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The land of Neopia is vast and wondrous, with countless mysteries waiting to be solved and incredible discoveries happening every day. Welcome to another edition of “Science with the Seekers,” where scientists from around Neopia share their expertise with the world. As this is a collaborative effort, Neopians involved will be listed in the acknowledgements at the end. What is Ecology? Put simply, Ecology is the study of how organisms interact with one another and their environment. There are multiple tiers of this scientific study, but we will focus on four of them today: organismal, population, community, and ecosystem. Each of these tiers build upon one another and grow in complexity with each jump. Organismal Ecology Organismal Ecology is the study of how a single organism interacts with its environment. More specifically, the adaptations that allow it to survive. We’ll focus on a few Neopian examples, namely the Bori and the Buzz, two opposites in this spectrum. Bear in mind that both of these examples have exceptions. For example, Ice Buzz and Fire Bori follow the opposite trends. The Bori: Built for the cold, this species of Neopet is hardy. Thick fur covers much of their body to retain warmth in even the harshest of days (temperatures of -50C have been recorded near the peak of Terror Mountain). Additionally, this species has armour-like dorsal (back) plating to aid in deflecting wind. Both of these are considered anatomical adaptations for heat retention. Bori tend to be short-legged and spend much of their time close to the ground as a means of reducing heat loss from convection (i.e. the wind stealing heat from their body) and have physiological (internal regulatory) mechanisms to reduce heat loss through something called “countercurrent exchange.” This process works by having blood vessels leaving the heart (where blood is warmer) being tucked next to the veins that are returning to the heart. It’s almost like a keeping a cup of hot cocoa...

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