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?

During this semester,since I wasnt here during first semester I assumed it was an easy class because I was doing pretty well in my other biology class however was wrong. The teaching methods used in this classs was clearly different. The teacher, unlike other teachers doesnt collect projects and notebooks right away but given a due date without constant reminders, we were expected to do it and turn it in like a responsible student. Thankfully, one of the lessons I learned in this class was time management, I was able to turn in assignments on time and learned throughout the way in a different method. Such as the abiotic and biotic factors. By actually going outside the classroom and looking for those factors I was  able to remember the lesson more clearly than I would have from reading from the book. However, there were times when I wasn't able to remember to do the test or the projects, it would affect my grades. After the few times, I would remind myself to go on moodle at least once a week to look for quizes that are due, and start on them early giving me an oppurtunity to see whats on the quiz and a better grade when I take the quiz again.

blog 15

Compare two of the organisms that we have dissected Discuss at least 2 similarities and 3 differences

In class, two organisms we dissected before are the fish and the squid. One difference is that squids are related to cephlapods which don't have a skeleton structure at all while a fish does that a skeletion structure. They have an endoskeleton(bones) and have scales outside. Also on the external appeareance fish mainly have fins while squids do not.However both do have eyes ans in their interior atanomy they both similarily have gills, brain, kidney,stomach, and a heart. Both also have a marine like lifestyle and reproduce by the eggs developed in them proving that they are not mammals. Another difference that can be displayed externally are the tentacles on their arms squids use to move and the fins fishes use to swim.

Blog 14

 Write a letter to Senator Feinstein describing what alternative energy source you think we should be pursuing. Give at least three reasons why.

               I think a new alternative energy source we should pursue should be solar energy. Solar energy would help ensure our survival more efficently in an economically better way. Compared to fossil fuel or nuclear energy it doesn't really affect us as much. Solar powers are based on biomass,wind, solar,geothermal, and hydroelectic energy. The windmill, for example are good alternative for fossil fuel and are also cheaper than the new electric generation. Another commonly used power would be the solar panals.Solar panals convert light to electricity which applies to other materials using this alternative. Such as solar calculators,water heating, furnances,boilers, and more. Sloar power would also be continously spread and used for more objects.
            So, solar energy would be better to our enviroment, cost less, and is spreading to adapt to human needs

Blog 13

 What was most interesting about this week's dissections?

In the fish dissection I found the swim bladder interesting. It's dark apperance stands out and is pretty large in size. I thought it was part of the liver because the liver is pretty dark but its not. The cell membrane also well protected the eyeball. When we poked it accidently, water would come out. I alos never knew that a fish have two types of bladders: a gallblader and a swim bladder.

Blog#12

 What surprised you from the worm's dissection?

 To me, I was suprized when we dissected the head part. I was able to seee the brain and heart. I was able to dissect the worm by counting the number of lines. I first cut the part from the anus to the clitellum and used pins to stick at a 45 degreee angle to observe the blood vessels and the intestines. Then carefully cut to the mouth to observe the gizzard, heart, pharnyx, brain, ovary, nerve cord, and ect.

Blog #11

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

During animal life cycle, animals are expected to give out eggs and sperms to reproduce. Likewise plants does too but is reproduced through stages, or generation. As the diagram illustrate, the adults have to produce spores, which the spores then produce sex cells. There are two generations:sporophyte ( spore producing plants) and gametophyte(sex-cell producing cells).The two generations can be differentiated by the chromosomes they carry. 

Reference: http://www.learner.org/courses/essential/life/session4/closer1.html

In the spores generation, only one parent is needed to create an offspring with the characteristics it needs to survive.  In sex parents, both give their characteristics  causing a mix. This however can be a benefit depending on their environment. For example, mosses are used as a primitive group. The sporophyte are clearly shown on the stalk representing the location, spores are caste on top. The gameotophye are on the bottom. The stalk connected to the gametophyte creates the egg. Water would be necessary to complete it.

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 nessecary to use one of our senses to observe. In the process of observing internal structures we can understand the functions. Different specimen parts can be used to compared to others. While dissecting , you would have to take to careful consideration on how the product functions, how it was assembled, and what materials were used. Frogs are included in biological studies to odserve the internal and external structures features of the frog's atonomy.Also, recently our class disected a flower to differeinate its gender and parts.

Blog 9

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

Community interactions are factors that can have a huge affect on an ecosystem. In competition, organisms of the same or different species try to use ecological resources,necessities to life, at the same place and time. For example, oak trees compete with other trees for sunlight. As their leaves spread out, they block sunlight for the shorter trees. In competition, they have to follow the competitive exclusion principle,where two species can not use the same resources at the same place and place. Resources must be founded in different areas.

Also, Predation is when an interaction in which one organism captures and feeds on another organism. The organism that captures and feeds is the predator. The organsim being eaten is the prey.An example of predation would be a lion using his characteristic such as strong  legs, sharp claws and teeth to aid him in killing other animals.

In addition, symbiosis is any relationship of two species living closely together. Symbolism is divided into three class: mutalism, commenalism,parasitism. In mutualism, both species benefit from living together. For example, flowers depend on bees to help spread their pollen or nector so the plants can reproduce. In commenalism, one benefits and the other is neutral.Barnacles attach themselves to whales to attain food as the waters pass by without harming  the whale in any whale. Finally, in parasitiam one organism lives on or inside another organism and harms it. The parasite uses a host to attain nutrients. Fleas, ticks, lice, and tapeworms are examples of paratism eating the host's blood and skin.

blog 8

 Your choice talk about something you learned or ask a question about something that is confusing you

This quarter, one topic I learned about is the effect of population. Population is shaped by threee characteristics 1. Geographic Distribution 2. Density 3. Growth Rate. It can change by the number of births, deaths, and individuals that enter or leave the population area. It is usually measued by exponential and logistic growth. In exponential growth, the population reproduce at a constant rate, in contrast with logistic growth which occurs when a population's growth stops or slows.Carrying capacity is also used to display the average growth rate when it reaches zero, so the number represent the largest number of individuals that the enviroment can support.Population density is the number of individuals per unit area. It depends on the species and the ecosystem. Population density is seperated by two types of factors: density dependent factors and density IN dependent factors to limit the growth of a population. Density dependent factors are competition, predation,parasitism,and disease. Density independent factors are unusual weather, natural disaster, seasonal cycle, and  human activity such as clearing the forset or damming  the rivers.However, like many organisms, the size of human population increase during time.

blog 7

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

In the tropical rainforest biome,as you can tell by the photogragh, the landscape consist of many tall trees with leafy tops forming a canopy. Which is then layered by shorter trees and vines. The abiotic matters consist of hot,wet,thin,nutrient poor soils year roud.The organic matter falls are nutrients use and recycled to become home of many species. Animals such as sloths, tapirs, jaguars, monkeys, toucan, and insects like butterflies are found there. Tropical Rain Forest are founded in locations such as parts of South and Central America,Southeast Asia, parts of Africa, southern India, and northeastern Austrailia.

In contrast, the tropical dry forest photogragh appears to be less leafy and drier. It grows in places where rainfall is in season because during the dry season, almost all the trees leaves drop to conserve water. It's generally warm year round with a few alternative to wet and dry seasons.Plants that can grow in theis forest can adapt to the dry weather are also tall trees but also include orchids,aloes, and ect. In addition, animals also have to be able to adapt are tigers,monkeys, elephants, types of birds, snakes, termites, and lizards. Tropical dry forest are usually found in parts of Africa, Mexico, India, Australia, and other tropical islands.

Sources: http://marialice4.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/montage.jpg
http://mlauni.pottsgrove.wikispaces.net/file/view/Chacachacare_dry_forest_3.JPG/185661377/Chacachacare_dry_forest_3.JPG
http://www.visitnacogdoches.org/news/Orchid.jpg

Blog #6

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

 The producers, like the name it helps more animals become produced. Producers are plants that use light energy from the sun to produce sugar, therefore it doesn't need anything else. However, other levels in the food pyramid rely on the producers. Consumers, animals fall to the category of herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. Herbivores eat plants,producers so they need plants to survive.  Consumers eat animals, which most of those animals eat plants to survive. In order to eat those animals, plants must be available to them or they'll not have their food and omnivores eat both, so its the same for them. In the illustration on the left, plants ans shrub supply as food for giraffes and the giraffes are a source of food or lions.

  

blog #5

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

Yes. Throughout history the five major events that have ended were cretaceous,permian , triassic, late devonian, and late ordovician is unviodable and can happen to humans today. Such as asteriod/comet impacts,climate changes,volcanic eruptions, sea level changes, and oxygen in the atmostphere. These causes can happen at anytime and thus happpening today wiping out millions of people. Humans, right now don't have the ability to prevent theese events from happening. Humans have been overexploiting lands, species, and overpopulation

Blog #4

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

During directional selection is when those that have some kind of unique trait are purposely chosen to mate continue those traits. Such as greyhound dogs are specifically known for their speed, if breeders chose the fastest dogs and breed them, they will be able to produce fast dogs.Stabilizing selection kinds of balance everything out because it produces the normal traits. It creates a cross between a big and small dog to a median size dog.Disruptive selection is similar to directional selection because it favors the unique traits but like it  sounds it happens quickly and help select extreme traits in order to survive. For 

example if birds with median sized beaks lost their food source,then disruptive selection would have to favor big or small beaks to survive.
 link location:
http://images-mediawiki-sites.thefullwiki.org/04/3/3/0/1793564074574269.png