Thursday, May 19, 2011

Blog # 14

In biology many organisms have been dissected so far, grasshoppers, fish, squid, clams, starfish and a few more. After dissecting these organisms and comparing their internal and external organs it seems that many of them have many differences and some similarities. The clam and squid for instance both live in water and are marine animals, however the only exoskeleton the squid has is the ink pen while the clam has its exterior shell. In addition, the clams are
animals that move as a young then at maturation they stop moving and stay in one place, on the other hand, squids move around using water sucked in from it's siphon and jetting it out. Moreover, the other difference between the squid and clam is the digestive system, the squid and clam both suck in their food but the squid has a parrot-like beak that helps break down food.The similarities between the clam and the squid is that both organisms have a siphon. Furthermore, the squid has a mantle that can be seen immediately while the clam also has a mantle but could only be seen when the shell is opened.



Clam


Squid
 


















http://faculty.orangecoastcollege.edu/mperkins/zoo-review/clam-mussel/clam-mussel3.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squid

Monday, May 16, 2011

Blog # 13

In this week, the most interesting dissection was the squid dissection. It was a simple dissection that wasn't that hard but definitely the most fascinating dissection. The part that really kept my attention was the part when we had to remove the "pen" from the squid. In addition, i learned some things that i didn't know about squids; they have beaks. [O_o] I also enjoyed figuring out how to use the "pen" and figuring out how to use the ink sac. I was really amazed that the squid even had a "pen" that looked similar to a birds wing but without the feather. It seems squids have more in common with birds than i thought especially since squids are marine animals and birds are mostly animals of the sky.    :]
Squid
Dissected Squid

Blog # 12

We shouldn't be using pestisides; and the number one reason the effect of pestisides on humans when we eat the produce that pestisides have been used on. In addition, the companies that sell the pestisides are getting a hefty profit while farmers have to pay for more and more pestisdes. Also the pestisides manage to kill the pest but there is always some pest that are able to survive the pestisides. The surviving pest are now not only immune to the pestisides but are also stronger. So when these pest reproduce the brand of pestisides no longer work on the pest so farmers have to buy more pestisides and therefore making the plant even more dangerous for the consumers. An easier and inexpensive way is to get rid of the pest naturally by buying other bugs that eat the pest and not the plants like ladybugs.
http://mrswolfgang.edublogs.org/2009/03/18/are-pestisides-good-or-bad/

Blog # 11

The sexual reproduction in plants include two alternations between meiosis and fertilization. For the alternative part of meiosis the chromosomes reduce from diploids to haploids number. It is the opposite in fertilization where the haploids are increased to diploids after the two nuclei of gametes fuse together. Therefore these variation have to occur alternatively in order for sexual reproduction to run smoothly.
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/A/Alternation.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternation_of_generations

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Blog #10



Dissection is an important part of biology because dissection makes it easier to explain some ideas of biology. When there is a dissection lab it is easier to understand the ideas when the student is working on the dissection hands on rather than just reading about the parts of an animal or plant in the book or looking at graphs or diagrams. Sometimes people learn easier by doing the lab than reading about it so its the same about dissection, when some students read about the lab in the book they may become confused but they may understand it if they are actually working on the dissection. Another thing is that dissection makes it easier for students to see the similarities and differences between two animals or plants when they are doing the dissection than when they are look at a picture in the book. The animals that should be included in biologically study are probably frogs, rats, small sea creatures and plants such as flowers. Some rare creatures should also be included but may not be a good idea to be dissected.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissection
http://uscunion.sc.edu/Biology/dissection.htm

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Blog # 9


Competition

Commensalism




A   competition interaction is between two species or organisms where the fitness of a species/organism is lowered with the presence of another species/organism. The shortage of resources such as food, water, and territory that both species/organism require the use of. Competition happen both within the species/organism and between species/organisms. Competition is one of the biotic and abiotic that affect community structure. Interaspecific competition is competition between two different species. An example of competition interaction is when two trees are growing next to each other and are competition for sunlight.
Mutualism
Commensalism is an interaction where one organism benefits the other organism but the organism being used isn't damaged or harmed. A good example of commensalism are condors, condors eat dead animals and benefit from the meat. Another example is like in the picture above a fish living in an under water plant, the fish can hide from predators in the plant and the plant doesn't get harmed by the fish. Mutualism is when two organisms or species interact and both of them benefit from each other. Like in the picture above of the bee and the flower both of these organism benefit from each other, the flower gets pollinated by the bee and the bee gets pollen to make honey for its hive.

Predation
A predation interaction is were a predator feeds on its prey. The prey in this case the prey could of already been dead or killed by the predator. The act of predation always has the result of the prey being dead. A spider going in to kill its captured meal of an insect would be an example of predation. Or a barn owl capturing and eating a field mouse.
A parasitism interaction is a relationship between two organisms or species where one organism benefits at the expense of the other organism. The parasite would benefit from its host while the host suffered or slowly dies while the parasite thrives. Parasites could also be a virus or bacteria. A mosquto feeding of a live animal is an example of parasitism because the mosquto would gain from the host but the host not only doesn't gain from the parasite but also loses nutrients.

             Parasitism



Monday, April 11, 2011

Blog # 8

This semester i learned about a lot of things including the usual, geometry, english, etc. One thing i really surprised me was that i acctually like the book my english class is on right now, not saying that i didnt like the other books that we read in class but this one, To Kill a MockingBird has become my favorite book. It might be because it is so different from all the books i have read in class and at home on my own time. The book is heavily detailed and the gradually build to the conflict is amazing. What i really learned in geometry is that no matter how much i have studied when i take a test i have to, absolutely have to check ALL the answers before i turn the test in. Mandarin is mostly the same, i dont really pay attention there beacause im trying to finish my homework so i wouldnt have a huge load after swimming. One thing that is really confusing me is how to be able to volenteer at the YMCA and still be able to join the badminton club when the sceduals are overlaping into each other. I think i am going to be kicked out of the badminton club because even if i had time my parent dont really approve my idea of joining the badminton club since my skills are so horrid. Still i was hoping to at least be able to go sometimes but its pretty hard with opposing parents and a voleenteer job to go to. So far i have managed to go to practice at the  right time so i wouldnt be cut out of the club but i dont know about later. Another thing that is troubling me is next year as a softmore. For next year i had signed up for English honors, Alg. 2 honors, Chem, World History Ap, Mandarin, and a type of physical education. But what im worried about is that all the honors and aps will make it too hard for me and ill start to fail all the classes...should i drop a class? Which one? Anyways in biology i really learned about alot of things i hadnt know about like for one that there are two different pyramids. :D

Blog #7 Biomes




Biomes or Ecosystems are the climate conditions on the Earth that we live in. Communities of plants and animals along with soil organisms are examples of ecosystems. The ecosystem includes 



   both abiotic and biotic factors. To tell apart the different ecosystems scientist use the factors, latitude like artic, boreal,temperate and subtropical or tropical. Humidity is another factor that scientist use to determine different ecosystems like seasonal variation: rain fall, a dry summer, and a wet winter. Another variation that determines a different type of Ecosystem is elevation, increasing elevation causes distribution of habitat types that is similar to increasing latitude.  Ecosystem are commonly called a prairie, savanna, or forest. In the forest ecosystem a common sight would be the plants, shrubs, and grasses. Leafy greens are a common sight in the forest ecosystem that also include animals such as microbes that live in the soil. Some other inhabitants of the forest ecosystem are the insects and spiders that help the decomposers of the forest. The consumers that are herbivores like rabbits and deer, deer is a common sight in the forest and could be seen grazing on the lush grass of the forest ground or on the leaves of some of the trees.  Other animals are raccons, possums, and preditors like coyotes and bears. Other preditors include bobcats and lynx that prey on other animals such as omnivores and smaller meat eatting animlas. Compared to the ecosystem of the Savannas there are alot of contrast between the two ecosystems, Savannas and forests.


In the Savannas the type of plant life that could be found are shrubs and isolated trees that are unlike the plants of the forest where the tree growth crowd the land. The floor of the savanna's are covered with rolling grass that are somewhat semi dry from the warm temperature that stretches year round. The two seasons of the Savannas are winter and summer. The winters are a long dry season while opposite from it is a long wet season that is summer. The animals found in the Savanna's habitat are animals that can survive the Savanna's harsh climate amoung these are birds like shrikes, hornbills, grey louries and green pigeons. Other animals include flycatchers, the knysna, purple-crested louries, rollers and raptors. The larger animals include the well known lions, leopards, cheetahs, and elephants. In addition there are also buffalos, rhinos, and hippos. Then there are the tall giraffes, the striped zebras, gazelles, kudus, waterbucks, and oryxes. But these are only some of the many animals to be seen in the Savanna's.







Monday, March 21, 2011

Blog # 6 Food Pyramid

 Of all the food groups, fruit, veggies, grains, dairy, and junks i think the most inportant would be the grains group.Not only because it is the bigest in the food pyramid but because it is estencial for humans to go through their daily lives. The other foods in the pyramid are also inportant and must be consumed also in order for the body to keep its normal growth and energy rate. I think the most important thing for humans besides water is energy. Without energy the human body wouldn't be able to go around doing all the necessities for the day. What a human's body needs is carbohydrates and in grains like bread, pasta, ceral, and rice are stocked full of the carbohydrates humans need. Another thing the human body needs is nutrients and protien that the grains also has. However grains doesnt have that many protiens as in dairy and fruits. So even though i think the most important group in the food pyramid is grains it is better if humans eat everything of the food pyramid except of course the junks group that are full of fats and oils. Still even the human body needs the junks to build other things needed for a human to go on throughout the day. It is always good to have a little of everything in your diet but too much of one thing is never good for your body so even though grains are good for you and even if junks taste good you shouldn't eat too much of it.
http://www.mypyramid.gov/
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/pyramid/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_guide_pyramid

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Blog #5 Causes of Extinction

The five major extinction events in history was the mass extinction that took place at the end of the Ordovician where 60% of both terrestrial and marine life worldwide became extinct. In the late Devonian period enviorments that had nurtured reefs for a long time turned bad and the world once again fell in to a second mass extinction. The Permian mass extinction showed about 80-95% of marine species went extinct and the reefs didnt appear for millions of years. In the Triassic mass extinction about half of the marine invertbrates went extinct and 80% of land quadrupeds went extinct. Futhermore, in the end of the Cretaceous mass extinction 65 million years ago caused the widely know extinction of dinosaurs. Not only that almost on large land animals survived and plants where also affected. Now it seems humans are causing the 6 great mass extinction. It is because of the growing population of humans that are pushing some species into enviorments they aren't adapted to causing them to be hunted and eventually becoming extinct. Besides that the main cause is the changing climate which is caused my humans waste products and green house gases or known as global warming. With global warming the ice caps are melting which will eventually cause the sea level to rise like in the 5 mass extinction when sea level rised and many land animals went extinct.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Blog #4

 Directional selection is a mode of natural selection in a phenotype that is single and favored. Making the allele frequency continuously move in one direction. Stabilizing selection also know as ambidirectional selection a type of natural selection where genetic diversity is decreased because the population slowly stabilized on a particular trait value. Another name for disruptive selection is diversifying selection, this is because it describes the changes in the populations genetics where extreme values for a trait are favored over intermediate values. Unlike stabilizing selection, disruptive selection the varity of the trait is increased and the population divides into tow distinct groups. To make the distinction between the three types of selections, here is an example of stabilizing selection. The weight of a newborn human if too light lose heat rapidly and tend to get infectious diseases. It also works the other way around, if the baby is too heavy they endanger not only themselves but also their mothers when passing through the birth canal. To help stabilize the birth weights a small range of birth weights had been selected to assure the stabilization. A good example for directional selection is the breeding of the greyhound dog. Breeders had selected from a group of hounds that were the fastest and then from their offsprings they selected again the fasted hound. It soon became a dog who could run up to 64km. The fur color of rabbits is a good example for disruptive selection. This rabbit has a incomplete dominance between white and black, now if the rabbit was to live in a enviorment with black and white rocks then the rabbits that would survive would be the black and white furred rabbits. However the gray furred rabbits that stand out and are unable to blend into their enviorment would be likely eaten which is when disruptive selection comes in. To ensure the species survival the selection allows only black and white fur to be showed but not the gray since it would decrease the species rate of survival.

Blog #3 Microevolution

Microevolution is the change in the gene frequency within a population or species. Microevolution occurs in four different ways. The first way is mutation, next is natural selection or artificial selection. In addition another process is gene flow and a genetic  drift. Microevolution is the result from small specific genetic changes that can lead to a new subspecies. Microevolution occurs usually when there is a environmental change. It occurs so that a species has some differences or sometimes creating a new species. This is because the environment is changing so the species need to adapt along with the changing climate. In the movie the Future is Wild the modern day animals evolve into a different animal completely so that they can survive in the changed climate and environment.   answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090920160125AA1tK3Uhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_variation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microevolution

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Blog #2 Fossil Records



Fossil records tend to hard to interpret because they are vague. A fossil can only form if the organism or animal had a skeletal body. If the organism doesnt have a skeletal body then there wouldn't be a fossil since the parts that form a fossil are usually the bones or hard and solid parts of the body that dont decompose over time. Also many things that happen in nature can damage the fossil making the record incomplete, and though it still gives us some information about the creatures that existed on earth long before us sometimes it is useless.  This makes fossil records are hard to explain because so many of the other fossils are lost or have been erased from the face of the earth by erosion and even becoming the sediments. Not only that fossil dont give us that much information about the organism. Fossils give us information about what the organism may of looked like as in shape and size but how about what color their skin or fur looked like? Fossils have no way of telling us about that. In addition there is also that problem of whether the fossil is real or not. Whether the fossil has reached all the requirements of being a fossil, like being old enough.
                                                         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080312052712AASeKXV
http://hoopermuseum.earthsci.carleton.ca/evolution/g.html

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Blog # 1 Theory

The main reason Evolution isn't a law is because it cannot be repeated and get the real results. Evolution is the change over time. In this case evolution changes an orgainism such as a finch. The finche's beakes changed over a time period so that it could survive more easily in the changed enviorment. Evolution happens to orgainism and animals because of an enviormental change like a decrease in food or maybe an earthquake. Mostly its because the normal cycle for an animal or orgainism had changed so it has to adapt or die out. This process is called natural selection-change so that a species wouldnt die out. Another
reason evolution isn't a law because it hasn't been observed and still hasn't been able to be proved.                                                                       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution
http://www.darwins-theory-of-evolution.com/

Friday, January 21, 2011

Semester Ending


My favorite activity this semester was the kimchi lab, i liked this lab because it was really interesting and kind of like cooking. Even though it really smelled i was pretty interested because i have been dying to try some Korean food. Another thing is that i have always been curious about fermentation. It was really fun mixing all the ingredients and it seemed like home ed class.  My least favorite activity was the karaoke project, i really don't like standing in front of the class and singing because i know my voice is horrible. Moreover my lyrics sounded really weird and confusing.Not only that my group practiced a lot but we hadn't thought of practicing together so we weren't singing in sync. The thing that i would change about this semester if i could re-do it would be reading the textbook. Throughout most of the semester i hadn't really had a chance to sit down and actually read the book and try to understand it. Another thing is i would want to change is the quizzes, if i had taken the time to really read the book then maybe most of my quiz scores would be better. In addition,(i know its more than one, so many regrets) i would like to re-do the karaoke project, improving the text and maybe singing louder (>////<) .
http://www.eagleswings1959.blogspot.com/

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Blog 13 Crimes vs DNA (:O)

 
 DNA has changed the way we investigate crimes, it has made it easier to find the culprit and solve hard cases about the cause of death or murder. Now detectives can take DNA from a suspect killer and DNA from the victim or from the person murdered. From there the detectives can test the DNA on the suspect and the DNA on the victim to see if they match. If the DNA matches then the case moves up another notch and the police is one step closer to catching the person who committed the crime. For example, if a person was murdered the detectives would try to collect as much DNA samples that could be found on the person. A piece of hair or even a piece of skin could lead to the killer, if the victim had put up a fight and scratched the murder before dying then the detectives would be able to take the skin samples from under the nails and extract the DNA from the skin sample and use it to match it with a possible suspect. DNA can be left anywhere like fingerprints, in another case a handgun was left so the police and detectives were able to collect the DNA left on the handgun and matched it to the one in the database and soon they found a match and led to the arrest. If it was an angry killer, detectives might even be able to find DNA in the victims eyes, because there might be saliva inside or on the face where some of the spit may have landed. They could easily find if the spit is of the victim or of another person by comparing it to the saliva from the victims mouth. The two main DNA test are called RFLP and PCR. Before DNA was discovered it was hard for detectives to catch a criminal because the only way was to find evidence from a set up or catching the curpit repeating the crime. Now thanks to DNA detectives have a slightly  easier job. RFLP is a sequence of DNA that ends with a target and a sequence between, PCR is a DNA amplifier.