7th Grade

Unit 4: Inherited and Adaptive Traits for

Survival

Lesson 1: Asexual and Sexual

Reproduction

Vocabulary of Instruction:

Adaptation• Changes in an

organism's physiological structure or function or habits that allow it to survive in new surroundings.

• The hump serves as a reservoir for energy-rich fat, which the camel can metabolize for energy when food is scarce.

• Can go for months without drinking water. And can consume 30 gallons of water at one sitting!

• Long eyelashes, ears lined with hair and nostrils that can be pinched shut all help shield them from the blowing sand of its dry environment.

• The red panda uses a “panda’s thumb”— an extension of the wrist bone—to grasp fruit and branches.

• Powerful muscles in the kangaroo’s legs enable it to jump as far as 30 feet in one leap. Over short distances, the species can move as fast as 35 miles per hour.

• They have sensitive and dexterous forepaws which help locate prey in mud or under stones.

• They have relatively large, broad cheek teeth, apparently for purposes of crushing the shells of crabs and mollusks.

Asexual Reproduction:

• Reproduction of a plant or animal without fusion of male and female gametes. It includes vegetative propagation (cuttings, bulbs, rhizomes), cell and tissue culture.

Example of Asexual Reproduction

Plant Cutting Plantlet

Corm or bulb Plantlet on a runner

Examples of Asexual Reproduction

Plant Cutting Plantlet on a runner

Plant Cutting Rhizome or Rootstocks

Diversity• Is the number

of different species of plants and animals, and other organisms in an ecosystem.

Gamete Production

•An important part of the sexual life cycle of all diploid creatures.

Genetic Variation• Variations of

genomes between members of species, or between groups of species thriving in different parts of the world as a result of genetic mutation.

Germination• Is when a

seed stops lying dormant in the soil and sprouts to grow into a new plant.

Mutations• Act of

mutating; change, alteration; state of having inheritable traits that differ from those of the normal parent.

Offspring• Are the product

of reproduction, new organism(s) produced by one or more parents.

Pollination• Is when

pollen (male) lands on a female part of a flower (stigma).

Sexual Reproduction

• Is how a biological species creates new generations when it involves both male and female parents.

How Can I Grow This Plant?

Sexual reproduction:Apples grow from a seed.

Asexual reproduction: Strawberries grow from plantlets attached to runners.

Sexual reproduction:Watermelons grow from a seed.

Asexual reproduction Bananas grow from rhizomes below the ground.

Survival of the Fittest

• A natural process resulting in the evolution of the organisms that are best adapted to the environment.

Uniformity• Homogeneity, state

of being uniform, identical, the same, equal, consistent.