That rainbow you see on the ground when oil lies on wet pavement, that captivating swirl of color glimmering on the outside surface of that bubble, or the shimmers of color on the back of your favorite CD; its iridescence and is displayed in quite a few critters in the animal kingdom. Iridescence essentially an objects ability to show different colors when viewed at different angles. When you look at the animal kingdom you see this property in many species of animals, insect exoskeletons along with bird feathers are the most common display of iridescence, but also fish scales and oyster shells demonstrate an awesome array of colors. For the purposes of this paper I will specifically be looking the iridescences in the exoskeletons of the most diverse group of insects on the planet, beetles (Order Cleopetra) and how this eye catching pattern has evolved to help them survive and thrive throughout evolution.
If you want to find the origin of this beautiful metallic assortment of light you only have to look skin deep in these beetles, so to say. The epidermal cells and even more specifically the smoother ER in these cells look to be responsible. The smooth ER synthesizes proteins that then layer on top of each other to form an intricate lattice pattern. Differentiation in coloration in many animals comes from a phenomenon known as thin-film interference, by layer on top of layer structures with a lattice type formation that interfere with visible light. Researchers know where these proteins come from but they seem to assemble themselves into this complex structure that provides a large range of iridescent coloring without any rhyme or reason. Furthermore, why did iridescence ever present itself and thrive in the gene pool?
All anim...
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...le for beetles beautiful iridescence is are diffreaction gratings. Diffraction is the spreading of light around an object or barrier. Diffraction Gratings are slits that are parallel on the outside of the beetles cuticule and when white light hits these grooves it is reflected, they varying arrangements, spacings, and thickness of the gratings can produces an array of colors. Because of this, Driffaction gratings can make maybe there most outstanding deisplay of “rainbow-like colors. The physicis of light determines the order of color that will be visible on the beetle because it is the same order as the spectra of light falls in due to wavelengths much like a rainbow. First red with the greatest wavelength moving to orange, yellow, green, until you get to shorter wavelengths such as blue, then finally violet. Unlike Three dimensional photonic crystals, Diffraction
..., Department of Zoology, Miami University, Oxford, OH, Available from Journal of Insect Physiology. (46 (2000) 655–661)Retrieved from http://www.units.muohio.edu/cryolab/publications/documents/IrwinLee00.pdf
Bess beetles range in size all the way from 21 millimeters to 80 millimeters. The beetles are named after the French word baiser, which means “to kiss”, due to the fact that they often make a smooching sound with their legs. They have a small horn that protrudes from their head, and use their antennae to drive them forward when experiencing new smells. Though the beetles may look quite menacing, they are surprisingly docile. They enjoy feasting on rotten wood, moss, and adult beetle fecal matter after it has been partially digested by bacteria. A scientific experiment was conducted to test these beetle’s pulling power in relation to their mass. The hypothesis stated,
Flying Tigers is the name of a mercenary group of American pilots that helped defend China and the Burma Road from the bombing of the Japanese during World War II. The name of their planes was Tomahawks, but the Chinese called them Fei Hu for the sharks teeth painted on their planes. Flying Tigers were known as the American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force. The Flying Tigers did not see combat until December 1941 when the Japanese started bombing China.
It can be concluded that chloroplast is responsible for photosynthesis, with blue light forming the highest rate of photosynthetic activity. The widespread use of coloured netting in the future could result in indoor plant growth that is unreliant on weather, and the ease of the production of crops with the desirable phenotypes. However, future research is still required to eradicate any unknown data and determine plant responses in relation to wavelength
The final results of 10 yellow bugs, 10 purple bugs, and 20 green bugs support the hypothesis. The
Newton, Henry, and William Winsor. "Spotlight on Colour: Flake White." Winsor&Newton. N.p., 2011. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
The monarch butterfly, as known as Danaus plexippus, is often called the milkweed butterfly because its larvae eat the milkweed plant. They are also sometimes called "royalty butterflies" because their family name comes from the daughter of Danaus, ruler of Argos. There are many other interesting facts about this butterfly including its anatomy and life cycle, where the butterfly lies on the food chain, the migration from Canada to Mexico, why the butterfly is being threatened, and lastly, what is being done to help the butterfly.
Fox, R. 2001. Invertebrate Anatomy OnLine: Artemia Franciscana. Lander University. http://webs.lander.edu/rsfox/invertebrates/artemia.html, retrieved February 13, 2011.
Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura. The order Anura is broken down into 22 different families of frogs and toads. Although they belong to the same order, frogs and toads are different in a lot of ways. Some of the more distinct differences are their skin and where they live. Frogs usually have smooth moist skin and toads usually have dry watery looking skin. Frogs spend most of their lives in or near water and toads spend more time on land. Amphibian means "double life." Frogs and toads each have two parts to their lives: when they live on water and when they live land. A frog's life starts in the water when it is hatched from an egg as a tadpole. A tadpole looks very different from an adult frog. A tadpole has a tail, no limbs, and breathes through gills. After a while the tadpole goes through metamorphosis. During the change the frog grows limbs, the tail disappears, it uses lungs to breathe, and it doesn't have to live in water anymore. As a tadpole, the frog feeds mostly on vegetation. The tadpoles have a small rasping mouth suited especially for scraping algea from the bottom of ponds. Depending on the species, it can take a few weeks to a year or more for the tadpoles to become fully grown. Not all frogs hatch as tadpoles. Some species of frogs hatch as froglets. Froglets look just like adult frogs but are a lot smaller. Froglets don't go through a metamophosis. Most species that hatch as froglets are found in dry places. Frogs who live in dry places where rains are seasonal have to grow up quickly because a tadpole will die if their temporary pond dries up. Adult frogs can live in water or on land, but it always needs to be near water so its respiratory organs don't dry out.
It is easier for birds to spot and eat green beetles. Brown beetles have more chance to survive and produce offspring. The offspring produced will inherit the brown color. So in next generation, brown beetles will be more common than the green beetles as compared to the previous generation. The green beetles will eventually become extinct.
Ants, Little but Mighty. What is an ant? Ants are insects, they have six legs and each leg has three joints. Ants legs are very strong.
No name. No date. Pigment through the ages, visible and beyond. [Online] Available at: www.webexhibits.org/pigments/intro/visible.html. (20 May 2011)
One of the first reason why insects are so successful because they possess a tough exoskeleton that is covered with a waxy water repellant layer. The exoskeleton of insects also has helped them survive. An insect's external skeleton, or exoskeleton, is made of semi-rigid plates and tubes. In insects, these plates are made of a plastic like material called chitin along with a tough protein. A waterproof wax covers the plates and prevents the insect's internal tissues from drying out. Insect exoskeletons are highly effective as a body framework, but they have two drawbacks: they cannot grow once they have formed, and like a suit of armor, they become too heavy to move when they reach a certain size. Insects overcome the first problem by periodically molting their exoskeleton and growing a larger one in its place. Insects have not evolved ways to solve the problem of increasing weight, and this is one of the reasons why insects are relatively small. But compared to animals the Exoskeletons d...