Insect Collection and Biodiversity
This report is focussed on insects and how their adaptations help them to survive. Adaptations are any behavioural or physical characteristics of an animal that help it to survive in its environment. These characteristics fall into three main categories… behavioural, physical and physiological. Any or all of these types of adaptations play a critical role in the survival of an animal. A behavioural adaptation is where and organism or species changes its pattern of action to better suit its environment, examples of this include what the animal eats, how an animal moves and how an animal may protect itself. A physical adaptation is some type of structural modification made to a part of the body, like webbed feet or sharp claws. A physiological adaptation is an alteration to the body that improves the survivability rate for certain climate extremes.
Dragonflies have several adaptations to help it survive. One structural adaptation is that it can tip its wings to control the body temperature. They also bask in the sun to warm up. Another is that they are bullet shaped, they can fly forward and backward, can change direction quickly. These can help it evade predators. Yet another adaptation of the dragonfly is that it has huge eyes. Although they cannot move, the eyes still provide good vision. One more adaptation of the dragonfly is that a sticky substance surrounds the eggs. This is useful because if there was none, the egg mass could come apart and flow down a stream. The substance keeps the eggs together and holds the eggs to an anchor. Those are some adaptations of the dragonfly.
Grasshoppers rarely stay put for long; thanks to their structural adaption of having large wings and powerful hind legs, they can escape the grasp of predators and travel great distances in short periods of time. Grasshoppers have some of the strongest legs of all insects in the world, which come in handy when they need to move quickly. They also have large wings that enable travel and long, sensitive antennae that help them seek out food and navigate through various environments. Grasshoppers camouflage themselves from their enemies and jump or fly away if they are spotted. Once cornered, grasshoppers have the ability to spit a bitter brown liquid at a predator and can bite with their strong pincers/jaws.
Most stick insect species are usually found sitting right out in the open within the leaves of a tropical tree. They usually stay perfectly still, but when they need to move, they are even able to camouflage their motion. It is common to see them walk in a swaying motion, pretending to be a twig caught by the wind. Other species have brightly colored wings that are invisible when folded against their body; when they feel threatened, they flash open their wings, then immediately drop to the ground and again hide their wings. The predator