#1. In your saliva, there are enzymes which start the digestion process as soon as food enters your mouth. Enzymes are proteins in your body that catalyze neccessary chemical reactions for your health.
#2. In your stomach, there are types of bacteria that help to digest the food you eat. They gain energy from you, and you benefit from their aid in digestion - this is an example of mutualism, where organisms live in a symbiotic relationship that benefits both parties.
#3. This rock has a collection of lichen on it - lichen is a type of collection of organisms working together in a symbiotic relationship. It is a composite of fungus and another photosynthetic partner.
#4. This plant used to grow straight up like a normal plant, but my cats pulled it to the side for amusement. Since then, the plant has adapted to its trunk sideways, but the leaves are still straight up for the sun, demonstrating adaptation of a plant.
#5. My cat, Audi, is an example of an endotherm. Being the opposite of an ectotherm, endotherms can self-regulate their own body temperature at a comfortable temperature.
#6. These lizards are examples of ectotherms. Ectotherms are a type of animal that must regulate their body temperature through external means, such as the sun.
#7. This fungus, growing at the trunk of another tree, is in a symbiotic relationship with the tree called parasitism. The fungus steals nutrients from the tree at the expense of the tree, making it a parasite.
#8. Since this lobster is an arthropod, one defining characteristic is its exoskeleton. In this case, the exoskeleton is made of chitin - a large carbohydrate. Be warned, not all exoskeletons are made of chitin. This is the lobster's last appearance.
#9. Since a lobster is an arthropod, one defining characteristic is its segmented body. Each section of the body is in a seperate spot.
#10. This lobster is an example of an arthropod. Arthropods are invertebrates that have exoskeletons, a segmented body, and jointed appendages.
#11. These are female pine cones - cones are used as reproductive structures in conifers, with the females producing the seeds in the easily recognized shape.
#12. In all plants, there is a hormone called ethylene with formula C2H4. Ethylene acts as a stimulant to start fruit ripening, opening of flowers, or shedding of leaves. The brown spots seen on bananas are a result of ethylene.
#13. This worm is also an example of an annelid - a large phylum meaning "ringed worm" that contains mainly segmented worms from all types of environments.
#14. This is an example of a conifer leaf - in contrast to deciduous leaves, conifers do not fall off the tree at any time in the year, and stay there the whole time. Hence their name, evergreen.
#15. This is an example of a deciduous leaf - meaning these leaves will be lost once a year in a process called abcission. Of course, they will come back next year.
#16. All animals have a specific diploid chromosome number associated with their chromosomes that is always even. Since I am human, my hand has a diploid chromosome number of 46 chromosomes.
#17. One defining characteristic of an insect is its exoskeleton, a skeleteon outside of an animal's body rather than inside. They support and protect the animal.
#18. Fermentation is an anaerobic process used by some organisms like yeast to convert carbohydrates into simpler compounds. One compound produced from this process is ethanol, or more commonly known, alcohol.
#19. This lemon is an example of a fleshy fruit - characterized by a thick pulpy wall.
#20. These flowers exhibit radial symmetry, meaning they have multiple lines of symmetry extending from one fixed center.
#21. This is a fungus, a kingdom of the taxanomy of living things. Fungi are characterized by spores used for reproduction, and chitin used in cell walls rather than cellulose.
#22. In this cross section of a former tree, there is a darker region in the middle named the heartwood; when the tree is alive, heartwood grows from the inside out and is more resistant to decay, but it is not entirely clear if it is yet dead.
#23. This worm is an example of a hermaphrodite, a type of organism that has no seperate sexes in the mating process, and have both sexual organs associated with male and female.
#24. This is an insect; insects are are a type of arthropod characterized by their exoskeleton, three pairs of jointed legs, and segmented body. Unfortunately, this one has died; so is the life of an insect.
#25. My dog, Gandalf, is an example of a k-strategist; these types of animals are adapted to a stable environment that does not change, so they late maturity onset, and a relatively small amount of offspring when they mate.
#26. My hair, fingernails, toenails, etc. are all made of keratin, a type of fibrous protein that is used as a structural component for hair and nails.
#27. This lovely fish is an example of an r-strategist; these type of organisms are adapted to reproduce quickly after birth and produce large amounts of offspring because the environment is unstable.
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