Heat is necessary for survival, but too much of it can be damaging to an organism. Explore the ways different living things have adapted to use or transform different types of thermal energy.
Living systems interact with each other and with their environments to gain information, which is sometimes in the electromagnetic spectrum. Wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum are also called the non-visible light spectrum because humans cannot detect them with the naked eye. These include ultraviolet (UV) light, infrared (IR) light, radio waves, and other wavelengths, which living systems can use to send signals. Those signals must not only be targeted to other living systems that can detect them, they must be energy- and material-efficient. This creates both challenges and opportunities. For example, some web-weaving spiders add UV-reflective silk strands to their webs to keep birds and bumblebees (which can see UV light) from crashing into and destroying them. But because the insects the spiders feed on they can’t see UV wavelengths, they fly into the web.
Class Polypodiopsida (“many footed appearance”): Ferns, horsetails, whisk ferns
Ferns are a class of plants that reproduce without flowers or seeds, but by spores. With over 10,500 known species, ferns are the second most abundant group of vascular plants after angiosperms (flowering plants). Though they can be found in a variety of habitats, ferns prefer moist, humid environments. Ferns first evolved in the Carboniferous Period about 360 million years ago. Today, ferns are grown for food, medicine, ornamental landscaping, and hold importance in culture and folklore. Several species can also remove pollutants from the atmosphere.
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