arthropods molt away their exoskeletons and all of them have exoskeletons made of a-chitin.

#5) Big Idea 1 Term 8: Arachnid

Arachnids are a type of arthropod that have eight jointed legs and are invertebrates, although some have legs that are converted into sensory organs and other have developed appendages that appear to be legs, all of them have 8 legs. The web above was made by the an arachnid known as Latrodectus herperus or a "black widow." Other types of arachnids include scorpions, mites, ticks, harvestmen, and solifuges.

#4) Big Idea 1 Term 7: Annelid

An annelid is an invertebrate segmented worm or "ringed worm" that lives in live in an array of environments from the benthic zone of the ocean, to moist dirt in gardens. The annelid depicted above is most likely an epigeic worm of some kind due to its small size, reddish color, and its shallow location in the top soil.

#3) Big Idea 1 Term 6: angiosperm 

 Depicted above is a plant from the rosaceae family in the rosa genus. It relates to an angiosperm because it, in fact, is an angiosperm due to its ability to flower and produce fruits that withhold seeds, and its possession of an endosperm that feeds the embryos within its seeds. All flowering plants are angiosperms and they are the most diverse land plants on Earth.

#2) Big Idea 1 Term 3: Adaptation of a plant

Nepenthes Sanguinea (depicted above) is a pitcher plant from the island of Borneo. It grown where the soil quality is very poor so it adapted to its environment by producing pitchers that contain a liquid filled with enzymes that break down the bodies of insects and small rodents that fall into the pitchers. The nutrients from these animals are absorbed by the pitcher and they give N. Sanguinea The atoms and molecules that it needs to grow.

#1) Big Idea 1 Term 2: Adaptation of an animal

      Pristella Maxarillaris has an air bubble in its body which is an adaptation to living in a large body of water. The air bubble allows the fish to keep from sinking whenever it is not swimming. Because of its ability to float, the fish can hide from predators in a stationary position. (such as between two rocks) Sharks do not have this air bubble and they must keep swimming to stay afloat or they will die.