Reflect on your semester and year in biology What were your successes? What were your failures?
What did you learn that you will never forget?
I think my successes were learning all of the concepts from doing the book work and worksheets. It helped me understand the material and actually read the book without reading the unnecessary information. I think my failures were the dissection chapters because it was kind of hard to see all the internal organs since they aren't as easily visible as the pictures in the books. Some things I will never forget are the major concepts of biology such as ecology, genetics, and the anatomies of different organisms.
Blog 14 Compare two of the organisms that we have dissected Discuss at least 2 similarities and 3 differences
For the fish dissection we find out that it had a complete digestive system such as mouth, esophagus, and stomach like the frog. Also they both show cephalization because they both have a brain. However they have many differences such as the fish has a swim bladder to help it float in water, while the frog doesn't because it mainly lives on land. The fish contains gills to help it breathe underwater but the frog doesn't because it doesn't live in water. Lastly, the frog has legs to help it move/jump while the fish has fins for it to swim.
Blog 14 Which specimen that we have dissected so far seems most like humans? Why?
I think the crayfish is most like humans because it has many internal organs that we have. Some examples are a heart, brain, esophagus, stomach, intestine, anus, and ovary. For their digestive system, they have a digestive gland that acts like our human liver. Also their chelipeds act like our hands because they use it to grab things like us and their walking legs are like our legs because they use it to move.
What was most interesting about this week's dissections?
I think the most interesting of the dissections for me so far was the clam because it was so different from the rest of the other dissections. It has an incomplete digestive system and it has open circulation which means it has less internal organs than the other animals. They contain siphons, which the other animals don't have either, that takes in food/oxygen and releases waste/carbon dioxide. They also lack a brain/ganglia and doesn't move.
What surprised you from the worm's dissection?
The worm dissection sort of surprised me because I never dissected anything before. When i saw the worm's anatomy in drawings, I expected it to be easier to spot when I'm doing it hands on. Instead, it was hard to tell the difference between the parts and see the tiny details such as the brain. Also, in the body I thought there would be more too it but it was just mainly an intestine and dorsal artery that were visible. It was interesting though to see its internal organs and learn how they function.
Get a picture of alternation of generations put it in your blog and explain how it relates to plants
Alternation of generations relates to plants because it represents the life cycle of their alternating asexual and sexual reproductive forms. In plants, this involves the alternating generations of haploid and diploid forms. Mostly, one of these generations are more dominant than the other, making the other generation dependent upon it or growing as a smaller plant. Examples of this is mosses or angiosperms because the haploid phase is more dominant in mosses, while the diploid phase is more dominant in the angiosperm.
Why is dissection an important part of a biology curriculum? Which animals and/or plants should be included in biological studies?
Dissection is an important part of biology because it helps us understand the anatomy of the organisms we dissect. When we dissect something, we are able to see all the internal parts of the organism, where they are located, and how they function. Animals and plants that should be included could be frogs, worms, or just any small organism that would be easy to dissect and understand.
