Research specie

[prizetime]

We are doing a research on any specie that is 'below' fish in AP biology. I'll be delighted to get some suggestions because as for now my group is at the dead end

[mamoru]

There are roughly 1.6 million identified species of eukaryotes, of which only roughly 60,000 are vertebrates. That's not counting prokaryotes, which may number between 5 and 10 million species, depending on how you decide to define species with them.

You really can't think of one to do a report on?

Suggestion: Take a pencil outside and throw it. When it lands, choose the closest organism that the pencil is pointing to and do your report on that. I can pretty much guarantee that it won't be pointing at a vertebrate.

[biohazard]

Choose the tardigrades! Also known as the water bears or moss piglets!! They're wicked :)

Here's a pic for starters: http://www.focus.it/allegati/183697.JPG

They have various very interesting features, including the ability to survive in temperatures ranging from -270 to +151 degrees, withstanding 1000 times or so more radiation than humans and staying alive for a decade without water, just to give a few examples. I think at some point astronauts took several tardigrades into the space and kept them in the vacuum of the space for several days, and most of them were just fine when they got back to the Earth!

Finally, if you throw your pencil outdoors, it may just as well point towards a tardigrate anyway :D

[prizetime]

thank you very much, guys , but i am not really don't think tarigrads are easy to get hold of, or are they? u see, the specie needs to be something easily available and easily manipilated.

[Darby]

If your AP instructor considers invertebrates "below" vertebrates, you've got a pretty bad instructor. What's that even supposed to mean??

Also, the singular of "species" is "species."

[MissToonTastic]

Thanks, it worked! now i have a report to do! yay!