Writing in Biology - Section 1

In this draft, I will be writing about whether the chicken or the egg came first. The debate comes down to the topic of evolution. Bird eggs that we recognize today (the amniotic egg) came about not by chickens but by the ancestors that lived before its time. The evolution of an amniotic egg came from the movement of water-reproducing organisms to land-reproducing organisms. As animals began to live on land, time brought upon genetic mutations that resulted in two almost-chicken organism. These cross between these two organisms is what created the modern chicken. As the modern chicken populated in species, these chicken produced what we know as chicken eggs. So in reality, the chicken is what came first, but the evolution of an amniotic egg came way before the modern chicken almost 340 million years ago. Depending on what kind of egg is in question, “the safest bet is to say the egg came first.”

https://www.science.org.au/curious/earth-environment/which-came-first-chicken-or-egg

In almost any type of near-shore climate, whether it be polar, temperate, or tropical, kelp forests can be found. Kelp are large brown algae, with specialized tissues designed to live underwater. They require a rocky substrate present to which the kelp can use its holdfasts to root itself and begin growing. When large quantities of kelp bunch up in dense patches, the area can be called a kelp forest. The dense brush provides a unique habitat to a diverse selection of wildlife including sea urchins, lobsters, mussels, abalones, other kinds of seaweeds and sea otters.

These organisms form a symbiosis with kelp, helping regulate its growth and destruction making this a very dynamic ecosystem. Sea urchins and sea otters are key regulators of this biome on opposite ends of the spectrum. Sea urchins are omnivorous bottom feeders that eat away at any vegetation or dead animals in their path, kelp being a major source of this diet. Although it may seem counter-productive that sea urchins regulate this biome by destroying matter, they actually play a key role. Without their grazing the kelp would grow continuously without any means to stop and eventually would form a forest so dense, light could not pass through and photosynthesis in the deeper areas would cease. Simultaneously, if too many sea urchins are allowed to graze the kelp forest would be destroyed. This is where sea otters come in. These marine mammals dive down into the kelp forests in search of their food sources, clams, mussels, and most importantly, sea urchins. One species regulates another species that regulates another. Without the sea urchin, the kelp forest may overgrow, without the sea otter the forest may be decimated. All are important in maintaining a homeostatic environment that benefits all the parties present, including the rest of the community of wildlife. 

Animals can decode several meanings from signals about self including: parent-offspring recognition, kin recognition, mate recognition, stranger/individual recognition, competitive status, motivational status, genotypic & phenotypic quality, and aposematic colouring. Parent-offspring recognition is especially apparent in colonial bird species such as bank swallows and emperor penguins. Both species need to leave the nest to get food for their offspring, and when they return, they locate their nests based on their chick’s calls. Kin recognition is present in birds as apparent through incest avoidance behaviour. Great tits will recognise the calls of their fathers and avoid mating with birds who have an identical call as this avoids the possibility of incest. Tadpoles will secrete a hormone that other tadpoles recognise as belonging to their kin and will form groups with similar genomes. Mate recognition has been shown to occur in bird species who have to return to a nesting site. In some species of gulls, males will return to nesting sites first and emit a call which their mates will recognise. Song birds have been shown to recognise different individuals. White-throated sparrow males can recognise whether a neighbour emits a call from a familiar border or if it has moved to a new location and threatens to encroach on his territory. In the former case, the male will respond weakly to the neighbour relative to his response to a stranger from the same location. In the latter case, the male will respond just as strongly to the neighbour in the new location as to a stranger from that same location. Competitive status is an important message to decode in dominance hierarchies. In house swallows, dominant males will have more black feathers on their head and chest than submissive males. Motivational status often has to do with level of aggression or sexual motivation. In canids, different facial expressions will give a receiver different information about the likelihood that the canid’s next action will be aggressive or submissive. In hook-tipped moths, male caterpillars will emit sound from different places on their bodies to ward off other males. Signals also communicate genotypic and phenotypic quality as in the springbok’s stottering behaviour. A springbok stotters by jumping up and down to highlight the black and white stripe on his flank. In doing so, the springbok not only signals to the predator that he has been detected but also tells them he is healthy and that it will take great effort to capture him. Lastly, aposematic colouring has to do with how poisonous or venomous a creature is. Bright, contrasting colours often indicate that an animal will be inedible or produces lethal toxins. For example, the hooded pitohui has bright orange and black feathers to signal that it produces batrachotoxin that will kill the predator that tries to eat it.

The observational differences between the original and replicated figure can be broken down into three sectors: formating of the figures, mechanics of the photography and subjects in the figure. The formating in the figures were generally similar but a clear difference can be observed. The sizing and capitalization of the lettering is different in both figures. The original figure consists of uppercase and uniformed sized letters. While the replicated figure consists of different sizing and alternating casing of the letters. The photographs in the figure are also in different shapes and formations. The original figure has each photograph oriented into a square. The replicated figure has the photographs oriented into rectangles.

The third goal of this lab is to Identify potential variables that must be controlled for the replicability of the study. For the best results, I will be writing my methods using descriptive and explicit language. Specifying the path I took to the proper plant and taking a picture from the proper angle, will be the first part. I will determine a landmark as a starting point and give detailed notes on the pathing I took to find my plant. The photo angles, especially for the ‘distant shot', will have clear steps and notes on my positioning and height. I will also describe where I am in relation to the plant. This will require detail because it can be very easy to step back and take a photograph of the plant with a completely different background. Another variable to control is the time of day. It is important the person replicating my work takes the photos at a similar time of day to match the shadows and lighting. A third factor I can control is how the final figure will be constructed. Careful instructions will be written for each step, beginning from the software used to the final touches. Methods sections may seem dry and unnecessary, however, having proper notes for every step along the way separates an easily replicable experiment from another.

It is well known that the Boston location is often far ahead of the curve when it comes to the level of available health care and emergency medicine. As a part of the emergency response in the state, I have been able to see the exposed side of the requirements and process of becoming a first responder EMT, and have had contacts with other state EMTs. Disucssing with other EMTs has shown the differences in expectations in areas across the country and exposed the underlying causes. Firstly, Massachusetts EMT are required to pass a vigurous state practical exam that include five basic skills: splinting, long-board, medical, trauma, and KED. Next, all Maschusetts EMTs have to be nationally certified by a 80-120 question exam that can take up to four hours to complete. These two hurdles combined yield a strong professional and well training EMT fully capable of fullfilling their duty and following the protocol. While other states' EMTs are not lacking in these skills, it's a more facilitated process elsewhere to obtain the same certifications for the job. Most of the other states do not require the national certification. The reason behind this is the educational opportunity. If the national exams were required for other states, a significant amount of the emergency medicine working force would not be able to work because they often cannot pass the test. This is combined with the fact that most state protocols are much more limited than the enforced national protocol, giving EMTs less responsibility and fewer abilities on-shift. In Massachusetts however it is true that the national protocol is the limiting factor in what EMTs can perform, with the state protocol giving many abilities on the job. This is all due to the opportunity for advanced EMT education in our state in comparison to that available in other states. 

People in the scientific field hold different levels of knowledge. It is true that in order to gain extreme knowledge in a single subject, time is the only real factor that can allow and determine the amount of things you know. Knowledge takes dedication to time and subject, and also it requires interest. No one will ever know the most about something they hate the most. And so when one is invested in a subject or field of interest, their time and efoort will be precisely focussed on that subject, providing them with the ability to gain master os the topics in the field of study. Everyone however understands the limits to the possibilities of gaining expertise in a single field: time available and opportunity for education. At younger ages, you require more basic levels of education and can only achieve higher more specific and in depth knowledge after rising in the tiers of academia. You will know more in college than in high school, and more in graduate school than in undergrad, etc. Age is therefore often linked with wisdom. The older you are, the more deeply you know about your interests and the greater level of mastery you have over the subjects. This is the traditional way of ageism against the younger generations though because the older generations put down the youth for lack of knowledge and understanding due to their age and lack of experience in the world. This is very inaccurate however because age does not determine intelligence and younger people can achieve a high level of specific knowledge if they study highly specific topics. This causes a problem for older generations who mastered their field decades ago and let their knowledge plateau and stopped seaking to self-improve. The younger generation plows past them learning the newest theories and discoveries, sometimes culminating in a more education younger generation that older generations do not accept. 

An elaborate representation of static electricity can be demonstrated through the use of a Van de Graaf. Structurally, a Van de Graaf has a base with a dial to turn it on and increase/decrease the voltage. It is plugged to a power outlet through the base. Emerging from the base, the plastic cylinder has a belt (made of felt) constantly rubbing against one another when the equipment is switched on. This causes a sea of negatively charged electrons to be produced. The electrons travel up the belt to the metal ball of the Van de Graaf (on top). Upon skin contact with the metal ball, the person will experience their hair being "static". This is due to the fact that electrons cannot stay in one place and are always looking to leave through any form conducting medium. The person has to stand on an insulating material (e.g. wooden or plastic stool) to avoid the electrons travelling down to the ground since that pathway is natural for them. This is the same mechanism as the simple "socks shuffling against the rug" or "balloon rubbing against hair". 

Phytophagy can be seen almost anywhere around us. I found mine in the Durfee Conservatory on the UMass Amherst campus. The subject was a plant with long green leaves. Every single leaf was pristine clean with no other patches, holes etc. except one leaf. This specific leaf had three patches in a trianglular orientation. The patches did not have specific shape - they were irregular. They did not occupy space on the entire leaf, but were big enough to be visible They were located about two-thirds from the bottom and on the underside of the plant. This was an evidence of phytophagy because it usually means that it had been attacked by a fungus or bacteria causing the discoloration. The brown patches were slightly lighter around the borders and got darker as they got closer to the center of the each patch.