Drafts

The ‘monito del monte’ (Dromiciops gliroides) will need to shift its range to cooler climates, given a change in its regional climate. Organisms live in climates which precisely fit their ecological needs, whether it be for sunlight, elevation, precipitation, etc. For this reason when climates change the organism must adapt by moving away to a new area with a climate similar to the previous one. According to the given research, ‘Monito del monte’ (Dromiciops gliroides) lives in the southern region of Chile near the Andes mountains in neighboring forests. If temperatures rose enough that D. gliroides would be forced to move it has 2 options. 

First is to move south. In the southern hemisphere the equator will become warmer and every latitude following, towards the south pole, will see an increase of average temperature. As a quick example of one may expect to see, if a species lives at given latitude A in the southern hemisphere at 17 °C and overtime the average recorded temperature rises to 20 °C the species will be forced to move south to latitude B where the previous average was 14 °C, but shifted to 17 °C. Unfortunately, a large species migration may not always be possible and what could occur is the species living far north will simply die out while the same species in the south begin to thrive. Also a few degree change may not seem significant, but it could ruin the survival rates for many primary produces which rely on temperature. A large increase in plant deaths would offset the food sources for primary consumers and then the entire community.  

Enter the John W. Olver Design Building at UMass Amherst located at 551 N. Pleasant St.

Amherst, MA 01003-2901. Upon entering the front entrance use the wooden, exposed stairs on the left side of the first floor to reach the third floor. After reaching the third floor, walk straight until the hallway splits to left and right. Take that left and a rooftop garden should be visible through windows on your left. A few steps down the hall will be a door to access the garden. Once inside the rooftop patio, walk over to the left side of the patio and look between the two glass pyramid windows. There, approximately 10 inches from the edge of where the wood meets soil is the chosen plant.

The focus of this analysis is a one year old Avicularia avicularia specimen (pink-toe tarantula). The arachnid is kept as part of a meager personal insect collection, consisting of mantids and arachnids. The specimen is male, and named Mr. Snuggles. When elongated, the leg span is about 3.4 inches. The tarantula is an unassuming black mass in the corner of the tank, rarely moving from the chosen location. The plain appearance is deceptive, as when the light hits it in the correct way parts of the insects legs shine with a blue-green irridescense. The notable features are the pink-salmon coloured toes which the species is named for, standing out against the black hairy form. On the underside, the hairs and exoskeleton around the fangs is the same pink-salmon colour. The fangs are small but intimidating around .5 mm in length and remain tucked against the body until the tarantula catches its prey.

When feeding, a cricket or superworm of decent size is dropped into the tank. The tarantula will slowly climb down to the substrate (it is an arboreal species and spends most of its time in the upper corners of the tank) and wait for the prey insect to move by upon which it pounces down on the prey, locking it in place with strong fangs. The spider finds a position with a good hold and slowly digests the insects insides and drinks them. The specimen is fed once a week as tarantulas are prone to overeating. 

Building the Figure

    I created a Google Slides presentation with a blank template. I changed the size of the slide by going to the File tab, scrolling down to Page Setup, choosing the Custom option, and making the slide 15.15 x 7.85 in. I added the “close-up”, “contextual”, and “sylvan_map” images to the slide. I cropped the “sylvan_map” image to include only the map up until right hand most edge of Parking Lot 44. By right clicking the “sylvan_map” image and going to Format options, and opening the Size & Rotation dropdown menu, I scaled the image to 9.84 x 7.95 in. Using the same method, I scaled both the “close-up” and “contextual” images to 5.31 x 3.92 in. I placed the “sylvan_map” image flush against the right side of the slide. I placed the “close-up” image above the “contextual” image, and fitted them in the remaining space, flush against the left side of the slide.

What I Did At Home

• Woke up
• Washed face
• Brushed teeth
• Made breakfast and coffee
• Got dressed
• Prepared backpack for class
• Homework
• Lunch and Dinner
• Sleep

What I Did On Campus

• Went to class
• Went to office hours

Transportation

• Bus to get to and from campus
• Car for miscellaneous activities
• Walking to the bus/classes

Errands / Extras

• Went to USPS to drop off a package
• Went to Aldi for groceries 
• Went to a friend's house
• Played some video games

My activities are broken up into four simple categories which made up my day: being at home, on campus, my transportation, and free time. In the morning, I woke up and turned off my alarm. After making my bed and checking the bus schedule, I proceed to the bathroom and start my routine by washing my face and brushing my teeth. I had time to prepare breakfast before leaving to the bus stop, so I made eggs and packed a granola bar into my backpack for a snack later on. Following this, I get dressed, put my planner and notebooks into my bag and grab my keys before heading out. Once outside, I walked for six minutes to reach the bus stop and waited for the bus. When the bus finally arrived on campus, I spent the rest of the afternoon going to and from classes. Today in particular, I had to stay on campus longer to meet up with a professor. After this, I took the bus back home and immediately had lunch and did some errands with my roommates. We went to usps to drop off a package, and then drove to Aldi to grocery shop for the apartment. When the errands were completed, I had some time to visit a friend and play a few games. When I came back home, I took a short nap before dinner and then started homework for the night. Later on I finished my work, and began my night routine for washing my face. Following this I brushed my teeth and changed into pajamas. I scrolled on my phone for about an hour once I returned to my room, and then finally went to sleep. 

Organizational and prepartion period:
At 9:30 AM I awoke to my alarm, turned it off and began  PT (physical therapy) exercises for my achiles tendon and then some light full body stretching for about 15 minutes. At aproximately 9:45 AM I entered the shower, and spent about 15 minutes cleaning myself and brushing my teeth. By 10 AM I was getting dressed and organizing my closet. Until 11 AM there was free time which I utilized by getting some reading done for one of my classes (JPN 226) and then receiving a phone call from my brother about the logistics of traveling to see each other this weekend. That lasted from roughly 10:40-10:55 AM. After 11AM I began assembling the items I would need for my two classes and filling my bag with them.  At 11:10 AM I left my apartment building to do maintenance work on my bicycle, adding air to the tires and greasing the chain.

Active Day Period:
At 11:20 I left via bicycle to the IBS building to arrive for an 11:30 AM Organic Chemistry class. The class went until 12:45 PM, and was composed of in class questions and lecturing. From 12:45-1PM I rode my bike to get a cup of tea and then travel to a 1 PM JPN preforming arts class. The class lasted until 2:15 PM, and afterwards I took a short walk with a classmate to listen to his plan proposals for starting a new club that helps pre-med students find work abroad. This meeting took about 30 minutes, until aproximately 2:45 where I began traveling via bike to downtown Amherst to meet up with my MCAT prep study group. The group dissolved around 4 PM and I traveled back onto campus for dinner and socialization.

Evening Free Time and Recreation:
At 5 PM I met at the Hampshire dining common with a friend for dinner. Social topics and sports topics were discussed over dinner until aproximately 6 PM. Once this was over I returned to North D to change clothes, and head to the gym. I swam in the pool for about 30 minutes, before working out for another hour after that until 8 PM when the gymnasium closed. After this, I returned to North D and showered off the chlorine form the pool. The remaining hours of the day were spent in recreation with roommates, watching a movie and discussing current events. I would estimate that the time of sleep began at roughly midnight.

I have a set routine on campus that I follow every Wednesday of the week. At around 9 am, I arrive at the ILC for my 9:25am Physics class. The class runs until 10:40, and during most of the time in class, my group and I work on in-class word problems like the ones that would be on exams. When that class is over, my next class isn't until an hour and 40 minutes later. During this time, I sit in the ILC on my laptop to do my homework or just to pass time if I don't have any work to do. At around 11:30am, I meet up with my friend at Blue Wall to eat lunch. When I am done, I leave to go to my Genetics class at 12:20 which is located in Morrill I. I have a friend in this class that I sit next to. During this class, the profressor lectures and I take notes on what she is saying. Class ends at 1:10pm and I make my way to the ISB for my lab class that begins at 1:25pm. Before lab started, we had a short quiz on what we were working on for the day. During this lab period, we practiced with dissecting zebrafish brain and treated zebrafish with different drugs to study them. Lab ends at 5:25 so I can catch the 5:30 bus back to my apartment. Overall, these are the activites I usually perform on campus on a Wednesday.

In Darwin's Theory of natural selection, there are three conditions that must be met for natural selection to occur.  First, there must be variation of the trait within the population.  Second, the trait must be hertiable therefore passed down to the offspring.  Finally, there must be an increase in reproductive sucess connected to having this trait.  One example of natural selection is the prevelence of lactose tolerance in humans.  First, there is variation in the trait because some humans are able to drink a glass of milk without any digestive complications while others are not.  Second, those who are able to drink milk are able to pass down this trait to their offspring.  Finally, having this trait leads to a greater reproductive sucess because there is access to a new food source and other dietary benefits.  As a result, there is a 5% fitness incease among the population who is able to digest lactose.  This adaptation has occured several times in populations from east Africa to Europe to the Middle East and India.  The sucess of the adaptation can also be seen in the gene flow that passes this trait around the world.  

The Monophagous leaf‐mining larvae of Stigmella (Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae) on birch article is structured with a Level 2 title as it was bold with upper and lower case letters; centered on the left side. The other article was structured with a Level 1 title as it was centered and bold with upper and lowercase letters.  The structure of the sections play different roles in each article. In the Monophagous leaf‐mining larvae of Stigmella (Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae) on birch article, the sections are structured in a more ideal scientific writing pattern. The article starts with an introduction followed by methods, two specific subsections, results and discussion. It is very organized and easy to find sections. Each section starts with a topic sentence that introduces what the section will be written about. The points in the sections also flow concurrently. There is not really a topic sentence for the subsections. There is a bolded line above each subsection to describe what will be talked about. The second article, Smart behavior of true slime mold in a labyrinth, was organized in a different way. It was a shorter article that was organized by topics that showed the progress of the experiment. It was less structured than the initial article and seemed more of a reflection than a scientific article. The sections followed the basic structure of introduction, background info and results but each new point was just separated into its own subsection. Both articles had different ways of formatting their information but they both included the same information for the articles. 

Each section starts with a topic sentence that introduces what the section will be written about. The points in the sections also flow concurrently. There is not really a topic sentence for the subsections. There is a bolded line above each subsection to describe what will be talked about. The second article, Smart behavior of true slime mold in a labyrinth, was organized in a different way. It was a shorter article that was organized by topics that the progress of the experiment. It was less structured than the initial article and seemed more of a reflection than a scientific article. The sections followed the basic structure of introduction, background info and results but each new point was just separated into its own subsection. Both articles had different ways of formatting their information but they both included the same information for the articles.