lab analysis

 

 

When studying the data of our lab, one will notice the correlation between the population of the wolf, and the population of the rabbit. The data proves that a variation within ones species allows for some to be better adapted than others. Since these better adapted rabbits are more likely to survive, their traits will be passed on to the next generation. However, as the rabbit population increases, so does the wolf's population. Soon, the rabbits become completely extinct in generation 9, causing the wolf population to become extinct due to starvation. Even after the rabbit population increases, it still takes a while for the wolves to start up again. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Mongolian Steppe Biome (with disaster)

 Travel Journal

 Retrieved from http://www.destination360.com/asia/mongolia/map Taken by Destination360 photographer: George Stanley

Average elevation throughout the ecoregion is 1,000 to 1,300 m within the Mongolian Steppe. With this elevation, annual precipitation, concentrated during a weak summer monsoon, decreases from an average of 400 to 450 mm in the east to 150 to 200 mm in the west. Soil type is gritty/sandy with little moisture unless it is monsoon season. Average January temperatures in this part of the ecoregion may be less than –20oC despite a comparatively low latitude.

Retrieved from http://www.intrepidtravel.com/mongolia and taken from travel company Intrepid Travel.

Much of the ecoregion consists of nearly flat or rolling grasslands. The southwestern uplands of the Da Hinggan Mountains are also included. Their western slopes are gently inclined toward Mongolia while the eastern slopes drop steeply to the Northeast China Plain(http://worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/pa0813).

While walking along a secluded path in the Mongolian Steppe, I decided to record the different producers that I encountered. The most common types of producers were the feather grasses like the Festuca Ovina, and the Cleistogenes Squarrosa. Another common form of producer was the bush like the Meadowsweet and the Vaccinium Vitis-Idaea. Less common are the trees and wild flowers like the Melica Scabrosa, Lillium Tenuifolium, Mongolian oak, and Siberian crabapple. Here are some pictures that I took along the way (not really):

Mongolian Crabapple Retrieved from  http://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/all/malus-hybrids/  Photo by Ryan Somma, CC BY - 2.0

Taken from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Melica_nutans_nuokkuhelmikk%C3%A4.jpg
picture by Alinja, 19:00, 28 December 2007

While taking pictures, I also noticed the abundant wildlife that consisted of mainly grazers, and a few predators. The most common consumers are the Argali sheep, Siberian Roe deer, and the Mongolian antelope. Insects include the Mongolian grasshopper, and the Siberian Ant (Harpagoxenus Zaisanicus).  Rodents-like animals like the Grey Marmot, Least Weasel, and the Steppe Polcat, are the main consumers of bugs, but will also eat vegetation.  The most common predators that feed on these consumers are the Red fox, Mongolian Vulture, and the Grey Wolf. The decomposers of the Mongolian Steppe are sometimes hard to find but they include Earth Worms and Yellow Lichen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian-Manchurian_grassland). More pictures:

 Argali sheep survey the landscape in Ikh Nart Nature Reserve. Taken From http://earthwatch.org/expeditions/wildlife-of-the-mongolian-steppe  By © Emma Fowler

 

Steppe Polecat taken from http://www.treknature.com/gallery/photo125710.htm by Tom Conzemius

 

Human influence has recently declined In Mongolia, economic trends of livestock privatization and the collapse of the urban economy have caused people to return to rural lifestyles, contrary to the global trend toward urbanization. As a result, the number of herdsmen in Mongolia is reported to have tripled in the past decade to more than 450,000 while the number of livestock has increased by 30 percent (http://worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/pa0813). However, due to the increase in herding, the Mongolian grasslands are at a higher risk of over-grazing which would be detrimental to the local wildlife ecosystem.

 

Food Web:

 

Festuca Ovina> Argali Sheep>Grey Wolf> Earth Worms>Yellow Lichen

 

Adaptations:

• Microorganisms: Yellow Lichens have special adaptations which permit them to withstand extremes of moisture and temperature. When moisture is available, it is taken up by the fungus leading to a mechanical change which allows more light to get through, triggering algal photosynthesis; new food and new tissue are then made. When the atmosphere is dry, however, the lichen is dormant and does not grow (http://www.concord.org/~btinker/gaiamatters/investigations/lichens/whatlichens.html).

 

• Plants: Feather Grass can survive in both cold and dry weather conditions as grassland biome has mostly hot summers and rainfalls; also many a time, with falling snow. The plants reserve the moisture during rainfall and snow which helps them in growing season. The plants adapt to this condition and they grow and survive accordingly. For example, the grasses of temperate grasslands are upright and narrow which helps to reduce the heat gain during summers. In grassland biome, fire that erupts from lightening plays an important role as it helps many plants by germinating seeds and also enriches the soil by providing it freshly burnt vegetation. A tough rooting system of these plants prevents the roots from being pulled off by animals when grazing (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/grassland-plants.html).

 

• Animals: The Mongolian Antelope once inhabited vast areas of Eastern Europe and even prehistoric North America, but is now nearly extinct; it can only be found in Kazakhstan and parts of Mongolia. Its elaborate nose serves the dual function of warming up air in the winter and filtering out dust in the summer. Its horns are highly valued in Chinese folk medicine.

Taken From http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0501-hance_saiga_tourism.html by: Igor Shpilenok. 

Symbiotic Relationships:

• Yellow Lichen relies on trees like the Oak, and the bacteria.
• Grasshoppers rely on the feather grass, and other vegetation.
• Grey Marmot rely on grasshoppers as a source of food.

OH NO! A VOLCANIC ERUPTION!!!

 



 

credit: Getty Images/Tom Pfeiffer/VolcanoDiscovery)

 



A volcano called Mount Quick has erupted and greatly affected the vast grasslands of  the Mongolian steppe. Thick streams of lava roll down the volcanos slopes leaving burnt vegetation in its wake. After the eruption has ceased, the lava turns into dried molten  rock that covers the entirety of the grasslands. Although the lava is relatively slow, few animals are unaffected by the devastation it caused.

 

The environment now contains large amounts of ash that dirties the air and water. The ash also coats the ground, making it difficult for things to regrow. The feather grasses are the plants that have been seemingly wiped out by the molten lava. Once lively grasslands, are now converted into vast deserts of rock and dirt. The trees have also been burnt to a crisp, no longer producing fruit for consumers to eat. Flowers along  with the grasses are wiped out and can no longer grow due to the new rocky terrain and the decreased available sunlight. The 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

animal behavior lab

Siri Dominguez

F Block

4/12/2014

Animal Behavior Lab with Pillbugs

ABSTRACT: to study the behavioral characteristics of pillbugs, my partner and I tested three different experiments. The first was wet v. dry, the second was light v. dark, and the third was honey v. wet. For the first experiment we found that the bugs did not really seem to care whether the paper was wet or not. In the second experiment, we concluded that our hypothesis had been correct since most of the pillbugs stayed in the shaded area. Finally for the third experiment, we found that the pillbugs preferred to stay on the wet dish, rather than the one covered with honey.

INTRO: Animal behavior is defined as anything that an organism does involving action and response to stimulation. Therefore, there are many different types of question one can ask concerning animal behavior. Two main types of questions are proximate and ultimate. Proximate questions give an explanation of an animal's behavior based on trigger stimuli and internal mechanisms. Ultimate questions give an explanation of an animal's behavior based on evolution. Requires that behavioral traits, like physical ones, are genetically heritable, and then explains behavior using an explanation of why this specific behavioral trait was favored by natural selection. Example of proximate question: What hormones trigger birds to sing during mating season? Example of ultimate question: How have bird songs adapted to become better at attracting mates? Imprinting is an example of both ultimate and proximate causation. Proximate cause: During an early, critical developmental stage, the young geese observe their mother moving away from them and calling which allows them to remember their mother call. Ultimate cause: On average, geese that follow and imprint on their mother receive more care and learn necessary skills, and thus have a greater chance of surviving than those that do not follow their mother. Within behavior there are also many noticeable patterns which can be referred to as a fixed action.  A fixed action pattern is one of the few types of behaviors which can be said to be hard-wired and instinctive. An example of a fixed action pattern is the hibernation of bears during the winter. Behavioral response also have to main categories, kinesis and taxis. Kinesis, like a taxis or tropism, is a movement or activity of a cell or an organism in response to a stimulus. However, unlike taxis, the response to the stimulus provided (such as gas exposure, light intensity or ambient temperature) is non-directional. An example kinesis: the locomotion of a woodlice in relation to humidity. With increased humidity there is an increase in the percentage time that the woodlice will remain stationary. An example of taxis: the migration of birds south for the winter in response to the cold. There are two main categories I which a behavioral technique can be introduced, classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is a learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired; a response that is at first elicited by the second stimulus is eventually elicited by the first stimulus alone. Operant conditioning (or instrumental conditioning) is a type of learning in which an individual's behavior is modified by its antecedents and consequences (rewards and punishments).

HYPOTHESIS: Experiment #1: if the one of the papers is wet, then the pillbugs with congregate to that area because they prefer cooler surfaces.

Experiment #2: if one dish is covered, then the pillbugs will prefer to stay in that dish because they are more accustomed and comfortable with being in the dark.

Experiment #3: if one of the papers is covered with honey and the other is wet, then the pillbugs will prefer the wet dish because the honey is sticky and different from what they are accustomed to.

MATERIALS (for all experiments):

·         10 pillbugs

·         2 petri dishes connected

·         Light

·         Circle sheets of paper

·         Box cover (to cover one side)

·         Honey

·         Water

PROCEDURE:

1^st experiment:

1.      Place two sheets of circle paper in petri dish and wet one side.

2.      Place 10 pillbugs spread evenly on both sides

3.      Place box cover on top of dishes and collect data

4.      After four minutes, remove box cover and continue to collect data for 3 more minutes

2^nd experiment

1.      Place two sheets of circle paper in dishes and cover one side with box cover

2.      Place lamp over the other side that is uncovered

3.      Put 10 pillbugs on dishes

4.      Record data

3^rd experiment

1.      Place two sheets of circle paper in dishes wet one side with water and the other with honey.

2.      Place 10 pillbugs in dishes

3.      Record data

RESULTS:

1st experiment:

2^nd experiment:

3^rd experiment:

CONCLUSION: For the first experiment we found that the bugs did not really seem to care whether the paper was wet or not. This disproved our hypothesis, since we originally thought the bugs would prefer the wet dish. Our control was the dry piece of paper, and our two constants were temperature, and amount of pillbugs. Sources of error were miscounding, and uncovering the dishes too soon. In the second experiment, we concluded that our hypothesis had been correct since most of the pillbugs stayed in the shaded area. Our two constants were amount of pillbugs and dry petri dish paper. Sources of error may have been timing incorrectly or miss counting the bugs. Finally for the third experiment, we found that the pillbugs preferred to stay on the wet dish, rather than the one covered with honey. This also proved our hypothesis correct since we had guessed the wet texture would be more “normal” to the pillbugs. Our two constants were amount of pillbugs and temperature. Sources of error could have been too much water or honey, and miscounting.

CITATIONS:

Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.

 Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.

Unit 8 quiz

1. Provides an immediate nonspecific immune response

The innate immune system, also known asnon-specific immune system and first line of defense, is a subsystem of the overall immune system that comprises the cells and mechanisms that defend the host from infection by other organisms in a non-specific manner. This means that the cells of the innate system recognize and respond to pathogens in a generic way, but, unlike the adaptive  immune system, it does not create long-lasting or protective immunity to the host.

The innate immune response to infectious and sterile injury is regulated by neural systems that control cytokine production. The Inflammatory Reflex is a prototypical neural system that controls cytokine production in the spleen. Action potentials transmitted through the vagus nerve to spleen regulate the release of acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter that inhibits cytokine release by interacting with alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors expressed on cytokine-producing cells. This controls the process of inflammation around an injury such as a cut or scratch.

Innate immune system functions include :

gathering cells to infectious areas through the production of chemical factors that include chemical mediators called cytokines.

Activate the compliment cascade to identify pathogens, and promote the clearance of bacteria.
 

2. Activates T and B cells in response to an infection

Leukocytes are produced or stored in many locations in the body, including the thymus, spleen, and bone marrow. For this reason, they're called the lymphoid organs. There are also clumps of lymphoid tissue throughout the body, primarily as lymph nodes, that house the leukocytes. These Leukocytes play an important role in the immune a system, mostly because they are in charge of recognizing and destroying invaders. 

There are two types of Leukocytes:

 phagocytes, cells that chew up invading organisms, and lymphocytes, cells that allow the body to remember and recognize previous invaders and help the body destroy them.

The two kinds of lymphocytes are B lymphocytes and T lymphocytes. Lymphocytes start out in the bone marrow and either stay there and mature into B cells, or they leave for the thymus gland, where they mature into T cells. B cells identify and contain information about foreign invaders, while T cells attack and destroy. 

The histocombatibillity complex (hcm 2) is what delivers the antigen to the B cells and T cells.

When antigens (foreign substances that invade the body) are detected, several types of cells work together to recognize them and respond. These cells trigger the B lymphocytes to produce antibodies, specialized proteins that lock onto specific antigens.

3. Responds to a later exposure to the same infectious agent

Once produced, antibodies continue to exist in a person's body, so that if the same antigen is presented to the immune system again, the antibodies are already there to do their job. So if someone gets sick with a certain disease, like chickenpox, that person typically doesn't get sick from it again. These antibodies also help to quicken the pase of the immune systems response by avoiding the use of phagocytes (cells that "present" pathogens to B cells). 

This is also how immunizations prevent certain diseases. An immunization introduces the body to an antigen in a way that doesn't make someone sick, but does allow the body to produce antibodies that will then protect the person from future attack by the germ or substance that produces that particular disease.

4. Distinguishes self from nonself

T cells compare non-self antigens to HLA (human leukocyte antigens) molecules with proteins the system already knows are its own. Your T-cells don't react to your HLA because of tolerance caused by the memory of the Tand B cells, but are not tolerant to the HLA proteins of someone else. Thus, when there is a non-self system in your body (i.e.: after a transplant or infection), your T-cells will begin a cell-mediated immune response against it, considering them foreign.

Sources:

http://m.kidshealth.org/parent/general/body_basics/immune.html

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000821.htm

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Innate_immune_system.png

Podcast

https://soundcloud.com/user886627056/transcript/s-JXBFP

Transcript

    Estrogen, in females, is produced primarily by the ovaries, and during pregnancy, the placenta. Estrogen functions mainly to promote the development of female secondary sexual characteristics, such as breasts, and is also involved in the thickening of the endometrium and other aspects of regulating the menstrual cycle. Like most sex hormones, estrogens and androgens, are fat soluble and water repellent. In other words, they "like" lipid or fatty structures such as those surrounding cells but are generally repelled by watery areas. Steroids generally travel to their target cells attached to a special carrier protein that "likes" water .  On the other hand, Most water-soluble hormones, like the amino acid derivatives and peptides, can travel freely in the blood because they "like" water. However, they are repelled by lipid or fatty structures such as the membranes that surround the cell and nucleus. Because of this, these hormones generally bind to receptor sites on the outside of the cell and signal from there.

Follicle-stimulating hormones (FSH) stimulates the ovarian production of estrogens by the granulosa cells of the ovarian follicles and corpora lutea. Some estrogens are also produced in smaller amounts by other tissues such as the liver, adrenal glands, and the breasts. Estrogen is initiated in the simple endocrine pathway,  and synthesizes in theca interna cells in the ovary, by the synthesis of androstenedione from cholesterol. Androstenedione is then converted into androgens such as testosterone as well as estrogen. This compound crosses the basal membrane into the surrounding granulosa cells, where it is converted either immediately into estrone, or into testosterone and then estradiol in an additional step. The conversion of androstenedione and testosterone into estrone and estradiol, is catalyzed by aromatase, enzymes which are expressed in granulosa cells. The actions of estrogen are controlled by the estrogen receptor, a nuclear protein that binds to DNA and controls gene expression. Estrogen enters passively into the cell where it binds to, and activates the estrogen receptor. Since estrogen enters all cells, its actions are dependent on the presence of the Estrogen Receptor in the cell. The Estrogen Receptor  is expressed in specific tissues including the ovary, uterus and breast. Estrogen regulation is also known as a  negative feedback loop, because it inhibits the production of certain hormones. The process starts when the hypothalamus notices a low level of estradiol in the blood and begins releasing a hormone known as gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), which notifies the pituitary gland to make and release both the luteinizing hormone (LH) and the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). In females, LH and FSH tell the ovaries to secrete estradiol and progesterone, which stimulates the growth of the egg-producing ovarian follicle and prepares the uterus for pregnancy. In males, LH and FSH notify the testes to secrete testosterone, which stimulates sperm production. The ovaries make and release estradiol until a certain level is reached in the bloodstream. The hypothalamus and pituitary notice the increase and stop secreting GnRH, LH and FSH hormones. This causes the ovaries to stop releasing estradiol and progesterone until the level in the blood decreases to a low enough level that then reactivates the process.

Citations

"E.Endocrine System : Types of Hormones." E.hormone. Tulane University, 2014. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.

"Endocrine System : Feedback Loops." E.hormone. Tulane University, 2014. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.

"Estrogen." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Feb. 2014. Web. 01 Mar. 2014

Yeast Lab Report

Siri Dominguez

2/16/2014

F Block

Yeast Cell Respiration Lab

Abstract: In this lab, we tested how the use of sucrose, glucose, protein, and starch affected the cell respiration of yeast. We tested this by creating similar test tubes that contained different substances, and then initiated the process by adding the elements needed for cell respiration to begin. We found that our test tubes containing sucrose and glucose created the most gas, while our test tubes containing starch and protein yielded hardly any gas. From this we concluded that cell respiration requires glucose in some form in order to successfully initiate cell respiration.

Introduction: Cellular respiration allows organisms to use (release) energy stored in the chemical bonds of glucose (C6H12O6). The energy in glucose is used to produce ATP. Cells use ATP to supply their energy needs. Cellular respiration is therefore a process in which the energy in glucose is transferred to ATP (faculty.clintoncc.suny.edu). In class we studied how yeast uses this equation:    

for cell respiration since it can not perform photosynthesis. This helped us design our experiment and produce our hypothesis.

Hypothesis: If we add 1g of any substance that does not contain glucose to our test tubes, then the yeast will not be able to produce ATP, which would be represented by the amount of gas produced by the test tube.

Materials:

• 4 test tubes (vials)
• 1g of sucrose
• 1g of pure glucose
• 1g of starch
• 1g of protein
• 1g of yeast (each)
• 35 mL of warm water (each)
• .1g salt (each)
• 4 rubber stoppers with tube system used to measure the gas produced
• timer
• scale

Procedure:

1. Put 1g of yeast, .1g of salt, and 35 mL of warm water into each test tube
2. Add specific ingredients to corresponding test tube (sucrose, glucose, starch, and protein)
3. shake until contents are dissolved
4. let all test tubes sit for 5 min
5. insert rubber stopper and take starting measurement
6. in increments of 1 min, take measurements for each test tube
7. stop after 5 min

Results:

Substances	Baseline	1min	2min	3min	4min	5min
Sucrose	1.6 mL	2.2 mL	2.8 mL	3.4 mL	5.8 mL	6.4 mL
Glucose	.6 mL	.6 mL	.8 mL	1 mL	1 mL	1.2 mL
Protein	1 mL	1 mL	1 mL	1 mL	1 mL	1 mL
Starch	1.6 mL	1.6 mL	1.6 mL	1.6 mL	1.6 mL	1.6 mL

Conclusion: After reviewing our findings, we concluded  that our hypothesis was correct. In comparison with our control, the test tube that contained sucrose, our results depicted what we predicted in our hypothesis; the test tubes that did not contain any form of glucose did not produce much gas (CO2). In our experiment we had three constants, The amount of yeast, water, and salt added to each test tube. With these constants, we hoped to increase our chances of  eliminating any outside factors that might affect our experiment. However, we found that our control produced a lot more gas than the other products. Glucose should have produced just as much CO2 as our control, sucrose. This finding might have been due to incorrect measurements made when mixing the different substances together, or possible outside contamination left over in the test tube by other substances.

Citation:
faculty.clintoncc.suny.edu