AMPHIBIAN FINAL PROJECT

BODY STRUCTURE/BUILD

• Bony skeleton
• 4-5 digits on forelimbs
• Have adaptations to live on land
• Large shoulder and hip bones to support weight
• Interlocking vertebrae to keep backbone from sagging

SKIN

• Wet skin with many glands
• Use their skin to breathe
• 2 layers: epidermis(may have keratin) and dermis(may have chromatophores
• Glands located in dermis
• Some glands are poisonous

SENSES

• Well-developed middle ear to hear out of water
• Can detect oders in air using olfactory epithlium that lines nasal cavity
• Can detect chemicals through skin
• Sight modified for life on land
• Eyes have cornea as primary light refracting surface

BREATHING ON LAND

• Breathe through ballon-like lungs in a process called buccal pumping
• Breathe through skin/gills
• Paired nostrils

CIRCULATORY CIRCUITS

• 3 chambered hearts
• 2 atria and 1 ventricle
• 2 circuits: pulmonary and systemic(stores blood)

EXCRETION

• Paired kidneys to filter blood
• Aquatic amphibians release nitrogenous waste as ammonia
• Terrestrial amphibians excrete nitrogenous waste as urea
• Waste stored in bladder until they are released

HABITAT

• Called bioindicators because they are the first organisms to leave or die out in a polluted environment
• Most remain in water or tropical climates
• Skin absorbs water and toxins easily
• Migrate to drier lands during the winter time
• Hibernate for months

DIGESTIVE ORGANS LISTS AND FUNCTION

• Complete digestive system
• Includes: Pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine
• Has a pancreas to secrete digestive enzymes and liver and gallbladder to secrete bile
• Waste leaves through cloaca

METAMORPHOSIS DIAGRAM