Drafts

Methods

• Have one spider each in a  tupperware container, (sample size of 3= 3 spiders in 3 tupperware containers). They would be fed at the same time, 6 PM, every day for 7 days- 3 flies put into their web each day. Observe feeding speed, spider movement, web activity/building, etc. daily.

• Have one spider each in a tupperware container (sample size of 3). They would be fed at the same time, 6 PM, every day regularly for 4 days. Then they would be starved for 3 days, and presented with 3 flies on the 7th day’s 6 PM. Observe feeding speed, spider movement, web activity/building, etc daily.

• Have one spider each in a tupperware container (sample size of 3). They would be starved (kept inside the container  and not given any food) for 6 days. They would be presented with 3 flies on the 7th day’s 6 PM. Observe feeding speed, spider movement, web activity/building, etc. daily.

Cellar spiders can survive without food for four to eight weeks, since they don’t use too much energy. We don’t expect to see significant behavioral change (feeding habits, aggression) between the 0-d and 3-d starved spiders. But, we expect to see significant difference in behavior for the 0-d/3-d and 7-d spiders, where the 7-d spiders will feed faster or act more aggressively.

In order to test the expectancy effect, multiple experiments were performed at schools across the state. Each experiment included having children in grades one through six take a nonverbal test that judged a particular skill. The teachers in the classroom were not familiar with the test and they were told that the students were taking a “Harvard Test of Inflected Acquisition”. The teachers believed that this test was to indicate which kids were excelling in their grade. Following the initial testing, the kids were retested after a couple months and the results were analyzed to determine which kids were “excelling”. The results indicated an increase in overall grades on the test from the initial to second test period. This led the researchers to suspect that the teacher’s high expectations of the kids were rubbing off on the results; it was as if the teacher’s expectations were shaping the kid’s behaviors to subconsciously do better on the second test. The younger grades showed a higher correlation between teacher expectations in results, indicating that younger kids are more likely to be shaped by their surroundings or more easily influenced by their superiors. The older grades did not show the same increase in grades, showing that their environment did not have as much of an impact on their testing. Overall, the study confirmed that the expectancy effect can take place in real world situations; biases can subconsciously affect outcomes. 

In 1911, Wilhelm Von Osten claimed his horse could read, spell and solve math problems. The horse, named Clever Hans, would allegedly stomp with is right hoof to indicate the answer to math problems or spell words. It was astonishing to see a horse have the same problem solving skills as a human, and as he performed this task in front of scientists, he tricked them into believing a horse could have such a high level of intelligence without a prompting of his owner. However, it came out that the horse was actually conditioned to answer the problems through the reactions of the audiences, not from knowing the correct answer. For example, if asked what ten plus 5 was, he would keep stomping until he noticed a nod or surprised expression on the scientist’s face. This would indicate to the horse that the right answer had been stomped by the horse, and he would stop. Wilhem Von Osten used this horse trick to prove that biases may cause researchers to unconsciously signal to participants in an experiment when a specific outcome has been achieved. This idea falls under the experimenter expectancy effect. This idea threatens scientist’s validity, as it proves that some outcomes from an experiment may have been anticipated and therefore pushed for by the scientist themselves; the findings may not be 100 percent valid if a bias was placed on the participants. 

Moromyridae is a family of fish which includes the Aba and elephant nose fishes. These fish a very large brain compared with their body weight. This is mostly due to their large cerebellum. This large cerebellum controls the use of their electrcal discharging organs, which produces electric fields and may be used for detection of other fish as well as communicating with other fish. Thus, to control and process all the electrical information the cerebellum of the fish has expanded and gotten larger. Another interesting characteristic of Moromydridae is that their swim bladder extends into their braincase and the addition of a bony rod which supports their caudual peduncle. These structures help maintain a rigid bent shape to the fish. This ridgid shape is necessary due to their organs which produce an electric field. If they were to move, even a tiny bit, their electrical field would be disrupted, and thus they must maintain a ridgid shape. As a result these fish largely move by sending sin waves down their dorsal fin, producing as little change in their shape as possible.

The fossil needed to support the phylogeny is a common ancestor of both the hippo and the whale and would consist of characteristics from both species.  Specifically it would have the pulley shaped astragalus. The common ancestor of the whale and hippo diverged and created 2 seperate species, hippo and whale. This was done when the whale mutated and lost the oulley shaped astragulus, while the hippo still has that characteristic to this day.  The common ancestor is an animal that consists of both whale and hippo characreristics, which characteristics other than the pulley shaped astragulus, we may never know. The requirement for the pulley shape because using the idea of maximum parsimony leads us to want the least amount of evolutionary changes. It would make much more sense and be much easier for the whale to lose the pulley shaped astragulus and the common ancestor of the whale and the hippo to have it, than for the common ancestor to lose the characteristic and for the hippo to independetly gain it back. It makes much more sense to say the common ancestor contained the pulley shaped astragalus, and had some whale characteristics.

Question 1: The fossil needed to support the phylogeny is a common ancestor of both the hippo and the whale and would have characteristics of both.  Specifically it would have the pulley shaped astragalus. The common ancestor of the whale and hippo diverged and created 2 seperate species, hippo and whale, and did this by the hippo keeping its pulley shaped astragalus and the whale losing the pulley shape.  The common ancestor is some sort of combination that contains the pulley shaped astragalus but also some characteristics of the whale. The requirement for the pulley shape is because it would be near impossible for the common ancestor to evolve from a pulley shaped astragalus ancestor and then lose that trait only to gain it back in the hippo but not in the whale.  It makes much more sense to say the common ancestor contained the pulley shaped astragalus.

Question 2: The definition of homology is a characteristics that is shared or very similar among different species shared by their one common ancestor.  The definition of homoplasy which is, shared characteristics between species that wasn’t present in the common ancestor, is shown in the phylogeny when both the monotremes and the Therians both develop the unattached bone even though their common ancestor had the bone attached to the jaw.  This is a basic example of homoplasy and is likely due to living in similar conditions and having somewhat similar behaviors that benefited having an unattached bone. The phylogeny shows homology with the evolution of the 3 inner ear bones. Up until the Morganucodon the species all have the same inner ear and have it attached and to the lower jaw bone.  This shows homology because the ancestor is passing on its genes and the species has the same inner ear as their ancestor. One specific example is how the red bone keeps getting smaller, it happens to all the common ancestors as the time goes on and when the therians and monotremes both have very small red bones and a very similar shaped green bone which are both derived from their common ancestor meaning those traits are homology traits.

If all the dogs in the world were to inevitable die, but I am able to save one breed I would have to save the black labrador retriever.  These dogs are in my opinion the best dogs ever. They are so unbelievably cute when they are younger and grow up into beautiful and handsome animals.  They are also a great family dog and are very happy and energetic. This is exactly what i need in a dog, the energy for fun but also the good nature for the family.  The black lab have a really close connection to their owners as well and love to socialize with the entire family and the neighbors as well. The labs are also very easy going and extremely friendly, just what everyone needs, a good friend in their life.  From a logical standpoint black labs would be agreta dog because they are capable of providing help in so many different situations. The name itself comes from the dogs being used to retrieve small game while hunting. They are also very good for service animals because of their friendliness, easy going, and general love for their owner.  Some labradors even go as far to become police K9s and do things like sniff out drugs or bombs. As someone who loves dogs and has changed my favorite dog breed more than ten times I would undoubtedly pick to save the black lab. At the end of the day a dog is a man's best friend and a black labrador retriever is the perfect dog to be best friends with.  

The breed of dogs that should be saved is the havanese. Havenese are a small breed of dogs that have a very long life span and often have good health. Larger breeds of dogs could more quickly be reestablished by breeding wild/non domestic wolves or coyotes, but it would take many,many more years and cycles to return to smaller breeds of dogs. Smaller breeds of dogs are also easier for people such as the elderly to take care of and have in their house, and studies have shown that having a pet can help reduce symptoms of dementia, agitation, and loneliness in the elderly. Tennis player Venus Williams has a havenese, and is still able to take care of him despite her busy lifestyle. Havenese are very friendly, happy, loving, and easy to take care of, making them the perfect choice. 

The impact of completing this research is that it will help us to understand more about what affects the thickness of spider webs. Spider webs are notably strong and able to withstand large forces, while simultaneously being very soft. They vary widely in strength, some have even been said to be able to withstand hurricane force winds.  They have a very high elasticity. Discovering what contributes to differences in spider web characteristics, like their thickness, could help us learn more about the factors that contribute to their extreme elasticity and could be useful for Material engineering.