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.