Writing in Biology

The order of Pleuronectoidei contains the flatfish and flounders. These fish live in temperate waters and live on the benthic region. As juviniles they are symmetrical, however as they develop one eye migrates to the other side of the head until both eyes are on the same side. As the name suggests, flat fish are laterally compressed. Most of these fish are dextral, with both eyes on their right, however there are some species which are sinistral, with both eyes on the left. Still, some species vary in right/left sidedness and get a mix of both types of fish. Some species have paired fins and some have fused dorsal, anal and caudal fins. As you can see, there is great diversity among the flat fishes.

The electron transport chain is the first stage of oxidation phosphorylation. During this phase, Complex 1 strips the electrons off of NADH and Complex 2 strips the electrons of FADH2. These electrons are then donated to coenzyme Q, which in turn donates the electrons to complex 3. Complex 3 then proceeds to donate its electrons to complex 4 which donates to the final electron receptor, oxygen, producing H2O. During this process, complex 1, 3, and 4 pump protons into the intermembrane space and create a concentration gradient. This concentration gradient is used to power ATP synthase, as the protons will naturally flow to an area of lower concentration on the interior of the mitochondrial matrix. To do this, the protons pass through ATP synthase, which rotates its mechanism and powers the synthesis of ATP. For every 3 protons which passes through ATP synthase 1 ATP is generated.

The Xiphiformes are an order of fish containing the bill fish and sail fish. These fish present a thuniform swimming in which only the back tail of the fish moves. This semilunate tail is very large and able to move large amounts of water and push the fish forward quickly. In addition to this, their vertebral column is unable to bend. The large bill on the front of their snout serves a dual purpose of aiding in forging as well as navigating through the water effectively. This bill is a modified upper jaw and is covered in tiny teeth like structures. Many Xiphiformes have a large sail which is able to be raised and lowered quickly. This sail may be used to heard prey, making them easier to hunt, as well as aiding in navigation in water and allowing the fish to turn easier. During hunts, sailfish may even change color. This is thought to be a method if signalling other fish.

Question 2, Part A:

Figure 3 shows the effect of thinning Aspen in its early successional stage. Before the thinning of the aspen the morality percent of aspen and fir were both about 5%. After the thinning of the aspen the morality of aspen increased slightly to about 6%. This is not the same for the fir, which instead jumped up to almost 21%. We know the aspen is the early arriving species, and without it fir do worse. This shows a facilitation relationship between the two species

Question 1: Ulva lactuca is an early colonist who has an effect on the later arriving Gigartina conaliculata. Figure 1 shows us that it is facilitation relationship. Facilitation as a successional mechanism says that the early arriving species will make it less suitable for other early arrival species, but more suitable for late arriving species. This is seen in Figure 1 because when Ulva is present the number of Gigartina is much higher than it is when Ulva is removed.

Day 1:

The spiders were not moving until the ziploc container started to be moved then they would go in the opposite direction of wherever you are contacting the outside of the container

Day 2:

Day 3:

Webs: distance from the LED

Top: No it is dead

Bottom: 1cm between the two sticks

Red: 0 cm starts at LED goes to edge

Yellow: 0 cm starts at LED goes to other breathe hole

No light 1: 0 cm web on and around LED

No light 2: 0 cm big web right against LED, second spider?

The findings of this study will be beneficial for multiple reasons. The data we collect will give us insight into the behavior and lives of the small cellar spiders that live in basements and homes right alongside humans. Today and going forward, LEDs are the new light bulb, they are more efficient, cheaper and easier to install and use. The LED light will began to have a much larger presence in the outdoors as street lamps, lights in the park, etc.. With LEDs becoming more and more prominent and mixed into our surroundings, this study will show some of the effects LED lights can have on spiders creating their webs, movement, sleeping, and just their overall behavior. Comparing the results of this study to studies about regular light bulbs effects on spiders can be very useful  in helping decide where to put LEDs up, how intense to have them, and the schedule for the LEDs. Many people also face fears of spiders, both rational and irrational. Cellar spiders are one of the most common species of spiders to reside in homes and buildings. Depending on the results of this study, potentially, differences in color, brightness, and/or the duration of LEDs could be used by anyone who wants keep spiders away

This experiment was successful in showing the wide variety of organisms found in biofilms that form on a toothbrush. Using selective and differential agar plates, a total of 9 different colony morphologies were observed from the same source of inoculum. This clearly shows that a variety of organisms can be present in a biofilm simultaneously. If the toothbrush had been put in the saline immediately after being used by my lab partner, I would expect the number of colonies to increase significantly. I think that due to the toothbrush drying out between the time it was used and the time it was put in the saline, the number of microorganisms available to be captured from it decreased. Despite this, this experiment clearly shows the bacterial diversity present in our mouths and on biofilms on our toothbrushes.

This experiment showed that biofilms from two different bacterial sources could be grown in the lab and visualized using microscopy. P. aeruginosa was shown to be an excellent biofilm former, producing a thick, gooey, green slime. The EPS and rod shaped bacteria were clearly visible under the microscope. The environmental sample taken from the soil also produced a biofilm. It was yellow in color, smelled like rotting organic material, and was not as thick and gooey as the biofilm produced by P. aeruginosa. Under the microscope EPS and bacteria were visible, showing that there were some bacteria in the soil and root sample that had the ability to produce biofilms. Keeping the biofilms wet using the flow through gram stain was essential to maintaining the structure of the biofilm and allowed for visualization under the microscope. This experiment showed that two different sources of bacteria both produced biofilms, which were visualized under a microscope using a technique that kept the biofilms wet.

Once isolated colonies had been grown on the CDC agar plate, the next step of the experiment was to test them for their ability to eliminate two reactive oxygen intermediates (ROIs), hydrogen peroxide and singlet oxygen. To test for the bacteria’s ability to degrade hydrogen peroxide, a catalase test was done. It was expected that the anaerobic bacteria would contain the enzyme catalase and be able to degrade hydrogen peroxide. It was expected that when these bacteria were exposed to hydrogen peroxide, a chemical reaction would take place and small bubbles would form indicating that catalase was present and able to degrade hydrogen peroxide into water and gaseous oxygen. Staphylococcus epidermidis was used as a positive control for the catalase test, as this organism is known to have the catalase enzyme. It was expected that bubbles would form when S. epidermidis was exposed to hydrogen peroxide. Streptococcus agalactiae was used as a negative control for the catalase test, and was expected to show no bubbling when exposed to hydrogen peroxide due to the absence of catalase.