Question

2.
The 7 characteristics of life are often described as:

Made of cells

Organized with tissues, organs, and organ systems

Reproduction

Growth and Development

Maintain Homeostasis

Respond to their environment

Evolve adaptations



Select TWO characteristics of life, and describe how they are related to, and could explain, what you observed about the shrimp with different light levels.

Answer 1

I’ll pick: Respond to their environment, and Evolve adaptations.

1) Respond to their environment
- How it relates: shrimp have sensory systems (photoreceptors in eyes/ocelli, mechanoreceptors, chemoreceptors) that detect light intensity and trigger immediate behavioral or physiological responses.
- How it explains likely observations: if you saw shrimp moving away from bright light and clustering in darker areas, that is negative phototaxis — a direct behavioral response to reduce exposure. If you saw more feeding or activity in low light, that fits nocturnal or crepuscular behavior controlled by light cues. Physiologically, light can change hormone/neurotransmitter levels (e.g., melatonin-like signals) that alter activity, metabolism, or hiding behavior, which would explain differences in movement or feeding under different light levels.

2) Evolve adaptations
- How it relates: over generations, shrimp populations that lived in particular light environments evolved traits that improve survival and reproduction under those conditions (eye sensitivity, pigmentation, behavior patterns).
- How it explains likely observations: preference for low light could be an evolved anti-predator strategy (camouflage and hiding when predators use vision), or an adaptation to feed when competitors/predators are less active. Physical adaptations might include more sensitive photoreceptors for dim light, reflective/cryptic pigmentation, or circadian rhythms tuned to low-light activity. These evolved traits make the observed light-driven behaviors consistent and predictable.

If you want, tell me the exact observations you recorded (movement, feeding, color change, location) and I’ll map them more specifically to sensory pathways or evolutionary explanations and suggest tests you could run.