Conclusion
1. From Porifera to Chordata, animals have come a long way.
Phylum Porifera is very primitive and basic. Sea sponges are multicellular, but not all of the cells its made of work together, instead, they each have a job to keep the sponge alive and reproducing. Sea sponges have no symmetry or cephylization and have no organs.
Animals in Phylum Cnidaria are the jellyfish and polyps. The Cnidarians evolved germ tissues and are diploblastic (have an endoderm and an exoderm), the Cnidarians also grew to achieve radial symmetry. other advances over Porifera include a digestive system with a gastrovascular cavity and a mouth/anus, a nerve net, ocelli, and stinging cells called Cnidocytes.
Class Platyhelminthes includes the Tapeworms, Flukes, and Planarians. the Platy's become triploblastic, adding a muscle layer of mesoderm to the other two layers, and also develop a pseudocoelom, allowing room for reproductive organs. a big adaptation for this class is the flame cell excretory system, this allows for there to be a seperate mouth. Platy worms have extremely efficient reproductive abilities to reproduce as much as possible by having lots of reproductive organs. the Cnidarian's nerve net becomes a nerve ladder. Planarians also have uncanny regeneration ability. Platyhelminthes are protostomes, which means that in embyonic development, their blastopore becomes their mouth.
Annelida worms (earthworm, sandworm, leech) are Triploblastic like Platyhelminthes, but annelids have a true coelom for organs. The annelid's digestive system is a full single tract from mouth to anus. the Annelids begin to form a brain/nerve center and have a closed circulatory system. using nephridia, annelids also evolve a new and improved excretory system. Annelids are Deuterostomes, which is the same as Protostomes except the blastopore becomes the organism's anus. Worms in Phylum Annelida have repeated segmentation as part of their anatomy as well as 5 aordic arches (hearts)
Phylum Mollusca includes Clams, octopi, squid, snails, etc. Each animals in mollusca have a ventral foot, a visceral mass dorsal of the foot, and a dorsal mantle. some Mollusca animals evolved a shell for protection against predators, and others gained compound eyes and advanced brains.
Arthropoda is the most dominant phylum. Arthropods evolved a hard, exoskeleton that covers most of the animal's body. another big development that the arthropods evolved is their open circulatory system. instead of having veins and arteries the arthropods have a hemocoel where the hemolymph (sort of like blood) just sits and covers the organs of the animal, transferring oxygen and nutrients to them. the biggest advancement the arthropods made however, is their multi functioning appendages to preform lots of new tasks like jumping, and flying.
Phylum Echinodermata contains sea stars, sand dollars, sea urchins, and sea lillies, which all show pentaradial symmetry. Starfish adapted and got a new 'circulatory system' its Water Vascular System (WVS) the starfish uses this system to suck in water and use it for suction with their tube feet on their oral side as well as for propulsion when the tube feet push out. Starfish also have amazing regeneration ability, unlike the planarian however, it cannot preform asexual reproduction in the same way. There are two stomachs in a starfish, a cardiac and pyloric stomach.
Chordata is the last Phylum and it contains all of the animals with a spinal chord. The spinal chord being one, Chordates also show a hollow nerve chord, a Notochord to cover the nerve chord, gill slits, and a post anal-tail. starting with the lower chordates, these animals are sort of on the edge because they don't all show all 4 of the characteristics of chordates. these animals are much like higher invertabrates, and didn't make many advances. Next are Vertibrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. these animals all have evolved a skeleton of either bone or cartilage, or both, and a closed circulatory system with blood and veins, arteries, etc. the vertebrates now had skin, which went from scales/leathery skin to feathers, to fur.
At the end, Chordata's biggest advances are a larger brain with a cerebellum, Cerebrum and frontal, parietal and occipical lobes. a closed circulatory system with a 4 chamber, double-pump heart, a diaphragm to aid the lungs in breathing, and the amniotic egg and internal fertilization to protect their offspring.
2. It's obvious to me that the most well-adapted species on earth is the human. To survive on earth, you've got to first, be able to find water, food, and shelter. with our advanced cerebrum, we can learn to do these things easily, in fact, water aside, we can learn to grow our own food and build our own shelters. sure, burrowing mammals can dig oles and tunnels, but we humans can take materials and build a structurally sound building. other than these basic survival instincts, we aren't the toughest animals, we can be shredded by a grizzly or hunted by lions, therefore we came up with a way to make weapons and protective barriers and shelters to keep away these potential predators, and maybe even prey on them. predators aren't all mother Earth has to throw at us however, there are always plenty of poisonous plants and extreme weather conditions that can take us out pretty easily. because of these other dangers, the human's larger cerebrum can learn how to deal with almost any situation, and also, if it needs to, our body can take over to keep us alive by putting us in shock, or falling unconscious when we cant do it ourselves. Our double-pump 4 chambered heart and diapragm, lungs respiratory system allow us to be very motile and our arms and legs allow us to run, climb, swim, and jump with great efficiency. Now this is what humans can do on their own, but because of how many of us there are, we have adapted language to communicate between us, more complex language than any other species of animal can use. with communication comes discussion, with discussion comes new ideas, and with so many humans to work with, these ideas have become reality. Have the deer created cities, have sharks made vehicles, can bees code software programs? no. Humans are the best adapted species on Earth to Earth.
3. I think that this Website is a sound piece of evidence to support evolution. Despite my own opinion, throughout this website, we've watched algae transform to even be able to preform photosynthesis. we've seen a moss gain vascular tissue to evolve to a fern and from a fern becomes a conifer, then to an Angiosperm all because of how the environment around them is. each change to the species of plants makes sense because they all enhance the plant's chance to survive where it lives. the same goes for animals, each stage in which the animals evolve, the adaptations all make sense, for a sponge to evolve to a cnidarian so it can disperse its species. from an annelid to a mollusca and then anthropoda because life it tough, it makes sense to grow a shell or even better, an exoskeleton. The appendages that came with the evolution to anthropoda makes sense too, to escape from predators, one has to move quickly, and so with so many different ways to get around, why not evolve appendages? the jump to vertebrates is big too, to make a better nervous system, a spinal chord to protect the nerve chord only makes sense, with all of the nerves running throughout the body, animals could react to their surroundings in wasy they never could. reptiles having scales to protect themselves from predators and those scales evolving into aerodynamic feathers for Aves to aid them in flying. The fact that animals are classified this way definitely traces the path of evolution, but the real reason this website has become a piece of evidence of this track is because of our careful observation and analysis of each of these changes, you see WHY the mammals grew hair, and WHY Gymnosperms got needles. we scrutinized each stage of evolution in plants and animals, and that's what makes this website a sound piece of evidence towards evolution.
Phylum Porifera is very primitive and basic. Sea sponges are multicellular, but not all of the cells its made of work together, instead, they each have a job to keep the sponge alive and reproducing. Sea sponges have no symmetry or cephylization and have no organs.
Animals in Phylum Cnidaria are the jellyfish and polyps. The Cnidarians evolved germ tissues and are diploblastic (have an endoderm and an exoderm), the Cnidarians also grew to achieve radial symmetry. other advances over Porifera include a digestive system with a gastrovascular cavity and a mouth/anus, a nerve net, ocelli, and stinging cells called Cnidocytes.
Class Platyhelminthes includes the Tapeworms, Flukes, and Planarians. the Platy's become triploblastic, adding a muscle layer of mesoderm to the other two layers, and also develop a pseudocoelom, allowing room for reproductive organs. a big adaptation for this class is the flame cell excretory system, this allows for there to be a seperate mouth. Platy worms have extremely efficient reproductive abilities to reproduce as much as possible by having lots of reproductive organs. the Cnidarian's nerve net becomes a nerve ladder. Planarians also have uncanny regeneration ability. Platyhelminthes are protostomes, which means that in embyonic development, their blastopore becomes their mouth.
Annelida worms (earthworm, sandworm, leech) are Triploblastic like Platyhelminthes, but annelids have a true coelom for organs. The annelid's digestive system is a full single tract from mouth to anus. the Annelids begin to form a brain/nerve center and have a closed circulatory system. using nephridia, annelids also evolve a new and improved excretory system. Annelids are Deuterostomes, which is the same as Protostomes except the blastopore becomes the organism's anus. Worms in Phylum Annelida have repeated segmentation as part of their anatomy as well as 5 aordic arches (hearts)
Phylum Mollusca includes Clams, octopi, squid, snails, etc. Each animals in mollusca have a ventral foot, a visceral mass dorsal of the foot, and a dorsal mantle. some Mollusca animals evolved a shell for protection against predators, and others gained compound eyes and advanced brains.
Arthropoda is the most dominant phylum. Arthropods evolved a hard, exoskeleton that covers most of the animal's body. another big development that the arthropods evolved is their open circulatory system. instead of having veins and arteries the arthropods have a hemocoel where the hemolymph (sort of like blood) just sits and covers the organs of the animal, transferring oxygen and nutrients to them. the biggest advancement the arthropods made however, is their multi functioning appendages to preform lots of new tasks like jumping, and flying.
Phylum Echinodermata contains sea stars, sand dollars, sea urchins, and sea lillies, which all show pentaradial symmetry. Starfish adapted and got a new 'circulatory system' its Water Vascular System (WVS) the starfish uses this system to suck in water and use it for suction with their tube feet on their oral side as well as for propulsion when the tube feet push out. Starfish also have amazing regeneration ability, unlike the planarian however, it cannot preform asexual reproduction in the same way. There are two stomachs in a starfish, a cardiac and pyloric stomach.
Chordata is the last Phylum and it contains all of the animals with a spinal chord. The spinal chord being one, Chordates also show a hollow nerve chord, a Notochord to cover the nerve chord, gill slits, and a post anal-tail. starting with the lower chordates, these animals are sort of on the edge because they don't all show all 4 of the characteristics of chordates. these animals are much like higher invertabrates, and didn't make many advances. Next are Vertibrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. these animals all have evolved a skeleton of either bone or cartilage, or both, and a closed circulatory system with blood and veins, arteries, etc. the vertebrates now had skin, which went from scales/leathery skin to feathers, to fur.
At the end, Chordata's biggest advances are a larger brain with a cerebellum, Cerebrum and frontal, parietal and occipical lobes. a closed circulatory system with a 4 chamber, double-pump heart, a diaphragm to aid the lungs in breathing, and the amniotic egg and internal fertilization to protect their offspring.
2. It's obvious to me that the most well-adapted species on earth is the human. To survive on earth, you've got to first, be able to find water, food, and shelter. with our advanced cerebrum, we can learn to do these things easily, in fact, water aside, we can learn to grow our own food and build our own shelters. sure, burrowing mammals can dig oles and tunnels, but we humans can take materials and build a structurally sound building. other than these basic survival instincts, we aren't the toughest animals, we can be shredded by a grizzly or hunted by lions, therefore we came up with a way to make weapons and protective barriers and shelters to keep away these potential predators, and maybe even prey on them. predators aren't all mother Earth has to throw at us however, there are always plenty of poisonous plants and extreme weather conditions that can take us out pretty easily. because of these other dangers, the human's larger cerebrum can learn how to deal with almost any situation, and also, if it needs to, our body can take over to keep us alive by putting us in shock, or falling unconscious when we cant do it ourselves. Our double-pump 4 chambered heart and diapragm, lungs respiratory system allow us to be very motile and our arms and legs allow us to run, climb, swim, and jump with great efficiency. Now this is what humans can do on their own, but because of how many of us there are, we have adapted language to communicate between us, more complex language than any other species of animal can use. with communication comes discussion, with discussion comes new ideas, and with so many humans to work with, these ideas have become reality. Have the deer created cities, have sharks made vehicles, can bees code software programs? no. Humans are the best adapted species on Earth to Earth.
3. I think that this Website is a sound piece of evidence to support evolution. Despite my own opinion, throughout this website, we've watched algae transform to even be able to preform photosynthesis. we've seen a moss gain vascular tissue to evolve to a fern and from a fern becomes a conifer, then to an Angiosperm all because of how the environment around them is. each change to the species of plants makes sense because they all enhance the plant's chance to survive where it lives. the same goes for animals, each stage in which the animals evolve, the adaptations all make sense, for a sponge to evolve to a cnidarian so it can disperse its species. from an annelid to a mollusca and then anthropoda because life it tough, it makes sense to grow a shell or even better, an exoskeleton. The appendages that came with the evolution to anthropoda makes sense too, to escape from predators, one has to move quickly, and so with so many different ways to get around, why not evolve appendages? the jump to vertebrates is big too, to make a better nervous system, a spinal chord to protect the nerve chord only makes sense, with all of the nerves running throughout the body, animals could react to their surroundings in wasy they never could. reptiles having scales to protect themselves from predators and those scales evolving into aerodynamic feathers for Aves to aid them in flying. The fact that animals are classified this way definitely traces the path of evolution, but the real reason this website has become a piece of evidence of this track is because of our careful observation and analysis of each of these changes, you see WHY the mammals grew hair, and WHY Gymnosperms got needles. we scrutinized each stage of evolution in plants and animals, and that's what makes this website a sound piece of evidence towards evolution.