Final Blog

Final Blog: 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?

              It's hard to believe that the year is almost over! 
                    This semester in biology was harder than the first semester, in my opinion. I had to work harder on my notebooks, we have a project right now in the making, and we had SEVEN dissections! This was really new for me because I've never done dissections in middle school and these dissections were my very first. Our first dissection of the worm, I felt nauseous and disgusted. However, after we continued doing more dissections, I got used to it, and I even dissected some species by myself. For example, I dissected the squid which had a lot of stuff inside of it and was slippery and smelled HORRIBLE. After we dissected it and cleaned it out, we fried the squid. I, of course, did not eat it. So, I think that one of my successes this year in biology was getting over my fear of dissections. Dissections are also something I will never forget. Once you get over the smell and disgusting aspects of dissections, it really isn't that bad; in fact, I had fun doing some of the dissections, and I learned a lot about  different species' organs and internal/external anatomy.
                       Furthermore, this year went by extremely fast. I was never exactly a fan of anything science related; but I did learn some new things this year in biology, mostly concerning animals and organ systems. For me, this is already a step up since science is a really hard subject for me and I do not seem to understand many things science-related- no matter how long I study.

Blog #15

Blog 15: Compare two of the organisms that we have dissected. Discuss at least 2 similarities and 3 differences.

           Two organisms we have dissected so far is the fish and the frog. They are similar because they must both keep their skin wet and moist to prevent them from drying out. Also, they both lay eggs and they both have gills. However, a frog only has gills while it's still a tadpole. Lastly, another similarity between these 2 species is that they both have darker dorsal surfaces and lighter ventral surfaces.

                 Although the fish and frog share many similarities, they also share many differences. Firstly, a frog is semi-aquatic while a fish is fully aquatic; a frog can live on both land and water, but a fish can only survive in water. Frogs are amphibious - they live in and out of the water. Fish can only live in the water; fish can only stay underwater with the help of gills to breathe and cannot come out of water due to the absence of a lung to help it breathe on land. Also, frogs have arms and legs and fish do not. Furthermore, fishes have scales and fins, both of which frogs do not have.

Blog 13

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


The most interesting thing about this weeks dissections were all the different parts of the animals we dissected. For example, I never knew that an earthworm had a brain! I've never done dissections in elementary or middle school before, so pretty much everything was new to me. I learned a lot of the different parts and exterior and interior anatomy of the species we dissected: the earthworm, crayfish, fish, grasshopper, etc. In the beginning, I was disgusted and felt sick, but after more dissections I began getting more used to it and I actually was surprised that I learned so much from these animals. For example, when we dissected the fish, we had to take a fish scale and examine it under the microscope and it looked really interesting since we got the opportunity to really see how it looked like close up. From that, we found out that the fish was about 50 years old (in fish years).

Blog #12

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

          For the worm dissection, me and my partners discovered a lot. We cut open the worm and observed the inside, which sort of looked quite like the outside. I was surprised that there really wasn't anything in there. However, I found it surprising that there was dirt inside, which looked like black chunks. I didn't know that worms had dirt inside their body, even though they are pretty dirty organisms. Also, I was surprised that the worm had so many segments. I never noticed before, but the worms body has around 100 segments, depending on the size of the worm. For my earthworm, it had 96 body segments, which we counted individually. I also used to think that worms were slimy even when they were dead, but turns out, the earthworm was actually very dry and wrinkly looking. Although I learned alot from this dissection and got to see the inner parts of the worm, I'm glad we won't be doing a worm dissection anytime soon.

Blog #11

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

          "Plant life cycles have two phases known as the alternation of generations. The sporophyte phase is "diploid" in the picture, and is part of the life cycle in which meiosis occurs. The gametophyte phase is "haploid", and is the part of the life cycle in which gametes are produced. In flowering plants the multicelled visible plant such as a plant leaf is sporophyte, while pollen and ovaries contain the male and female gametophytes. Plant life cycles differ from animal ones by adding a phase, the haploid gametophyte, after meiosis and before the production of gametes.

          Alternation of generations is normally used to describe the life cycles of plants. Organisms such as fungi can have life cycles in which different kinds of organism alternate. The term 'alternation of generations' has been applied to these cases."

references: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternation_of_generations

                 http://ridge.icu.ac.jp/biobk/BioBookmeiosis.html

Blog #10

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 the biology curriculum, because it allows students to have hands-on experience with animals or plants, which is especially important for students who are interested in pursuing the medical field as a surgeon or someone like that.  A lot of important information about the environment can be discovered through the examination of the dissected animals' organs and tissues. Science education is a process of exploring different experiences, like dissecting animals, that may lead students into a future profession.
              
             An animal that should be included in biological studies is the frog. The frog is probably the most popular species that students dissect, in different schools around the world. Classroom often use frogs because they can be easily caught, and are small; frogs also have about the same organs as a human. Research scientists dissect frogs to see what effects pollution and climate change are having on frogs. The reason for this is because of the fact that frogs are a lot more sensitive to environmental changes and will show effects much earlier than other species, such as human beings.The dissection of the fetal pig in the labratory is also important because pigs and humans have the same level of metabolism and have similar organs and systems. Even better, fetal pigs are usually inexpensive and easy to buy.

          

Blog #9

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

           One type of community interaction is competition. Competition is an interaction between species or organisms and the fitness of one is lowered by the presence of the other. Competition can occur when the species are competing in the same area for a limited food supply or when they must share limiting resources. Species less suited to compete for resources either adapt or die out. An example of competition is in the picture below, which shows two male deer competing during mating season.

          Another type of community interaction is commensalism. Commensalism is a relationship between 2 organisms where one organism benefits from the other, but the other organism is not harmed but also does not benefit from the relationship. An example of commensalism is like the relationship between the sun and the plants. The plants benefit from the sun's sunlight, but the sun does not benefit from the plants, nor is it harmed by the plants.

           Mutualism is the relationship between two organisms, where both organisms benefit from each other. An example of mutualism would be like birds flying in formation. They all benefit from each other. When the leading bird gets tired, it flies to the back of the formation and the next bird takes over. They continue this and benefit from this because they can fly longer and farther in formation.

           Predation is an interaction between organisms where the predator feeds on its prey. The act of predation always results in the death of its prey and the eventual absorption of the prey's tissue through consumption. An example of predation would be like a lion, the predator, feeding on a Cape Buffalo, the prey, shown in the below picture.

           The last type of community interaction is parasitsm. Parasitism is a type of symbiotic relationship between organisms of different specieswhere one organism, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host. An example of parasitism is like fleas on a dog. The fleas won't kill the dog, but the dog will have to be cleaned and treated.

Blog #8

Blog #8: Your choice: Talk about something you learned or ask a question about something that is confusing you.

Something I learned about recently is about the food pyramid, which I had to research in my previous blog. I thought I knew about the food pyramid before, but I learned a lot of new things about it. A few years ago, there was an old food pyramid, which showed that proteins was the most important part of the pyramid. This led to obesity in many people, because everyone thought that they could eat a lot of proteins and carbs, like bread. However, no one really understood the food pyrimid serving sizes, so they ate according to the pictures, which weren't always accurate. After all, they were just pictures, and the important thing was learning what to eat, and how much to eat it. So, in 2005 a new food pyramid was created, making the fruit and vegetable part of the pyramid more important to our health. It showed better ways to eat healthy.

Blog #7

Blog #7: Compare and contrast two biomes. Describe them in detail; include pictures of plants and animals you are likely to see.

          The Freshwater Biome accounts for one fifth of Earth and provides half of the drinking water, one third of the water used for irrigation, and nearly ninety percent of the world's bathwater. The biome consists of inland lakes, streams, brooks, creeks, rivers, ditches, sloughs, gutters, puddles and canals. Leeches and catfish are a few of the many animals that the Freshwater Biome supports. 
Source: http://www.idiotica.com/cranium/encyclopedia/content/Freshwater.htm
          
          The Marine Biome are consisted of marine regions, coral reefs, estuaries, and oceans. This is similar to Freshwater Biomes because they both contain bodies of water, but Marine Biomes cover more of Earth's area, about 3/4 of Earth's surface, opposed to Freshwater Biomes which cover only 1/5 of Earth's area.
Source: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/biomes/marine.php

 

Blog #6

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


In my opinion, fruits and vegetables are the most important  level of the food pyramid. Although people can argue that proteins is the most important, fruits and vegetables can't make you overweight or unhealthy if you eat more than the recommended portion. When the new food pyramid wasn't created yet, people were going by the old food pyramid, which had proteins as the biggest and most important part of the food pyramid. That led many Americans to obesity, which is why the new food pyramid was created: to help people better understand how many servings of each level they should be eating. Fruits and vegetables are most important because they contain carotenes, which enhance our immune systems and helps against diseases. Fruits and vegetables also provide fiber, nutrients, minerals and vitamins, such as Vitamin A, which is good for eyesight and growth, and Vitamin C, which is good for protection against viruses and bacteria and healing wounds.


Sources: http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts/vitamins_which.htm
http://pediatrics.about.com/od/foodpyramid/a/05_food_pyramid.htm

Blog #5

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

I do believe that humans are impacting extinction. Many animals are constantly in danger of being extinct, because of many reasons which include hunting animals for food, and destroying natural habitats. One website even says that a biodiversity expert has warned us that "humans are driving animals and plants to extinction faster than new species can evolve." If this is true, wildlife is in anger, and humans are the cause. Also, it is becoming increasingly difficult for animals to survive in the climate changes and habitat loss. Unfortunately, almost 17,300 species are considered under threat and a lot would have to be done to stop these species from future extinction. 

Source:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/07/extinction-species-evolve

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 a type of natural selection where it favors a single phenotype. It occurs in population when there is a shift towards an extreme version of the good trait. An example would be like creating new breeds of dogs over generations. For example, scientists who want dogs who can run fast will look for and select breeds who can run fast, and select the fastest runners from their offspring. Over time, after continuing the process they can produce a dog in a future generation who can run extremely fast.  
          Stabilizing selection is a type of selection where genetic diversity decreases as the population settles on a certain trait. Stabilizing selection favors the normal traits in a population. An example of stabilizing selection is choosing something in the middle, an average point. For example, animals must have certain traits to survive in an environment, so stabilizing selection chooses an average, normal trait for that animal so there are no extremes. The size of an animal would be an example, because in certain habitats, that animal cannot be too big or too small, so stabilizing selection chooses a medium size for that animal.
          Disruptive selection is pretty similar to directional selection; it favors the extreme traits in a population. It is like the opposite of stabilizing selection. It is different from directional selection though, because sudden environmental changes cause sudden forces favoring a particular extreme. Disruptive selection occurs quickly. An example of this would be like the color of an animal. If a mouse had black fur and another had white fur, the offspring could have gray fur. However, the environment they are in may give an advantage to the black and white mice, therefore causing the mouse with gray fur to stand out. As a consequence of the selective environmental pressures the mice population would be disruptively selected for extreme values of the black and white mice, but not the gray mice.
 

Blog # 3

Blog #3 Explain what micro evolution is. What are the three ways that variation occurs?


Micro evolution is a change in gene frequency within a population caused by mutations, natural and artificial selection, genetic drift and gene flow. Micro evolution is basically evolution resulting from genetic changes which may lead to new sub-species. An easier way to describe micro evolution is this: When someone with specific traits successfully reproduces, the next generation will have more copies of that certain trait; If the trend continues then that trait will become so common in a population causing the population profile (a chart which shows the number of people as a function of their ages)  to change.


Firstly, genetic variation is the variety of genes in a population. The first and ultimate way that genetic variation can occur is through mutations. This is because mutations change the order of nucleotide bases of DNA. The second way that variation occurs is from independent assortment, which is the recombination of chromosomes during reproduction. Lastly, the third way in which variation happens is from crossing over during meiosis. Crossing over may result in the production or new combinations of genes.

 

Blog #2

Why is fossil record hard to interpret?

The fossil record is basically a a collection or fossilized artifacts from all over the world. Many scientists hope to find more fossils to fill the missing "pieces" in the fossil record, which could help them greatly in discovering more of our past. However, this is difficult because only a very small fraction of the world's organisms have been fossilized, which makes it hard to study the fossil record. Organisms can only be fossilized in specific conditions, thus making fossilization very rare.

Furthermore, it is extremely challenging to interpret the fossil record, because often, the fossil can just be a blob that can not really be studied. Also, fossils from the same species are not guaranteed to survive equally well. Larger, lighter bones deteriorate quicker, while smaller more fragile bones are easily crushed, which makes it hard to even have a fossil to study at all. The different way the organism is preserved depends on the conditions it was in, therefore making it hard to interpret.

Sources:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-fossil-record.htm
http://anthro.palomar.edu/time/time_1.htm

Sem. 2 Blog #1 Evolution

Why is evolution a theory and not a law?


Evolution is a theory because in order for it to become a law, it would have to be widely accepted and a supported, firmly held belief. Although evolution is supported by a lot of evidence, it isn't enough to make it into a law, which is unchangeable. Theories can be changed and tested and are beliefs that has been generally accepted from experiments and observations unlike laws, which are so firmly established that they often never change. Evolution cannot be a law, because some scientists don't agree with it and there has been much debate. For the theory of evolution to become a law, it must be accepted by all and have enough facts to go by.

Last Biology Blog-Feedback!

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 playing Biology Jeopardy. It was really interesting, and since it was fun, I learned a lot from that. Also, it was my favorite because I love competition (and my group won the most money!). I tend to absorb more information when we are doing something fun, because I'm not bored and since Biology is my first period, I am usually a bit sleepy. Jeopardy definitely woke me up. I like playing games-having fun, but learning at the same time.


This year, my least favorite activity/topic was probably learning about organelles, and animal and plant cells. It found it extremely boring and although I learned this before, I forgot most of it. Also, since it was so boring the information basically went in through one ear and came out in the other. As a result, I failed my first biology benchmark, which was mostly based on this topic. Also, we had to create a poster for it and the animal/plant cells are really hard to draw. That project was designed to help us learn about that topic even more, but I still can't (or won't) remember it, unfortunately.


Lastly, if I could change one thing besides the amount of homework, I would change it to having less labs. I think most people like labs, but I don't because I usually mess up the experiment in some way (like I said, I'm not fully awake during first period) and also, I don't think class time is always enough time to finish the experiment. We do get the next day to complete it, but sometimes I have to stop right in the middle because the bell rang. If I could change it, I'd either do less time consuming labs and do them after getting a full understanding of the lab topic. Something else I'd like to change is to have less notes, or more time to do notes. I feel like we go so fast writing notes, that sometimes I don't even really understand what I wrote down.

Bio Blog #13

Blog#13 How has DNA changed how we investigate crimes? What are the two main tests? Describe them.
  
          DNA has affected the way we investigate crimes because without it, we could never have been as successful in solving crimes. Since its discovery, it has been used to solve crimes and is probably the most powerful tool used to put away dangerous criminals. However, DNA is also used for many other cases. In crimes though, it is used to match a suspect with a crime scene stain.
          There are 2 main types of forensic DNA testing known as RFLP and PCR, abbreviations for Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms and Polymerase Chain Reaction, respectively. RFLP testing needs more DNA than PCR, and requires undegraded DNA. Therefore, if the crime scene DNA evidence is either old or small, it would not be suitable for RFLP testing. On the other hand, PCR can be used for testing smaller amounts of partially degraded DNA. PCR is more commonly used because it requires lest time, but generally creates more mistakes than RFLP. PCR testing increases the amount of DNA available, but it also amplifies contaminants if there are any, which is why it is less specific and can more easily have errors.


Sources:
http://www.scientific.org/tutorials/articles/riley/riley.html
http://www.articledashboard.com/Article/DNA-Testing-has-Changed-Everything/2471