Blog #9

It's time for the genetics unit! Mary, Sosie, and I selected albino corn for our experiment. We are very excited to order and receive our dihybrid albino corn seeds so we can get started.

Some background information: the purpose of this experiment is to test the phenotype of a fast plant. A phenotype is the physical characteristics of an organism, as influenced by genes. A gene is a unit of heredity that is passed on from generation to generation and is responsible for the DNA makeup of offspring. In this research project we are choosing an environmental variable that influences the phenotype of an organism.

The variable we decided to test is fertilizer. We are  going to focus on how the amount of nitrogen in the fertilizer and see how it affects the growth and color of the corn. Albinism in corn is a genetic mutation so it is hard to tell if the seeds are going to be albino or regular until they are growing, so we will not know how they turn out until we start the experiment. We haven't yet come up with a hypothesis, as we are still coming up with details about the design of the experiment.

Blog Post #8

I collaborated with Theresa on research of the evolution of dolphin's social groups, which are called pods.
We hypothesized that all dolphin species would live in relatively large groups consisting of hundreds of individuals. We found an evolutionary tree and modified it to trace the specific trait we were studying. This tree portrays the ancestry of the families Delphinidae and Globicephala. Here is the modified version of our cladogram:

The cladogram indicates different sizes of pods with each color dots. The red dots represent large pods (100-1000), blue represents medium sized pods (20-100), and green represents the smallest pods comprised of 2-20 individuals. This information shows that dolphins can really live in any size pods. They can even be based on environmental factors, such as food availability and predators in the area.

We were able to conclude that the research we conducted rejects our hypothesis. This is because there are an array of pod sizes within each genus, and even within each species of dolphins. Our hypothesis is partially true but it is much too narrow to categorize all dolphin pods as one relative size, when the size can be anywhere along a spectrum.

Blog 7: New Project!

I am very excited to be collaborating with Theresa in our dolphin research! In this project we will use evolutionary trees to study the evolution of this species while primarily focusing on their 'pods', or groups in which they live with others of the same species. This cladogram is helping us trace their ancestry based on mitochondrial DNA (mitochondria are the organelles in plant and animal cells that convert sugar into energy- the powerhouse of the cell!)-
 
We have learned many interesting facts about dolphin behavior thus far, including the following:

• Dolphins are agile and playful
• They live in social groups ranging from 5 to hundreds
• They use echolocation to find prey and often hunt together by surrounding a school of fish, trapping them and taking turns swimming through the school and catching fish
• Dolphins will also follow seabirds, other whales and fishing boats to feed opportunistically on the fish they scare up or discard
• Feeding usually takes place at dusk and dawn
• after birth a calf stays with its mother for around 3-6 years
• They interact with one another by carrying objects around, tossing seaweed to each other, vocalizing, etc

I most look forward to uncovering more facts about this amazing species because I think their interaction and lifestyle habits are very interesting. Here are some of the websites we have used for information so far if you would like to learn more and see where we got our facts: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/11/65/abstract

http://forwhattheywereweare.blogspot.com/2011/03/dolphin-mtdna-phylogeny.html

http://www.defenders.org/dolphin/basic-facts

http://www.dolphinresearch.org.au/bottlenose.php

http://seaworld.org/en/animal-info/animal-infobooks/bottlenose-dolphins/communication-and-echolocation/

Blog #6

Now that we have transitioned into our evolution unit, we are learning about tools that help scientists study evolution. Cladograms play a significant role in determining relationships among organisms. What distinguishes a cladogram from an evolutionary tree is that it does not directly show how descendants are related to their ancestors. If you look at the visuals below, you can see that the cladogram links shared characteristics between organisms as opposed to the heritage of the organisms as in the phylogenetic tree.

Evolutionary (phylogenetic) tree (source: Phylogenetic-classification. Digital image. Open Curriculum. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2014. <http://media.opencurriculum.org/articles_manual/ck12_biology/phylogenetic-classification/2.png>.)

Cladogram (source: Cladogram. Digital image. Biology Evolution. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2014. )

Scientists can look at trees to study organisms as a means of researching certain anatomical traits, ancestry, and how organisms evolve. As an example, if you look at the Primates and Rodents & Rabbits categories of the cladogram you can see that the common trait between the two groups is hair because they're both mammals. The lines that extend leftward off of the main line indicate a group of organisms that has acquired that characteristic over time. For example, since Crocodiles are far along in the cladogram, it means that species possesses vertebrae, a bony skeleton, four limbs, amniotic egg, and eggs with shells.

Source:

Enzor, Laura. "Cladograms and Phylogenetic Trees- Evolution Classifications." Education Portal. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Nov. 2014.

Blog 5

So far, our experiment is going well! We are seeing that under the appropriate conditions, moss can really thrive. Moreover, we were surprised to see that moss is able to survive in some unfavorable conditions such as low humidity and lackluster natural light . In the temperate deciduous forests of upstate New York, it is most commonly found in damp, shady environments with high humidity. However, this plant is unique in that it can be found worldwide in many different environments whether they are damp or dry, warm or cool. Moss can be found near hot springs, in lakes and oceans, sand dunes, and on rocks and trees. It is dependent on moisture to grow and reproduce. One other major factor it depends on is accessibility to nutrients. Moss can easily grow and adapt in many places but it is vital that it will have a nutrient source, which comes from soil. Surprising to me, as I assumed all plants were the same in this aspect, was the fact that moss thrives in the winter when there is more water, lower temperatures, and less sunlight. In the summer it is hard for moss to retain enough moisture. In fact, its metabolic process completely slows down in the summer for this reason.
The most crucial ecological concept for my group to be aware of is that moss needs to stay moist to live and while it is a shade-favoring plant, it still needs light!

Here are some sources I checked out:
http://www.softschools.com/facts/plants/moss_facts/504/
http://bryophytes.science.oregonstate.edu/page3.htm

Blog 4

The experiment process continues!  As I mentioned in previous posts, my group is doing our experiment on moss and the humidity that affects its growth. Originally we were planning on ordering moss from an online catalog, however we found out that the sporulating moss they sell is actually no longer sporulating or viable for this experiment. Over this past week, we were able to go out into the Back 40 and collect different types of moss.

 We set up our moss groups in 2 containers with wet paper towels to control humidity. One container is larger and has a wet paper towel that is folded twice. This large container to small paper towel ratio creates less humidity. In contrast, the small container has a large paper towel that is folded 4 times. We soaked the paper towel in the sink prior to placing it in the container so the container would be able to trap the humidity, thus creating a higher humidity than the large container.
Our objective is to see which container will allow for the moss to thrive and grow the most spores. I'm excited to see our results!

Moss is Boss

During the nature walk on Thursday, there was much fascination about the moss that the class was shown by Mr. Calos. Sosie, Olivia, and I decided to make our experiment about moss and the factors that affect its growth. Our hypothesis is as follows: Moss grows more efficiently in conditions with higher humidity.
Our idea for the experiment is that we can set up two different moss gardens, one with high humidity and the other with as little humidity as possible. For the first set of conditions will set the moss up in a container that will trap humidity. We will do the same for the second set of conditions, however we will try to eliminate the possible humidity that could get trapped in the container. Moss is quite prevalent in a temperate deciduous forest such as upstate New York so we initially thought we could take some from the Back 40 here at Emma. It was brought to our attention that moss grows very slowly so it would be more efficient to order sporulating moss. We are using a website called carolina.com, an online catalog that sells a variety of plants. Sporulating moss will make our job much easier because we can measure the growth of the spores by height and number per container. I am excited to get this ball rolling!

Here is the type of moss we are ordering if you would like to see a visual. 
http://www.carolina.com/mosses-liverworts-and-lichen/sporulating-moss-living/156695.pr?catId=&mCat=&sCat=&ssCat=&question=live+moss