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Discussion of Plant Lab report

Submitted by cslavin on Fri, 02/15/2019 - 11:40

The results did not support the hypothesis that there would be greater tree growth in areas of higher sunlight. The south slope receives the greatest amount of sunlight, and the north slope and notch had a greater basal area than the south slope. Light availability is not the only factor that effects tree growth. Competition between trees for resources is limiting on growth. Competition between two organisms has a negative effect on both competitors. Trees compete for not only light availability but also soil water and nutrients. There is limiting amount of nitrogen and phosphorus present in the soil. When two or more trees are competing for these nutrients, the trees will spend additional energy to outcompete other trees for the resources. In species that compete for water and nutrients, the tree may put energy into growing their roots instead of their diameter. Greater competition for resources could also be due to different soil compositions at different slopes. Some soil types make water and nutrients more accessible to trees, and thus promote higher growth rates.  In areas with poorer soil, there is an increase in competition for the scarce resources. 

Observation and inference

Submitted by cbbailey on Fri, 02/15/2019 - 10:33

An observation is something that we can perceive using our 5 senses while and inference is the conclusions we drawn based upon observations. One personal example that highlights this difference can be see when cooking a burger. When checking to see if the burger is ready, serveral observations are made including the total amount of time it has been on the grill, what temperature the grill is currently at, How the burger currently looks and the texture of the burger. Using these observations I can make an inference about the approximate internal temperature of the burger and if it is ready to eat or not. This inference can be confirmed by using a thermometer to  record the exact temperature of the interior. Due to having repeated this process a great number of times however, I am confident in how accurate my inferences that the internal temperature of the burger will be correct based of these observations. 

PP Week 4

Submitted by angelinamart on Fri, 02/15/2019 - 09:55

The experiment to unboil an egg was performed in the UC Irvine’s lab. The fascinating idea of unboiling an egg mesmerized my research group to repeat the procedure provided by UC Irvine with some modifications to visually understand the denaturation and renaturation of proteins through an egg. We spent about a month renaturing the protein by using a chemical called Urea. We saw the boiled egg dissolving into solution, and had reversed its state into a raw egg. We also placed the  egg  into the gel electrophoresis to separate the protein and the molecular weight to compare it with the raw egg. 

 

Routes in Migratory Birds

Submitted by angelinamart on Fri, 02/15/2019 - 09:51

The migratory pattern in North American Birds tend to move in north-south direction. It is known that most migratory birds breed in the south and returns to the north. In general, it is found that birds living in the southern hemisphere will not migrate to the north as much as the northern birds travel. Some bird population only travel in the day, another in night, or even both. There is no direct pattern of what type of family travel when, however, this difference in time is advantageous for birds. It can be reduced competition or running away from predator. Birds can flight high up to 2000 to 4000 in the sky as well. Every bird has a different altitude they travel in.

 

Arctic Ice Melting

Submitted by sharrath on Fri, 02/15/2019 - 07:36

In an article I read “Arctic Sea Ice Annual Minimum Ties Second Lowest on Record”, NASA talks about the decrease in ice coverage over the Arctic and how it’s been affecting our atmosphere. The ice coverage over the Arctic Ocean and surrounding seas, helps regulate the planet's temperature, influences the circulation of the atmosphere and benefits different arctic ecosystems. Scientists have been observing that sea ice shrinks every year during the spring and the summer and eventually regrows during the fall and winter when the “sun is below the horizon in the Arctic”. However, the pace of melting ice was unpredictable and continuously changed paces worrying many scientists this past year. This changing of pace caused melting momentum in June and July to slow down, when normally those two months should have a steady increase of melting ice because the Arctic is exposed to 24 hours of sunlight. Careful examination of the ice in the Arctic goes to show that the ice has not been “rebounding where it used to be” and there is a clear significant change of sea ice. As winter ice continues to disappear, evaporation will also increase resulting in even more clouds in the atmosphere therefore warming up the atmosphere during the winter. Wildlife that has once depended on these cold temperatures and ice sheets are now in danger. It is our responsibility as humans on this earth to stop climate change from continuing on.

Genomes

Submitted by scasimir on Fri, 02/15/2019 - 02:29

Besides the number of chromosomes that help identified the difference between humans and chimpanzees, there are other key factors that make humans and chimpanzees related. The size of the human and chimp genome is similar. Genome sequences of humans and chimps are 98.8% the same. Chromosomes in human and chimpanzee and their mean of divergence of chromosomes are the same. Further, the mean divergence of non polymorphic sites and CpG sites are also similar.The number of nucleotide substitutions is 35 million. Also, the number of insertions and deletions are 5 million. The total amount of insertions and deletions is 90 Mb. Nucleotide divergence of the mitochondrial genomes is similar. You can find 66% gene duplications in both genomes. Finally, bout 29% of the human and chimp orthologous proteins are similar.

 

Methods pt 2, Inkscape

Submitted by cbbailey on Fri, 02/15/2019 - 02:18

From my computer, I copied my 4 saved photos on to the inkscape program. Using the rectangle and box tool I made a dark green background approximatly 210mm wide by 300mm tall. I moved one of each of my 4 picture to a corner of the background and resized them to 70mm wide to 100mm tall. On the left corners I used both the pictures containing both species while i used the pictures of the indiviual species on the right corners. Using the create text objects function, I made 10 different text boxes. I moved 1 textbox directly under each of the two figures in the upper corners for the Picture Labels and 1 textbox directly above the two pictures in the lower corners for descriptions. Then under Picture label textboxs for the Upper corner picture I moved 1 more textbox under each for descriptions and above the two textboxes for descriptions for the pictures in the lower Corners I placed a textbox above each for Picture labels. Using a line creater and adding an arrowhead to the end of the line I created 6 arrows for labeling the pictures. using 3 arrows and one textboxes I labeled the Ivy in the 3 picture and using the remaining 3 arrows and last text box I labeled the trees in the 3 pictures.

Humans and Chimpanzees

Submitted by scasimir on Fri, 02/15/2019 - 02:00

The main genetic difference between chimpanzees and humans is the number of chromosomes. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes whereas chimpanzee have 24 pairs of chromosomes in their genomes. The human genome contains 46 chromosomes while chimp genome contains 48 chromosomes. Humans and chimpanzees have 1.2% of non-coding DNA difference in their genomes that are responsible for all the unmatching characteristics of humans and chimpanzees. The size of the human and chimpanzee genome is similar, they have about 66% gene duplications in both genomes and 29% of the human and chimpanzee orthologous proteins are also very similar.

 

Assessment of Treatment

Submitted by ewinter on Fri, 02/15/2019 - 00:38

Targeted drug delivery would be performed by creating 3 antibody binding domains for antigens CA125, KASH5, and HSF1 on a liposome. To test for the presence of these antigens in the HGSOC, we would perform an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for autoantibody (AAb) reactivity.  Autoantibodies for these three antigens will be present in the blood, so ELISA will would tell us if the antibodies for these particular antigens were present. To test for treatment progression, periodic ELISA assays will be performed.  If the autoantibody levels in the blood remain high, more treatment is needed.  A possible indication of cancer evolution and/or metastasis is if less than three autoantibodies remain high.  In this event, a new liposome with only the respective two monoclonal antibodies will need to be engineered.

 

Limb Diversity in Marsupial and Eutherian Mammals

Submitted by nalexandroum on Fri, 02/15/2019 - 00:35

The Kelly and Sears (2011) paper (“Limb specialization in living marsupial and eutherian mammals: constraints on mammalian limb evolution”) aimed to test the argument that the functional requirement of newborn marsupials to crawl to the teat is constraining the evolution of marsupial forelimbs. The paper was based on two core hypotheses: first, that marsupial forelimbs are less specialized than eutherian (placental mammal) forelimbs; and second, that marsupials tend to have more specialized hind limbs whereas eutherians tend to have more specialized forelimbs. The first hypothesis was based on the fact that marsupial forelimbs show a small range of possible forms, are very similar among different functional groups, and are less morphologically different from the average mammal than eutherian forelimbs are. The second hypothesis was based on the fact that marsupial young are born with highly developed forelimbs and shoulders, as they are born premature and need to crawl up to the mother’s teat immediately after birth so they can attach and finish developing. Because specialized morphology is necessary at such an early time in marsupial development, the theory is that it prevents variation in the development of the forelimbs and thus reduces the likelihood that they will evolve and specialize. However, marsupials do not use their hind limbs in this post-birth crawl, which leaves them free to diverge and specialize as they develop. Eutherians, on the other hand, tend to have forelimbs that are more specialized than their hind limbs. The proposed theory for this is that eutherian hind limbs are functionally important to locomotion and this constrains how much their morphology can vary, but the forelimbs are not used for locomotion and this leaves them free to evolve and diversify—the opposite of the pattern of limb specialization seen in marsupials.

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