Question

The question: As cold temperatures of winter slowly creep in, if you are out in the woods, you might see a rattlesnake still in September or early October. At these lower temperatures, the snake's reaction time to your movement may be incredibly slow. You might step right next to it, and then step away, before its strike hits the ground just stood on. Ignoring the effect of temperature on muscle activity, and focusing only on the nervous system explain this pattern. Develop both proximate and ultimate hypotheses to answer: "Why is the snake's reaction time so slow?" What parts of the nervous system or signal chain in particular, and of the development and sending of action potentials in specific, might be most affected by temperature? Is there any kind of potential evolutionary adaptation to remedy this problem? How do ectotherms in colder environments survive and react? Why don't our snakes take on those adaptations in order to continue to feed all winter - what would the costs be of doing so? 1

          The question:
As cold temperatures of winter slowly creep in, if you are out in the woods, you might see a
rattlesnake still in September or early October. At these lower temperatures, the snake's reaction
time to your movement may be incredibly slow. You might step right next to it, and then step
away, before its strike hits the ground just stood on. Ignoring the effect of temperature on muscle
activity, and focusing only on the nervous system explain this pattern. Develop both proximate
and ultimate hypotheses to answer: "Why is the snake's reaction time so slow?" What parts of the
nervous system or signal chain in particular, and of the development and sending of action
potentials in specific, might be most affected by temperature? Is there any kind of potential
evolutionary adaptation to remedy this problem? How do ectotherms in colder environments
survive and react? Why don't our snakes take on those adaptations in order to continue to feed all
winter - what would the costs be of doing so?
1

the question as cold temperatures of winter slowly creep in if you are out in the woods you might see a rattlesnake still in september or early october at these lower temperatures the snakes 97732

Added by Mary G.

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