Vocabulary
Define ecology:
The study of the home or household
Who is considered the patron saint of ecology and ecologists?
Other than blubber, what other types of insulators do animals have to help them adapt to freezing temperatures?
What are:
-fur
-feathers
-cuddling
Which plants can store water in their fleshy leaves or stems?
What are cacti and succulents
Where is considered to be the driest place on Earth outside of the poles since it receives less than 1mm of rain per year, and in some places has not received a drop of rain in over 500 years?
What is The Atacama Desert in Chile (South America)
What are biomes?
The Desert Fathers were early Christians who sought to follow Christ by taking lives of poverty, prayer, and work. They moved into caves and other places within deserts in Egypt. Name two saints who are considered Desert Fathers.
Who is:
-Saint Paul of Thebes
-Saint Anthony of Egypt (aka: Saint Anthony the Great)
Which animal (mentioned in the text) can hunt during the day, but is mostly active at night, which lets them escape the heat of the day--an example of an adaptation to temperature?
What is the pea plant
What kind of plants have roots that curl back up into the air to receive oxygen in the presence of too much water (aka flooding)?
What is the bald cypress tree
Physiology is defined as all of the parts of an organism and the normal functioning of those parts.
Which Augustine friar can be credited as giving us (in part) the knowledge of genetics?
Who is Gregor Johann Mendel, OSA
An estimated fifty (or more!) animal species collect water in dry environments, like the Namid Desert) from what water source?
What is fog
Similar to hibernation in animals, plants enter into resting stages too, which we call what?
What is dormancy
What are beets, carrots, lettuce, and potatoes
Define evolution:
Evolution is a change in the characteristics (or traits) of a population or organisms over time, or over generations.
As stewards of creation, and as scientists, we all can study ecosystems to better understand how to protect their beauty and biodiversity. Which Pope highlighted this same sentiment in their writings and teachings?
Who is Pope Benedict XVI
Over many generations in cities, populations of ants have become more tolerant of heat. Because cities have lots of hot asphalt and other surfaces that heat up quickly, ants that were the most heat-tolerant were the most successful from generation to generation. What is this an example of?
What is adaptation
What rare wild flower can grow high up on mountains due to a local adaptation that helps it survive in cooler thin air?
What is edelweiss
What kind of bird can have four different wing patterns: bar, barless, check, and t-check?
1) there must be a variation in the trait, 2) the trait must be heritable, 3) there must be selection on the trait
Who said, "[Science and faith] each can draw the other into a wider world, a world in which both can flourish"?
Who is Pope St. John Paul II
Humans intervene with genetics by breeding animals to have certain kinds of traits to benefit them (ex. breeding cows that produce more milk). What is this human intervention in genetics called?
What is artificial selection
Some plants move water outside of their cells; so, when ice forms, it doesn't do much damage to the plant. This is one reason trees like pines are often found in colder environments. What kind of cold-resistant trees are pines?
What are coniferous trees
Wood frogs live here because they can survive even frozen solid in winter (like a frog popsicle) and simply thaw out in warmer months!
What is Canada and Alaska