Cells-R-Us

In the giant cell that our class made there were many organelles and mine was the chloroplast. The chloroplast is only in plant cells and are the organelles that carry out photosynthesis. The real size of my cell is 2x5 um and when magnified it is 8 by 20 cm. Our giant class cell was a plant cell because it had both chloroplasts and a central vacuole, both of which are only in plant cells. The largest organelle was the central vacuole and the smallest was the ribosomes. I think that based on the size of the organelles in the giant cell that when looking under a microscope the nucleus, central vacuole, and chloroplasts would be most visible. For the most part the shape and size of the organelles did not surprise me except the ribosome which were a lot smaller and complex than I had thought. Over all I liked seeing and being in the giant cell.

Enzymes!!!!

In our experiment we tested whether tempature affected how enzymes work. Our hypothesis was that it would affect the enzymes. To do this we heated one potato in boiling water for two minutes  one in ice water for two minutes, and one we did nothing to. We then put then in test tube and poured 7 cm of hydrogen peroxide on them and waited for two minutes. After the two minutes we measured the foam. On the one that was in nothing the foam measured 3 cm  the one that was in ice water the foam was 1/2 cm, and the one that was in the boiling water did not foam at all. This showed that our hypothesis was correct. In the future we could be more exact in all of our measurements. This can be applied to real world situations in the way that your body changes tempature when you are sick and that can affect how the enzymes in your body work.

Plot Reflection

On Wednesday our group went into the great outdoors and picked a plot. It is located along the Outer Perimeter and we are the farthest out of all of the groups in our class. The plot is a circle with an 11ft radius and is on a slope covered with fallen leaves. It is composed of a few adult trees, lots of saplings, and a small patch of ferns, mosses which we collected data on. The trees in our plot are mostly sourwood trees and white pines, but there is a red maple and a few we have not yet identified. We took the soil ph and temperature as well as collected a sample and plan to look into what this tells about the soil.  We also found one or two mushrooms that we are identifying as well as many small insects.

We will be carefully observing this plot each month through the year and reporting any changes. We expect to see changes in the leaves of the trees as well as seeing if the younger trees survive the winter. Also, we will be checking for change in soil ph & temperature and differences in the animals and fungus we collect. We are excited to be observing this piece of nature throughout the year.

Mushrooms!!!!

This week I learned a lot about fungi and how important they are to the world. The kingdom fungus is made up of primitive fungi, sac fungi, bread molds, and club fungi. Fungi are earths decomposers and help the earth enormously. There are over70,000 types that have been named and possibly 1.5 million that haven't! All fungi are made up of mycelium which is a thread like structure that grows underground. The mycelium may produce a fruiting body that is and above ground structure (like a mushroom) that is used to release spores to reproduce.

                  If you ever want to go on a mushroom foray, you might want to keep some things in mind. First of all you need to know that mushrooms are usually found below trees or on dead matter and they usually show up after a nice long rain. When you pick a mushroom don’t worry about killing it because what you are picking is just the fruit and the majority of the mushroom is below ground in the mycelium. Also, make sure to dig up the entire mushroom and observe where you found it so you can identify it. When identifying it you want to use a mushroom key and field guide. When using these tools pay attention and make sure all of the characteristics match up, also be aware that the picture in the book may not be the same color as the mushroom you found.

                  When we went out on our foray we found lots of mushrooms. One of the mushrooms we found was brownish red with a tan underside. It seemed to be a shelf fungi and it was attached to a tree with others like it scattered around. We put it in a paper bag and when we got back to the lab, we saw that the spore print was light brown. Spore prints show the color of the spores of the mushroom releases in nature and are important in identifying mushrooms. We then tried to identifying it with a mushroom key but didn’t find out what it was that it was a polypore. From there we looked in a field guide under polypores but couldn’t find it we looked again after realizing that it might not be the same color in the picture and found that it was an “Artist’s Conk.”  From this we learned that when identifying any organism, it is important to take your time and make sure to use as many characteristics as possible!

Are Birds Really Dinosaurs?

                This article went very in depth on both sides of the argument. I am agreeing with the fact of dinosaurs evolving into birds for this essay. This is because I feel like better, more believable points were made on the affirmative side of the argument. These points were centered on how both birds like dinosaurs lay eggs, the many homologous structure that they have in common, and closely related fossils that have been found.

                In this article, similarities in bone structure between the first birds and dinosaurs were greatly emphasized. Structures such as thin-walled bones, S-shaped neck, and many others are mentioned. A fossil was found in 1860 that was “The London Specimen of Archaeopteryx lithographica” this was an example of “Transitional form” (transition between birds and reptiles). This shows that there could be a link between birds and a certain type of dinosaurs. Birds also have many obvious similarities, such as the fact that they lay eggs, have scales on their feet, and though it is not visible it has been proven that their anatomy is very similar to dinosaurs.

                This transformation could have easily have happened through natural selection. When the dinosaurs were existent it is proven that some did have wing like structures.  If when the dinosaurs were wiped out, some could have had a favorable trait that let them survive (possibly wings) and passed this on to their offspring then it is possible that they could have survived. They could also have possibly adapted through natural as the history of the earth progressed into the bird today. This is also supported by the “transitional structure” fossil that was found.

                Overall I feel as though the fact of birds evolving from dinosaurs is not a farfetched as it seems. Through natural selection and many other processes of adaptation, it seems that organisms find ways to survive. This is why I feel that it is possible for dinosaurs to evolve into something altogether different to survive.

Conclusion to Is it Alive Lab!

Conclusion

In our investigation we used test tubes to simulate different environments, bromothymal blue to test for CO2, and a microscope & stain to look for cells. We didn’t encounter any problems but if we could change the way we collected data, we would separate the different types of environments. For example, have freshwater and saltwater with the two days we collected data on one table and have the soil and sand with the two days on another.

            The independent variable in our experiment was the different environments that and the dependent was the reaction the unknown had to that environment. The controls we had included how much water was in the water environments, how much we watered the sand and soil, and that all of our test environments were in the same environment. By putting the unknown in different environments (stimuluses’) we were trying to see if it would elicit different responses to any of the environments.

            I would consider our conclusions to be a fact. This is because we did prove life and it cannot be disproven, which is why it is not a theory because a theory can be. From this lab I learned how to use stain and the bromothymal blue, as well as how to set up future labs in this class.