First Final Question of Biology 11 - Animal Kingdom

In Biology, we have been focussing on three main themes throughout the semester:

• Evolution and Natural Selection
• Requirements & Characteristics of Living Things  
• Being Curious & Asking Questions

I would like you to relate all of the dissections that we have been doing in class to all three of these main themes.  Within the animal kingdom we have dissected a roundworm (phylum nematoda), an earthworm (phylum annelida), a grasshopper (phylum arthropoda), a starfish (phylum echinodermata) and a grass frog (phylum vertebrata, class amphibia).

Within each of these dissections and representative species, there are characteristics that we were able to examine that are excellent examples of how there is so much diversity of life on earth, yet there are certain requirements that all living things must have with unique systems to meet these requirements (feeding/digestion, reproduction, respiration, circulation, nervous system etc.)  Please discuss the how these organisms and phyla achieve this, as well as the trends towards increasing complexity in body form.  Your post should include pictures, examples and a thoughtful explanation of the topics.