Drafts

I think that the divide between a scientific definition and a “societal” definition wouldn’t be each group having its own definition, but rather the scientific definition would include whatever information is pertinent to that study (i.e. including species richness and density), while the societal definition would simply be how many different kinds of organisms live in a certain area. The layperson wouldn’t typically need a complicated definition for their uses, and if they did, they could add on specifications that are needed as they see fit. Representing an entire ecosystem as a single “diversity” value is something that is hard to do, but is something that is necessary when comparing environments.

Methods :

I went to the conservatory named Durfee located near Morrill I N. It is in between that building and berkshire dining common. There are two doors, I have used a small wooden door that had a sign open 10-4 pm to enter. The first room I entered was the smaller room of the two and cool in temperature yet warmer than outside as it was very windy and chilly that day. The next room was bigger in size of the two and very warm compared to the first room. It almost felt like I was in the tropical grassland as my glasses fogged up by its warm temperature. The plant I found was in the first room, the smaller room of the two. And as soon as I entered the conservatory I looked to the right to find this lovely pink flower with yellow seed-looking things in the middle of it. It is named Camellia Japonica Jarvis Red, skinny tree with pretty pink blossoms or flowers on it. I stood in the middle facing the side with the windows facing Berkshire dining common (to the right as you enter the room) to take the picture of the biggest blossom that was in the corner of the tree. I have used my Iphone 7 plus to take the picture. I decided to take 3 pictures, one of them being the closeup of the flower, and the second one of the same blossom but taking about 3 steps back to get the whole tree. I also took the picture of the name of the plant so it was easily identified. To create the images, I have selected 4 pictures, 2 of them being the flower and tree itself, the third of being the name of the plant and fourth picture being where the plants are from. Furthermore, I made all 4 pictures equal sizes for my multi panel scientific illustration.

    As part of the first assignment for Writing in Biology at University of Massachusetts Amherst, the author created a methods section for a scientific figure which he created. The author took photographs of a flowering plant found on the school campus, and created a figure of the images along with a map of the plant range. The methods of these steps were shared with a classmate, who attempted to recreate the figure. The figures had differences in the shape of the flower, the quality of the pictures, and some miniscule details of the pictures. These differences are believed to be due to the trimming of the plant in between the taking of the original and the replicate images, and the fact that different photographers had different items with them to use in taking the picture.

In scientific writing, a methods section is one of the most important parts of a research paper, because it allows the project to be recreated. Recreation of a scientific project is the first step towards turning an experiment into a theory or a scientific law. In Spring 2018, for a Writing in Biology class at University of Massachusetts Amherst, the main goal was to design a figure about a plant and include a methods section along with it that would allow another person to recreate the figure with a high degree of accuracy. The figure that was recreated included photos of a plant and its geographical range. The plant that was used is a Blc Momilani ‘The Gypsy’ and it was selected because of its ease of access.

An important part of designing the methods was maximizing the number of factors that could be controlled. This would then enable the other student to recreate the figure with a higher degree of accuracy. These factors include the ease of access to the subject and the reliability of the subject. When it comes to ease of access, the greenhouse where the plant is found is open for most of the day on every week day, so the other student would be able to find time to take a picture of the flower. In the case of the reliability of the subject, the plant is in a climate controlled area, and it is watered and taken care of every day. Because of this prime environment, there was a very high chance that the plant would still be alive when the other student went to take a picture of it. This is better than if the plant was outside, where it could die or be ripped out of the ground.

The Methods Project was assigned in Spring 2018 as part of the Writing in Biology course at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. This project directed the writing of a methods portion detailing the creation of a scientific figure (Figure 2) that would then be compared to a previously made original figure (Figure 1).  The project was designed to teach students how to make scientific observations and inferences.  Students would examine both Figure 1 and Figure 2 and quantify explicit differences between them.  The project was also designed to teach students how to write their own methods section and how to follow another student’s method section to produce a comparative figure.

In scientific writing, it is imperative to write a detailed and concise methods section so other scientists can replicate the results of an experiment.  The figure created as a result of this project depicts the orchid species Oncidium Sharry Baby and where it can found indigenously throughout the world.  This orchid is found on the University of Massachusetts campus in Durfee conservatory, which is student accessible.  Oncidium Sharry Baby  was chosen because the morphology of the plant and its flowers made the photo angles easy to control.  The plants location in the greenhouse allowed for the control of the photographer’s distance from the orchid. The blooms are fragrant, unlike many of the flowers surrounding it, further drawing attention towards the orchid of interest.  Utilizing a ‘fragrant flower’ sign located in front of the plant as a reference point regulated the orientation of each image.  The computer program Inkscape was used to create a world map, which allowed for the control of which world maps were less pixelated and which colors could be used to highlight individual countries.  These reasons allow for the controlled creation of a parallel, representative figure of Oncidium Sharry Baby.

I believe biological diversity should be defined in the same way for both scientific and practical purposes as these are, to me, the same thing, although there could be cases where certain information is more pertinent than others. I would define biological diversity as how many individual species live in a given area, while also considering how many individuals of each species live there. This would give a general idea of the biodiversity of an area, but would still leave out information like species evenness. In some cases omitting certain information would be suitable, and would help to simplify the point being made. This is good for both the person doing the study, and someone reading it.

I don’t think the regional species richness on the mainland will affect how many species are predicted to be found on an island based on the equilibrium theory of island biogeography.  It is known to be that geographic areas have a vast influence on species diversity on global and regional spatial scales. The equilibrium theory of island biogeography indicates that there is a relationship between species and area. In islands and mainland areas, species richness is theorized to be regulated by rates of immigration and extinction. In mainland’s, immigration rates are greater because barrier to dispersal are lower. Since mainland is known to have high immigration rates and low extinction rates it leads to a lower rate of increase in species richness with increasing area. 

Discrepancies between aspects of the original and replicate figures can be explained by a variety of factors that were not controlled for or described in the Methods section. These factors include photo angle, flower choice, font choice, and country selection.

    A possible explanation for the discrepancies between figures 1A and 2A could be that the replicated photo was taken of a different bloom on the tree. This could have happened because there was a lack of explicit detail explaining exactly which bloom was photographed in the original figure. Additionally, the angle was not specified in the methods whether is was to the right or left side of the ceiling of the conservatory.

Figures 1B and 2B are not drastically different from one another. There are discrepancies between the amount of leaves captured at the top of the tree, but many of the factors that could have resulted in major differences in the figure were controlled by the limited angle options due to the corner placement of the tree.

Differences between figures 1C and 2C are explained by the lack of explanation in how to create state borders on the figure map website. The default world map setting does not include state borders, so a box must be checked in order for the borders to be seen. With this box checked, each individual state can be highlighted and Florida can be colored in.These directions were not explicit in the methods section, and this step was missed in the execution of the map making for the replicate figure. Additionally, the type of font was not detailed in the methods, resulting in a different font used to label the figures on the replicate.  

Today in class for Biology 494, we read and discovered how to write the cover letter of our resume correctly and properly. I felt that this was important because as we graduate from UMass Amherst, we are going to have to write our resume and submit it wherever we are trying to get into. This class not only teaches you what to do but shows you how to get it done properly which is really nice. It is very similar in many ways with Biology 312 because there are lots of writing done in the course. I am still not sure exactly what I want to do but I am figuring it out as I go. It is scary to know that I will be graduated from college in less than 3 terms.

Experimentation is a fundamental pillar of the scientific process that is built upon a systematic approach and organized collection and presentation of data. No matter how conclusive or groundbreaking an experiment may be, the results should be viewed with skepticism until the results can be accurately and consistently replicated. While perfect replication of any experiment or action is an unfair expectation, these indescrepencies can be mitigated by a detailed and well written methods section.  The goal of this project was to highlight the importance of a detailed methods section as well as the wide array of variables that need to be addressed, such as time of day, distance, angle and orientation by photographing a flowering  plant from two different perspectives and creating a figure showing the regions that the subject inhabits. No matter how detailed, there will likely be minor inconsistencies between independent processes as not all variables, such as the weather or physiologic changes naturally occurring within the subject, can be controlled and instead must be accounted for when comparative analysis is being performed.