Blog #7

Compare and contrast two biomes describe them in detail include pictures of plants and animals you are liklely to see


Coastal Desert: Coastal deserts have cool winter and long, warm summers. The soil is fine- textured with some salt content. The plants that live there have extensive root systems that extend to take advantage or any rainfall. Also the plants with thick and fleshy leaves or stems can hold the water and save it for later. The plants living in these deserts include: salt bush,  buckwheat bush,  rice grass, black sage, and more. Some animals that have special adaptations to deal with the desert heat like laying dormant eggs or seal themselves in burrows with gelatinous secretions. Animals living in these deserts include: coyote, badger, toads, great horned owls, golden eagle, bald eagle, lizards and snakes.

 Temperate Grassland: Grasses are dominant in grasslands while trees and shrubs are absent. Temperate grasslands have hot summers and cold winters. They also have moderate rainfall. The soil in these grasslands are deep, dark, and have fertile upper layers. The grass roots hold the soil together to provide food source for the living plants. Trees, plants, and flowers include: cottonwoods, oaks, willows, purpleneedle grass, buffalo grass, and blue gramma, clovers, sunflowers, and blazing stars. Animals include: gazelles, zebras, coyotes, foxes, badgers, owls, snakes, and deer.

Compare and contrast: These two biomes are alike because they both have warm/hot summer and cool/cold winters. Their plants also use their roots as an advantage to adapt with their environment. The also have some animals that are alike such as coyotes, badgers, and snakes. However they are different because coastal deserts have sand while temperate grasslands have grass. Their soils are also very different. Coastal deserts' soil are fine textured and have some salt content while grasslands' soil are deep, dark, and full of nutrients.

Blog #6

Which level of a food pyramid is the most important? Support your answer


I think grains are the most important food group because they give us energy because of their complex carbohydrates , reduce risk of some chronic diseases, and provide us with nutrients for our bodies. Whole grains can reduce constipation and the risk of coronary heart disease. Also it helps with weight management. Grains with folate could also prevent neural tube defects during fetal development of pregnancies. Grains provide us with a lot of nutrients too, including dietary fiber,  B vitamins, and minerals. These nutrients can help reduce high blood cholesterol levels, lower the risk of heart disease, form red blood cells,  build bones, and more. You also need the most servings of grains out of all the other groups.

Blog #5

Blog #5 There have been 5 major extinction events throughout history, are humans impacting the 6th? Why or why not?


Humans are impacting the sixth major extinction because we are the direct cause of destruction to the ecosystem and species. By transforming landscapes, introducing alien species, polluting the environment, and exploiting animals we are hurting the environment and the animals. Humans cause animals to go extinct by overhunting them and possible spreading disease-ridden organisms. Also, since the human population is growing, we clear lands to help feed the new generations and spread agriculture through higher fossil energy, therefore modifying the environment more. 

Blog #4

Describe the three types of selection: directional, stabilizing and disruptive and give an example of each in your own words

• Directional Selection: Directional selection is selecting the individual with the most extreme variations in traits in a population. An example is choosing the fastest greyhound dog among a group of them. Then you pick the fastest one from their offspring. When you continue this, you end up with a really fast greyhound.
• Stabilizing Selection: Stabilizing selection is selecting the individual with the common, average traits in a population. An example is a Siberian Husky. If a Siberian Husky had heavy muscles, it would sink in the snow but if it had lighter muscles, it wouldn't be able to pull the sled. So choosing a medium Siberian Husky would be able to move through the snow and pull the sled.
• Disruptive Selection: Disruptive Selection is selecting the extreme traits in a population that would survive a sudden change in the environment. For example, when the Earth was hit by a meteor, there were large tidal waves,  increasing number of earthquakes, inadequate supply of food, and little oxygen. Larger animals would not have survived in this because they needed a lot of food and oxygen, but evidence shows that disruptive selection actually picked the traits that would help the animals in these conditions, thus making them survive.

Blog #4

Describe the three types of selection: directional, stabilizing and disruptive and give an example of each in your own words

• Directional Selection: Directional selection is selecting the individual with the most extreme variations in traits in a population. An example is choosing the fastest greyhound dog among a group of them. Then you pick the fastest one from their offspring. When you continue this, you end up with a really fast greyhound.
• Stabilizing Selection: Stabilizing selection is selecting the individual with the common, average traits in a population. An example is a Siberian Husky. If a Siberian Husky had heavy muscles, it would sink in the snow but if it had lighter muscles, it wouldn't be able to pull the sled. So choosing a medium Siberian Husky would be able to move through the snow and pull the sled.
• Disruptive Selection: Disruptive Selection is selecting the extreme traits in a population that would survive a sudden change in the environment. For example, when the Earth was hit by a meteor, there were large tidal waves,  increasing number of earthquakes, inadequate supply of food, and little oxygen. Larger animals would not have survived in this because they needed a lot of food and oxygen, but evidence shows that disruptive selection actually picked the traits that would help the animals in these conditions, thus making them survive.

Blog #3

Blog #3 Explain what microevolution is? What are the three ways that variation occurs?


Microevolution is small-scale genetic changes that lead to new subspecies. Microevolution ocurs from mutation, migration, and selection. Mutation is when there are random changes in the organism's composition or number of DNA molecules in their cell. Selection is when "weak alleles" that hurt the chances of an organism's survival are eliminated from the gene pool and the adaptive alleles that help an organism's survival are passed to a larger proportion of the gene pool. Lastly, migration is when organisms move into or out of a population and it effects the gene pool when the organisms carry a different genotype different from the population because the effect is greater on allele frequencies than if these organisms carry a similar genotype. 

Blog #2

Blog # 2 Why is fossil record hard to interpret?


Fossil records can be hard to interpret because sometimes the older fossils that are about more than three billion years old becomes fragmentary. Also some fossil records that are in mountainous areas are eroded by wind or water,  destroying the fossil. Fossils are also unreliable because not all bones of the same animal survive equally the same such as larger lightweight bones deteriorate more quickly and aren't that fossilized but small, delicate bones are crushed and carried away. Other fossils may only have a bone or two, making it hard to interpret what kind of organism it came from.