Self Evaluation S2

Self Evalutation S2 

This class has been a wild ride with lots of twist and turns, ups and downs, highs and lows, etc. I feel as though I have improved over the course of the year; however, there are still 3 main aspects of my performance that I feel like I could improve.

1) Laziness- I am a very lazy person and often wait until the night before to cram for the exams. I really should work on keeping up with the class and not waiting until the last minute to learn everything...

2) Website- I feel as though my website has been very sub-par this entire year because I have failed to keep it consistently updated. This goes along with my laziness, I really should work on this...

3) Labs- I feel like in the labs this year I have been a little bit too clueless and relied to much on the help of my partner. I hope to become a more self-sufficient person in the near future.

Plant Transpiration Lab

Epic Boredom

Questions

1)The process by which plants get nutrients from the air and lose some moisture in the process.

2)The experimental controls used in the experiment were the fan, the light, and the other strange device.

3)When the conditions were windier, the rate of transpiration greatly increased. 

4)The fan increased the rate of transpiration much more than that of the light.

5)The highest rate of transpiration belonged to the Zebra Plant. The rates varied because these plants all exist naturally under very different circumstances.

6)There would be less transpiration because less moisture would be able to enter the plans and the air would remain outside of the plant.

7)By losing water, the plants are able to eliminate toxic chemicals and remain healthy. 

Hormonal Plants

Hormonal Plants 

Auxins

Auxins control the growth of plants. These auxins possess the ability to allow the stems of plants to elongate and to be able to enable other parts of the plant to grow. Auxins also have the ability to control a plant's reaction to light and other stimuli. 

Abscisic Acid

This acid performs the opposite actions of the auxins in the plant. This acid slows the growth of plants in order to preserve the plants when there is not enough water around. This acid also has the ability to put the seeds of the plant into a dormant state when it is necessary. 

Ethylene

Ethylene is a gas produced by plants under a positive feedback loop. This ethylene controls the ripening of the fruits on a plant.

This is Bogus (Botany of Desire)

The Plants Control Us?

Anonymous Artist staticflitr.com

In the paper Botany of Desire the author made an extremely unusual argument that plants manipulate us into planting them. This manipulation is carried out because the plants have intentionally involved to be tastier, prettier, and more appealing. This theory is both revolutionary and absurd.

Dale Mettam

This paper essentially turned the tables on who truly controls the balance of nature. According to this articles, plants actually have a say in whether or not they get planted and control their own destiny. The plants are in fact controlling the humans by appealing to our basic senses...

Adam Holliday

The author used dogs to argue that animals have evolved to become "cuter" and more attractive to humans in order to be bred and thus maintain their existence. The author contrasted the number of dogs present in the world to the number of wolves and let the math do the rest of the work. Although this example is valid, I still do not agree with the author's opinion. 

Anoymous Arist from closeentertainment.com

The belief that plants are intelligent and have evolved specifically in order to appeal to the human senses is very absurd. Human preference is an entirely subjective field, and therefore would be impossibly for a plant to evolve to please. The constant fluctuation of human preference would also constantly throw off the plant's ability to conform to human desire. All in all, I honestly did not buy any of what this author was claiming. 

Shagadelic Rabbit Experiment

Honors Biology Blog 

Shagadelic Rabbit Experiment 

Instead of giving us a boring lecture about population change over generations, Mr. Quick opted to give us a totally shagadelic lab. In this lab, we tracked the population of four species of rabbits and two species of wolves over several generations. We then graphed this data and tried our best to understand the results...

The data that Dr. Stoddard and I obtained is shown above and perfectly demonstrates the equilibrium that is achieved in populations with both predators and prey. Our data shows that when any population reaches an unusually high point, it will inevitably be taken down by the other species that exist in the population. For example, when the rabbit population began to get out of control, the wolf population also grew and quickly diminished the rabbit population. The wolf population then dwindled back to normal levels and normality was restored. However, this lab also shows how certain species can easily go extinct if there are too many predators in the area. 

I sincerely enjoyed this lab and found it to be extremely educational and entertaining. 

How to Kill a Desert

How to Kill a Desert

Anonymous Employee of scmp.com

If a volcanic eruption were to occur in a desert, the results would be rather depressing. I will show the sequence of events that would occur and ultimately lead to the extinction of nearly all life in a desert.

Immediately following the eruption of the volcano, a thick cloud of volcanic ash and pumice would go hurling into the air and block the sun for a wide surrounding area of desert. The lack of sunlight would disorient the reptile populace that would likely begin to experience the negative effects of sunlight-deficiency. 

Christopher Era

As the cloud of ash and pumice begins to descend upon the unfortunate desert, the few mammals will begin to experience difficulty in breathing and will also become disoriented like the reptiles. 

The plants of the desert will also lack the sunlight necessary to continue photosynthesis and will begin to die from lack of sunlight. 

Pyroclastic flows will then begin, which will send smoldering rock and ash cascading down the side of the volcano. This smoldering rock and ash will annihilate any plant and animals life in its way and set the desert ablaze. The plants will immediately burn down and the animals will be left without any food to eat. 

Jes Gordon

The already poor quality soil level of the desert will become even less fertile as the ash and rock settle and destroy the opportunity for any immediate growth.

The decomposers of the desert will then have no role as everything that they could decompose has become incinerated by the volcanic eruption. Ultimately, the desert has been turned into a volcanic desert, which is a desert with even less growth and life than a normal desert. 

A volcanic eruption in a desert would completely disrupt every aspect of the fragile desert ecosystem and leave the desert devoid of any life or vegetation. 

John Grabowska

Biome Travel Guide

Desert Xeric Shrublands Vacation 

Are you sick of nice comfortable weather, an abundance of foliage, and too many pesky critters to count?

If so, the Desert Xeric Shrublands of Planet Earth are the ideal vacation destinations for you!

Xeric shrublands have extremely arid climates and usually receive less than 10 inches of rainfall per year. These lovely deserts present both extremes of climate with searingly hot days and bone-chillingly cold nights. This variance in climate is attributed to the lack of cloud cover and humidity that these deserts receive!

Image Credit "Mr. Desert Bio"

Along with the extreme climate of the xeric shrublands, there is also little tree cover to alleviate the stresses of the heat and cold. This lack of tree cover is attributed to the salty soil layer that covers the desert floor. This salty layer stunts the growth of plants and the majority of the soil lacks the organic material necessary for life to thrive. 

The plants of the xeric shrublands that have managed to survive the test of time have evolved to require minimal amounts of water. This efficiency allows the plants to survive the harsh, arid climate and grow under extremely difficult circumstances. These brave plants that exist in xeric shrublands are called xerophytes. A famous xerophyte is the Joshua Tree!

Image Credit Tim LaVelle

Another famous group of xerophytes are the multiple cacti that grow through the xeric shrublands. This famous group of xerophytes has survived by reducing the overall surface area to avoid contact with the air and to reduce the amount of water evaporation. These plants are also covered in tomentose, small hairs, which also minimize the effects of evaporation. The color of the plants have also evolved to be more reflective to the sun.

Photo Credit A. Moller
(Rolf is the guy in the photo ;)

Despite the brutal conditions in the xeric shrublands, very diverse reptile faunas exist! Reptiles have evolved to live in the deserts by becoming active only during certain seasons and by regulating their body temperature  to fit the environment. These reptiles also have developed modified appendages, which enable them to burrow and scurry rapidly across great expanses of loose sand. These evolutionary adaptations have enabled these reptiles not only to survive the harsh, arid climate, but also to thrive under these extreme circumstances. 

Image Credit Gavin Bell (telegraph.co.uk)

With minimum resources present in the desert, the animals of the xeric shrublands track the seasonal resources and actively have to search for the necessary resources to survive. These animals are pretty "hardcore" and when I confronted a rambunctious reptile about his choice of lifestyle he confidently retorted, "I didn't choose the desert life, the desert life chose me!"

Image Credit Richard Seamman

The main decomposers of the xeric shrublands are bacteria, worms, and fungi that have adapted to the harsh desert climate. These bacteria and fungi have evolved to survive in the xeric shrublands and help to keep the desert environment clean by recycling energy and organic material. These decomposers leave behind nutrients and energy, which enable future animals and plants to survive in the desert. These decomposers have evolved to require minimum water and nutrients to perform their designated functions. Without these decomposers, the amount of waste in the desert would be totally insurmountable. 

Image Credit nationalgeographic.com

The food web of the desert xeric shrublands in fairly simple considering the sparsity of life that is present. The producers like the Joshua Tree and Cacti produce fruit and seeds, which are consumed by the consumers. This symbiotic relationship enables these consumers, the reptiles and other animals, to eat the fruit and spread the seeds throughout the desert.When these critters die, the decomposers consume their remains and leave important nutrients in the soil to be recycled for further plants to be grown. This symbiotic relationship between the worms, fungi and bacteria and the plants of the desert allow for the cycle then repeats itself. Thus, life somehow manages to find a way to exist under seemingly impossible circumstances. These biomes are actually quite successful and exist all over the world!

Image Credit nationalgeographic.com

Xeriscaping is a form of human influence where these xeric shrublands are transformed into areas where gardening and landscaping are possible without need for irrigation or other water supplements. This xeriscaping allows for less imported ground water and enables the environment to be more appropriate for human habitation. However, some negative effects of xeriscaping include potential harm to the environment by bringing back unwanted predators and extreme harm to the already fragile ecosystem. 

I hope that this information has been useful in your search for a suitable biome to explore on your next vacation! Xeric shrublands truly are magical places and showcase life's ability to exist under the most impossible conditions!