Drafts

The different pairs of nucleotides have their own properties that allow different functions. For example the pair AT uses 2 hydrogen bonds to bridge the two nucleotides together. Whereas the CG pair uses three hydrogen bonds. Thus, in areas of higher CG presence the DNA is more tightly coiled. Also, the tightness of the DNA coil can affect the ability of certain binding partners to fulfill their role because of steric strain.

I wonder what the presence of the oxygen on the sugar portion of DNA does to the structure and function. Perhaps it affects the way that thymine binds to the backbone. In this was it could maybe form more stable bonds with uracil. In addition, it’s possible that the presence of the oxygen on the RNA sugar could contribute to some of the other functions of RNA, like its ability to interact with different cellular machinery.

The mechanisms of the enzyme that moves this process along is probably similar to the way that amino acid chains are polymerized. Although in that case it is a peptide bond and in this example it is a phosphodiester bond, I imagine the processes are still similar. I believe that the enzyme that functions to establish the phosphodiester bonds in DNA is DNA ligase, which does exactly as its name implies.

• We collected 6 spiders of the same species and recorded the weight of each individual spider. We placed each spider in their own, clean, clear  plastic container.

• We allowed the spiders to spin web for 5 days, all spiders were kept under the same conditions.

• We removed silk from the six containers and using a  microscope, measured them for the thickness of each silk and recorded the data so that we had the weight of each spider and the thickness of the silk from their web.

• We compared the weight of the spider with the thickness of the silk by creating a graph that measured weight in grams on the X axis and the silk thickness on the y axis.

• We analyzed the data to find any significant relationships.

The aim of this study is to determine if there is a relationship present between spider body weight and spider silk thickness among various species. Discovering the various factors that contribute to differences in spider web characteristics, such as thickness, could help us learn more about the factors that contribute to their extreme elasticity and could be useful for material engineering of a material that is both strong and soft. Previous studies have shown that there is some variation in spider silk diameters, as well as the mechanical characterization of spider-silk. Light-microscopy is a proven method to study the differences between objects that are small, such as spider silk, and will be used in this study to measure the diameter differences. A total of two each from three different species will be obtained. These spiders will then be weighed on analytical scales after exactly four days of feeding to ensure they have the adequate nutrition to spin spider silk. The spider silk will then be measured and compared throughout the species.

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 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 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.