Blog 11: Annotated Bibliography for Genetics Experiment

Source 1:
Rhoades, H. (2009, August 6). The Importance Of Phosphorus In Plant Growth. Retrieved January 29, 2015, from http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/phosphorus-plant-growth.htm

This source is important because it demonstrates the importance of phosphorus and plant growth. Phosphorus helps produce healthy plants, and it is especially significant when growing plants in gardens to use fertilizer that has phosphorus in it because it makes them strong and beautiful. It also introduces the term 'phosphorus deficiency'.


Source 2:
Soils - Part 6: Phosphorus and Potassium in the Soil. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2015, from http://passel.unl.edu/pages/informationmodule.php?idinformationmodule=1130447043&topicorder=2

This source provides additional information about phosphorus deficiency. It discusses coloring in plants (especially red/purple and dark green) in more depth than the previous source and emphasizes the importance of phosphorus in soil for growing plants. This element mainly promotes root growth and hastens maturity.

Blog 10: Genetics Experiment Update

We are all set up for our experiment, but we are waiting on the phosphorus to arrive before we can plant our fast plants. Therefore, we are doing research now and finishing up our planning and calculations. This is what our set up looks like:

We have four groups of plants: neutral, small, medium, and large. There are 16 cells per group, and we are planting three seeds per cell. We are also going to place 3 fertilizer pellets in each cell. Therefore, there will be 192 fertilizer pellets and seeds total in all four groups. As you can see, we have already added wisps in each cell (the blue rhombus-like materials). We have not yet determined the exact lighting or watering system yet, but we will have a better idea when we actually being the process of planting. We know that it will be a constant system. However, we have decided how much extra phosphorus we will be adding to the small, medium, and large groups. The neutral group will still have 3 fertilizer pellets in each cell, but we will not be adding any additional fertilizer. What we did was find the average amount of phosphorus in 3 pellets. We found the average weight of 3 fertilizer pellets is 0.071 g. Then we took that number and found the value that is 14% of that because the fertilizer is a 14-14-14% ration of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. That number we determined was 0.001 g. Therefore, in each cell (with 3 fertilizer pellets and 3 seeds), there is 0.001 g of phosphorus. We decided that it makes the most sense and we will get good results if we double the amount of phosphorus for each group. That means that the small group will have 0.002 g of phosphorus added in each cell, medium group 0.004 g, and large group 0.008 g. I've never worked with fast plants before, so I'm excited and hoping to see some different lovely shades of purple!

Blog 9: Intro to Genetics Experiment

Olivia, Lucia, and I have decided to do our genetics experiment using fast plants. We chose this model organism because fast plants are easy to use while carrying out an experiment, and we designed a good experiment that we feel confident about. From preliminary research, we have decided to plant Wisconsin Fast Plants Purple Stem (Hairy seed, high anthocyanin expression) in our lab. We are unsure of exactly how many we are going to plant right now, but we do know that we want to have four different groups. Our variable that revolves around our experiment in Phosphorus. After doing research, we concluded that Phosphorus is the element that makes Wisconsin Fast Plants Purple Stem have purple stems. Therefore, our hypothesis is that the more Phosphorus in the soil that the fast plants are growing in, the more purple the stems will be. We are going to control the Phosphorus quantities by using a fertilizer that is 14-14-14 (NPK: 14% Nitrogen, 14% Phosphorus, 14% Potassium). We will put three fertilizer "seeds" in each plant and add more Phosphorus in different amounts. We are in the process of ordering raw Phosphorus and will measure it by weight before adding it in with the soil and 14-14-14 fertilizer. We are unsure of what form the raw Phosphorus is going to come in so that is why we are going to measure it by weight, whether it is a solid or liquid. The four groups I mentioned above will include a: Neutral group (only fertilizer- no added Phosphorus), minimal added Phosphorus, medium added Phosphorus, and large amount of added Phosphorus. As we go into more depth of experiment design, we may add or alter the groups of fast plants we are going to test. I'm hoping that we will be able to see a distinct difference between the plants that get more Phosphorus. More details and progress to come soon!

Blog 8: Evolutionary Tree

This is the modified evolutionary tree we created while studying the mammalian hibernation patterns of the Ursidae family (the bear family). Mammalian hibernation is defined as a type of hibernation that has a specialized, seasonal reduction in metabolism that is concurrent with scare food and cold weather. Therefore, bears that perform mammalian hibernation hibernate during the coldest periods of wintertime. If they did not, they would have a slim chance of surviving the brutal weather that winter brings. Our hypothesis was that bear hibernation is not ancestral. Therefore, it is not a trait found in the common ancestor.

Our data supports our hypothesis; bear mammalian hibernation is not ancestral. According to our data, only the Brown and American Black bear demonstrate mammalian hibernation; the Sun, Sloth, Andean bear, and Giant Panda do not mammalian hibernate to any extent; the Polar Bear and Asiatic Black Bear perform some characteristics of mammalian hibernation, but they do not fully mammalian hibernate. Clearly this behavior is not found in the common ancestor and therefore did not evolve over time. However, we discovered a reasonable answer as to why two bears in the Ursidae family fully mammalian hibernate, four do not at all, and two semi do. The bears that hibernate are bears that live in geographic regions where the winters are extremely cold. Thus, they hibernate for a few months in order to survive the winter months. They crawl into dens and remain in a tight ball until their hibernation period is over. The heart rate drops as well as the body temperature during this time. The bears that do not hibernate are bears that live in somewhat tropical regions where there is not a harsh winter. Therefore, there is no reason to hibernate if there is both food available and temperatures that don't reach below freezing all year round. For the two bears that semi-hibernate (the Polar and Asiatic black), it's slightly different. It's cold year round where Polar bears live, so the specie is already accustomed to surviving the cold temperatures. With that said, they do not perform mammalian hibernation like the Black and Brown bears do but rather remain in their dens for relatively long periods of time (several months). Asiatic black bears live in several different areas of southern Asia where there are two different climates with different temperatures. Therefore, only bears in the northern part of the region in their habitat mammalian hibernate whereas the bears in the southern part do not; some will sleep the whole winter, and some will sleep only during the harshest parts of it.  From our data, we concluded that bears use mammalian hibernation as a defense against the cold, harsh winter months. If bears live in areas where there aren't tough winters, then they don't hibernate. Therefore, the trait didn't start in the common ancestor (the Giant Panda according to our evolutionary tree) but emerged as the different bear species did.