Blogs

I have just spotted an unusual that resembles feature of a sloth and a hedgehog. After months of examining these organisms I have compiled a serious of entries ranging from their habitat of choice and environment to their behavior, mating, communication, and eating lifestyle. They are mammals given the characteristic of the mother being able to provide lactation to the altricial young that are produced. Who are helpless on their own and depend on their mother for guidance and nutrient’s. They have learned to adapt to life above ground meaning they have stronger and longer limbs with claws that have allowed them to climb up trees and expanded their way of obtaining food. 

Brain morphogenic protein (BMP) is involved in dorsal ventral patterning in most animals and dictates gene expression.  There are two antagonistic molecules that work to determine dorsal and ventral sides of an organism.  In insects, DPP is located on the dorsal side and SOG is located on the ventral side.  In the vertebrates, the dorsal side is chordin, and the ventral side has BMP4.  In hemichordates, BMP is located on the dorsal side and anti-BMP like molecule is located on the ventral side.  It makes them initially look like an insect.  BMP is secreted from the top of the neural tube and Shh is secreted from the bottom of the neural tube (floor plate)

The results for experiment 1 were somewhat surprising. As expected, the data suggest
that different substrates did affect the survival of the guppies. However, one perplexing result is
that the vegetative substrate had the smallest average increase in spot brightness. It seems logical
that the vegetative substrate would provide ample hiding places for guppies, and thus spot
brightness would not be so ill favored due to predation. Additionally, spot brightness increased
substantially in the sandy substrate tank. This seems odd because this environment would not
provide abundant hiding places, unless guppies were to burrow under the sand. Finally, the
muddy tank had the largest increase in spot brightness. This is likely because the mud prevented
predation and allowed spot brightness to increase over time.

The results for experiment 2 were as expected, and strongly support the hypothesis. In the
experiment there were 5 various levels of predation tested. All the data show that as predation
increases, spot brightness will decrease over time. This is because the guppies with elaborate
colors are more apt to attract predators, thus high spot brightness results in a lower fitness. For
the first four levels of predation, the spot brightness still increased. However, the net increase
became smaller as predation increased. Finally, with enough predators present, the spot
brightness decreased. This is likely because the effects of predation on fitness were stronger than
those of sexual selection. Without predation, the data show that spot brightness should increase
substantially over time, due to sexual selection. Therefore, the guppies unknowing play a fitness
balancing game between higher predation and more potential mates.

For the group studying how the frequency of lawn mowing and landscaping affects the species richness, they will need to find areas in which lawns are mowed at different frequencies. In order to find this information, they will call the physical plant to find when areas on campus are mowed.

    Similar to the group studying lawn mowing and landscaping, the group studying species richness in relation to how recently the grass was planted will contact the physical plant in order to find out the ages of grass plots around campus. The group will find multiple areas of varying age in order to compare it to the species richness.

    Finally, the group studying species richness in relation to elevation and water runoff should find areas of high elevation in the Orchard Hill residential area, and then find areas of low elevation below the Orchard Hill residential area and study the species richness in the plots.

Once all of the groups are done, they can all compare their results to figure out which variable has the most significant impact on the plants.

For the group studying soil pH, they will use pH testing strips to find areas of differing pH. In order to use the strips, they will dig a small hole and fill it with water and insert the pH strip into the pool. The survey of the species will be recorded right next to where the pH is recorded.

    For the group studying richness of plants near vehicular traffic, they will find an area of grass right next to a road way, and then find an areas that are farther away from a road way. The groups will record the distance from which their areas are from a roadway.

    The group studying the effects of pedestrian traffic will survey an area for a 15 minute time block and record the amount of people that walk through the area. The quantitative flow of people will give the group a gradient for them to compare the species richness to.

    The group studying how different amounts of sunlight and shade affect the species will find areas that have certain known intervals of sunlight and shade. For example, the group will find an area that has 6 hours of light or shade, 8 hours of light or shade, and 10 hours of light or shade. The different amounts of light and shade will give the group values for them to plot the species richness against.

    Propanoic acid (0.973 mL, 13.0 mmol) and 3-methyl-1-butanol (1.194 mL, 11.0 mmol) were added at a 10 mL round bottom flask (RBF) along with 4 drops of sulfuric acid. The round bottom flask was attached to a reflux condenser with a distillation column pointing at a 45° angle. The mixture was refluxed for 15 minutes and the upper phase was then tipped back into the reaction flask. This was repeated twice more. The mixture was then removed from the heat and cooled for 15 minutes. The mixture was then pipetted into a centrifuge tube. The mixture was washed with water (1 X 1.00 mL). The mixture was then washed with sodium bicarbonate (2 mL, 2.6 mmol) twice. Lastly the mixture was washed with sodium chloride (1 mL, 3.69 mmol). The organic product was pipetted into a vial and ~20 CaCl2 spheres were added. The mixture sat for 5 minutes. The product (0.928 g, 58.51%) was then pipetted into a dry tared capped vial. Infrared spectroscopy was then performed.

In this experiment we hope to find specific differences between physical attributes of the Campus Pond and nearby Puffers Pond. Campus Pond is a manmade pond, created in 1892, and is located in the center of the University of Massachusetts (UMass Amherst 1892). Meanwhile, Puffers Pond is the largest open body of water in Amherst, located about 3 miles from the center of town on conservation land (Amherst MA 2007). Because of the drastic differences in location and human interaction we believe that the results of this experiment will expose significant differences between the two bodies of water. The collected data will also lead to a better understanding as to why the the differences occur and how to handle potential problems that may be exposed as a result of these differences.

The techniques and procedure proposed in Rodrigo’s, Rojo’s and Armengol research article (2003), were used as a template for constructing the techniques used for physical characteristic testing in our procedure.

1. Equilibrium is driven towards product to produce a higher yield of ester in this experiment because the reflux step takes out everything else in the compound and keeps the organic layer itself. By doing reflux 3 times, total of 45 minutes, it gets rid of unnecessary substance in the compound other than the ester. So it is able to produce higher % than 70%.
2. Using a sulfuric acid can speed up the reaction. Also, it can act as a dehydrating agent which is good for forcing the equilibrium to be higher yield of ester.
3. Carboxylic acid is soluble in water. As it reacts with sodium bicarbonate it removes itself during the extraction phase. So, during extraction of the experiment, most of the excess carboxylic acid is removed.

Discussion:

            In this lab, different esters were given to prepare before the lab even began. Given Isopentyl propionate, had to measure alcohol and carboxylic acid precisely that was calculated before the lab began. Then added sulfuric acids about 4 drops mixing them well. Distillation step then followed trapping the water with the help of sand bath to boil. As the vapors condensed and was ready to tip over, kept the lower water phase and got rid of the upper organic phase. For 45 minutes reflux was done. As it cooled down, water and sodium bicarbonate was added to remove the aqueous layer once again. Then calcium chloride was added then took the organic layer into the vial and put it in the capped vial. The ester at the end smelt fruity almost like a pineapple vodka. It was given for an IR spectrum test to prove how it is an ester and not something else. From the esterification IR spectrum graph, it can be proven as an ester since there is a huge curve around 2800-3000 which is only displayed by an ester. 1740-1750 is a carbonyl group that was displayed as an ester. The only thing on this graph that displayed failure was at around 3400 ish, which is where alcohol is displayed. This just means that some alcohol was displayed but it went below half way which means all the acid was gone. The % yield for the given ester was 70.13% which was high. 

Use a 5-mL round bottom flask, measure alcohol and carboxylic acid precisely that was calculated in the prelab. Add sulfuric acid (4 drops) with caution and mix them using a clean pipet and expelling them back into the flask. Mixing well is required so it will not result in the concentrated sulfuric acid reacting to form unwanted darkly colored by-products. Add a few boiling chips and go through distillation. Trapping the water is more effective if the side arm points slightly downward when the round block flask with distillation head attached is held in an upright position in a 45-degree angle. Sand bath is then used to boil. Vapors should condense about 1/3 way up the reflux condenser. Overheating can make product and reactants to escape into the atmosphere. Two phases of liquid will collect in the side arm, upper organic phase and lower water phase. Remove water, after the reaction has refluxed for 15 minutes, raise the apparatus from heat and tip it back so that most of the upper phase in the side arm drips. Lower the apparatus back and using sand bath, resume refluxing for 15 minutes, then again lift and tip it back. Reflux for the 3^rd and last time to make it 45 minutes total. Then cool it completely for 15 minutes. Take cooled content and use a pipet into a centrifuge containing water (1 mL). Mix well, lower layer to the top, remove the aqueous layer and place it into a beaker. Add sodium bicarbonate (1 mL), mix well, and remove the aqueous layer once again. Add 5 spheres of anhydrous calcium chloride to the liquid and swirl. Using a pipet, take organic layer into a vial and all the spheres should not clump together. Add more spheres if they are clumping together. Using a pipet transfer the liquid to a dry tared capped vial. Smell ester and check the odors of different esters made by classmates. Determine % yield of product, determine and interpret the IR spectrum. For comparison, check the IR spectra of a carboxylic acid, an alcohol, and an ester.