Kelly - Scavenger Hunt #7

These pictures are from Moody Gardens on Galveston Island, Texas.

1.Homologous Structures

 This is a picture of a seal skeleton. The flippers of the seal and arms of humans are considered homologous structures. They are used differently but they are supposed to be from a common ancestor.

2. Mating Behavior

These are Potbelly Seahorses. The female is the larger and brighter colored one, which helps to attract the male. Once they have found a mate they are monogamous, which is very odd for fish. Seahorses mate during a full moon. They begin with a courting process where they curl the ends of their tales to each other and swim together. This can last for days. During courting the male will open and close a pouch where the female will eventually deposit hundreds of eggs. The male then fertilizes them and they grow for 2 to 5 weeks. The male gives birth but he doesn’t take care of the baby seahorses, they are on their own.

3. Asexual Reproduction

Organisms that reproduce asexually reproduce by mitosis so their offspring are genetically identical to the parent.  Some plants and animals can reproduce asexually.

This picture is a sea star, sometimes called a starfish. They belong to the phylum Echinodermata which means “spiny skin.” Sea stars can be found in every ocean and they can live in both the intertidal zone and in deep water.

There are male and female sea stars but they look the same from the outside. Sea stars usually reproduce sexually but asexual reproduction can also take place. If they reproduce asexually it is by regeneration. If a sea star is split, it can re-grow another entire organism as long as part of the central disk is left.

 

4. Littoral zone organism

The area where the sea and land meet is the littoral zone, also called the intertidal zone. During high tide this area is covered by water and at low tide it is open to the air.  Some of these areas are muddy, some are sandy and some are covered with rocks.

Crabs, sea stars, sea urchins, mussels and sea anemones can be found in littoral zones. The organism in this picture is a sea anemone. This one is about three inches across but some grow up to three feet. They attach themselves to surfaces like rocks, coral or even a shell, but they can move very slowly and sometimes they float in the water. They feed on small fish and shrimp. Their mouth is at the top and is surrounded by tentacles they use to sting their prey and move it into their mouth.  If they are threatened they will pull their tentacles in and form a ball.

Sea anemones and hermit crabs sometimes have a relationship that benefits both (mutualism). The anemone attaches to the hermit crab’s shell which allows the anemone to get a fresh supply of food. The crab benefits because the anemone’s stinging tentacles protect it from predators.

And of course, there is also the relationship between Nemo and an anemone! Clown fish live in anemones, safe from predators and they help keep the anemone clean.

5. Homeostasis

Homeostasis is when an organism is able to keep its entire internal systems stable even if their environment changes.

The penguins in this photo are King Penguins and Rockhopper Penguins. The Rockhopper penguins are smaller and have the yellow feathers on their head.

An example of homeostasis is an organism’s ability to keep their body temperature stable. Penguins have adaptations that control their heat loss by controlling the amount of warm blood that goes to different places in their bodies, for example, their wings and feet. These parts are not well insulated so they can have a large amount of heat loss.  They will keep just enough blood flowing so their feet and wings can’t freeze. Sometimes, if they are too warm, they will also increase blood flow to their feet and wings to allow heat to escape.

Feathers also help penguins keep their temperatures stable.  When sitting in a cold wind they will cover their feet with their feathers and a layer of fat underneath the feathers. In the cold they can puff their feathers out to trap air which acts as insulation. If they are too hot they can puff their feathers even more and the warm air can escape.

Another adaptation penguins have is called countercurrent blood flow. They have an artery that carries the warm blood to their wings and feet. Next to it are two veins that carry the cooler blood back to their heart. When the cool blood flows next to the warmer artery it is able to absorb some of the heat before it goes to the main body of the penguin. This keeps the core of their body from cooling too much.

Hot Zone Part 2

First of all, I think it is very cool that they could figure out what virus the monkey's had all from looking at test tube substances under a microscope and comparing them to what the blood from peter cardinal looked like. I thought it was interesting that the black specks usually in the victims puke showed up in the test tube, too. It is hard to believe that this is actually a nonfiction book and all of this really did happen not long ago at all. Reading about the viruses and how quickly they spread makes me turn into a germ freak! It also really surprises me the lax precautionary clothing, masks, and gloves the healthy people had when taking care of the sick people.

Scavenger Hunt #5

Organisms in different kingdoms

Animals

The animal kingdom is the largest kingdom. This is a caribou in Denali national park! Animal kingdom as over one million species.

Archaebacteria

This is a picture taken at Yellowstone national park. It is a steaming pool on the side of the road. Archaebacteria is found in extreme environments. Yellowstone has a lot of archaebacteria because it has a lot of hot boiling water underground.
Asexual Reproduction-- Asexual reproduction is when offspring comes from one parent and has the genetic make up of only that one parent. There is no meiosis involved in asexual reproduction. It is the form of reproduction in single celled organisms like archaebacteria, protists, and many plants and fungi.

Plants

The plant kingdom is the second largest kingdom with over 250,000 species. This picture is taken at Sedona, Arizona.

Eubacteria

Eubacteria is in it's own kingdom because it has a different chemical makeup than archaebacteria. It is the most commonly known bacteria. It can be bad or good. For example, it is in yogurt which is healthy. However, streptococci is eubacteria that can give you strep throat.

Fungi

Mushrooms and mold are examples of fungi. They are multicelluar, unlike bacteria. They are very similar to plants, except they can not make their own food.

scavenger hunt

The fish in this picture is reacting to the aerotaxis right now, as the fish is taking the oxygen in instead of water and cannot breathe create a negative taxis. Most aerotaxis for fish create a negative taxis since this stimulation is bad where as a hydrotaxis create a positive taxis.

Many types of fish, unlike the one I caught, have parasites on them that create a parasitic relationship. One of the most common style of parasitism on fishes is a parasite that eats the eye and live on the eyes as it feeds making the fish blind but nourishing the parasite.

This sea grass on the other hand is a type of C4 Plant. It uses four carbon molecule instead of three for the metabolic pathway for the photosynthesis. Most underwater grasses are C4 Plants. The C4 Plant is supposedly an evolved version of C3 Plants because of adaptations. It is still used for the same reason as a C3 plant.

This wheat grass is a form of a C3 plant. It has a specific style of carbon fixation during photosynthesis. That is  a metabolic pathway for the photosynthesis. The plant relies on this process to convert CO2 into organic compounds. Many forms of wheat grasses are C3 Plants, but on average grasses tend to be C4 Plants.

Your going to have to go along with me on this one. Millions of cells live on this old and used dollar bill. Some of these cells are prokaryotes, which lack a nucleus. Most prokaryotes tend to be unicellular but at the same time like to group together. To be classified as a prokaryote you have to not have a nucleus.

Kelly - The Hot Zone part 3

I have a theory about Ebola Reston. In the beginning of the book they said that Marburg must have started in an animal that it didn't effect such as an insect or a small animal. I think that Ebola Reston could have started in humans and therefor does not effect humans. Ebola Reston effects monkeys like Ebola Zaire effects humans. I am learning a lot from this book. I think it's amazing that there are diseases that don't effect everyone and everything. I'm learning a lot about the precautions that people have to take with a level 4 hot agent. I wonder if they would still consider viruses that effect animals but not humans hot agents because there would be no harm to the people handling them. I like that the author put in the different pictures of the viruses. But to me they all look the same. It's hard to believe that viruses that are so similar in allearence can effect different species.

reading

The book definitely has been an excellent and enticing read. I find it hard to believe those four workers at the monkey house actually survived Ebola Reston. It makes you wonder though if Ebola learns and adapts depending on what is at hand and what would be better for the survival of the virus. Personally I believe that the virus does learn otherwise that strain wouldn't have mutated from Zaire. Viruses are scary things and don't like to be tempered with. I hope the Kitum Caves is as good as the rest.

Scavenger Hunt #4

Adaptation of an animal--

This is a grizzly bear that lives in Denali national park in Alaska. I saw two the first day that I was there. They  both had somewhat of a blonde coat, more so than one would expect a grizzly bear to have. Later, I found out that this is due to their diet. The grizzlies in Denali do not live near a river; therefore, they have to adapt to their environment and eat only berries and vegetation. The grizzlies in south Alaska have access to the Kenai river, and other rivers, where they eat mostly salmon. This is said to cause the southern grizzlies to have a darker coat.

Mating Behavior--

These are salmon eggs. I went fishing in Kenai, Alaska during the middle of July. This is the time that salmon from the ocean swim up stream of the rivers to lay their eggs. There are so many that each person can catch up to three each day and there will still be enough to have a steady population each year. This is the mating behavior of salmon.. happens every year. I watched the guy fillet the fish and he pointed out the eggs to me.. I was very fascinated. He just thought I was weird to take pictures of the insides of the fish..

Enzyme

The brown organ is the liver--a liver of a salmon fish.The liver secretes a digestive enzyme called bile that is stored in the gall bladder. An enzyme is something produced by a living organism that acts as a catalyst.

Altruistic Behavior

This is Shanook. She is a mom of five alaskan husky puppies in Girdwood, Alaska. They live on a glacier where dog sledding takes place. She shows altruistic behavior when she cares for her pups more before doing anything else. She protects them very well, and always makes sure they are safe before making herself comfortable.

Cuticle Layer of a Plant

This is a flower from Nicaragua. Nicaragua is very hot, with a very strong sun. Water is something that is somewhat scarce in Nicaragua, at least clean water that is. Plants are the least of concern for the people there. Therefore, they do not get watered by hand; they only receive water from the times that it rains. Therefore, this plant develops a cuticle layer that is a waxy coating that helps the plant from loosing water to evaporation.