Biological Classification (10/6 - 10/9)

Image Source: https://goo.gl/dxAVVq

Summary: 

     Earth is full of life. The life on earth come in different categories, known as species, which is a group of organisms that share very similar traits and appearances to each other. Today, there are approximately 8.7 million species living on earth, according to the New York Times. That is a lot of species to account for. Because of this, there has been a way to classify these organisms. It is known as biological classification, first done by Linnaeus. Biologists classify organisms in a diagram known as a cladogram to show which species have similar traits and which ones do not. The higher the cladogram goes, the less traits species have in common. 

SP6 - Constructing Explanations: 

     This week I constructed explanations through my work in understanding biological classification. In order to understand it, I looked at how species had diversified over the years through the cladogram. All organisms began with DNA. Eventually, some organisms began to have complex cells with organelles inside of them. These organisms were known as eukaryotes while the organisms that didn't have complex cells were either prokaryotic or archae, single cell organisms. Eventually, animals had vertebrae then evolving into tetrapods while some didn't like the shark which only remained having a vertebrae. Soon, some animals begun being bilateral and symmetrical, while some begun to have diapsids. Through the worksheet and the website I was supposed to investigate, I explained how animals diversified through the years. 

Tree of Life (10/30 - 11/3)

Image Source: https://goo.gl/6iKSjS

Summary: 

     All organisms that are alive and currently extinct all have a common ancestor. Although we don't know who or what the specific species is, there is sufficient evidence to make that claim. The first form of evidence is comparing fossils and bones together to see which ones are similar. Humans, bats, cats, lizards, whales and birds have a humerus, radius, ulna, carpals, metacarpals and phalanges. Although these parts vary depending on the species, this proves that species once had a common ancestor that eventually diversified through the process of evolution. Another form of evidence is by comparing the traits between species. Using a cladogram, we can tell where a species split into two sections. Looking at a caiman, bird and T-Rex from a cladogram, it shows that they all have common traits such as having vertebrae, a bony skeleton and four limbs which proves that they have a common ancestor. 

SP4 - Analyzing and Interpreting Data: 

     This week I analyzed and Interpreted data when trying to investigate how all organisms have a common ancestor. The first piece of evidence that I analyzed were homologous structures. Many species (mammals in particular) have the same forearm skeletal structure, having a humerus, radius, ulna, carpals, metacarpals and phalanges. This proves that there ha been a common ancestor and has diversified and evolved into these organisms. The second piece of evidence is embryology images of animals in their embryo state. From the images alone, we can see that many of the organism's in their embryonic state are similar, which shows once again that organisms once had a common ancestor.  

The Peppered Moth (10/23 - 10/27)

Image Source: https://goo.gl/HVMaUY

Summary: 

               The peppered moth is a great example of survival of the fittest at its finest. The time where natural selection is demonstrated with these species of moths dates back to the pre to post Industrial revolution. During the pre-industrial revolution, there were two types of peppered moths, white peppered moths and dark peppered moths. However, due to the fact that the trees that they inhabited were white, the white moths were able to blend from predators which meant that they were able to survive long enough to mate and pass on the white body trait to future generations. However, during the Industrial revolutions, coal emissions became much more common, making the once white trees now dark. This allowed the dark moths that used to be less prevalent than the white moths blend in with the environment more and hide more effectively from predators. This change made white moths less prevalent while making dark moths more prevalent. By the end of the Industrial Revolution, the rate of coal consumed died down making the trees turn back to white and making the white moth population recover.

SP4 - Analyzing and Interpreting Data:

               This week I graphed out the populations of both white and dark moths in the span of 10 years twice. Each data set was a representation of a time before, during, or after the Industrial Revolution. The first data set showed the population of dark and light moths in the span of 10 years during the pre and mid Industrial Revolution. While graphing the data, I noticed that the once prevalent white moths slowly declined in population while the black moths thrived and increased in population. From this, I inferred that this must've taken place before to during the Industrial Revolution since this was before any of the pollution started. The second set of data showed a clear contrast to the first one. I saw that the thriving dark moth population slowly started to decrease just as the white moths did and the white moths slowly recovering. Since the dark moths were once thriving in the first data set, I concluded that this takes place during and after the Industrial Revolution since the population of dark moths was initially at its peak at that time and decreased over time, which alludes to when coal emissions decreased and the trees became whiter which gave the white moths opportunity to recover in population. 

               

Natural Selection (10/16 - 10/20)

https://goo.gl/PdhSo1

Summary: 

          Natural selection is the process of elimination for traits in nature. Any negative trait for a species is discarded due to the fact that the species with that specific trait cannot maintain a long enough life to reproduce and allow their offspring to evolve. The traits that allow animals to thrive in their environment are kept and the animals with that trait continue to evolve. For example, there are a species of frogs. Due to mutation, the species is split into two traits; type A which has poisonous skin, and type B which has non-poisonous skin. Both types have a common predator. However, since type A is poisonous to predators, the predators can no longer eat that type. This focuses all the predator's' attention towards type B, the non-poisonous animal. Type B eventually goes extinct due to simply not being able to live long enough to reproduce while type A is allowed to reproduce, evolve and progress.

SP3: Planning/Carrying out Investigations: 

          This week I investigated, along with my table, how natural selection works. The first part of investigation was to have three different variants of predators. Due to the fact that live predators are rather dangerous in a school environment, we substituted them with a spoon, fork and a knife and for prey, we substituted them for an assortment of beans and buttons. In our table, each table mate had a utensil and for 20 seconds, we were allowed to scoop as many beans and buttons as we could. At the end of each hunting period, we had to count how much beans and buttons we collected and anyone that had a utensil that collected less than 20 beans collected had their utensil eliminated. By the end of four rounds, only the spoons remained. This is mainly because spoons were fit to survive in that environment. Forks had gaps in between each blade and knives are too thin to scoop things up. This activity/investigation helped me understand how natural selection works by discarding the negative traits and keeping the positive ones. 

Mutation (10/9 - 10/13)

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Summary:

          Evolution is the process of change and diversity in organisms over a span of thousands to millions of years. This process is due to a slight change in genes of organisms known as mutations. Mutations occur from an imperfect copies of gene heritage from parent to offspring. Although mutations are rare and usually do nothing, over the span of millions of years, many insignificant mutations can contribute to creating a brand new trait that changes the organism in a major way. Mutations aren't the only way that organisms change. Natural selection is when animals are, from the name, naturally selected to survive based on environment. It ties in with survival of the fittest in that the organisms that can't live long enough to reproduce eventually die off while the organisms that do survive will be able to live on and evolve.

SP8 - Obtain and Communicate Information: 

          This week I gathered information in order to gain a  better understanding of how evolution works and the main factors that go into it's never ending factor. There were 4 factors that me and my table of 5 had to split the research on: Mutation, Natural Selection, Gene Flow and Genetic Mutation. In this activity, I assigned myself the duty to research about Natural Selection through given resources. While I was researching about my given topic, I took some notes, including what natural selection was and an example of it. I then communicated this information with my team and obtained other information about their topics of mutation, gene flow or genetic drift.

The Geological Time Scale - Project Blog | (10/2 - 10/6)

Image Source: https://goo.gl/Y2rup2

Backwards Looking: 

     What process did you go through to produce this piece? To produce the Geological Time Scale book, my team and I gathered information on our specific eras. We focused on information that contained the periods, major climate, geological events, and life. Following our research and the era report which lasted in its entirety a week, we spent the day planning out the format of the piece of the project we were soon going to present. In this part, I must admit that my team was rather creative in planning the concept of what we were going to present. We decided to present the information that we researched through a book. In the remainder of the week and the first half of the other, we worked on our eras and actively trying to finish the final product.

Inward Looking: 

     How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike? Why? What did/do you enjoy about this piece or work? I feel that this project is one that I put more effort in than my other projects. In projects where I have to present a visual product, the inevitable deadline that is to come hangs over me, thus putting pressure on me and me rushing the project, which makes the project look unattractive or unorganized. However, during this project, I was granted the opportunity to work on it over the weekend, which gave me time to put all my effort into adding color into my piece, the Paleozoic era. During this project I also feel that my team put their effort in, despite them not having the time to add any color into it. 

  

Outward Looking:  

     Did you do your work the way other people did theirs? In what ways did you do it differently? In what ways was your work or process similar? I think that the most common work process among everyone was to split the eras among each of the four members of the group and then each team member would individually work on their era. At the end of the project, everyone would put together what they worked on to create the final product. That is exactly what my team and many others did during this project. Each of the concepts for the project and the way it was done, however, was different. Some teams decided to present their work on a tri-fold or poster board, while one made a book shelves with each era having their own one. Nonetheless, the one common thing that I saw in all the teams was creativity, whether it was the art displayed, the interactives, or the concept of the project.

 

Forward Looking:

     What would you change if you had a chance to do this piece over again? Something that I learned from this project and would apply if I were to do this all over again is to have better communication with my team. During this project, I feel that the communication between each teammate was limited, thus any ability to share ideas with each other. This lead to the format for each specific page being different, due to our differing ideas on how to tackle it. As a result, some eras might have had some missing or excessive elaboration on specific parts of that era. From that experience, I now know how much communication is important in order to coordinate and complete a project.

Era Report WAC (9/18 - 9/22)

          The Paleozoic Era was the era of evolution which lasted from 544 million years ago to 245 million years ago. Following the Pre-Cambrian Eon, the Paleozoic period started the biggest biological change for all organisms on earth and for many millions of years to follow. The Paleozoic Era saw the formation of the supercontinent Gondwana. The supercontinent had South America and Africa with Antarctica, Australia, India at the bottom right of the South America-Africa combination. This supercontinent was located at the southern hemisphere of earth. In addition to Gondwana, there was also the supercontinent Laurasia which was North America with Eurasia at the northern hemisphere. By the end of the era, Gondwana and Laurasia began to separate and form the continents in the Mesozoic era.

          As I have stated previously, the Paleozoic Era had the biggest biological change. The Carboniferous period produced a lot of carbon which in turn, made many plants. Progymnosperms look very similar to gymnosperms and conifers, except that the progymnosperms create spores to reproduce. There were also glossopteris which lived from 300 MYA to 200 MYA. These were plants that contained wood and had tongue shaped leaves. Cycads are plants with a crown of large leaves with a thick trunk and fairly resemble small palm trees. They are very scarce and are not as common than they were in the Paleozoic-Mesozoic era.

         Along with plants, there were animals. However, they were aquatic because the Paleozoic Era was a major biological change mostly for aquatic organisms and was only the beginning for evolution for them. The most common one was the trilobite which was the most earliest anthropod you could find in earth's history and looked like a very fat centipede. It first appeared during the early Paleozoic and went extinct during the mid Paleozoic era. There was also the blastoid echinoderms which resembled starfish and like the starfish, lived underwater. They went extinct during the late Paleozoic era (Permian Period) due to the Triassic extinction which saw the largest mass extinction in the world. Branchiopods were the earliest versions of plankton and as such were like plankton. However, along with the blastoid echinoderms, they went extinct during the Triassic extinction.

          During the Paleozoic Era, the climate was rather warm. Throughout the early to late Paleozoic Era, it was warm due to the fact that many glaciers had melted from the late Pre-Cambrian era. However, there was a small bump in climate during the Devonian period which may have occurred due to the fast evaporation rates, but went back down as the Carboniferous period took over. The last period, the Permian, saw a massive spike in temperature. This happened because of the formation of Pangea. When landmasses stuck together, it created mountains, but gave opportunity for volcanoes to form as well, which may have led to the Triassic extinction. The noticeable geological changes were first seen during the Ordovician period during the formation of Gondwana and Laurasia which created the Paleo-Tethys, Pathalassic and Iapetus Ocean. During the late Ordovician period, rapid sea-floor spreading occurred which created the Rheic Ocean between Laurasia and Gondwana. The Permian period saw the beginning of the formation of Pangea which meant that landmasses came together to form mountains and volcanoes.

          The Paleozoic Era was the era that began life. It was warm which made it suitable for basic life. The formation of Gondwana and Laurasia helped that happen. During the Paleozoic Era, plants such as progymnosperms, glossopteris and cycads along with the many marine animals such as trilobytes, blastoid echinoderms and branchipods had the chance to evolve and some even became some of the animals we know today. The era saw the beginning of Pangea, which meant that landmasses came together. This formed mountains and began forming volcanoes. Although the era ended with mass extinction, it made way for the Mesozoic Era, where the spotlight shined on the dinosaurs.