Expert: Walter Hintz - 8/22/2005

Question
hello my name is Toni im starting 10th grade and could really use your help with some problems that I got. All you gotta do is write the answer out in complete sentences.

1. Why must all amphibians spend at least part of their lives in water?

2. Lizards often lie in the sun in the moring. Why?

3. Basking shraks swim close to the surface of the water and appear to be sunning themselves like lizards. In fact, however, they are feeding on plankton. Why might a land-dwelling creature like a lizard need to sun itself, while a water-dwelling creature like a shark does not?

4. Some species of lung fish breathe only air, they have no gills, and will drwon if forced underwater. Why might it be an advantage for lungfish to breathe air even though they live in water?

5. Arthropods and birds both molt. Foe which of these creatures is molting most dangerous. Briefly explain your answer by comparing the two molting processes?

Answer
Hi Toni;
1. In the early stages of life amphibians breath with gills instead og lungs and must stay in water.
2.Lizards are cold blooded and need the sun for warmth.
3. Animals in the water are not subject to the same changes in temperature as the water temperature changes more slowly.
4.The lungfish lives in an environment where the water often dries up and therefore need lungs for breathing.
5.When arthropods molt the entire exoskeleton comes off and the animal is soft and exposed.  When birds molt feathers are being replaced at the same rate that they are lost.

 Now here are some questions for you Toni.  Do you understand these answers?  I am the kind of a teacher that is not satisfied with you knowing what the answer is unless you know what it means.  Secondly, do you try to answer these before you send them to me or am I just doing your work for you? If you were in my class I would never do this until you gave me an answer first.  If you have any more questions like this, you tell me what you think and I will go over it with you.