Blog #11

Eyster HC. CATALASE ACTIVITY IN CHLOROPLAST PIGMENT DEFICIENT TYPES OF CORN.Plant Physiol. 1950 Oct;25(4):630–638.

OSKI VM, SMITH JHC. Chlorophyll formation in a mutant, white seedling-3. Arch Biochem Biophys. 1951 Nov;34(1):189–195.

Trumble, PhD. Effect of Nitrogen Fertilization on Aphis gossypii: Variation in Size, Color, and Reproduction. Journal of Economic Entomology. 2001 Feb;1(1):27-32.

These documents were initially really difficult to comprehend but they ended up being helpful in the process of forming our hypothesis and setup. We were not sure which variable to manipulate that would affect color of the corn, so these resources helped us understand the effects of fertilizer. These documents are really complex so we ended up getting a deeper understanding of genetics pertaining to corn.

Blog #12

Exciting news! We are finally starting to see some growth in our corn plants. Incidentally, the containers with no fertilizer have grown the most. The ones with 1/2 fertilizer have grown some, and the containers with the most fertilizer haven't at all. We were surprised to find this as we anticipated that the fertilizer would positively influence the plants' growth. However, Mr. Calos pointed out that the germination process is different than the actual growing process so perhaps that is why we haven't seen more growth from the plants with more fertilizer. So far, our daily activities have included watering the plants, checking to see any differences, and recording those that we do see on our shared google doc. We have also been taking pictures of the plants to track progress. Here is a picture of the plant with the most progress and most fertilizer. This one is what we presume to be a non-albino plant.

Blog #10

Our organism and supplies have arrived! Last Wednesday, we were able to start setting up our experiment and plan out our first steps. To start, we found plastic containers (essentially small salad containers) to perfectly accommodate our corn seeds. We figured out the numbers and ratios for our containers so we would be able to properly fill them with the right amount of soil and fertilizer.
After we worked out the logistics, we took a cup of fertilizer pellets and ground them into a fine powder with a coffee grinder. We then filled each of the plastic containers with soil and mixed in the fertilizer. During this process, we weighed the containers in units of grams to make sure they had the correct amount. This was perhaps the most enjoyable part of the experiment thus far, as we really got to be hands-on. We labeled each of the containers according to the variation of corn we would plant inside. The final step of the setup is to figure out how many corn seeds should go in each container. Then, we will plant them at last! The research we've done has indicated that it should take roughly 3-6 days to start seeing growth. So far we do not have any pictures but stay tuned for an upcoming post!
Here is a picture of our newly planted corn seeds.

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.