Blog 7: Intro to Evolutionary Tree Project

For the second bio research project of the year, Emma and I have decided to study the evolution of bears by analyzing and researching bear evolutionary trees and cladograms. To start, we have begun preliminary research on common bear behaviors. We discovered that most bears have very good sense of smell (their strongest sense), they see and hear well, and they can run at least 37 mph. Additionally, all mothers are very protective of their cubs, their intelligence is comparable with those of the great apes, and bears treat other bears like they would humans. Most bears are also not ferocious and have a fairly calm temperament. However, some characteristics tend to vary among the different bear species. Furthermore, we have decided to specifically research hibernation and how it changes for different bears. According to our tree, there are eight bear species. We did some research on each species and wrote down whether or not they hibernate fully, semi, or not at all. Here is what we have found:
Asiatic Black– semi-hibernate
Polar– do not hibernate
Sun– do not hibernate
Sloth– do not hibernate
American Black– do hibernate
Andean (Spectacled)– do not hibernate
Giant Panda– do not hibernate
Brown– do hibernate
We are going to do more research and are hoping to discover by the end what made some bears not hibernate anymore or start hibernating. Was it environmental or gene related? Are the bears that do hibernate closer to the common ancestor? Do the bears' common ancestor(s) hibernate? We hope to answer these questions and know more about bear hibernation and how it evolved. Will keep updated as we continue to research!

Blog 6: All About Cladograms

What are cladograms and evolutionary trees?

In science, biologists frequently use evolutionary trees to study organisms. Evolutionary trees, similar to cladograms, are essentially diagrams that show the evolution of organisms. The evolution is mainly based on similarities and differences between the characteristics of the organisms. Cladograms are basically the same as evolutionary trees; however, they do not show the ancestral aspect of organisms like the evolutionary trees do. Cladograms focus more on the relations of an organism. Therefore, the organism's descendents are not present or how it has changed over time. With that said, many single cladograms can be found in evolutionary trees. Evolutionary trees add the change over time aspect to the diagram. And both diagrams are based on phylogeny: the study of evolutionary relationships.

How can scientists use these?

Scientists can use cladograms and evolutionary trees to analyze organisms and the relationships they have with other organisms. They take into account various variables like molecular evidence, biochemistry, fossils, and DNA in order to create evidence for evolution. By looking at organisms' ancestors and descendents, they can have a better understanding of certain characteristics and predict why and how they change over time. After all, the relations among organisms change constantly. Therefore, it is useful to have a consistent and uniform diagram that can help keep track and analyze those changes by classifying organisms and their similarities and differences in character with others.

Example? 

 
Here is an example of a very simple cladogram. It is normal to have a straight line and have other lines connect off of it. The letters on the main line (in this case: A, B, C, F, G, H) are the characteristics of the organisms. Most cladograms are set up this way with the characteristics on the main line with the organisms branching off of it. *the letters D and E are an exception* For this cladogram, you are supposed to classify the characteristics with the appropriate organism. However, most cladograms give you the characteristics and organisms for efficiency purposes.

While doing this exercise, it is important to look at the characteristics and classify them with the organisms. The only organisms that has a curly antennae is the butterfly, so letter H corresponds with number 8. All the organisms and characteristics are different. However, when you look at just the organisms, they share similar characteristics and look related. For example, the dragon fly and the butterfly and the ant and the spider. In order to make a cladogram, it is important to determine characteristics that organisms share in common then to establish characteristics that make them unique.

Answers:
1. F
2. C
3. A
4. G
5. E
6. D
7. B
8. H

*Why is this not an evolutionary tree? Because it does not show the ancestry of the organisms.

Source:
Cladogram Analysis. (n.d). Retrieved November 8, 2014. http://www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/cladogram.html#.VF5vVIfVm8E

Blog 5: Background Info on Experiment

Our experiment using milkweed is coming along! We are on our fourth day of watering the plants almost about a buck full of water a day (25 cm full). While we continue to carry out our experiment by watering the plants and hoping that mother nature will allow the season's first frost to hold off for another week, we have also began to study more of the facts and info on milkweed.

Milkweed flowers bloom from June to August. They can grow up to six feet tall and our found in fields, along roads, and in gardens. Their seeds are spread in the fall by wind and will produce new roots, sprouts and plants. Many people view milkweed as a weed, but they do have purpose to other organisms! They are important for several biotic factors in the ecosystem where milkweed is found. However, milkweed is most significant for monarch butterflies. The milky sap found in the stems of the plant have both Cardiac and Glycosides poisons that are poisonous to humans, but the monarch butterfly caterpillars eat the leaves, and the poison stays in them as they become butterflies. Therefore, the Monarchs are poisonous to predators, which gives them protection.

In terms of the environment, milkweed needs four of earth's elements in order to survive: earth/soil, water, air, and fire. It's an annual plant and obviously needs soil to grow in and keep it alive. We've discovered from our experiment that the roots are very long! Common milkweed can also live in dry or humid environments. This helps support our experiment because we have plants that we aren't watering every day and some that do. Whether or not that affects sap production, we don't know but hope to find out. The plants also need constant air circulation in order to find, so they are not found in forests or deep wooded areas. Lastly, the plants need heat because they bloom during the hottest times of the year (summer). And milkweed can survive in high temperatures.

We have not been able to find out a whole lot about sap production for milkweed but plan on discovering sap production for other plants that also produce sap. For example, Maple Trees. Do they produce more sap if they get more water? Living in Vermont, we used to tap, and it was always in the spring. A lot of the snow was melting, so the ground was becoming very moist, and it made it easy to get the sap. So maybe water affects Maple Trees, but the question for us is will it affect milkweed? More to come on that!

Some people view milkweed as an actual weed that isn't important, but Monarch Butterflies would beg to differ! Although the sap is poisonous for humans to eat, the sap has other claimed helpful and practical benefits. For example, it can heal warts with several applications and also as an instant band-aid because it's so sticky. According to flowersociety.org, milkweed was also used by Native Americans for inflammatory rheumatism. The sap contains latex as well, so it's clearly found in some glues!

More info and updates to come!
* Here's a picture of one of the plants that we are experimenting on.

Sources:

•  Common milkweed. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2014. http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/common_milkweed.htm

• Asclepias. (2014, December 9). Retrieved September 20, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepias
• Milkweed. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2014. http://www.flowersociety.org/Milkweed-Plant-Study.htm#environ

Blog 4: Experimental Design

We have recently altered our experiment's design because we discovered that it is quite challenging to keep milkweed alive in our classroom! So we are still going to perform an experiment that will coordinate with our hypotheses but in a slightly different way. What we have decided to do is keep the milkweed outside in their natural "habitat" in order to carry out our experiment. During yesterday's class, we went outside and flagged ten plants using two different colors. To keep water as a variable in this experiment, we are going to water either the orange or yellow flagged plants (undecided still as to which one) for ten days straight, giving them four cups of water each day. After the ten days, we are going to go outside and measure each individual leaf that we are testing and see how much sap seeps out within fifteen seconds. Then we will graph our data and analyze it so determine whether it determines one or all of our hypotheses. My hypothesis is that the bigger the leaf, the more sap will come out, and the extra water will not affect how much sap is in the plant. It most likely will ran within the ten day period of our experiment, and we will have to consider that the plants we are not watering are still getting water but naturally. Even if it does rain, we will still water the plants we have decided to water so that they will still be getting more water than the other plants. We are going to start this experiment this Monday (9/15).

Blog 3: Nature Walk Hypotheses & Experiment

I should've seen it coming that after our lovely nature walk the other day we would be designing an experiment in the classroom to follow it up! There were a lot of fascinating parts of the temperate deciduous forest biome that we could've studied; however, one thing that sparked my particular interest on the nature walk was the milkweed. For starters, I had no idea that the sap contained latex! No wonder it is so sticky! I've also thought that the sap cures bug bites and minor cuts. Anyways, my group and I decided to carry out an experiment that has to do with how much sap comes out of a milkweed leaf. If it's a bigger leaf, does that mean that it has more sap to release? Or if it's a smaller leaf, will it have equal, less than, or more sap that a larger leaf? My hypothesis is that a bigger milkweed leaf will have more sap in it that will flow out than a smaller milkweed leaf. We also have to have a variable in our experiment, and we chose water. What we plan to do is try to keep the milkweed alive in the classroom (yes, take a shovel and a pot outside to dig up the plant and bring it back into the classroom) and water one milkweed plant more frequently than the other (we will water it enough for it to stay alive). Now if the milkweed doesn't live in the classroom, we'll have to alter our experiment design. We will cross that bridge when/if we get there! Bringing water into the experiment, I hypothesize that the water will not affect how much sap comes out of the milkweed leaves. Therefore, I think that the sap that comes out of a milkweed leaf will be the same amount as the same size of the milkweed leaf that has been frequently watered. We plan on testing how much sap comes out of each leaf by first measuring the length of it then holding it vertical for 10-15 seconds in a beaker and recording how much sap there is. In this experiment, we do have a biotic and an abiotic factor. The milkweed is the biotic factor, and the water is the abiotic factor. More updates to come in the next couple of weeks! 

Blog 2: September Nature Walk

Today our small bio class of eight went for a nature walk in the back woods of our campus on this rather hot and humid early September day. As we are beginning to dive deeper into the course and because the school routine is really starting to sink in, we are starting to go headfirst into biology. I have not taken a whole lot of bio yet in my education thus far, so when our teacher, Mr. Calos, starting bringing up terms like 'biome' and 'biotic factors' I had a split second of fear but also excitement for learning something new! On our nature walk today, we came up with a fairly good definition of essentially what a biome is. Biome: noun- an ecosystem that contains both biotic factors and abiotic factors. Until this afternoon, I had no idea what these three terms meant. However, it is rather quite simple. Biotic factors are things that live in an ecosystem, and abiotic factors are non-living things that affect the ecosystem and the biotic factors that live in them (the ecosystem). For example, temperature, precipitation, etc... are abiotic factors. After pairing up, we found biotic and abiotic factors in the woods to help establish what type of biome we live in (on campus). My partner, Theresa, and I found biotic factors such as oak trees, flies, wasps, pinecones, moss, pine trees, Queen Anne's lace, and golden rod. And we thought that the humidity and sunlight were potential abiotic factors. After gathering as a class and discussing what we saw, we determined that we live in a temperate deciduous forest biome. We talked about how we have four seasons and why the leaves come off the trees during the winter. I gathered that the photosynthesis is a factor and also if it snowed with all the leaves on the trees, it would weigh down the tree a lot. 

Some other fun things we did on our nature walk included looking at live larva! Mr. Calos got hold of a Golden Rod Gall Larva, which I learned is a gall fly pupa. Therefore, the tiny looking maggot-like thing would someday turn into a fly! That is, if Mr. Calos didn't eat it! After seeing him give it a crunch or two, I thought to myself, "Why not do something out of the ordinary?" So I picked the little brown thing out of his hand, gathered some spit in my mouth, and swallowed it whole. Didn't really taste like much! We also looked carefully at milkweed, and I learned that it contains latex and that it is poisonous. Monarch butterflies are close with milkweed because they lay their eggs in it. Thus, Monarch butterflies are poisonous! That is important info that I should probably know! It's crazy to think that they fly all the way to Mexico and back. If only people could have wings to do that!

Overall, we had a very fun class today outside, learning more about our ecosystem. And there's so much more to discover! 

 Larva from not golden road but another type of plant. No one tried to eat these little guys! (Photo creds to Theresa)

 Milkweed

 Me trying some larva! 

Here's a picture of this dead vole we saw while walking back to the classroom. Mr. Calos could identify him for his short tail. Poor little guy!

Blog 1: What is a hypothesis?

              I think a hypothesis is an idea or prediction that one has about a certain topic and is to be followed up by an experiment, whether the hypothesis is supported by data or not. With that said, hypotheses do not have to be “correct” whatsoever. They should be made before performing the experiment, so after reading what you’ll be doing in the experiment and what you’re trying to conclude from it, ask yourself “What do I think will happen?” Not only are there are times when you have a “because” reason but also experiments where you don’t know exactly why you do or don’t think something will happen in the experiment. Furthermore, something that I think is cool about hypotheses is that your prediction could be totally different than what your experiment’s results are. On the other hand, they could also be similar to. Either way, analyzing the data and looking at your hypothesis is one of the best ways to learn, in my opinion. You create questions for yourself as well as answers.

An example of an experiment that I want to execute soon is whether or not ice forms faster if the initial temperature of the water is ice cold, room temperature, or hot (over 100 degrees Fahrenheit). My hypothesis is that the hot water will form into ice faster because the molecules move much faster at a higher heat, so they will come together more quickly to form a solid. I would perform this experiment using ice cube trays and testing the different temperatures of water and the time it takes them to turn into ice. Then I would look at my data and write up a conclusion, discussing whether or not my data supports my hypothesis. If it doesn’t, I would like to perform another experiment that could help answer why.