blog #12

What surprised you from the worm's dissection?

It surprised me that the worm had so many internal organs. When I look at a worm from the outside of its body, it looks like it would just be all the same inside.  It just really surprised me how there was a brain, heart, intestines, etc.

 http://sekotin.co.cc/_cacheimg/w/o/worm%20dissecting.jpg

Blog #11

Alternation of generations (also known as alternation of phases or metagenesis) is a term primarily used in describing the life cycle of plants (taken here to mean the Archaeplastida). A multicellular diploid sporophyte, with N paired chromosomes (i.e. 2N in total), alternates with a multicellular haploid gametophyte, with N unpaired chromosomes. A mature sporophyte produces spores by meiosis, a process which results in a reduction of the number of chromosomes by a half. Spores germinate and grow into a gametophyte. At maturity, the gametophyte produces gametes by mitosis. Two gametes (originating from different organisms of the same species or from the same organism) fuse to produce a zygote, which develops into a diploid sporophyte. This cycle, from sporophyte to sporophyte (or equally from gametophyte to gametophyte), is the way in which all land plants and many algae undergo sexual reproduction.

All animals develop differently. A mature animal is diploid and so is, in one sense, equivalent to a sporophyte. However, an animal directly produces haploid gametes by meiosis. No haploid spores capable of dividing are produced, so neither is a haploid gametophyte. There is no alternation between diploid and haploid forms.

Other organisms, such as fungi, can have life cycles in which different kinds of organism alternate. The term 'alternation of generations' has also been applied to these cases.

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.)

original text 

Bloh #10

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

 I think that dissection is important for many reasons. It helps us better understand internal organs and how they work. There is no better way of understanding the insides of an animal and how they work than to actually open one up and observe the organs for yourself. hands on work is the best work.

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen06/gen06348.htm

 

 

1995 ^^^ 

2010vvv

blog #9

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

competition: interaction in which organisms of the same or different species attempt to use the same
                   ecological resource in the same place at the same time.

 
mutalism: symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit from the relationship.

 

Predation: interaction in which one organism captures and feeds on another organism.

 

Parasitism: one organism, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host

Blog #4

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

Directional Selection:

any genetic selection that shifts the population mean in the direction wanted by the breeder.

Stabilizing Selection:

the selection that the heterozygotes have the advantage

Disruptive Selection:

the slection that the natural selection favors the phenotypic extremes

  

Blog 8

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

The only thing that I do not understand, is how 99% percent of the Earths animals that have ever existed are now extinct. I dont understand how this can happen.

Blog #7

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

Grassland: Grasslands (also called savvanahs) are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae) and other herbaceous (non-woody) plants (forbs). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica. In temperate latitudes, such as northwest Europe and the Great Plains and California in North America, native grasslands are dominated by perennial bunch grass species, whereas in warmer climates annual species form a greater component of the vegetation.[1]






Tundra: In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract."[1] There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra,[2] alpine tundra,[2] and Antarctic tundra.[3] In tundra, the vegetation is composed of dwarf shrubs, sedges and grasses, mosses, and lichens. Scattered trees grow in some tundra. The ecotone (or ecological boundary region) between the tundra and the forest is known as the tree line or timberline.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Greenland_scoresby-sydkapp2_hg.jpg

blog #6

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

I think that the most important level of a food pyramid is the first level. I believe this because without the first level, the second level wouldnt have anything to eat and without the second level having anything to eat it would die off. This would now cause the third level to have nothing to eat, which would cause them to die off as well. The bottom line is if the first level didnt exsist it would create a chain of extinction and this is why I believe that the first level is the most important.

 

http://www.food-faq.net/tag/food-pyramid   http://image.wistatutor.com/content/feed/tvcs/tundra20food20pyramid.jpg

Blog #5

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

I think that humans are greatly impacting the 6th major extinction. The way we are treating Earth has been terrible lately. Pollution has increased so much over the past 50 years. Every time we pollute the air we are endangering all sorts of animals. The polluting is effecting the climate that animals live in, its making the air dirtier causing animals to breath harder, etc. If we dont stop everything we've been doing or make a change I think we are going to cause many animals to go exstinct.

 
http://wellnessuncovered.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=1&Itemid=50&limitstart=100

Blog #3

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

Microevolution accepts changes within a particular organism while remaining the same organism. For example, a red back frog can change into a blue back frog over time, but no matter what they are still frogs. Microevolution is just the way animals get different traits by evolving but they still remain the same animal.

the three way variation can occur are :

Mutations alter the order of bases in the nucleotides of DNA. Mutations are likely to be rare and most mutations are probably harmful, but in some instances the new alleles can be favored by natural selection.

Independent assortment (recombination of chromosomes that occurs during sexual reproduction)

And the Crossing over that happens during meiosis

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090920160125AA1tK3U

Blog #2

Why is fossil record hard to interpret?

All fossils are hard to determine when the animal was actually alive. fossils are very hard to interpret because of how old they are. They date back to millions of years. This makes it so hard to determine a date in history when the fossil is from. The bones of the animals get so badly damaged by rain and dirt, that after a few thousand years its almost impossible to even make out what the bone is. So can you imagine how hard it is to date a fossil of an animal that millions of years ago?
http://www.thedarwinpapers.com/oldsite/number5/darwin5.htm

   

blog #1

Why is evolution a theory and not a law?

A law is a fact that is observed to be universally true. Laws are "observed" to be true, not "proven" to be true. And a law is a single short statement ... usually in the form of an equation.

A theory is an explanation for observed facts. A good theory explains many facts. The more facts it explains, the more we say it has evidence ... which is why we say that evolution is one of the strongest theories in the history of science ... it explains thousands of facts. And a theory is a body of many statements ... and a theory can expand and grow with more details as we find more facts that it explains.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080704004950AA5hwcZ

evolution cannot be proven to be a law because there is no live evidence, there are only the remains of the evidence. To make it a law, there would have to be dinosaurs and those different types of animals walking around today. but, all we have are their fossils, and remains.

LAST BLOG OF THE SEMESTER ALL CLASSES

What was you favorite activity/topic this year? Why was it a favorite?
What was your least favorite? Why?
If you could change one thing (Not the amount of homework) what would it be and how would you change it?
My favorite activity this year was extracting the DNA cells from the strawberries. It was my favorite because I find the use of DNA in forensics very fascinating.

My least favorite topic was when we talked about the structures of cells. I find that topic to be very boring, it just doesn't interest me.

If i could change one thing it would be that we would have done more labs. But more specifically dissections, I would have liked to do those. I also would change the amount of work that had to be done on the computer.

blog #13

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

One type of DNA test is DNA profiling.
It begins with a sample of a persons DNA. The best way of collecting a sample is the use of a buccal swab, as this reduces the possibility of contamination. When this is not available, other methods may need to be used to collect a sample of blood, saliva, semen, or other fluid or tissue from personal items (e.g. toothbrush, razor, etc.) or from stored samples (e.g. banked sperm or biopsy tissue). Samples obtained from family can provide an indication of a persons profile, as could human remains which had been previously profiled.
A reference sample is then analyzed to create the individual's DNA profile using one of a number of techniques, discussed below. The DNA profile is then compared against another sample to determine whether there is a genetic match.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_profiling

Paternity is the use of genetic fingerprinting to determine whether two individuals have a biological parent-child relationship. A paternity test establishes genetic proof whether a man is the biological father of an individual, and a maternity test establishes whether a woman is the biological mother of an individual. Though genetic testing is the most reliable standard, older methods also exist including ABO blood group typing, analysis of various other proteins and enzymes, or using human leukocyte antigen antigens. The current techniques for paternal testing are using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism.

DNA testing is currently the most advanced and accurate technology to determine parentage. In a DNA parentage test, the result (called the 'probability of parentage)^[1] is 0% when the alleged parent is not biologically related to the child and the probability of parentage typically greater than 99.9% when the alleged parent is biologically related to the child. However, while almost all individuals have a single and distinct set of genes, rare individuals, known as "chimeras", have at least two different sets of genes. There have been several cases of DNA profiling that falsely "proved" that a mother was unrelated to her children.^[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dna_paternity_test

I think that DNA has changed the way we investigate crimes in a really good way. DNA helps prove the innocent, innocent; and the guilty, guilty. Because of the use of DNA testing when solving crimes, now crime seens have to be blocked off and not touched at all because of the risk of contaminating the DNA samples.