Porifera
The term for a sponge's lack of a fixed body shape.
What is asymmetry?
The type of symmetry seen in jellyfish and coral.
What is radial symmetry?
The broadest level of taxonomic classification.
What is Domain?
This scientist studies marine animals and ocean ecosystems.
Who is a marine biologist?
The stinging structure inside a cnidocyte.
What is a nematocyst?
The opening sponges use to expel filtered water.
What is the osculum?
The free-swimming body form of a cnidarian.
What is a medusa?
This structure lets scientists compare DNA between species.
What is biochemistry (evidence)?
Sketch a simple sponge body plan and label 3 structures.
Structures may include ostia, osculum, spongocoel, choanocytes, spicules, amoebocytes, holdfast, porocytes, pinacocytes, ectoderm, endoderm, and/or mesohyl.
The single-opening digestive cavity in cnidarians.
What is the gastrovascular cavity?
The cells that create water current and trap food in a sponge.
What are choanocytes?
The (mostly) sessile, tube-shaped body form of a cnidarian.
What is a polyp?
A structure similar due to shared ancestry.
What is a homologous structure?
This scientist works most directly with the DNA and protein of organisms.
Who is a molecular biologist?
One example of a human threat to coral reefs.
What is warming ocean temperatures due to global warming?
What is pollution?
What is overfishing?
(Answers will vary. Any valid answer is acceptable.)
True or False: sponges have true tissues and organs. Explain why or why not.
False. Porifera cells work largely independently, with no organs or nervous system.
What is a nerve net?
Convergent evolution produces this type of structure.
What is an analogous structure?
Sketch a cnidarian body plan, name the body plan, and label 3 structures.
Body plans include polyp or medusa.
Structures may include bell, mesoglea, gonads, tentacles, oral disc, column, basal/pedal disk, mouth, cnidocytes, nematocysts, and/or gastrovascular cavity.
Compare Porifera and Cnidaria by naming one key structural difference and one similarity between the two phyla.
Differences may include: What is symmetry? (asymmetry vs radial symmetry), What are specialized cells vs specialized tissues?
Similarities may include: What is lack of cephalization? (no head or brain), What is aquatic organisms?, What is invertebrates/no backbone?
Any valid answer is acceptable.
Explain why a sponge can survive with no brain, muscles, or body systems.
It filter-feeds passively using choanocyte water currents and doesn't need to actively move or hunt to survive. No moving, no decision-making, no need for a brain or muscles. No need for body systems because the specialized cells work independently for all of the sponge's needs.
Explain why radial symmetry is well-suited to an animal that doesn't actively hunt.
It allows the animal to sense and respond to food or threats from every direction equally, without needing to "aim" a front end, or having blind spots "behind" the organism.
Explain the difference between an observation and an inference, with an example.
Observation = information gained through the five senses
Inference = a conclusion drawn from an observation along with prior knowledge
Example - answers will vary
This scientist spends more time in the natural habitats of animals than in a lab or office.
Who is a wildlife biologist?
Explain what coral bleaching is and what causes it.