VARIATIONS FOR SURVIVALMISS VALORA HEREDITY UNIT

Physical Characteristics give species a survival advantage in a particular environment.

SMALL DIFFERENCES, BIG AFFECT

What survival rate does this deer have compared to the others?

Members of a species are alike in many ways. However, individuals within a species show small differences. Variations are differences in appearance of an inherited trait among the members of a species. Variations can be observed in traits related to size, shape, behavior, function and body parts. Most variations are minor and include differences in hair color, whisker length and flower color. Others may be major and quite apparent like a cat with six toes on each paw or an albino deer. All of these variations are inherited and can be passed down to the offspring from the parent organism.

PLANT BREEDERS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF VARIATIONS TO PRODUCE IMPROVED CROPS. FOR EXAMPLE, U.S. POTATO FARMERS SPEND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS EACH YEAR ON PESTICIDES, BUT INSECTS BECOME RESISTANT TO THESE PESTICIDES. IN BOLIVIA, A SPECIES OF WILD POTATO HAS HAIRS ON ITS LEAVES THAT RELEASE A STICKY CHEMICAL WHEN TOUCHED. THEY ACT LIKE FLYPAPER AND TRAP PESTS THAT FEED ON THE LEAVES OF THE POTATO PLANT. HOWEVER, THESE POTATOES ARE VERY SMALL. THROUGH PLANT BREEDING, SCIENTISTS HAVE BEEN ABLE TO COMBINE THE LARGE SIZE TRAIT OF U.S. POTATOES WITH THE INSECT-RESISTANCE TRAIT OF THE BOLIVIAN POTATOES TO DEVELOP A HIGH YIELDING, LARGE, INSECT-RESISTANT VARIETY OF POTATOES

Why is this significant to us and the world?

Because the insects have become immune to the pesticides; through the plant breeding of these variations of potatoes we have created an insect-resistant potato, which in turn allows it to survive and reproduce food for us and the world.

World MapNational Geographic

Bear Cousins

Black Bear, Ursus americanus

Polar Bear,Ursus maritimus or the "sea bear”, closest relative the Brown Bear.

Black Bear Black Bear Black bears can be found in many parts of North America,

including northern Mexico. They live in wooded areas, swamps and in national parks where they raid campsites for food. Their body size can be up to five to six feet long.

Black bears actually vary in color from glossy black to dark brown, and from reddish-brown to almost white. Many times, they have a small, white patch on their chests. Black bears usually hunt at night and are seen only occasionally during the day. They have a keen sense of smell, but their hearing and eyesight are only fair. They will roam for long distances in search of food such as fruit, berries, nuts, roots, and honey. They will also eat insects, rodents and other small mammals, and stranded fish. They eat ample amounts of food in order to hibernate in the coldest weather. However, they are light sleepers and can be easily awakened.

Black bears are solitary animals and are only together as mother and cubs. A mother will have a litter of one to four cubs in January or February.

Polar Bear Polar Bear Polar Bears can be found in the Arctic regions along the coasts and ice

floes. It is the world’s largest bear. Males can weigh more than 1,300 pounds and females can weigh over 650 pounds. The bears can grow up to eight feet long.

They have a creamy-white coat of dense fur that keeps their skin dry and their furry paws give them a non-slip grip on the ice. Polar Bears are superb swimmers and have been seen in open water hundreds of miles from land.

During the summer, the bears often eat berries, leaves of tundra plants, and rodents. In the winter, they wander over the frozen sea, attacking seals as they surface to breathe. Besides seals, they also eat seabirds, arctic hares, caribou and musk oxen. Polar bears are amazingly fast and can easily outrun caribou at short distances.

Polar Bears are usually solitary animals except during mating season that is in midsummer. The females hibernate in ice dens during the winter where they give birth and emerge in the spring with their young. The males usually remain active all year long. Mother bears must protect their cubs because adult males may attack them. Mothers will have between one to four cubs about every other year.

Similarities between bears

ClawsThick Fur Body

Build & Shape small

earsLong nose

SMALL TAIL

Live in dens

1-2 cubs per year

Store

FAT

Differences unique to the polar bear

White, transparent , hollow fur black skin underneathLarge, wide non-slip paws

Basically a carnivoreSnowy, cold environment

Long hind legsLayers of blubber

Swims in the ocean

Differences unique to the black bear

Black and brown furSmaller pawsOmnivoreForested Environment

Shorter LegsFood gathering techniquesClimbs trees

Smaller in size

DIAMANTEDIAMANTE MEANING: OF HIGH VALUE; BRILLIANT. THE PRECIOUS DIAMOND STONE.DIAMANTE ORIGIN: ENGLISHDIAMANTE GENDER: FEMALEDiamante Poem

NOUNAdjective Adjective

Phrase beginning with participle that describes what they do and where they do it.

Participle ParticipleParticiple

NOUNAdjectiveAdjective

Phrase beginning with participle that describes what they do and where they do it.

Diamante Poem by: Miss Valora

black bearomnivore small

frolicking in the Alaska streamfishing playing entertaining

fattening up on pink salmon smelly dangerous

black bear

YOU WILL STUDY 2 ANIMALS TO UNDERSTAND HOW THEIR VARIATIONS GIVE EACH A SURVIVAL ADVANTAGE AND THEN WRITE A DIAMANTE POEM.

Partner assignment

I have place pictures of each paired animal on the whoopsi site under Heredity , assignments. Once you have your animals please fill out the animal variation chart and Venn diagram. Make sure you look at the pictures of each animal to get some physical features that are similar and different. I want to see the rough daft of your Diamante and then we will create the poem on Microsoft Publisher. Please work efficiently and cooperatively.