Title：The Climate of Japan

　　类别：生物类 真题 140525CN-P2

　　Title：How Animals in Rain Forests Make Themselves Heard

　　参考阅读：

　　Scientists have discovered that animals are experts at exploiting weather conditions and the physical conditions of their environments so that they are heard or not heard, and seen or not seen. The species living in rain forests must engineer their calls to accommodate all of the obstacles, such as leaf cover, that can deflect and degrade the sounds intended for a potential receiver. Over, short, loud bursts of sound tend to be more effective than longer calls at cutting through the dense foliage

　　There is no natural environment on Earth noisier than a virgin rain forest. In the Peruvian rain forest, every species has developed clever or remarkably sophisticated strategies to ensure that its voice is heard. The noise creates a real challenge for the smaller residents, such as male tree crickets, which need to get the attention of females, often from a relatively long distance. Some species of crickets maximize the volume of their calls by chewing a hole in the middle of a leaf to create a sound baffle, similar to a stereo speaker. The leaf functions as a speaker cabinet, with the cricket in the center acting as the speaker.

　　...

　　类别：生物类 真题 150111CN-P2

　　Title：The Role of Diapause

　　参考阅读：

　　If conditions within an organism’s environment occasionally or regularly become harsh, it may be advantageous for an organism to have a resistant stage built into the life cycle. In such a life history strategy, the organism suspends any growth, reproduction, or other activities for a period of time so that they may occur at a later, more hospitable time. This genetically determined resting stage, characterized by the cessation of development and protein synthesis and suppression of the metabolic rate, is called diapause. Many other kinds of resting stages, with different levels of suppression of physiological activities, are known. Some of these resistant stages can be extremely long-lived. In one case, seeds of the arctic lupine, a member of the pea family recovered from ancient lemming burrows in the Arctic, germinated in three days even though they were carbon-dated at more than 10,000 years old!

　　Unfavorable conditions that are relatively predictable probably pose a simpler problem for organisms than do unpredictable conditions. Adaptations to the regular change of seasons in the temperate and polar regions may be relatively simple. For example, many seeds require a period of stratification, exposure to low temperatures for some minimum period, before they will germinate. This is a simple adaptation to ensure that germination occurs following the winter conditions rather than immediately prior to their onset. In contrast, unfavorable conditions that occur unpredictably pose considerable problems for organisms. In fact, unpredictability is probably a greater problem than is the severity of the unfavorable period. How can organisms cope with the unpredictable onset of good or poor conditions?

　　...

　　类别：天文类 真题 140316CN-P2

　　Title：Comets

　　类别：生物类 真题 140706CN-P3

　　Title：Sociality in Animals

　　类别：社会类 真题 140816CN-P1

　　Title：Hunting and the Setting of Inner Eurasia

　　...