Laboratory 9 Animal Diversity 3: Vertebrate Homology and Fetal Pig I: Digestive System A) Objectives: 1.

Compare basic chordate to vertebrate characteristics 2. Compare homologies in skeletal limb structure between different vertebrate specimens 3. Compare basic anatomical similarities between vertebrates using an amphibian, fish and mammal. 4. Begin the study of vertebrate organ systems using the fetal pig digestive system. B) Administration Quiz 4 is next week (week of 4/7) and will cover AD 2 mainly with some AD 3, Quiz 5 (4/21) will cover the fetal pig. The final quiz give the same day as the practical will covet the development lab and all animal labs. It is basically a double quiz. About half the questions directly from each previous animal lab quiz will be used and half new questions. The third Ecobeaker exercise (Isle Royal) is the week of 4/7. It is a group exercise again. Do it as a lab bench. If the water testing did not give good results, ie; the testers were blank, or too wet to give discrete colonies, the final talk will have to be more of a travelogue on the body of water they chose, to study, including data from the local DER or other material as available. C) Lab Exercises For the lab exercises for this week, you will have to rely on Blackboard for the majority of directions for specimens and procedures. There are good pictures of the perch and frog dissection on Blackboard that will also be in the lab and the Atlas will again be useful. Make sure you download and print the following. Two of the exercises (#s 3 & 4) will be turned in as assignment 8 at the end of the lab. 1. Dissection information for the fish & frog. This is a MS Word file. 2. Vertebrate Homology and Fetal Pig Information 08. This is an MS Word file 3. Comparative Anatomy Exercise 07. This is an Adobe pdf file. 4. Homology Exercise 07. This is an Adobe pdf file Part 1: Basic chordate characteristics (Ex. 3 Animal Diversity 2) Review the characteristics of chordates in part a of the exercise. Part b of the exercise will be done with part three of this lab, where you begin the pig dissection. Part 2: Handout on vertebrate anatomy & homology from Blackboard The handout from Blackboard guides you through analyzing similarities in five representative forelimbs, frog, bird, cat, Human & pig using the available skeletons in the lab. You will also use what you learn about homologous structures to analyze the wing of a bat. A second part of the exercise is an investigation of form and function, using a comparison of hind limb to forelimb of several representative vertebrates. The third part of this exercise is the comparison of external vertebrate features. The internal anatomy of the fish and frog will be done after the initial fetal pig dissection in part 3. Part 3: Vertebrate Anatomy 1 (Symbiosis) You will begin your investigation of vertebrate organ systems with the dissection of the fetal pig digestive system. The structures of the digestive system are large and relatively well developed and easy to find. Combine Exercise 3b from Animal Diversity 2 and exercise 2 from the Vertebrate anatomy lab to introduce yourself to the pig. To complete the animal characteristics summary table on page 220 & 221 you need go through exercise 3b. Exercise 2 is short and introduced you to the basic orientation of the pig. You will determine the sex of your pig at this point. Note that which ever sex your pig is, you are responsible for knowing the external and internal anatomical detail for both sexes.

To begin the actual dissection of your animal, follow the procedures on page 243, starting with tying your pig on the dissection tray. However, for the moment you will skip over the dissection of the oral cavity and start with step 3 on page 244 to expose the digestive organs of the abdominal region. Use fig. 8 as a visual guide and follow the instructions carefully on pages 244 & 245. Once you open the abdominal cavity, continue investigating the individual organs through page 248. Compare you macro investigation of intestine structure to the slide of the cross section of the pig small intestine. Part 4: comparative anatomy. Dissections of the fish and frog are done to complement the dissection of the fetal pig for the purposes of comparative anatomy studies of basic internal structures. The initial dissection opens the main body cavity. Background on dissection for the fetal pig labs The labs covering dissection are relatively straightforward. However, you should review the file previously posted on basic dissection protocols. A sloppy or hurried dissection will leave you with a jumbled mess of tissue from which it will be difficult to identify structures. Remember that the organs and organ systems you are studying are not completely separate from the other systems found in the body. Physically, structures in the pig are in close proximity to each other. If you are not careful when removing, or moving something during dissection, you may damage another structure you will want to look at later. Organize your dissection so that you minimize damage to an organ or tissue by accident when studying something else if you can avoid it. Try and avoid using the scalpel and use the scissors instead. You have better control. For moving and separating tissues and organs, use the blunt probe. You should be familiar with the system you are investigating before opening the cavity of the pig. The best way to do this is to skim the vertebrate anatomy labs before next weeks lab, look at some of the major pictures of the body cavity. Use the Photographic Atlas. You will find this book a particularly useful addition for the vertebrate dissection labs because of the detailed pictures. For a more conceptual background information use Campbell as a reference. The textbook has detailed information on the organ systems from a form and function standpoint and the evolutionary development of systems that can be understood from a study of comparative anatomy. For example, you are dissections three vertebrate organisms. Investigating the development of the four chambered hart in vertebrates can be instructive. See figure 42.4 in Campbell. Another way to investigate the form and function of an organ system is to investigate how it contributes to homeostasis of the body. Although this is a dissection lab and not a physiology lab, how a system function can often be inferred from its form. Animals are in constant contact with their environment. While the external environment is changing an animal attempts to keep it internal environment constant. Mechanisms of homeostasis moderate changes in an animals internal environment. An interesting part of vertebrate dissection is learning about our own bodies. The systems investigated in the pig are very similar to the human (pigs are omnivores, like us, so their digestive systems are very similar to ours). Heterotrophs, other than unicellular organisms that can ingest food directly, have to process their food before ingestion. Physical & chemical digestion starts in the mouth and so does the digestive system. When you investigate the folds of the intestine, you will see the large blood supply to the small intestine. Think about the diagram from Campbell in chapter 41 comparing the carnivore and the herbivore. One difference is the cecum of the pig at the juncture of the small and large intestine is larger than a small cecum and appendix found at the same position in humans. How does form relate to function? The second week of the vertebrate anatomy labs will go over the circulatory system in more detail. Your dissection will concentrate on observing the delivery of blood to and removal of it from tissues and organs and the pump powering the circulatory system, the heart. You will study the pigs heart in the pig and dissect a sheeps heart to study internal heart structures. Respiration and circulation are closely linked in terms of function and physical proximity. When you open the chest cavity of the fetal pig, you will investigate the heart,

the lungs and the vessels connecting them. You will also look at the urinary system in the pig, using a sheep kidney for purposes of dissection. There are two paths for the blood in the circulatory system, arteries and veins. Often they are close together. Final week of the pig dissection will cover the reproductive and the nervous systems. At the end of this series of labs, while your pig may be in pieces, hopefully at least semi connected, your understanding of the different systems, their relationship to each other and the animal as a whole will be intact. If combine what you see in the lab during dissection, the questions and assignments from the lab manual and reading from the Campbell text, you will have a substantial body of knowledge about vertebrate anatomy and function and a comparison between different vertebrate systems. You can put this knowledge in perspective by reviewing chapter 40 in Campbell. How this all comes about is the subject of the final animal development lab & chap. 47 in Campbell. Lab Schedule starting with Animal Diversity 3 for the final labs of the semester Note there are many slides that go along with the animal diversity labs and there will be a large number for the vertebrate homology, dissection and final development lab as well. Most will have their counterpart in the Atlas for review purposes. This schedule is for work at the bench. See the posted schedule for other assignments. Week: March 31st. Lab Animal Diversity 3 & Fetal Pig Dissection 1 1. Chordates (many students did not get to this part) Slides and mounts of Amphioxus 2. Vertebrate anatomy & homology Skeletons, models and mounts of various vertebrates. 3. Fetal pig dissection External & Digestive system (need the cross section of small intestine slide) 4. Comparative Anatomy Dissection of frog and perch 5. Vertebrate specimens to observe. Week: April 7th. Lab Fetal Pig Dissection 2 Dissection of Fetal Pig Circulation (need sheep heart) Urinary (need sheep kidney) Respiration Week: April 14th. Lab Fetal Pig Dissection 3 Dissection of Fetal Pig Reproduction Nervous system (need sheep brain & eye) Week: April 21st. Lab Development Invertebrate films and live chick eggs Review for final practical Week: April 28th. Lab Final Practical Exam & Quiz Water Testing Projects Presentation