Aquatic Desert AnimalsIt may seem surprising, but desert animals have made few specific bodilyadaptations to the desert environment. Rather, they manage to survivethrough proper timing of their biological activities, and this is best illustrated bysemiaquatic and aquatic desert animals.The aquatic nature of amphibians makes them seem unlikely desert residents.Reproduction requires open water, where the female and male deposit theeggs and sperm, respectively, and fertilization occurs. Development of thefertilized eggs occurs in water, and the gilled and legless juveniles must swimand feed in water. It is only the adult that can survive on land, but the poorlydeveloped lungs and water-permeable skin restrict them to moisterhabitats. Amphibians beat the odds, not with extremely adaptivestructures or organic processes but with a life history in which theiractivity and reproduction occur during brief periods of favorableconditions. And no amphibian better illustrates this ability than the spadefoottoad of the southern United States deserts.Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in thehighlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning inimportant ways or leave out essential information.A.Amphibians have not been able to develop the structures orprocesses needed to survive in the desert.B.Desert amphibians survive not through physical adaptations ororganic processes but by being active and reproducing during favorableconditions.C.The life history of desert amphibians begins with reproductionfollowed by short periods of activity.D.Desert amphibians require favorable conditions in order to developthe kinds of physical adaptations needed to survive in the desert.During the drier winter season the adult spade foot remains dormant underground,sometimes nearly a meter deep. Nested below the surface, where the toad is protectedfrom desiccating air and temperature extremes, the spadefoot is enveloped by unshedskin that forms a cocoon of sorts. Water stored in tissue and in the bladder is slowly lost,but the spadefoot is able to lose some 50 percent of its water and survive. And so the toadwaits, sometimes for more than two years, until heavy rains come with enough moisture tocreate temporary pools in which it can reproduce.According to paragraph 3, the spadefoot toad is able to survive the drier winterseason for all of the following seasons EXCEPT:A.It remains inactive deep underground during the winter months.B.It is protected from harsh conditions by a layer of un-shed skin thatsurrounds its body.C.It is able to survive losing half of the water from its body.D.It warms itself during periods of less extreme temperatures.Water will awaken spadefoot toads, but in some cases simply the thumping of raindropson the surface is enough to arouse them from their torpor. Hastening to shallow,temporary pools, the spa...
