2. 8.1 Support Systems in Animals
8.2 Support Systems in Plants
8.3 Appreciating the Support System
in Living Things
3.
4. Vertebrates are animals with backbones.
Invertebrates are animals without backbones.
Vertebrates
vertebrates
5. Vertebrate are supported by an internal
skeleton of bones called endoskeleton
6. The functions of endoskeleton are:
(a)To support the body weight.
(b)To protect the internal organs.
(c)To maintain the shape of the body.
7. The land vertebrates have to support their
own body weight.
The endoskeletons of land vertebrates are
normally big and strong.
Examples:Horse skeleton and elephant
skeleton.
8. -The body weight of aquatic vertebrates are
supported by the buoyancy of water.
-The endoskeletons of aquatic vertebrates are
smaller.
-Example:Fish skeleton.
9. The support systems of invertebrate consist
of:
i. Exoskeleton (Left Picture)
ii. Hydrostatic skeleton (Right Picture)
10. Cuticle is an exoskeleton which is made of
chitin.
It covers and protect the body.
Bees,flies,cockroaches,crabs,prawns and
scorpions are supported by cuticle.
11. Invertebrates which have soft bodies such as
worms,leeches and caterpillars are supported
by the body fluid pressure called hydrostatic
pressure.
13. The woody plants are supported by woody
tissues.
Some examples of the woody trees are rubber
trees,rambutan trees and durian trees.
14. Some woody plants have additional features to
help them.
(a) Buttress roots
(b) Prop roots
(c) Stilt roots
15. Casuarina trees have buttress roots to
provide additional support to the stems.
16. Banyan trees and maize plants have prop
roots to give them extra support.
17. Mangrove trees have stilt roots which provide
extra support to the stem and help them to
obtain sunlight.
18. Non-woody plants have soft stems.
The turgidity of the cells provides support to
these non-woody plants.
Some of the examples of non-woody plants
are yam plant, leafy vegetables and balsam
plant.
19. Some non-woody plants have weak stems
which are unable to support the plants.
However, they have other features to help
them.
(a) Tendrils.
(b) Thorns and prickles.
(c) Twining stems.
(d) Clasping roots.
20. Cucumber plants and pumpkin plants climb
and grow upwards using tendrils.
