Nature Elective

The Five Classes of Vertebrates Everyone loves animals, and almost all the

animals you know are vertebrates.

 

Vertebrates can be classified into five groups, based on their skin covering, how they reproduce, how they maintain body temperature, and characteristics of their limbs (arms and legs, or their equivalent such as wings or fins). Knowing the five classes of vertebrates and their characteristics helps you to understand more about these animals.

The five classes of vertebrates are listed below.

You probably know all of the characteristics that are in bold. If you know this much, you know enough to classify any animal you see! Learn these characteristics if you don't already know them. Just think of your favorite example and the characteristics become very easy to remember. The other information gives you more characteristics that scientists use to classify animals into their respective class.

Fish

Coho Salmon   1. Fish are ectothermic, aquatic vertebrates.2. Their skin is generally covered with scales.3. Their limbs are modified into fins for swimming.4. They breathe with gills.5. They lay eggs that must be in water..

   

 

 

 

Amphibians

 

 Pacific Treefrog

 1. Amphibians are ectothermic vertebrates.2. Their skin lacks scales, hair, and feathers, and is either smooth (like a frog) or rough (like a toad). They are dependent upon moisture and subject to desiccation; their skin must remain moist to aid in breathing.3. They lay eggs in water, which hatch into an intermediate life form (tadpole or larva) that usually breathes with gills, and change into the adult form that breathes air and can live outside water. 4. They have three-chambered hearts.5. They lack claws on their toes. 

   Frogs, toads, salamanders, and newts are all amphibians because they are cold-blooded, have no scales, hair, or feathers, their skin is moist, they lay eggs in water, and their life cycle has two stages, the "pollywog" or larval stage and the adult stage.

Reptiles

Garter Snake

1. Reptiles are ectothermic vertebrates.2. Their skin has scales, but no hair or feathers.3. They have three-chambered hearts (except for alligators and crocodiles, which have four-chambered hearts).4. They have claws on their toes (except those which do not have legs, such as legless lizards).5. They are the first animals, in evolution, to develop the amniotic egg. This allows reptiles to lay eggs on land.

 

The most common reptile that you can find at Cazadero is the alligator lizard, usually crawling though the leaves and debris on the ground, looking for invertebrates to munch and lunch on. You may also see garter snakes along the creek side, blue belly lizards sunning themselves on rocks or logs, or the rare turtle in the creek.

. All reptiles lay eggs. We know now that birds evolved from reptiles, and one of their linkages is the fact that they both lay hard-shelled eggs on dry land. Amphibian eggs, in comparison, are soft and must be laid in water.

 Snakes, turtles, and lizards are all reptiles because they are cold-blooded, they lay eggs on dry land, and are covered with scales, never feathers or fur.

Birds

1. Birds are endothermic vertebrates.2. Their skin is covered with feathers.3. They have four-chambered hearts.4. Their bones are lightweight and usually hollow.5. Their forelimbs are modified as wings.6. They lay eggs.

 

The most common birds at Cazadero are blue jays, both Scrub Jays and Steller's Jays (photo above), robins (at right), as well as a variety of aquatic birds such as ducks, mergansers, and herons, which feed along Austin Creek.

The characteristics of the class Birds are rather well-known and hardly need to be taught. We all know that birds have wings, chickens lay eggs, and that birds of a feather flock together. The only character that you might not have known is that they are warm-blooded, unless you or a friend have a pet bird at home or if you have held a chicken. Birds in general have a higher body temperature than we do, so they feel quite warm when we hold them. Their feathers are well-adapted to hold this heat in, which is why we make comforters out of down.

 Jays, robins, and ducks are all birds because they are warm-blooded, have feathers, wings, and lay eggs.

Mammals

1. Mammals are endothermic vertebrates.2. They have hair, which varies greatly among species.3. Most have sudoriferus (sweat) glands.4. They have mammary (milk-secreting) glands.5. They have sebaceous (fat-secreting) glands.6. They have heterodont dentition (different types of teeth).

   

 

Cazadero has a lot of mammals, but they tend to live elsewhere and only move through the Redwood Forest. There is not much in the way of natural food in the redwoods, but camp provides a lot of human food, so raccoons and mice are frequent guests. The opossum and deer might wander along Austin Creek.

Deer, mice, opossums, raccoons, and humans are mammals because they are warm-blooded, have hair, and nourish their young on milk.

 Invertebrates -One of Two Major Animal GroupingsThere are two basic groups of higher animals. They are vertebrates and invertebrates. While both have advanced through the processes ofevolution, there is one fundamental difference. Invertebrates do not have backbones. Both groups are in the Kingdom Animalia, but their bodies are organized differently. What makes invertebrates different? All invertebrates share common traits. At the bottom of the invertebrate world are thesponges. Sometimes they don't fit in but they are still part of the group. Here's the nice and neat little list. 

(1) They are multicellular. It's more than being a colony of individual cells. The cells are working together for the survival of the organism. All of the cells have specific duties and responsibilities. 

(2) No backbone. We already talked about this one. That's the whole definition of invertebrate, no vertebrae. 

(3) No cell walls. When we talked about plants, we always mentioned cell walls. Invertebrates don't have them. Remember that even if none of them look like animals, they are. Being an animal means you have no cell wall. 

(4) Here are a few that have the qualifier "most" attached. That means not all of them have the trait, but most do. Most of them have tissues (not sponges) that are specific organizations of cells. Most of them reproduce sexually (not asexually). That means two gametes combine to form a new organism. Those gametes come from separate organisms (male and female).

Most invertebrates can move. Even sponges move when they are very young and very small. Once they settle down they don't move anymore. Other invertebrates like lobsters and insects move around their whole lives. Most invertebrates are organized in a way called symmetrical. Symmetricalorganization means when you can draw a line down the middle of the organism and the two sides look like mirror images. Draw a line down the middle of yourself and one side looks like the other side. If you draw a line down the middle of an octopus you would find two sides with equal parts. Remember we said most? Sponges and some coral are not symmetrical. 

(5) Invertebrates can't make their own food. Scientists use the wordheterotrophic. Heterotrophs feed off other things to get their energy. Plants are autotrophic. They make their own food. Being heterotrophic is one of the main characteristics of being an animal. We eat things, whether it is plants or other animals. That's just the way the world works. 

InvertebratesInvertebrates

Songs in G major

1. G major scale

2. Emotions of songs in G major

3. Popular songs in the key of G major

Songs in G major

“G major scale”

The key of G major has  one sharp: “F#” and that means that all the F’s become F sharps.

In order to carry this out we need to add a “Key Signature” at the beginning of the staff

(after the clef sign). This shows us how many sharps and flats each key has. It also tells us

how many notes in the scale get sharps or flats. And lastly it tells us what key the song is

in.

We can easily find this out by looking at the last sharp in the key signature and move up

a half step. In this case, since there’s only one sharp, we move up a half step from F# and

arrive at G.  G will thus be the key of the piece.  Furthermore you can see that the order of

the whole (1) and half (1/2) steps remain the same except the notes themselves change.

Example 2: G Major Scale has 1 sharp (F#)

 

If you are interested in learning to recognize and sing melodies in this and other keys you

should check out this post.

 

“Emotions of songs in G major”

What are some characteristic emotions of songs in the key of G major? Usually everything

is of a traditional, beautiful and lyrical quality. Often there’s a tender thankfulness

for genuine friendship and true love.

When we summarize this we can say that gentle and peaceful emotions are expressed by

the person’s heart. A good example of this is “From This Moment On” by Shania Twain:

Popular songs in the key of G major”

Always There – Marti Webb

Always – Atlantic Starr

He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother – The Hollies

All You Need Is Love – The Beatles

 

 Songs in D major

1. D major scale

2. Popular songs in the key of D major

3. Emotions of songs in D major

4. Homework

Songs in D major

“D major scale”

The key of D major has two sharps: F# and C# and will result in all the F’s and C’s

becoming F#’s and C#’s. Remember the rule of how to find the key of a song? For sharp

keys you should look at the last sharp in the key signature and from there move up a half

step.

So when you see the 2 sharps below in example 3, the last one of these should be C sharp.

Go up a half step from here and it will tell you that the song is in the key of D major.

Example 3: D Major Scale has 2 sharps (F# and C#)

 

Interested in training yourself to hear and recognize the most common chord progressions

in popular music, click the link below:

 

“Popular songs in the key of D major”

A powerful song in the key of D major is “I Don’t Want to Miss A Thing” by Aerosmith.

If you have a piano or keyboard at hand press any key and listen which one will fit best

with this song, especially in the verses and choruses.

Other songs in the key of D major:

Where Do Broken Hearts Go? – Whitney Houston

Alone – Bee Gees

Canon In D Major – Baby B Strings

With Or Without You – U2

“Emotions of songs in D major”

These are often feelings of triumph, war-cries, victory and glory. Songs in this key are

usually suitable for symphonies and big vocal chorusesbecause they convey a feeling

of perseverance with an outcome of victory.

May be the songs above aren’t of this caliber but each of them conveys some emotion of

perseverance whether the outcome does or doesn’t reflect a feeling of victory.

 

 

The chords in E major are:

D

e

g

I ii iii IV V vi vii

re

e

C

h

or

d

E major F# minor G# minor A major B major C# minor D# dim

C

h

ar

t

Progression Chords

I-IV-V E-A-B

I-IV-I-V E-A-E-B

I-V-vi-IV E-B-C#m-A

I-ii-IV-V E-F#m-A-B

I-vi-ii-V E-C#m-F#m-B

I-vi-IV-V E-C#m-A-B

Before moving on, you'll want to familiarize yourself with the theory of the major scale theory on

guitar before continuing this lesson. So the chords in E will root on the notes along the E major

scale, since all chords in a major key are formed by notes from their respective diatonic scale.

The E major scale has 7 notes, each with a corresponding scale degree:

Degree: 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  1(octave)

Note:   E  F# G# A  B  C# D# E

But how do we know which chord will be major or minor?

Starting from a given root note, we need to form its triad in a way which leaves the chord constructed

only from notes that can be found on the E major scale.

This means that starting from each root note, we’ll count out the 1st 3rd and 5th degrees along the major

scale of that given root note. We than compare these notes with the notes of the E major, and if any

single note is not in our key, we’ll have to flatten it to make it a note that can be found on the E major

scale. Confusing? Have no fear, we'll get to some examples shortly.

We’ll be differentiating 3 triads:

Major triad (major chords) with scale degrees 1 3 5

Minor triad (minor chords) with scale degrees 1 b3 5

Diminished triads (diminished chords) with scale degrees 1 b3 b5

The key of E is a bit harder (than the key of G for example), since we have a lot of sharps, but it's good

practice!

1. E majorNote:  E  F# G# A  B  C# D# E

Triad: 1     3     5

This gives us the notes E, G# and B, which is the E major triad, therefore the first chord in the key

of E is E major.

2. F# minorNote:  F# G# A# B  C# D# E# F#

Triad: 1     3     5

So our 3rd note for would be an A#, but we can’t have that, since that note is not in the key of E

major (not on the E major scale). This means we have to flatten the 3rd.

Note:  F# G# A  B  C# D# E# F#

Triad: 1     b3    5

This gives us the notes F#, A and C#, which is the F# minor triad. All of these notes are on the E

major scale as well, therefore the second chord in the key of E is F# minor.