DPAPBio

Our Last AP Biology Lab Write-Up EVER!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (KTress) — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 03:21:00 +0000

Here's our lab. Most of the class worked on it together in one big lab write-up.

Hope you like it!

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Busey) — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 03:10:00 +0000

Here's our energy dynamics lab.

Comic

noreply@blogger.com (acavz) — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 02:39:00 +0000

This comic shows energy being transfered from carrots to the rabbit then to the bird. In the first strip it shows a rabbit eating carrots and getting energy from the nutrients. In the next strip it shows a bird doing the same thing but the rabbit being its food source and sharing it with the baby birds. The predator prey relatioinship is another energy transfer. Each are being brought down the food chain for energy transfer.

Comic Strip

noreply@blogger.com (Shan) — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 01:20:00 +0000

This comic strip shows the energy transfer beginning with the grass (producer). The bunnies scatter as they eat the grass consuming the energy that it gives off. In the third section, the bunny is confronted by the most notorious predator, the hawk. Unfortunately, we had to keep this comic rated PG so the hawk eating the bunny lies behind the censoring "THE END"

Sexual Selection in Butterflies

noreply@blogger.com (Shan) — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 01:20:00 +0000

Sexual selection is a natural selection among organisms in which specific genetic traits are preferred for reproduction. Sexual selection is special because it may cause domination of a desired trait like colorful feathers on a peacock, wings on a butterfly or even loud roars in lions.

There are two mechanisms of sexual selection: intersexual and intrasexual.
Intrasexual Selection involves characteristics which affect the outcome of competition among members of one sex for access to members of the other sex.
Intersexual Selection would influence the evolution of secondary sexual characteristics which determine the relative "attractiveness" of members of one sex to the other sex.

In this case, the developmental evolution of wing patterns lead to the diversification of butterfly species which intersexually, allows them to become more attractive when it comes to mating.

My Comic Strip

noreply@blogger.com (Farah) — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 01:42:00 +0000

This comic shows the grass using the sun's energy for photosynthesis. Then the next frame shows a goat (a herbivore) eating the grass for it's energy. And finally, a little boy is having goat for lunch. Only 10% of the energy produced by the autotroph is passed on to the next trophic level, in this case it is the goat. The boy then gets only 10% of the energy produced in that goat.

Energy Transfer Comic

noreply@blogger.com (chellemohasin) — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 01:28:00 +0000

Energy transfer from worms to birds

This comic strip shows a mother bird feeding her babies worms she has picked from the ground. The energy transfer is only ten percent in each turn. The amount of energy is decreased by ten percent each time. As the birds eat the worms, they are gaining all the nutrients and necessary products from the worm. It isn't shown in the comic, but when a predator eats the birds, such as a hawk or snake, the energy of the worm will be transferred through the birds but at twenty percent less. This fact makes difficult for food chains to be infinite. There is always a loop. Also, the ten percent decrease each time makes it necessary for top carnivores to eat more of their prey to get more of their needed energy intake.

Comic strip

noreply@blogger.com (enkaysaini) — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 11:58:00 +0000

This particular comic strip uses creative techniques to portray energy transfer throughout an ecosystem. For example, the sunflower is using the energy from the sun to make sugar in its photosynthesis process. Additionally, the primary consumer that eats the plant, in this case the deer, will absorb only ten percent of the total energy from the plant. Finally, the man who hunts the deer in the third picture will absorb ten percent of energy from the deer.

Energy Transfer Comic Strip

noreply@blogger.com (safoora) — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 01:43:00 +0000

This comic strip starts with a rabbit eating grass. The grass gains energy from the sunlight through photosynthesis. In the second panel, there is a cow that sees the rabbit. Since cows are herbivores, he has no interest in getting his energy from eating a rabbit. In the third panel, it shows the cow also eating grass. He gains his energy from eating grass, rather than the rabbit.

Comic Strip energy transfer

noreply@blogger.com (ChrisThor) — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 01:01:00 +0000

In this comic strip, a handful of ants are being useless with their energy and the anteater decides there is a better use for them. By eating the ants, the anteater gains about 10% of the energy that was stored in the ants he just ate. These ants gained their energy from whatever they ate, which could have gotten its energy from the sun(main source of energy in almost every ecosystem) or another organism that probably gained its energy from the sun. The type of energy transfer shown occurs between all organisms that eat other organisms. Unfortunately, this anteater will eventually pass on his energy to a larger mammal or will die and decomposers will use the energy he once consumed. Ants being eaten by an anteater is an example of energy transfer in an ecosystem.

Everyone needs energy Comic

noreply@blogger.com (vas) — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 22:12:00 +0000

In this rage comic I am abstractly depicting the importance of energy and energy transformation. In the first panel, someone who is particularly hungry is shown, and he appears to be quite frustrated and angry. This is because when one is hungry, one lacks energy and thus doesn't act normally because energy is needed to function properly in all organisms. Animals take in energy from eating food which contains energy. In the second panel, someone who has eaten well is shown, and he appears to be happy and to be doing well. So once again, when people eat food they are transforming it into energy that they need to perform normal and everyday functions. Ingesting food is necessary for making energy, which everyone needs in order to survive.

Comic

noreply@blogger.com (Vic) — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 21:46:00 +0000

The shark was hungry so his body needed energy. In order to get the energy he needed he had to eat something. Instead of eating the fish, he ate the plants that were growing from the light of the sun. This shows energy transfer because the sun allows the plants to produce energy that is then passed on to its consumer the shark.

Comic

noreply@blogger.com (ngoberdhan) — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 17:36:00 +0000

The seed is planted in the ground gathering all the necessary nutrients from the soil and sun. As a result it grows and at the second week it becomes a flower. However a rabbit eats the flower. This shows the transfer of energy because the sun provides the seed with energy. The seed uses that energy to grow and develop into a flower. The rabbit then eats the flower therefore obtaining energy from the flower.

Comic Strip: Energy Transfer

noreply@blogger.com (Fariha) — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 17:06:00 +0000

The snake tries to camouflage itself to prevent being eaten by predators like the hawk. In this comic strip it is returning back to the grass after eating plants from the garden. Thus the energy from the producer (plant) is transfered to the first trophic level (snake). The end of the snake is still in the dark soil so it's not camouflaged. That is how the hawk sees it. The hawk swoops down and eats the snake, transferring energy from the second trophic level to the third.

Sexual selection in Peacocks

noreply@blogger.com (enkaysaini) — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:57:00 +0000

Before

After

I decided to model sexual selection as a evolutionary process for my model. I modeled the process by drawing the peacock before and after the evolutionary process took place. Before the evolutionary effect, the peacock had white feathers and after the process it had vibrant green and blue feathers. The white feathers were too bright for the peacocks and white peacocks were easily spotted by predators, therefore, many males would chose the colorful peacock over the white because they were more appealing. This made sexual selection a selective process as opposed to random since the males had to chose which female they would want to mate with.

Cartoon

noreply@blogger.com (dk) — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 04:51:00 +0000

This cartoon illustrates animals trying to save other members of their species because they don't want their "friends" to be eaten. As we move along to the next cartoon we see that the same animal that was trying to keep someone from eating, is now eating. This shows that although we don't want our own kind to become hunted, we ourselves are also hunting. The animal does not even realize that it is doing the same thing it was trying to stop. It also gives light to the saying we don't care about a scenerio until it happens to us. The predator prey relationship is an important one; not allowing one species to dominate another. As a prey population decreases, a decrease in the predator population will follow. Once the predator population decreases, the prey population increases, and then causes an increase in the predator population. Many organisms need to eat to survive. Instead of bashing one organism for "killing" another we should understand it is merely doing what many of us others do on a daily basis. We should rather respect the greatness of the predator-prey relationship.

Natural Selection in Red Pandas

noreply@blogger.com (chellemohasin) — Tue, 29 May 2012 22:02:00 +0000

Before

After

My model shows is an example of natural selection in red pandas. Red pandas hunt during the night as nocturnal carnivores. In the before picture, the panda has smaller ears and eyes. As a result of natural selection, the more adapted panda has bigger eyes and ears. This way, they are more successful at hunting at night. The big eyes make it easier to see their living prey. The larger ears will make it easier to hear during the night time and not get eaten. Natural selection is the biological process of survival of the fittest. Those who are most well adapted to the environment will survive to reproduce and pass down the wanted traits. According to Darwin, natural selection needs four things: variation, inheritance, high rate of population growth, and Differential survival and reproduction. Natural selection is one of the basic mechanisms of evolution.

noreply@blogger.com (tfarquharson) — Tue, 29 May 2012 03:17:00 +0000

The evolutionary process that is being modeled is natural selection. As time went on, the beaks on finches changed significantly. Although only two other types of beaks are shown here, a plethora of different beak sizes became present. The initial beak made it difficult for the finches to exploit multiple food sources, but over time different beak sizes were able to thrive in different environments. I chose this evolutionary process to model because I was inspired by the Galapagos Island presentation that I attended at Hofstra University. The bigger beak allowed for the exploitation of other dietary supplements while the smaller beaks allowed the finches to obtain food in smaller spaces. The evolution was able to occur because finches that were able to survive reproduced. The finches that were inadequate at obtaining food were not able to survive and pass their traits on. The cause for the variation in finch beak sizes all originates from the fact that there was competition for food and some beaks were advantageous to have while others were not.

Natural Selection in Beetles

noreply@blogger.com (acavz) — Tue, 29 May 2012 02:56:00 +0000

I am modeling the evolutionary process of natural selection on a beetle population. I showed it by before natural selection and after the process was complete. You can see how there was variation in color of beetles before natural selection and after only the brown survived long enough to reproduce. Since the green beetles were eaten more by birds more brown beetles reproduced. After generations only brown traits are passed down, because those are the only ones to survive and become more common. The mode of evolution is selective due to predators. In this case the environment didn’t help the green beetles camouflage, causing them to be eaten and spotted more than the brown beetles were. Eventually the process will go on long enough to only reproduce brown surviving beetles.

ELK

noreply@blogger.com (Farah) — Tue, 29 May 2012 02:27:00 +0000

The evolutionary process I chose to model was sexual selection. Before the evolutionary force, the antlers on this species of Elk were small. But after, they are larger and more defined. Female Elk are usually attracted to males with bigger antlers because they can provide stronger babies that are more likely to survive in the wild. Therefore the females of the population favored the gene for larger antlers. This is not random, it is a selective process since the females are physically choosing who they want to be with. The source of this variation was genetic factors that gave some individuals measly antlers, and other individuals large antlers.

Natural Selection In Hummingbirds

noreply@blogger.com (Vic) — Tue, 29 May 2012 01:12:00 +0000

The evolutionary process that is modeled above is natural selection. As time went on the beak of the hummingbird changed. Before the change the hummingbird's beak was very fat. This made it hard for the hummingbird to get food from the flowers. As time continued the birds beak began to get thinner in order for it to get its food. I chose this evolutionary process to model because the environment wasn’t able to provide for the hummingbirds with fat beaks, so in order to survive better they adapted to their environment and over time their beaks got thinner. The thinner beaks let them get the nectar from the flower easier. This change occurred by the hummingbirds with the thinner beaks surviving better than the ones with the fatter beaks. This evolution is selective, but not random because the birds passed on the trait for a thinner beak. This change did not occur very fast, it happened over a long period of time. The source of variation is that the hummingbirds with fat beaks weren't able to compete and survive as well as the hummingbirds with thinner beaks were.

Natural Selection

noreply@blogger.com (dk) — Mon, 28 May 2012 23:55:00 +0000

My model depicts a prime example of natural selection. The example deals with English peppered moths which come in two different colors: a light shade and a dark shade. In England prior to being industrialized, the moths with the light shade were better adapted to the environment because they were more adept at camouflaging in order to hide from predators. This made for a larger population of the light shaded peppered moths. Once England became industrialized and numerous factories were built there was a lot of pollution in the air. The factories mainly ran on coal which produced a thick black smoke. The smoke inevitably reached and settled on the plant life making the trees considerably darker. The dark trees made the light shaded moths visible, and more prone to predation; allowing for the dark shaded moths to survive and reproduce. Ultimately there was a greater population of dark shaded moths than light shaded moths. Natural selection allows more the more fit member of a species at the given time reproduce at a higher rate, due to less predation or the ability to easily obtain resources, which increases the frequency of the given trait that makes that member more fit.

Modeling Evolution

noreply@blogger.com (Jenai) — Mon, 28 May 2012 22:43:00 +0000

I modeled the evolution of Sexual Selection. Sexual Selection is a variant of natural selection, it is the favor of a mate over another based on certain characteristics. The species with these desirable traits will have a high reproductive success throughout their population. Female peacocks are species that tend to choose mates that possess the desirable traits such as elaborate feather colors. To show his superiority compared to the other peacocks the peacock will perform a courtship ritual of peafowl. The peacock will show his intentions by fully displaying his feathers. However the peahen may not find that specific peacock attractive she will only recognize his actions that he is ready to mate and may or may not choose to pursue him. My model shows a male peacock trying his hardest to impress the female peahen, but she is still questionable. I chose this model because it successfully how certain species produce and with whom they produce with effectively. My model is selective because only the species with the desired traits are chosen and reproduce more than those who don't posses these traits.

Genetic Drift and Parrots

noreply@blogger.com (KTress) — Mon, 28 May 2012 18:58:00 +0000

Pre-Evolution: 50% of the Parrots are blue, 50% of the Parrots are green.

Fire! Half of the Parrot population is killed.

Post-Evolution: 80% of the Parrots are blue, 20% of the Parrots are green.

My model shows the effects of genetic drift on a population of parrots in a rainforest. I chose to model genetic drift by creating a "snapshot" of the area that a population of parrots is living in. I then created two more "snapshots" of the area: one showing a fire raging through the rainforest, the source of genetic drift, and another one showing the the area after the fire had occurred. I choose to model the evolutionary process this way because one can clearly see the differences in the Parrot population before and after the fire. The Pre-Evolution model depicts a population of parrots. 50% of the parrots have blue feathers, while the other 50% have green feathers. Neither the blue nor the green parrots have any special advantage over the other. Also, all of the parrots in the population are randomly distributed throughout their habitat. The "Fire" model depicts a massive fire burning down part of the parrots' habitat. Since genetic drift is a random mode of evolution, the fire randomly kills both blue and green parrots. The Post-Evolution model depicts the aftermath of the fire and genetic drift. Due to the random killing off of parrots, the population is no longer 50% blue, 50% green. Instead, since more green parrots were killed than blue ones, the population is now 80% blue, 20% green. The source of the variation that lead to the evolution in the parrots was the different color feathers the parrots had. The parrots could have either blue feathers or green feathers, and no color had an advantage over the other color.

Natural Selection In Giraffes

noreply@blogger.com (vas) — Mon, 28 May 2012 17:39:00 +0000

I chose to model the evolutionary process of natural selection and how it affected giraffes. I chose to model it by showing the changes before and after of the giraffe due to the natural selection. I chose to represent it in this way because you can easily and clearly see the drastic change that occurred in the giraffe, from short neck to long neck. Natural selection though didn't make this change suddenly, the length of the giraffes necks increased in increments over time through evolution and eventually increased to the current long neck size. The reason for this evolutionary process as shown above in the picture is because the short neck giraffes couldn't reach the leaves in the trees and therefore couldn't survive. This evolution is selective because only the giraffes that had longer necks were able to successfully compete, and then be able to reproduce with other long neck giraffes, and thus producing offspring with more long necks, and fewer with short necks. This isn't random evolution because only the long neck giraffes would survive so they would be the only ones reproducing and making more long neck giraffes, because that is the favorable trait in their environment. The source of variation that lead to the evolution was that there were giraffes in the same area that had shorter and longer necks, and the ones with longer necks were able to reach the trees to eat and survive, so the ones with the shorter necks couldn't compete as well and therefore wouldn't reproduce to create more short necks.