BIODIVERSITY PROJECT Mike Cathcart, Jake Boudreau, and Gio Holmes

Bilateral symmetry Body segmentation Endoskeleton (bony or cartilaginous) Pharyngeal pouches (present during some stage of development) Complete digestive system Ventral heart Closed blood system Tail (at some stage of development)

All vertebrates reproduce sexually, the males reproductive cell, the sperm meets with the female reproductive cell, the egg through sexual intercourse. Vertebrates live in all areas of the world, it is hard to pin point an exact area of their location because they are everywhere. A vertebrates habitat is anywhere that there is oxygen.

Grizzly Bears mate in the spring time. When winter comes around they hibernate. Bears usually give birth towards the end of hibernation and can give birth to more than one cub. Once the cub is about a year old, it is almost fully grown. After 2-3 years the cub is forced to leave by its mother and is ready to support itself. Grizzly Bears are ready to mate at the ages of 4-7 They can live up to 30 years.

Vertebrates have bilateral symmetry, meaning that if you cut them in half vertically they would be the same or similar on both halves. Vertebrates have cells, tissues, organs, and systems. Vertebrates are multi-cellular, meaning that they are made up of more than one cell. Vertebrates are eukaryotes, because they have a true nucleus in every cell.

All vertebrates are heterotrophs, meaning that they can’t make their own food. They eat by consuming food and then digesting it. They digest their food by using their digestive system, containing the mouth, the esophagus, stomach, liver, gall bladder, pancreas, small intestine, and the large intestine.

Vertebrates have a closed circulation meaning that the blood is closed at all times within vessels Blood is pumped by a heart through vessels A closed circulation does not normally fill body cavities. Vertebrates use aerobic respiration. They bring oxygen into their lungs, through their mouths and nose and then produce waste known as carbon dioxide (CO2)

Vertebrates have a brain and nerves. You can tell that they responded to external stimuli because if you went up and poked a bear, they would respond to your poke.

Kingdom – Animalia Phylum – Chordata Classes - Class Ascidiacea(sea squirts) Class Thaliacea (salps)Thaliacea Class Appendicularia (larvaceans)Appendicularia Class SorberaceaSorberacea Class 'Agnatha' paraphyletic (jawless vertebrates)Agnathaparaphyletic Class Placodermi (Paleozoic armoured forms)Placodermi Class Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish; 900+ species)Chondrichthyes Class Acanthodii (Paleozoic "spiny sharks")Acanthodii Class Osteichthyes (bony fish; 30,000+ species)Osteichthyes Class Amphibia (amphibians; 6,000 species)Amphibia Class Reptilia (reptiles; 8,225+ species)Reptilia Class Aves (birds; 8,800–10,000 species) Class Synapsida (mammal-like "reptiles"; 4,500+ species, progenitors of mammals)Synapsida Class Mammalia (mammals; 5,800 species) Class Leptocardii (lancelets)

1: Vertebrates are some of the smartest species on earth. 2: There are five classes of vertebrates fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. 3: About 58,000 species of vertebrates have been currently described.