Biology Notes

These Notes were provided by my Biology Teacher Miss Nicholson

I. Phylum Porifera = pore-bearer.

A. Considered animals due to:

1. Multicellular organization

2. Lack of a cell wall

3. Heterotrophic nutritional requirements.

            B. Transitional organism

1. Do not have a gastrula stage (multi-layered embryo and formation of a digestive system). Germ layer is a layer of cells that give rise to a specific structure. Sponges do not have these.

2. Considerable amount of specialized cells

3. No True tissues/organs.

            C. Movement and Body plan

1. Sessile (like plants) = attach themselves to a surface (like rocks) and do not move.

2. Body plan: 2 layers of cells separated by the mesohyl, a jellylike substance.

3. Asymmetrical = no general body plan or axis of symmetry that divides the body into mirror-image halves.

4. In simple sponges the walls of the body form a hollow cylinder that is lined with flagellated cells called choanocytes or collar cells. The flagella help the cells draw water into the sponge through pores called ostia. The pores let water flow through the sponge continuously.

5. Sponges obtain nourishment and oxygen from this flowing water. The flowing water also carries out waste products through the osculum which is the opening at the top of the sponge.

6. Support for some sponges comes from a simple skeleton of spongin. Spongin is a network of tough but flexible protein fibers.

7. Other sponges contain spicules that are like needle-like and contain calcium carbonate or silicon dioxide.

8. Different shapes that can range from tubes, fans, cups, blobs, and crusts.

            D. Feeding and Digestion

                        1. Sieve or filter food out of the water.

2. Choanocytes trap plankton and other tiny organisms in their small, hairlike projections.

                        3. Food is engulfed and digested by the choanocytes.

4. Nutrients pass from those cells to cells called amoebocytes that move about within the body wall and deliver the food to the rest of the body.

5. Carbon dioxide and other wastes produced by the cells diffuse into the water that passes out of the sponge.

            E. Reproduction

1. Asexuallyà form small buds that break off and live separately from the body of the sponge. The buds are broken off by water currents and carried to another location, where the sponge will grow into a clone of the parent sponge.

2. Gemmules are produced during droughts or cold weather in freshwater sponges. These are internal buds that are filled with fed amoebocytes surrounded by a protective coat of organic matter and spicules. Can live through conditions adult sponges cannot. New sponges will emerge from the gemmules when conditions improve.

3. Regeneration occurs in sponges.

4. Sexually à sperm is released into the water from one sponge and enters the pores of another. Choanocytes engulf the sperm and transfer to amoebocytes. The amoebocytes carry the sperm to an egg located in the mesohyl. The egg is fertilized and develops into a larva. Flagella enable the larva to leave the parent and settle and attach to an object.

5. In this manner sponges are hermaphrodites and produce both egg and sperm.

Questions to ask:

1.      What does it mean to be sessile?

2.      Through what openings does water enter and leave a sponge?

3.      List 3 ways in which sponges reproduce.

a.       Budding

b.      Gemmules

c.       Egg and sperm

d.      Regeneration

4.      How is it possible for sponges which are sessile to disperse their population?

Larvae have flagella that enable them to swim. Water currents carry the larvae far from the parents before the larvae attach to a surface. Buds also from and can break off and live separately from the original population.

II. Phylum Cnidaria (hydra, stinging jellyfish, and flowerlike corals)

A.    Body plan

1.      Bell-shaped: called a medusa is able to swim (jellyfish)

2.      Vase-shaped: called a polyp is specialized for a sessile existence.

3.      Two cell layers: epidermis and gastrodermis with a mesoglea layer in between them.

4.      Gastrovascular cavity is a hollow gut in the center of the body. Has a single opening or mouth.

5.      Tentacles surround the mouth.

6.      Both body forms have tentacles arranged around an opening into the two-layered sac-like body. The inner tissue layer (derived from endoderm) secretes digestive juices into the gastrovascular cavity, which digests food and circulates nutrients (doing the job our circulatory AND digestive systems do)

B.     Feeding

1.      Cnidocytes are specialized cells used for defense and capturing prey.

2.      Nematocyst has a long filament coiled up inside it.

3.      When something brushes up against the “trigger” on a cnidocyte, the nematocyst inside will push the filament out with great force.

4.      Some threads merely trap a prey or predator, while others have spines that penetrate and inject paralyzing toxins. These toxins make some jellyfish (and a related group the box jellies) among the most poisonous of animals.

5.      Process of feeding:

a.       Tentacles capture small animals with nematocyst and paralyze them with their poisons and then the tentacles push the prey into the gastrovascular cavity through their mouth.

b.      The enzymes within the cavity will break down the prey and the cells lining the cavity will absorb the nutrients. Anything undigested or waste leaves through the mouth.

C.     Nervous System

1.      Nerve cells located below epidermis near the mesoglea interconnect and form a nerve net throughout the body.

2.      Cnidarians have both muscle fibers and nerve fibers, making these animals capable of directional movement.

a.       The nerve net allows transmission of messages in more than one direction, possibly an advantage in a radially symmetrical animal.

b.      Contraction of muscle fibers (under control of the nerve fibers) allows for movement.

3.      While they have a nerve net, brains are not present.

D.    Classification

1.      Class Hydrozoa

a.       Most are colonial

1.      Obelia has many polyps attached to branched stalks.

2.      Some of the polyps are for feeding and some for reproduction.

b.      Portugese man-of-war (Physalia) exists as a colony of medusae and polyps.

1.      Its main polyp is gas-filled and floats to keep the colony at the surface of the ocean.

2.      Polyps in the colony are specialized for feeding, digestion, or sexual reproduction.

3.      The Portuguese man-of-war usually preys on small fish can cause serious injury to swimmers since each tentacle (in reality a string of individual organisms) has numerous nematocysts that contain neurotoxins.

c.       Hydras exist only as polyps, are not colonial, and live in fresh water.

1.      Algae live symbiotically with cells in the gastrodermis of the hydra so some can appear to be green in color.

2. Attach to rocks or other water plants by secreting a sticky substance produced by the cells at the organism’s base.

3. Can detach and move by somersaulting or gliding to another location if the base of the hydra secretes bubbles of gas, which cause hydra to float upside down on the surface of the water.

4. Reproduction

a. Asexually during warmer weather by buds that grow tentacles separating from the body and begin living independently.

b. Sexual reproduction occurs in the fall when temps trigger the development of eggs and sperm. Eggs are made by meiosis along the wall of the body in ovaries. Sperm are formed by meiosis in the testes. Egg gets fertilized and divides and grows into an embryo. Has a hard covering protecting the embryo through the winter and will hatch in the spring.

c. Some are hermaphroditic and produce both egg and sperm in the same individual.

2.  Class Scyphozoa “cup animal”

      a. True jellyfish

b. Describes the medusa phase which is dominate in this animal’s life cycle.

      c. Cup pulses to propel the jellyfish through the water.

d. Can carry poisonous nematocysts that can cause severe pain and in humans if stung.

      e. Aurelia life cycle includes both medusa and polyp forms.

1. Release sperm and eggs into water where fertilization occurs. The resulting zygote divides many times to form a blastula (ball of cells).

2. The blastula develops into a ciliated larva called a planula that attaches to the ocean bottom.

3. Planula becomes a polyp by developing a mouth and tentacles at the attached end.

                  4. As the planula grows it forms a stack of medusae.

5. The medusae will detach and develop into free-swimming jellyfish.

3. Class Anthozoa “flower animals”

            a. Sea anemones and corals are examples.

            b. Sea anemones are polyps found in coastal areas where they attach to rocks and other submerged objects.

            c. Feed on fish and other animals that swim within reach of their tentacles.

            d. Have a symbiotic relationship with clownfish. The two share food and protect each other from predators. The clownfish movements prevent sediments from building up around the sea anemone. The clownfish produces a slimy mucus coating that prevents the anemone from firing its nematocysts when the clownfish touch the anenome’s tentacles.

            e. Corals are small polyps that live in colonies.

            f. Contain calcium carbonate and “glue” themselves to other coral skeletons.

            g. Coral reefs form from build up of large formations of corals.

            h. The top layer is living coral.

            i. Shallow, warm, clear waters so photosynthesis can occur by the algae that live symbiotically inside the coral cells.

            j. The algae provide oxygen and speed up the accumulation of calcium from water. Algae depend on the coral to supply vital nutrients.

III. Phylum Ctenophora “comb holder”

            A. Has 8 comb-like rows of cilia that run along the outside of the animal.

            B. Resemble jellyfish and are often called comb jellies.

            C. Differ from jellyfish and other cnidarians:

                        1. Move by beating their cilia instead of pulsating.

2. Do not have cnidocytes and instead have colloblasts that secret a sticky substance that helps them bind to their prey. Located on 2 tentacles.

3. Apical organ: sensory structure that enables them to sense their orientation in the water and nerves in the lining of the organ coordinate the beating of the cilia.

                        4. Hermaphroditic

5. Bioluminescent ctenophores occur in swarms near the surface of the ocean.