Designer Species Project

Summary: When a particular type of animal is placed into an environment it changes not only based off of the the plants and structures of the ecosystem, but it also changes depending on what organisms are in the habitat as well. An animal that tries to avoid a predator that is fast would evolve to be much more sneaky that an animal that tries to avoid another animal that is incredibly fast. The reason today why rats are so fast and sneaky is that they evolved to avoid humans, as most of the time they would get killed by them. This is true across every organism, like how a loin would evolve to sneak up on its prey, as its prey is very fast.

Backward-Looking
In or out of school I have never done a kind of work that requires as much creativity as this one, where the only limitations you have is that it has to make sense, and it has to be based off of the environment it resides in.  With little limitations it allows the creativity to run wild, creating something that you can feel attached to like most other projects where you just follow the guidelines and your done.

Inward-Looking
The thing I like the most about this project is the fact that it is flowing with creativity and originality, showing how my mind works and not how it reacts to various tasks. The one thing I dislike about the project is that some of the reasons that our organism evolved to be the way that it is are kind of bad, most of our ideas were thought up before we chose our scenario, so we built our reasons around the environment and not the organism.

Outward-Looking
If I were to give this project a grade I would give it a B-, because there was a lack of thought involved with some parts of the project. Rather than choosing an scenario and then thinking up our organism around the environment, we made our organism first then chose the environment. We then came up with various reasons that the organism would evolve to be this way.

Forward-Looking
The one goal I would like to set for next time is:

rather than impeding the final outcome of the project by choosing what I want to do first, then looking at the scenario. I will look at the scenario first, then make decisions based off of the scenario rather than the basic task. Allowing me to be more efficient and have a better work ethic to make a better project, and enjoying it along the way.

How different environments impacts the evolution of an organism

Crituqe of the Theory of Evolution  By: Thomas Hunt Morgan

When looking at how drastically different animals are depending on where they originated, it comes to mind how the environment would impact the evolution of a specific organism. When organisms such as the rodent or cockroach evolve, they adapt very differently to where they are, such as how a cockroach from America would be much more resistant to various bug sprays as a cockroach from Africa. Also how a mouse from Russia would be much more adapted to the cold, rather than a mouse from Japan.

SP6: Constructing explanations and designing solutions
During class we were given the task of designing an organism around the basis on a planet, showing how the planet would affect the evolution of the organism. The planet we decided on was tropical, with the biggest threats to life was a carnivorous snake, and a plant on the ground that poisons an organism upon touch killing it. We designed around those two points by making an organism that flies and swims, it focuses mainly of speed, but if it were to get attacked its second line of defense is an electric shock that would be able to stun or kill a foe. It hunts primarily in the water for small fish.

XCC: Structure and Function
In various habitats, organisms have various functions that helps them hunt, and live long enough to reproduce. The structure of a mouse is based off of the country it lives in, like if a mouse were to live in a cold environment it would evolve to have a thicker coat of fur to keep itself warm. While a mouse in a warmer climate might evolve to be more fast than its cold counter part, focusing on stealing food, rather than scavenging as that would be the easiest way to support its source of food.  

Cladograms

Cladogram By: Alexi Kouprianov

Because of the Earth's long history, and that all living organisms are related, there was a need for a way to sort all or a section of the living species on earth showing how they are related. That's where the cladogram comes in, it's a way the biologists use to sort various species based on all of the traits that they have in common. The farther up a cladogram a species is, the more specific traits it has. If a fish is at the bottom of a cladogram, and a bird is a the top, that means they are not closely related and the bird has more specific traits than the fish.

SP2: Developing and using models
During class we were given a sheet of paper that had 5 different animals on it, we sorted the various traits that each organism had onto a table, we then used a venn diagrams to further sort what traits each organism shared. After that we organized the organisms into a cladogram based off of what traits the each organism shared.

XCC:
When looking at a cladogram, there are multiple patterns that you can see, the farther up the cladogram an animal is, the more traits it has. The lowe an organism is on a cladogram, the less specific traits the organism has in comparison to the other organisms on the cladogram. Depending on what is on the cladogram different organisms might be higher or lower on the cladogram.

The Evidence of Evolution

Haeckel drawings By: Phlebas

There are various form of evidence that can prove how evolution exists, and what changes evolution has caused various creatures to go through. One of the many forms of proof is the fossil record, in which we look for fossils of the same species, and see how they changed by looking through how old each fossil is and the differences between each fossil. Another one of the many forms of proof is embryology, which Charles Darwin, the man who made the theory of natural selection, is the strongest evidence for evolution. When we look at embryos we can see the similarities between each species to see how closely related different organisms are to each other. Such as how lots of embryos look similar when they are first conceived.

SP2: Developing and using models
When we were studying the fossil record, and how it can be used as evidence for evolution, we made a poster that had various pictures of one species of animal, showing how it evolved over time. As time went on during the model, the creature started getting more and more complex with each change in the fossil. We also got a paper with various embryos of different species on it, we colored in each embryo a single color, until an embryo would physically differentiate from the others, showing us how closely related our species are to other species.

XCC: Patterns
Looking at the changes in various embryos and fossils, it is possible to see a pattern form in different species. When to species of organisms, are closely related via a common ancestor, you can see that in their fossils, and embryos. When you look at the bone structure, you can see that they have a similar number of bones, that work in similar ways, like how a monkey and a humans bone structures are similar. When looking at the embryos of two closely related animals, the closer they are to being related, the longer the embryos will stay the same visually.

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin 1880 By: Elliot & Fry

Charles Darwin is a scientist that lived in the 19th century and made major break troughs when is came to evolution. Charles Darwin was studying Finches on the Galápagos islands, when one day he noticed that on each different islands, the finches had different characteristics. He also noticed that each type of finch was better suited for its environment, than the other types of finches. He then made the hypothesis that that animals with more survivable traits would reproduce, while animals that don't have those traits would die without reproducing. This process would later be known as natural selection.


SP4: Analyzing and interpreting data
While we were studying the effect of the amount of rainfall that occurred each year would cause to the deepness of a finches beak, we had studied graphs, and determined how the beaks of the finches changed, if it was significant or not, and what the cause was. We then used that data to make predictions on how different amounts of rainfall would affect the finch population.

XCC: Cause and effect
When the amount of rainfall changes, the size of finches beaks also change. When we look at the relationship between the amount of rain, and the size of finches beaks, we can learn how the finches will be effected due to major changes in the climate. We can also observe the mean average deviation for the rainfall before it starts effecting the finches. We can use this information to study not only finches, but various other organisms in a lab environment.

Evolution

Ape to Man By: Appalanaidu Pappala

Evolution is a change in the gene pool over the course of many generations. Evolution has 4 main forces that guide it so that animals can not only adapt to their environment, but also avoid death long enough to reproduce to their full potential. These 4 forces guiding evolution are: Mutations, Natural Selections, Genetic Drift, and Genetic Flow. Mutations are changes in the genes that are mostly random, and as such can have positive and negative effects of the mutated organism, though most mutations are neutral. Natural Selection is the process where animals that have more survivable traits can reproduce to their full potential, while animals that don't have the same gene die before they can reproduce. Genetic drift is the gradual loss of genes, most occurring in small populations of organisms. Genetic Flow is the transfer of genes from one population to another population.

SP4: Analyzing and interpreting data
In class, we did a lab in, which we recorded the data of M&Ms on a table as if they were a population going through evolution generations at a time. We looked at the table that we made and figured out if mutations had become a prevalent feature in the population. We also saw what affect having a smaller population of only select individuals would have to the gene pool.

XCC: Systems and System Models
In evolution, there are 4 different systems that dictate how an animal can change, like if an animal has natural camouflage to hide from predators, or the intelligence to make cover for them to hide in. With mutations that is mostly random, it doesn't tie into the other three functions as well either. But with the other three functions they tie into each other nicely, an animal moves from one population to another. That animal finds them self in a smaller population than before, it reproduces and over generations. That animals gene becomes more prominent, because not only is it a dominant trait, it is also more survivable so, animals that posses that trait are able to reproduce to their full potential. What just happened was not only genetic flow, but also genetic drift, and natural selection.

Are we in a 6th mass extinction?

Are we in a 6th mass extinction?

By: Michael Wilkinson

Throughout the geologic history of the Earth, there have been a multitude of different types of events. The most famous type of all is the mass extinction event. Due to various causes, most especially humanities impact on the Earth, we are going through an event, a mass extinction event. Though it is a bit different from the other events like this one. How is this event different from other extinction events that have happened in the past? Why is it different from other mass extinction events that have happened already?

The mass extinction we are in is different from others, in lots of different ways. From the type of extinction, to how long the extinction will take. The extinction is ongoing, so that rather than over a short period of time 70% of all life dies, that 70% of life will die out overtime. In the article, Mathematics Predicts a 6th mass extinction, Daniel Hoffman who was being interview said this: “This is not saying that disaster occurs the next day,” Rothman says. “It’s saying that, if left unchecked, the carbon cycle would move into a realm which would be no longer stable” If we were to reach that point, that is when we would be at the height of the mass extinction. The carbon cycle won’t reach its peak for a while though, as humanity will have to add a ton of carbon to the ocean, 300 gigatons, to be exact. Researcher Daniel Hoffman said in Mathematics Predicts a 6th mass extinction, that we wouldn’t reach that point until 2100. If the extinction event is so far away, then how come we are in a mass extinction event? Shouldn’t the mass extinction event start during 2100?

While we won’t hit the peak of the mass extinction event until 2100, the mass extinction event is still going on, rather than everyone dying almost instantly, it takes a long time for us all to die, so the extinction event is ongoing. In a study, the authors that had performed the study had said that the extinction event was ongoing. So, it will take a long time for the big results to show, but you can already see evidence in one place, when it comes to the event happening, in the world of animals. While in humans there hasn’t been any major population decreases, you can just look to the world of animals for evidence that we are in an extinction event. In the article: 6th mass extinction ‘the era of biological annihilation’ the author writes “Meanwhile, as this research shows, entire populations of other plants and animals are crashing, even if they're not yet on the brink of extinction. Some of these are well-known.” Couldn’t this all just be a coincidence, this could just be the effect that global warming has on the environment, and there is no extinction event that is going to happen?

Some people say that we aren’t in a sixth mass extinction event. That this isn’t like what happened millions of years ago, like in the Permian - Triassic Extinction event. The climate, they say- isn’t like the ones you would have seen earlier in the Earth’s history, the horrible skies the harsh air, that would have lasted, thousands, to maybe even millions of years. In the article, Paleo Expert: Earth is not in the Midst of a Sixth Mass Extinction, the author wrights: “By comparison, the hellscape of End-Permian mass extinction claimed upwards of 90 percent of all species on earth.” Saying that this is not like what other mass extinction events are like, that this is nothing like a mass extinction event. The thing about this mass extinction, is that it is different from other mass extinctions, it’s ongoing. We’re simply in the beginning of a new mass extinction event unlike ones that have happened before.

The effects of the mass extinction event are already showing. We are seeing the effects of pollution and other things that have taken a toll on the wildlife. Animals have been dying left and right these days, and it’s no better in places like the north pole, where the ice is melting and the climate is warming up, making it much harder for the wildlife up there to survive.

In the article, Sixth mass extinction: The era of 'biological annihilation' it is written that: “Their key findings: Nearly one-third of the 27,600 land-based mammal, bird, amphibian and reptile species studied are shrinking in terms of their numbers and territorial range. The researchers called that an "extremely high degree of population decay."” Meaning that almost ⅓ of the species on Earth are in decline right now. There is a lot to this mass extinction, like how it’s so special, why is all of this happening, how is it different, and where is the evidence of all of this happening?

Despite it being different from others, we are currently is a 6th mass extinction one that will be on the level of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, that killed the dinosaurs. The extinction is ongoing, and is different from other events, it will reach its peak in 2100, and it’s taking time for major results to show. But there is evidence to support this, the extinction rate of animals is climbing and it's going to be incredibly high by the time the extinction reaches its climax. The cause of the extinction is well known though, it’s that human are ruining the environment, and polluting the skies and water, which is devastating for the wildlife, and soon it will be dangerous for us.