Drafts

In temperate grasslands, the dominant type of vegetation are grasses. Temperate Grasslands are a key focus for agricultural and pastoral development. Grasses have to grow more roots than stems in order to obtain enough water and be able to grow. This biomes soil is so rich and as a result it enhances fertility which leads grasslands soil to be a great fit for agricultural development. Since they possess the feature of being suitable for agriculture it has resulting in grasslands, the most human-influenced biome of the nine knowns. Some of the threats temperate grasslands face is overgrazing by livestock and plowing. These threats are results of its key characteristic of having rich nutrient soil. Trees don't make it in grasslands because it’s too dry and they need way more water compared to grasses. They also can’t cope with water stress over long periods of time. However, with some grasslands one can find trees. In addition, disturbances like fires and grazing by herbivores like bison prevent the establishment of trees as well.  As a result, grasses hold a dominance of the temperate grassland biome. 

Structure of Scientific Literature

Similarities:

    Sections: Abstract, Introduction, Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgements, References

    These two articles contain these sections within the literature.

    In addition the abstract sections are a summary on the background of the topic and are short and concise. Followed by the introduction which gives a more in depth writing on the background of the topic and slides into the matter of the task at hand. The last paragraph of introduction in the articles contains the what they are trying to convey and based off of what piece of information

Differences:

    Sections: Materials/ Methods, Results.

    The literature of origin matters does include the methods section which is critical as I read from the assignment due soon that it is used so that other individuals can replicate it to see if they can get the same results as the original. This is used to validate the information and see what differences there were and why. This would then lead to the results section. In this there is a clear section on the results the author reached with the methods explained, it is hard to know the results if there is not a clear section explaining what the results were in comparison to the original ideas.

Systems modeling in public health with respect to the Sustainable Development Goals is also important to increase efficiency, improve surveillance of areas where special attention is necessary, and allocation and conservation of resources. For example, scenarios can be run through systems simulation which allow one to see the trends regarding usage of resources, such as fuel and crops, as well as monitor production of those resources. This data can be used to predict yields and costs of the resource, and to decide where it is best to allocate it. Modeling can also be used to identify areas where interventions may be needed to prevent future loss and devastation. This again allows one to further model the introduction of relevant policies and survey how they effect a broad variety of sectors. For instance, if a new or dormant disease becomes active and is spreading, public health officials can begin to instate protocols to prevent the risk of spread based on the modeling system’s output. In this scenario, the modeling system could also be used to predict economic effects of an epidemic, which helps business persons prepare for potential economic declines. Financial investment strategies can also be explored through this type of modeling, in order properly allocate funds where they are needed to achieve the SDGs. Areas of low standards of living and sparse resources could require an economic boost so that they can grow and develop sustainable practices of living. The many interwoven cause and effect relationships of the SDGs and civilization make an integrative and comprehensive system imperative to examine the results of critical political, social, environmental and economic decisions that aim to change the world.

Ch. 3 – Fundamental of Scientific Writing Part 1: Style
It is important to write with the reader in mind. You have already formulated your hypothesis, performed all the necessary experiments and steps, now it is time to focus on who is going to be reading your writing and what is the most important piece of information you would like to convey to your audience. We need to write clearly. For instance, I liked how the first paragraph of this chapter mentions that we need to take into account how the reader is going to interpret our writing. If we were trying to appeal to a feeling or evoke some kind of emotional response from our reader then we would use fancy, and flowy language. However, in scientific communication, that is unecessary and instead it would make more sense to use precise, clear language that is easy to understand and is correctly worded. There was a list of words that should be omitted entirely that I didn’t think were a problem before, such as: actually, basically, essentially, very, really, etc (pg 26).
At first, it seemed strange to me that the goal of scientific writing is to make our writing as short and clear as possible. I always thought that there was some type of positive correlation between using more words, longer sentences and a more academic and “smarter sounding” scientific piece of writing. But, that is not the case! Something else I found interesting was how human genes are in all caps and italics and human proteins are in all caps but not in italics. Mouse genes and proteins are also the same way except that only the first letter is capitalized. It is important to establish importance in a sentence as well. Depending on where a certain phrase is placed and what punctuation is used, it can be viewed as something negative or as something positive. Old information is placed at the beginning of a paragraph and new information that needs more emphasis, is placed at the end of a sentence. I think that this grammatical rule is often forgetten but as scientific writers we need to try our best to place the verb right after the subject and not include a lot of information in the middle. When we write our methods introduction, we should not use the first person, however, use of the first person is okay to do in other sections. Last but not least, remember to use past tense for observations, unpublished results, and specific interpretations and use present tense for general rules, accepted facts and established knowledge (pg 24).

Shubin is credited with having discovered what is often referred to as a missing link in evolution. He discovered Tiktaalik, a species that represents the transition from water to land. Tiktaalik is of special interest because it has features of both tetrapods and fish. Shubin states that “Tiktaalik’s message is so straightforward even preschoolers can see it. For our purposes, there is an even more profound take on Tiktaalik. This fish doesn’t just tell us about fish; it also contains a piece of us” This fish was the first one discovered that has its head free from the shoulder, as in humans. This trait can be explained by the loss of several small bones in a fish similar to Tiktaalik. Furthermore, Tiktaalik has tetrapod featured like a flat head and neck but also fish features such as scales and fins. It is clearly a transitional fossil that shows when fish started to venture out onto land.

The novel Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin explores the origins of humanity. Shubin makes it clear from the start of the novel that humans have changed over time through evolution and the fossil record has secrets of our past hidden inside of it. Even though only a miniscule fraction of organisms are fossilized fossils can be used to glimpse into the past and study our ancestors. Shubin focuses on how similar humans are to other animals, both morphologically and genetically. For example he highlights that all animals have heads, even fish, a trait that can be adequately explained through common descent. It is by far more likely that having a head is a shared trait, than it is that it independently arose in numerous recent lineages. The main theme of the book, highlighting similarities humans share with other animals. Darwin used the same method in On the Origin of Species, but here Shubin can built off of Darwin’s foundation by using modern discoveries.

The nature of the Sustainable Development Goals is greatly integrated, leading to the necessity of integrative strategies in order to cover all dimensions. For example, it has been found that poor education leads to increased poverty in communities big and small. The inaccessibility to education can arise from systemic inequalities with regards to race and gender, or lack of resources to supplement constructive learning. System simulations modeling allows each element of the SDGs to be unified in a harmonic way, while developing a constructive analysis of possible events and effects of policies. Contributions from civil societies, private sectors, and governments can be modeled and monitored in order to predict large changes with implementation of the SDGs. It is extremely imperative in such a large-scale initiative that alternative policies and scenarios can be tested in a systemic way that displays the possible outcomes and their causal determinants, in order to prevent disastrous consequences. These consequences may not be obvious due to the broad and intricate integrative quality of the goals.

1.) “Origin matters: widely distributed native and non-native species benefit from different functional traits”
2.) Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods with 3 subheadings: “Species selection”, “Trait Selection, “and “Trait-status interaction models,” Results with 3 subheadings: “Phylogenetically uninformed simple generalised estimating equations,” “Phylogenetically informed simple generalised estimating equations,” and “Multiple models,” Discussion with 4 subheadings: “Shared responses of native and non-native species,” “Differences between native and non-native species,” “Introduction pathways bias non-native species success,” and “Environmental filters and anthropogenic selection impact species frequency,” Acknowledgements, Authorship, and References
3.) Both articles begin with a paragraph called the “Abstract” that provides the overview. Following that, is a list of several key words. Both of the introductions are longer, containing several paragraphs and citations
- this article has a material and methods section that is also in paragraphs and about 2 pages long
- this article is divided into right and left panels
- the results section contains some figures and longer, detailed legends
- the discussion section appears longer, does it include the conclusions too? or is that the same thing?

1.) “Non-native species and rates of spread: lessons from the brackish Baltic Sea”
2.) Abstract, Introduction, Barriers, vectors and rate of primary spread into the Baltic Sea, Rate of secondary spread within the Baltic Sea, and Vertical spread, Discussion and Conclusions, Acknowledgements, and References
3.) see #3 above
- without reading the article and just looking at structure and headings, it first appears that there is no concrete
materials and methods section as the other article has
- this article is no divided into right and left panels
- there is no concrete results section but there are figures with short legends, there is a table that takes up 2 pages
- the discussion and conclusion section is shorter than it is in the other article

This projects specific goal is to create a multi paneled scientific illustration that displays a flowering plant on the Umass campus. Meanwhile the project also hopes to enhance our scientific writing ability and our ability to contruct a methods section that can be followed by a complete stranger and still provide the same results.(Include organism name and brief background here). The organism being sampled resides in the Durfee Conservatory and Garden on the Umass campus between UHS and Morill. It is a flowering organism that is not within normal human reach in order to reduce the amount of interaction witht he sample. It is a bright and vibrant organism that sticks out within the garden, allowing it to be easily identifiable. (Include physical description of organism here). The fact that the organism has reduced human interaction and is also easily identifiable will allow this experiment to be easy replicated by other interested scholars.  Overall this organism will provide a wonderful sample for this experiment and should allow for a succesful multi-panel to be created.​​

The film Gattaca is an interesting look into a possible future if genetic testing were to continue advancing to an extreme level. The thought of genetic testing and manipulation reaching the level it has in the movie is both fascinating and terrifying. The movie does a good job of mentioning both the positives and the negatives of this extreme advance. It explains how the ability to easily create a baby of a specific genome would be an extremely useful means of preventing disease. Even at a more realistic level of genetic testing, closer to what may be achievable in upcoming years, the ability to detect extreme genetic abnormalities could lead to saving people from a lot of suffering. This type of screening could eliminate chromosomal abnormalities, as well as smaller problems such as sickle-cell anemia or another disease.