Jane's Photos 16-20

 #16: This flower in my kitchen has pollen grains embedded in the spiky bits in its middle area. In these grains are the male gametophyte, the sperm cells. As an angiosperm, this flower relies on animals to help with reproduction and the spread of its offspring. It's more likely that a bee or even the wind would help disperse these pollen grains to other places. 

#17: My cat, Lucy, is an endotherm. She is capable of regulating her own body temperature in response to outside conditions. Her homeostatic response to temperature change is to regulate her own body temperature to stay within a healthy range. Too cold, her blood vessels and arteries contract, too hot and they expand. She doesn't need to actively change her temperature herself, her body's homeostatic response does it for her.

#18: This very busy bee going to town on the flowers in my front yard is an ectotherm--it can't regulate its own body temperature. Therefore, this bee has to be careful not to get too cold or too hot, because it's body won't be able to bring itself back to a healthy temperature range itself. The bee will have to actively spend time in the sun to heat up, or not to stay cool. 

#19: On this stump you can see evidence of cambium, which allows for new stem and root growth in plants. It also helps trees and plants to heal after being damaged. 

#20: So many autotrophs! Each tree, weed, blade of grass, and bush in this picture can make its own food, and doesn't feed off of others like heterotrophs. Using photosynthesis and the Calvin cycle, they can make their own sustenance using energy from the sun and nutrients.