Blog #16

Reflect on your semester and year in biology What were your successes? What were your failures?
What did you learn that you will never forget?

In this year in biology I had many successes and failures. The biggest success is being able to do many different projects, assignments, and computer work at the same time. At first it seemed a bit overwhelming but after I got used to it it became easy. A failure maybe not paying attention to much in class. I always found myself asking for more intrustions on what to do. The one thing I learned that I will never forget is that I need to switch my deordorant and toothpastes every 6 months so bacteria does not get used to the brands I use. It may seem like a small fact but who wants to have bad breath or smelly armpits, I don't. The other things I learned in biology I cannot necessarilly say I will not forget.

Blog #15 Dissections: Frog and Fish

In the past two weeks we have dissected a frog and a fish. Even though they are two completely different species, one being a fish the other an amphibian, with many differences, they also have similarities. The most noticable similarity is that the two species both have an endoskeleton with a large amount of muscle and can have a decently wide range of motion. Also because both species spend a good amount of time underwater they both have an extra membrane that covers their eyes.

A few of the noticiable differences is where the species live, and how they breathe and move. As a child the frog is a tadpole that lives underwater and breathes through gills, like a fish. But as it matures it changes into a frog and developes lungs and lives on both land and water. Also as a tadpole the frog moves by swimming, but after maturing it hops from lilipad to lilipad. The fish, however, swims underwater its whole life.

Blog#14 Dissection

I believe the fish is the closest to humans out of all we have dissected. The fish is the only specimen that not only has a endoskeleton but has a comple muscle system like humans. The other specimens have a muscle system but they are not as complex as the fish's and the fish has a wide range of movement like a human.

Blog #13 This Week's Disection

I found it interesting how little pertection the crayfish has for its internal organs from its exoskeleton. For humans we have so many layers of pertection for our organs, so to see an animal with such little pertection is almost scary. I'm glad I have all the pertection I have.

Blog #12 Worm Disection

What surprised you from the worm's dissection?

During the worm dissection the thing that suprised me the most was how the dirt in its intestins does not changes much in form from when its eaten. For humans our food is digested and the waste does not look anything like what we consumed. I am not say that humans are closely related to worms but it still was strange to me. 

Blog # 11

Get a picture of alternation of generations put it in your blog and explain how it relates to plants


Alternation of Generation is a way for plants to reproduce sexually.

Blog #10 Dissections

       Dissections are an important part of biology because it is important for students to see how organs of different species look up close and not through a picture. The students get the opportunity to see what scientists see when they are doing research and get a greater understanding of how organs work. Animals that have similar organs to humans, eg. mammals, and common plants that can be found in most places should be studied. Mammals because students can understand how their bodies work, and common plants so that students can see how they help the environment.

Blog#9 Community Interactions

Competion:
                 Competition occurs when two or more species try to use the same resources. The resources may consist of food, sunlight, water, etc. When species compete for resources there is usually a winner and a loser, the loser usually does not survive.

Commensalism:
                  Commensalism takes place when one of two species, living in the same habitat, benefits while the other is neither helped or harmed. Some examples of this are barnacles attaching themselves to whales or orchids living on trees.

Mutualism:
                  In mutualism both species benefit from the interaction. Bees and flowers have a mutualistic relationship.

Predation:
                  Predation occurs when one species captures and feeds on another species. An example of predation would be humans hunting chicken or cows. Or a cheetah hunting a gazelle.

Parasitism
                  In parasitism one organism lives on or inside another organism harming it. A tick living on a dog, or another animal, would be an example of parasitism.

Blog # 7: Biomes

Compare and contrast two biomes describe them in detail include pictures of plants and animals you are liklely to see
Tropical Rain Forest

• Canopy is formed from the ends of tall trees meeting.
• Under the canopy a second layer of trees and vines form the understory.
• Hot and wet year round
• Nutrient-poor soil
• All forms of greens
• Herbivores, Birds, Insects, Fish, and Reptiles 

 
Tropical Dry Forest

• Rainfall is highly seasonal
• Trees shed their leaves to conserve water during dry seasons
• Warm, alternating wet and dry seasons
• Rich soil that can have erosion take place
• Succulents, orchids, bromeliads, and tall trees that create a canopy during wet seasons
• Tigers, monkeys, large herbivores, insects, many large mammals, birds, and reptiles.             

 

Blog # 8 What is Confusing Me?

Why is it important to know the population density?

Food Pyramid: Blog # 6

I believe that the carbohydrate, or grains, level of the food pyramid is the most important. Carbohydrates give the body all the energy it needs. Without energy humans would not be able to survive. Protein can strengthen the body and give energy but the most energy comes from carbs.

The Cause of Extinction: Humans; Blog # 5

There have been five mass extinctions in the history of the Earth. Most of them where caused by natural climate change. The others are thought to have been caused by either the movement of techonic plates, volcanoe erruptions, or a collition between Earth and a comet. But it is thought that a sixth mass extinction is rapidly headed towards Earth. It is also believed that humans are causing this extiction. The things that humans are doing to upset the ecosystem are transforming landscapes, introducing alien species to enviroments, the overexploitation of species, and polution. These things are quickly changing the Earths climate, and if history is to repeat itself (as it allows does) when the Earth's climate changes quickly a mass extinction is bound to happen.

This Is My Selection (Blog #4)

Describe the three types of selection: directional, stabilizing and disruptive and give an example of each in your own words
Directional, stabilizing, and disruptive selection are the thre types of natural selection.
Directional selection is where a single trait is favored causing the frequency of the trait being dominant greater. The trait maybe recessive but with directional selection the recessive trait is favored so eventually it will become fixed.

             
 An example of directional selection is the fast trait in hunting dogs. Dogs that hunt need to be fast to catch their pray so their genes began to allow them to be faster and faster.

Disruptive selection is where two extreme sides of a trait are favored over the intermediate trait. This means that the differences in the trait are very obvious, which creates two different species that grow in different directions.

An example of disruptive selection is the galapagos finches.

Stabilizing selection is where the diversity of a trait decreases and the species has the same trait.

An example of stabilizing selection is a syberian huskie.

Blog #3

Explain what microevolution is? What are the three ways that variation occurs?
Microevolution is evolution an a small scale within a single population. It cannot always be seen in a species, it sometimes only effects how a species survives.
The three ways the variations occur are through mutation, gene flow, and natural selection.
Mutation is where some genes randomly mutate into different genes.
Gene flow, or migration, is where different genes enter a population through reproduction.
And natural selection is the idea that the strongest survive and the weak genes die off.

Blog #2 Fossils

Fossil records are hard to interpret because no two fossils are the same. Fossils come in many different sizes, shapes, and qualities. Some fossils have many pieces missing, that makes it very hard for scientist to determine what the species was and what its ancestors were. And without the fossils being the same shape or size scientists may not be able to put together that the two species are similar or related. Also if a fossil is small it can be damaged making it hard to interpret.   

http://www.thedarwinpapers.com/oldsite/number5/darwin5.htm

Blog #1 Evolution

 Evolution is not a law because laws can be tested in a lab and be proven completely true. A scientist cannot go into a lab and reproduce evolution in a test tube or in a box. Evolution took thousands if not millions of years to happen. Plus the mechanisms behind evolution are not widely excepted.

Blog # 13: DNA

DNA has changed the way police and federal agencies look for evidence, collect evidence, eliminate suspects, and how they investigate crimes overall. Not to long ago investigators could only put a criminal at the spot of the crime through eye-witness reports, and if no one saw the crime there was not much the investigators could do. But with the use of DNA testing if any partical of the criminal's body is left at the scene, and is picked up by csi units, it can be matched to the criminal. So DNA is able to put the criminal at the scene without a witness.

The two main types of DNA testing are PCR and RFLP. IN the PCR testing two pieces of the DNA strand are continously copied then at a certain point the copying is stopped. In RFLP testing restriction enzymes cut the DNA in specific sequences. When the enzymes cut the DNA the strands are at different lengths which can be prepared for electrophoresis.

Blog #12 The Pea Plant

In Gregor Mendel's experiment he discovered dominent and recessive genes. In the P1 generation the plants look alike because the dominent genes out numbered the recessive genes. But after crossing the plants again, in the F1 generation there were enough recessive genes that those traits actually showed up in the pea plant. 

    

http://www.juliantrubin.com/bigten/mendelexperiments.html

Blog # 11 GATTACA

I do not believe parents should be able to pick traits. I guess I'm just a traditionalist, but I want to be suprised what traits my children have, when I have children. Sure some traits maybe unwanted, and maybe the deleting those traits from a child is not a bad thing but completely designing a baby is over the top.

Blog #10 Food with Fermentation

Homemade Yoghurt by Crystal Miller

- 8 cups milk, cow or goat (I raise Nubian goats and use my own goat milk most often, but have made lots of yogurt with ordinary milk from the store)
- 1/3 cup powdered milk (this is optional but will make a thicker yogurt)
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup, optional for sweetened yogurt
- 1/2 cup starter yogurt
Before you begin wash 2 quart-sized canning jars. If you want to use 4 pint-sized jars instead that would be fine too. Have the metal rings and lids ready to cover the jars when you are done.
Pour your milk into a large cooking pot. Heat the milk up to 185 degrees. Allow the milk to cool down to 110 degrees. The cooling can take a long time. If you want to speed the process up fill your sink with cold water and place the pot of hot milk in the water and stir and stir. The temperature drops fairly quickly this way, so make sure to have your thermometer handy to keep checking.
After you reach 110 degrees add the remaining ingredients and stir until everything is dissolved very well. Pour this mixture into your ready and waiting jars. Put the lids on and put them into what ever place you are planning to incubate and culture them. Leave them there for 10 to 12 hours. Try not to disturb the jars to much. When the yogurt is firm it is time to remove them and put them in the refrigerator to get nice and cold. Usually 12 to 24 hours. If you make and incubate the yogurt during the day it can refrigerate overnight and be ready for breakfast the next day.
If you would like flavored yogurt, just add fresh cut up fruit or a little bit of flavored jam when you are serving your yogurt.

http://www.allfreecrafts.com/giftinajar/homemade-yogurt.shtml

With yogurt, like cheese, the fermentation turns the milk into the thick form of curds we can flavor and eat. The fermentation process is important because fermenting milk thickens up into the gelatinous consistance that is yogurt after a certain period of time, (too much fermenting though will give you the hard cosistancy of cheese). Without the fermentation the milk would stay milk.