Blog 13 What was most interesting about this week's dissections?

We finished dissecting the crayfish this week. The crayfish was a very weird experience because it was the first time using scissors to dissect instead of a scalpel. I would say the most annoying part of the entire dissection was the small, I think the specimen were already decomposing so the smell was just terrible and it made me very nauseous. However, the actual dissection itself was very interesting. The inside of the crayfish was very complex and filled with little tiny organs everywhere, the most interesting organ was probably the green gland because I had never seen one before. I wish we could have dissected the stomach to see the teeth, that would have been very interesting. I also didn't know that crayfish were also hermaphrodites just like the worm, so that they could reproduce more. By far though, the most interesting part was the fact that you told us that they thrive in the sewers, which just completely disgusted me. I've had crayfish before, and I thought it was pretty good, but I can never look at them the same now.

Blog#12 What surprised you from the worm's dissection?

The one thing that surprised me about the worm dissection was the fact that the worms had way more organs than I had initially thought there were. I also had no idea that the worm peed and produced mucous from it's skin, that part was a bit disgusting, because I am a bit of a germaphobe. I also did not expect the exterior skin to cut so easily. I was also very interested in the digestion process because all the worm eats is dirt. Apparently, worms also fertilize soil in a way somehow, which was also very interesting because of the fact that the mucous and urine is what fertilizes it. Another thing that i found was peculiar was the fact that the worm is a hermaphrodite. I never knew that worms had both male and female organs, nor did I even know how they mated. Being a hermaphrodite apparently increases birth rates and the general number of worms that can survive.

Blog #11 Get a picture of alternation of generations put it in your blog and explain how it relates to plants

The alternation of generations basically describes the life cycle of a plant. It is how many plants and algae go through sexual reproduction. Life cycles, such as those of plants, with alternating haploid and diploid phases can be referred to as diplohaplontic (the equivalent terms haplodiplontic, diplobiontic or dibiontic are also in use). Life cycles, such as those of animals, in which there is only a diploid phase are referred to as diplontic. (Life cycles in which there is only a haploid phase are referred to as haplontic.) There are many possible variations on the fundamental elements of a life cycle which has alternation of generations. Each variation may occur separately or in combination, resulting in a bewildering variety of life cycles. 


http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/A/Alternation.html

Blog #10 Why is dissection an important part of a biology curriculum? Which animals and/or plants should be included in biological studies?

Dissection is an important part of biology because it offers hands on experience for the students that take part in it. It promotes the fundamentals of field biology and the basic fact that students are allowed to see the insides of an organism and understand further how the organs and such work. To be able to see the internals of an organism is a big part of the study of life because it gives a visual example of how things work inside the life form. I believe that euthanized frogs and other small animals that are abundant in nature should be able to be used in labs for dissection. Any life form that offers a good example of what living things look like on the inside, and are very abundant in nature, and can be euthanized correctly.

Blog 9 Define the different forms of community interaction: competition, commensalism, mutualism, predation, parasitism Give an example and a picture for each

Competition:
In ecology, the interaction between two or more organisms, or groups of organisms, that use a common resource in short supply. 

Sea Anenomes compete for the territory in tide pools


Commensalism- In ecology, commensalism is a class of relationship between two organisms where one organism benefits but the other is neutral (there is no harm or benefit).

Barnacles attaching to scallops, not harming them. 


Mutualism- Mutualism is the way two organisms biologically interact where each individual derives a fitness benefit

A hummingbird benefitting from a flower, however the flower also benefits from it by getting pollinated.


Mutualism- In ecology, predation describes a biological interaction where a predator (an organism that is hunting) feeds on its prey (the organism that is attacked).

Praying mantis eating a bee. 


Parasitism- A type of symbiotic relationship between organisms of different species where one organism, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host.

Brood parasitism, on the egg. 

Blog #8 Ecology: How can we stop overpopulation in any given area?

To stop overpopulation in any given area, we must advocate the use of apparatuses that prevent birth, such as: condoms, birth control pill, abortions, etc. In many places, abortion is actually outlawed and therefore the baby must come out. So, we must advocate condoms or birth control pills in some way. According to an experiment started some time ago, if we gave out condoms for free somehow, more people would use them, and therefore, less births would occur. 

"In 2005, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) made free condoms available to organizations through a Web-based ordering system. In 2006, we interviewed managers and patrons about free condom availability, acquisition, and use in venues where people at high risk for human immunodeficiency virus congregate. DOHMH condom distribution increased from 5.8 million in 2004 to 17.3 million in 2006. Overall, managers reported making condoms available at 76% (309/409) of high-priority venues, but only at 40% of gay bars. Among patrons who saw free condoms, 80% (280/351) reported taking them; 73% (205/280) of those who reported taking them also reported using them. A simple, Web-based ordering system dramatically increased condom distribution. In the venues we sampled, the majority of patrons acquired and used free condoms when available and visible, suggesting that increasing free condom availability may increase use." 


http://www.health.state.ny.us/diseases/aids/facts/condoms/nyscondom.htm

Blog 7 Compare and contrast two biomes describe them in detail include pictures of plants and animals you are liklely to see

Desert Biome: 
Usually very hot
Chilly at night
10 inches or less of rain per year
Precipitation is mainly rain
Located mostly around the Equator
Covers 1/5 of world's surface
Many varieties of plants and animals live there
Plants of the desert can usually store water
Animals can get water from unusual places
Plants and animals that live there can adapt to the extreme weather conditions.
Some animals avoid heat because they are nocturnal.
Some animals avoid heat by staying underground.
Deserts plants can store water.


Tundra Biome:
Soil is frozen most of the year.
10 inches or less of rain per year
Covers 1/5 of world's surface
Some plants grow close together to protects themselves from the cold.
Biome farthest north
Trees are small.
Plants and animals that live there can adapt to the extreme weather conditions.
Very short summer - some plants and small organisms may have a chance to grow.
Animals are able to adapt to cold.
Plants are small and grow close to the ground.
Water is not available most of the year.

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/desert.htm

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/biomes/tundra.php

Blog #6 Which level of a food pyramid is the most important? Support your answer

I believe the bottom most level of the food pyramid is the most important, the grains/nuts portion of the pyramid. I believe this is so because this is the part of the pyramid where they suggest the most servings. (6-11) Breads, nuts, grains, oats, and other foods in this category are extremely beneficial because the offer some of the best energy, fiber and sustenance. They offer carbohydrates when you eat them which fuels the human body. Nuts, grains, and whole wheat breads offer a lot of protein and roughage for the digestive track. They are a necessity if you wish to have a healthy colon and digestion system. And possibly most importantly, they offer a lot of sustenance in the sense that they manage to fill up your stomach and prevent further hunger. That is why our ancestors ate bread and nuts the most.

http://www.mypyramid.gov/

Blog #5 There have been 5 major extinction events throughout history, are humans impacting the 6th? Why or why not?

I believe that humans are impacting the earth's 6th extinction by destroying our current environment and destroying our ecosystems. Humans nowadays are ruining the environment by disrupting the natural way of things, such as off shore oil drilling and the mistakes that follow it. Such as the BP oil spill, millions of animals have died or suffered because of it. Humans are disrupting the natural ways of earth also with nuclear warheads. The United States has around 2000 nukes, while russia has 9000, if those things were to ever go off at once, the amount of radiation would surely cause many species to go extinct.
http://www.carolmoore.net/nuclearwar/

Blog # 4 Describe the three types of selection: directional, stabilizing and disruptive and give an example of each in your own words

Directional selection is one extreme of the trait distribution experiences selection against it. The result is that the population's trait distribution shifts toward the other extreme.
In stabilizing selection, it is when selective pressures select against the two extremes of a trait, the population experiences stabilizing selection.
Disruptive selection is when selection pressures act against individuals in the middle of the trait distribution.


Example of directional: Breeding of the greyhound dog. Early breeders were interested in dog with the greatest speed. They carefully selected from a group of hounds those who ran the fastest. From their offspring, the greyhound breeders again selected those dogs who ran the fastest.
Example of stabilizing: The size of newborn human babies.
Example of disruptive: The evolution of Darwin's finches, the explanation being that each island applied different selection pressure on the same types of mainland finch, favouring slightly different bill shape.

Blog #3 Explain what microevolution is? What are the three ways that variation occurs?

Microevolution is simply a change in gene frequency within a population. Evolution at this scale can be observed over short periods of time, for example, between one generation and the next, the frequency of a gene for pesticide resistance in a population of crop pests increases. Such a change might come about because natural selection favored the gene, because the population received new immigrants carrying the gene, because some nonresistant genes mutated to the resistant version, or because of random genetic drift from one generation to the next. 
Selection is the process by which heritable traits that make it more likely for an organism to survive and successfully reproduce become more common in a population over successive generations.
Mutations are changes in the DNA sequence of a cell's genome and are caused by radiation, viruses, transposons and mutagenic chemicals, as well as errors that occur during meiosis or DNA replication. Errors are introduced particularly often in the process of DNA replication, in the polymerization of the second strand. These errors can also be induced by the organism itself, by cellular processes such as hypermutation.
Genetic drift is the change in the relative frequency in which a gene variant occurs in a population due to random sampling and chance. That is, the alleles in the offspring in the population are a random sample of those in the parents. And chance has a role in determining whether a given individual survives and reproduces.

Blog # 2 Why is fossil record hard to interpret?

          The interpretation of the fossil record has been biased by differential preservation.  Some species are underrepresented or have not yet been found.  We are left with a somewhat blurred picture of the past, especially the early past.  Whether an organism is preserved greatly depends on the local environment in which it died.  Plants and animals from humid tropical forests are rarely preserved because they decay rapidly in these regions.  Similarly, fossils from mountainous areas rarely survive due to high rates of erosion.  Desert creatures generally become fossilized more often due to the preserving arid conditions.  Likewise, aquatic organisms are often well preserved if their bodies ended up in deep water where there is little oxygen and life. Not all bones from the same animal survive equally well.  Lightweight bones with relatively large surface areas deteriorate more quickly and are, therefore, less often fossilized.  Small, delicate bones are also more likely to be crushed or carried away from the rest of a skeleton by running water. There is bias in the fossil record resulting from the fact that paleontologists have not equally searched all areas of the globe.   Because of the inaccessibility of some regions, such as Central Asia and much of Africa, their fossil records are poorly understood compared to those of Europe and North America.

Blog #1 Why is evolution a theory and not a law?

     Theory in science means something else. It doesn't mean speculation, in science "theory" means explanation. A theory is an explanatory framework that incorporates all other data including laws. A law in science is descriptive of some kind of physical relationship for example the ideal gas law. Where as a theory is explanatory for example the ideal gas law would be explained as part of atomic theory. And you could quite easily prove that evolution is not real. Find a fossil mammal in the Silurian and you've done it. A law is a pattern that natural phenomena follow. So they're two different things. A law is great for predicting events, because we expect the events to follow the pattern. But the law won't explain why events follow the pattern. For that we need a theory. 

What was you favorite activity/topic this year? Why was it a favorite? What was your least favorite? Why?

My favorite activity last year had to be the karaoke project because it was the most creative and fun to finish. It was fun to sing it in front of the class, even if my partner and I weren't that good at singing in general. Replacing the words in songs with science related words and making them rhyme was extremely challenging but very entertaining.
My least favorite thing had to be the benchmark because I was not ready at all for it, and I only managed to pull off a B on it. There were numerous questions on it that I did not understand and I had to guess, thankfully, my guesses were not all wrong.

Blog#13 How has DNA changed how we investigate crimes? What are the two main tests? Describe them

DNA profiling has created a new form of looking at crimes. All the evidence can be DNA tested and therefore breakdown the possible victims. The two main types of DNA profiling are:
PCR Analysis
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is used to make millions of exact copies of DNA from a biological sample. DNA amplification with PCR allows DNA analysis on biological samples as small as a few skin cells. With RFLP, DNA samples would have to be about the size of a quarter. The ability of PCR to amplify such tiny quantities of DNA enables even highly degraded samples to be analyzed. Great care, however, must be taken to prevent contamination with other biological materials during the identifying, collecting, and preserving of a sample.
STR Analysis
Short tandem repeat (STR) technology is used to evaluate specific regions (loci) within nuclear DNA. Variability in STR regions can be used to distinguish one DNA profile from another. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) uses a standard set of 13 specific STR regions for CODIS. CODIS is a software program that operates local, state, and national databases of DNA profiles from convicted offenders, unsolved crime scene evidence, and missing persons. The odds that two individuals will have the same 13-loci DNA profile is about one in a billion.