Students synthesize their understanding of adaptations by playing a “go fish” style game to collect sets of organisms with physical and behavioral adaptations.

Educators Guide for this unit:
http://education.eol.org/lesson_plans/2-5_Adaptations_LessonOverview.pdf

Lessons in this unit:

Adaptations Activity 1: Adapting to the Environment
Adaptations Activity 2: Physical Adaptations
Adaptations Activity 3: Behavioral Adaptations
Adaptations Activity 4: Go Adapt!
Adaptations Activity 5: Create a Creature

Students are introduced to the classification of animals and animal interactions. Students also learn why engineers need to know about animals and how they use that knowledge to design technologies that help other animals and/or humans. This lesson is part of a series of six lessons in which students use their growing understanding of various environments and the engineering design process, to design and create their own model biodome ecosystems.

Biology is designed for multi-semester biology courses for science majors. It is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand. To meet the needs of today’s instructors and students, some content has been strategically condensed while maintaining the overall scope and coverage of traditional texts for this course. Instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand—and apply—key concepts.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Explain the processes of digestion and absorptionCompare and contrast different types of digestive systemsExplain the specialized functions of the organs involved in processing food in the bodyDescribe the ways in which organs work together to digest food and absorb nutrients

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Animal health is of utmost importance in the production of milk, meat, and other animal products. Although vitamin supplements can help ensure livestock remain as healthy as possible, they are often expensive, driving up the cost of production. To help reduce these costs, a team of researchers set out to better understand how the essential vitamins B and K₂ are produced by microbes in the gastrointestinal tracts of ruminants, which are animals with complex digestive tracts composed of multiple distinct compartments to help them break down their plant-based diets. The team used genetic data from previous studies to identify 1,135,807 genes and 2366 full genomes involved in B or K₂ vitamin biosynthesis in the gastrointestinal tracts of seven ruminant species. They also found that most of this biosynthesis took place in the stomach compartments rather than other regions and that a high-grain diet enhanced most vitamin biosynthesis but inhibited cobalamin synthesis..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Students learn about energy and nutrient flow in various biosphere climates and environments. They learn about herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, food chains and food webs, seeing the interdependence between producers, consumers and decomposers. Students are introduced to the roles of the hydrologic (water), carbon, and nitrogen cycles in sustaining the worlds' ecosystems so living organisms survive. This lesson is part of a series of six lessons in which students use their growing understanding of various environments and the engineering design process, to design and create their own model biodome ecosystems.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Plants frequently produce toxic chemicals to defend themselves against hungry insects, meaning that insects must often counteract these defenses if they want to obtain a meal. The Camellia weevil is one such insect that enlists the help of microorganisms living in its gut to neutralize toxins in the tea-oil camellia plant. Given the unique life cycle of this weevil, researchers were interested in finding out how its specialized gut microbiome is acquired. The team used genetic sequencing techniques to identify the microbes in samples taken from weevil guts, tea-oil camellia fruits, and the surrounding soil. They found that bacteria from the soil were primarily responsible for the toxin-degrading activity of the weevil gut microbiome. In particular, Acinetobacter sp. strain AS23 can migrate into the weevil gut and degrade the toxin saponin, thereby allowing the weevils to inhabit and feed on the tea-oil camellia fruits..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

From the mouse-deer to the elephant, plant eaters come in all shapes and sizes. But how do they manage to flourish on a salad diet? In this unit we will examine the special features that allow them to extract their nutrients from leaves, and see how some

When manatees were first seen by Columbus, he thought they were mermaids..but he had been at sea for a long time! Today these gentle marine mammals are threatened by loss of habitat and collisions with boats. This video segment explores the endangered manatees of Florida and their struggle to survive, as well as some of the people who are working to save them. Please see the accompanying lesson plan for educational objectives, discussion points and classroom activities.

Do you eat like a horse? Or more like a bird? As you might expect, different animals eat different things. Some animals specialize in eating one particularly rich food source, while others eat whatever they can find. This video segment samples the diversity of feeding habits among some of the world's creatures.
Recommended for: Grades K-5