Writing in Biology

Individually we each watched two videos of domestic Morgan horses, Equus caballus, at the UMass Hadley Farm. Both videos had two mares and two foals of about 6 months old. We watched and observed the behaviors of the four horses for 48 minutes and 55 seconds, created a list of behaviors, and recorded the time each behavior occurred. We compared our lists and compiled all the behaviors into six tables categorized by each type of behavior: grooming, locomotion, playing, feeding, comfort, and body positioning. We determined the categories by grouping like behaviors together and establishing certain characteristics of each category. Grooming was categorized by the horse gnawing at himself or licking. Locomotion was categorized by moving locations. Playing included interaction with other horses by nudging, jumping, or gnawing. Feeding was categorized by behaviors that included the horse’s head touching the grass and the ground. Comfort included behaviors that involve just the horse, such as tail waving, that increased the comfort of the horse or interactions between the foal and the mare. We categorized body positioning as movements to the horse’s posture while they remained stationary.

SH3 and SH2 domains play a large role in many signal pathways. It is a binding site for proteins with phosphorylated tyrosine. By the name auto inhibition, I would assume the protein itself is able to inactivate itself. I am curious to know how this system works exactly, though. I wonder if the protein receives a signal? These are common pathways that was addressed in class. There are 3 proteins that are needed for the activation of this pathway. If there is a mutation that influences the function of one of these proteins, the enter pathway is affected. Is there a way for the pathway to compensate for a mutation in one of these proteins? If so, how does that work? Grb2 is a growth factor receptor-bound protein. It is a big player is many signal transduction pathways and cell communication.

Percomorpha is a vast group of fishes and the groups contained within it are heavily debated and ever changing. Some simply state that it contains "perch like fish." However that is like saying a peperoni pizza looks like a pizza as the perches themselves are a group within the percomorphs. This group contains the families: Batrachoidae, Centraichidae, Percidae, and so forth. The Batrachoidae are the toadfish. These fish have broad eyes which are dorsally oriented so they may peek above the water. This fish also has the ability to make sound using its swimbladder. Centrachidae are the sunfish. These fish are laterally compressed and have a continues dorsal fin with 5-13 spines. These are fish such as the largemouth and smallmouth bass. The perceidae are the Perches. Perches live in temperate freshwater bodies and are a highly diverse group. Examples of perch include the yellow perch, white perch, and walleye.

    As a group, we observed photos of warblers from the Setophega worksheet. To begin, a series of 12 common plumage characteristics for the warblers were identified. We choose to observe the presence of wing bars, if the bird had a short or long beak, the color of the throat, eye ring color, belly color, feet color, the presence of yellow feathers, the presence of bright colored feathers, rump coloration, the presence of a curved beak, if the bird had more than two feather colors, and if the crown was a different color than the body. We observed the photographs and the skin museum to observe each species and categorize the plumage characteristics. We wrote the color of each plumage feature in the table and we used “1” and “0” for traits that didn’t specify a color. The presence of wing bars, yellow feathers, bright colored feathers, more than two feather colors, and a matching crown were indicated by a 1 for yes and a 0 indicated no. A short beak was categorized by a 0 and a long beak was categorized by a 1. After evaluating each of the 33 species of Warblers for the set of characteristics determined, four of the patterns were chosen to apply to a phylogenetic tree. We choose the presence of wingbars, the presence of yellow feathers, foot coloration, and the presence of a matching crown color. We indicated the absence of wing bars with a black line on the taxa of the phylogenetic tree. On a new tree we indicated the absence of yellow feathers with a black line on the taxa of the phylogenetic tree. On another new tree, we marked the taxa of species that had a different color crown that the rest of the back with a black line. On a fourth tree, we indicated the color of the feet by using a different color line on each taxa that matches the color of the birds feet. Using the phylogenetic analysis, the characteristics were analyzed to determine any clear patterns of evolution and gene succession.

We wrote the color of each plumage feature in the table and we used “1” and “0” for traits that didn’t specify a color. The presence of wing bars, yellow feathers, bright colored feathers, more than two feather colors, and a matching crown were indicated by a 1 for yes and a 0 indicated no. A short beak was categorized by a 0 and a long beak was categorized by a 1. After evaluating each of the 33 species of Warblers for the set of characteristics determined, four of the patterns were chosen to apply to a phylogenetic tree. We choose the presence of wingbars, the presence of yellow feathers, foot coloration, and the presence of a matching crown color. We indicated the absence of wing bars with a black line on the taxa of the phylogenetic tree. On a new tree we indicated the absence of yellow feathers with a black line on the taxa of the phylogenetic tree. On another new tree, we marked the taxa of species that had a different color crown that the rest of the back with a black line. On a fourth tree, we indicated the color of the feet by using a different color line on each taxa that matches the color of the birds feet. Using the phylogenetic analysis, the characteristics were analyzed to determine any clear patterns of evolution and gene succession.

Exploit renewable food source on riverbank (tides bring food). Maintain territory size all winter, don’t modify territory size in response to abundance of resources, instead they modify their behavior:

• If food is low, they get it from other place but return to defend territory.
• If food is abundant, they allow one subordinate bird (female or juvenile) to stay to help defend the territory because they can be kicked out later.
• If food is very abundant, defense is abandoned.

Years of industrialization and little to no regulation on what can be emitted into the atmosphere has led to a changing climate which will only grow worse with time. The current shared opinion among scientists is that humans need to limit the rise in temperature to only two degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels in order to avoid a point where the increase in temperature reaches a point where it would no longer be able to be controlled or averted. Currently, climate change is occurring because of the presence of “greenhouse” gases in the atmosphere, mostly methane and carbon dioxide. These gases act as a blanket of sorts for the earth and trap incoming radiation from the sun, thus heating the planet. This process drives other factors that then contribute to the increased temperatures as well. With the increase in temperature, glaciers and other land bound ice are melting and raising sea levels. This affects global temperature in two ways. The first is that the ice normally serves as a source of albedo that stops the sunlight from being absorbed by the darker colored earth and reflects it back into the atmosphere. The second is that as sea levels rise, it provides more water to absorb heat, again raising temperatures. These are just two examples of how climate change has the potential to reach a tipping point that, if reached, will not be able to be stopped.

A one to one mixture of alcohol and carboxylic acid will usually yield an equilibrium mixture that is about 70% ester. The experiment carried out did not use a one to one ratio and instead used 13 mmol of carboxylic acid to 11 mmol of alcohol. This was in an attempt to react all the alcohol and not limit it, but the reaction of 1-propanol and propionic acid produced a percent yield of 19.81%. The final product of ester after the drying work up was 0.253 g when the theoretical put the grams of 1-propyl propionate ester at 1.255 g. The final percent yield may be the result of an incomplete separation during the reflux between the water and organic layers. The reflux filled the side arm quickly and required the top layer to be dumped back into the round-bottom flask multiple times during the 15 min heating period. A higher ester yield may have been possible if the separation occurred at a slower rate so that the side arm did not fill so quickly, or if the side arm were larger. If the side arm were larger, it would allow for more catchment and a more defined layer to distinguish the organic from the water. The better distinction would also allow for only the organic layer to be removed after the 15 min reflux. Given that the reflux did not completely separate the organic product from the water, some of the ester may have been removed as the aqueous layer during the work up which would have lowered the final volume and therefore the percent yield. Still, the IR analysis confirmed the existence of an ester based on the peaks seen, so the esterification reaction between 1-propanol and propionic acid was successful in producing 1-propyl propionate.

Gonad enlargement and ovarian development are driven by proximate factors, which are the external conditions that actually induce reproduction. Temperature is probably the most important modifier of annual gonadal cycles. Other factors such as habitat, vegetation, abundance of resources, or social stimulation help consummate the final stages of gonad enlargement and ovarian development.

New Caledonian Crows craft tools for probing and prying food. They make a variety of hooked tools by first selecting the raw material, then trimming it, and finally sculpting it into a hook. They also craft a second kind of tool from the leaves of a screw pipe by alternating angled cuts with horizontal rips to create a serrated edge. They use the tools for extracting insect prey from crevices.