Biology of the Vertebrates Study Questions F2012
Note: These study questions are not comprehensive. They are meant to supplement your lecture notes as you review them, and alert you to the ways in which you should be thinking about the material, and formulate questions to test yourself. Exams will NOT be limited to the material highlighted in these questions, or their formats, so your lecture notes and handouts should be your primary reference.
Lecture 1 (28 August 2012)
1. What are the reasons for studying a particular group of organisms such as vertebrates?
2. List the basic functions of living organisms. Provide a vertebrate example for each.
3. What is a trade-off? Explain it in terms of one of the two examples (e.g. lizards and salamanders) discussed in lecture.
4. Why weren't the ancestors of lizards subject to the same constraint (trade-off)? How have some lizard relatives escaped from this constraint (e.g. Komodo dragon)?
