Unit 9: Life Cycles and Growth

9.1: How do Plants Reproduce?

Vocabulary:
1) Fertilization: The joining of an egg cell and sperm
2) Germination: The sprouting of a seed
3) Maturity: The stage at which organisms can reproduce
4) Pollination: The transfer of pollen from the male structures to the female structures of seed
plants

 When a plant grows it goes through a series of set stages, this is called the life cycle.
 The life cycle of a plant is as follows: plant the seed, the plant grows until it reaches
maturity, a mature plant may grow flowers or cones, then these structures make more
seeds.
 About 90% of plants reproduce by making seeds, most of these seeds are made in
flowers, other seeds are made in cones.
 Flowers and cones are reproductive structures, they produce sex cells. Male sex cells are
called sperm and female sex cells are called eggs.
 When the male and female cell join it is called fertilization, these fertilized eggs grow
into a new plant inside a seed.
 In plants with cones, sperm are made in male cones and eggs are made in female cones.
 In plants with flowers, sperm are contained in grains of pollen produced in parts called
anthers.
 Eggs are made in the structure called pistil.

 Plants reproduce through pollination, this is the process of moving from a male plant
part to a female plant part.
  This can happen in several ways; wind can blow the pollen from one plant to another, or
plants can be pollinated by pollinators (bees, birds, butterflies, etc.)
 Pollinators, like butterfly, stop at a plant and drinks its nectar, whenever the butterfly
switches to a new plant the pollen on the stamens rub off and may drop on the pistil,
the flower is now pollinated.
 Animals play a big role in moving plant seeds since plant seeds cannot move on their
own.
 Animals can eat these seeds and deposit it elsewhere, they can bury them, and some
seeds even get stuck on an animal’s fur.
 It’s important for people to know how plants reproduce because we need plants for a
lot of different things.

9.3: How do Animals Reproduce?

Vocabulary:
1) Complete Metamorphosis: A complete change that most insects undergo that includes larva
and pupa stages.
2) Incomplete Metamorphosis: Developmental changes in some insects in which a nymph
hatches from an egg and gradually develops into an adult.
3) Nymph: An immature form of an insect that undergoes incomplete metamorphosis.

 Animals have life cycle, they are born and then begin to grow up.
 Most animals reproduce sexually, during sexual reproduction, sperm from a male joins
an egg from a female. The fertilized egg develops into a new animal.
 In some animals, like fish, eggs are fertilized outside of the female body.
 Other animals, like birds, eggs are fertilized inside of the female body. After eggs are
fertilized, birds lay their eggs.
 The animal life cycle is: newborn, youth, adult. It ends when an animal dies.
 Every animal is different after they are born, some animals, like turtles, are on their own
as soon as they hatch. Other animals, like penguins, take care of their young until they
are strong enough to take care of themselves.
 Some animals take care of their young by feeding them.
 When the young go through a series of changes, like frogs, the changes are known as
metamorphosis. A young frog is a tadpole, with a long tail and no legs, it changes. The
tail becomes shorter and the legs begin to grow.
 If an animal goes through four different stages in its life cycle it is known as a complete
metamorphosis (egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa, adult (butterfly)
 Some eggs hatch into a larva, many of these insects look like worms. The larva then
develops into a pupa which is a cocoon, finally it splits the cocoon and an adult emerges.
 If an animal or insect only goes through three different stages in its life cycle, then it’s
called an incomplete metamorphosis. The three stages are egg, nymph, and then adult.
  Nymphs look like tiny adults, but they don’t have wings. As the nymph grows larger it
molts, which means it sheds its outer skeleton. After it molts a few times it becomes an
adult, with wings.
 Some animals are endangered, these means that there are not many left. Sea turtles are
one example of endangered species.

9.4 What are Heredity, Instincts, and Learned Behavior?

Vocabulary:
1) Heredity: The process by which traits are passed from parents to offspring.
2) Learned Behavior: A behavior that an animal doesn’t begin life with but develops as a result
of experience or observing other animals
3) Instinct: An inherited behavior of an animal that helps it meet its need.

 Children often look like their parents because of a process known as heredity.
 A trait is a feature of an individual, such as their eye color. Parents pass traits to their
offspring (children.)
 Heredity happens in all living things including flowers, animals, and humans.
 Every living thing contains chemical instructions for traits, these instructions are known
as genes.
 Half of your genes come from your mother and the other half come from your father, so
you have a mixture of traits from both parents.
 Scientist have learned a lot about how genes control traits. Today, scientist can take
genes from one living thing and put it into another. This is called genetic engineering.
Think of genetically modified food 
 Your genes do not control all of your traits alone, the environment also affects your
traits too.
 Some traits are caused when your genes and environment interact. Think of your height,
your height is controlled by your genes BUT the kinds of food you eat (environment) can
also affect you.
 Learned behaviors are things you learn, like tying your shoes, reading a clock, or adding
numbers.
 Learned behaviors are learned from experience or by watching other living things.
 Behaviors that living things are born with are called instincts. Human babies have an
instinct to cry when they are hungry, birds build nests because of instincts.
 How can you tell the difference between learned behavior and instinct? It is hard to tell
the difference. For example, humans have the urge to speak a language, BUT they must
learn a particular language.
 Many behaviors are a mix of learned behavior and instinct.