Clay Creatures, Climate and Thermoregulation

Abstract

The topic of this paper is how surface area to volume ratio corresponds to the temperature of the environment. The key research question was dealing with how animals take on different shapes and sizes dependent of the environment they have adapted to over time. We tackled this research question by doing the experiment described below, which got us closer to seeing a pattern as to why animals are shaped differently in different environments. By doing this experiment we found that animals that have a smaller surface area to volume ratio they are more well adapted to live in cold environments. We tested this question by doing many trials of the experiment in which we heated and cooled clay spheres to see how they would react across different climates. The research we did mostly came from our lectures and learning about surface area to volume ratio and also from articles that were given to us. The other information we found, came from peer reviewed articles. The article by William Lewis (1976) talks about surface area to volume ratio and how those can differ from community to community. This applies to our experiment because we are testing how different climates can affect different organisms that have different surface area to volume ratios. According to Ernst (1956) larger animals tend to be found in colder climates versus smaller animals being more likely to be found in warmer climates. The key impact of our research was finding out that our hypothesis was supported.