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Update on the Larva - PP2

Submitted by afeltrin on Thu, 01/31/2019 - 14:25

I decided to keep the larva given to us in our first class meeting. Since attaining it, it has slowed down its movements. Now, the organism happens to be quite sluggish and barely moves around the container. Seeing as how the organism has become much slower in the past six days, I would imagine pupating is imminent. One of my roommates decided to poke a couple of small holes into the container, which has not seemed to impact it at all. The larva appears to be thicker and now remains in a constant ‘balled up’ position, where it curls into itself, with the anterior and posterior ends in contact. Interestingly, the organism has moved the food all to the center of the container. The larva’s pigments remain the same as last Friday and it retains approximately the same body length. The appearance of the true legs and spots have not visually changed.

Update on the Larva

Submitted by afeltrin on Thu, 01/31/2019 - 14:17

I decided to keep the larva given to us in our first class meeting. Since attaining it, it has definitely slowed down its movements. Now, the organism happens to be quite sluggish and barely moves around the container. One of my roommates decided to poke a couple of small holes into the container. The larva appears to be thicker and now remains in a constant ‘balled up’ position, where it curls into itself, with the anterior and posterior ends in contact. Interestingly, the organism has moved the food in the container all to the center. The colors of the larva remain the same as last Friday and it retains approximately the same body length. The appearance of the true legs and spots have not changed visually. Seeing as how the organism has become much slower in these past six days, I would imagine pupating is imminent.

The Use of Primates to Study Human Behavior

Submitted by afeltrin on Thu, 01/31/2019 - 13:13

Studying contemporary populations of primates is a good analog for studying ancient hominids and hominins because they are the closest living relative we have. Not an actual ancestor, primates are viewed as our closest living cousins. We are able to study their sociality and behaviors to see how our ancestors might have interacted with one another, how they reared their young, and how they secured food. A big factor that separates us, hominins, from primates is sociality. Their interactions are far different from ours, and that can limit what we are able to apply and the comparison may skew what we already believe. When you think of primates or Neanderthals, you don’t really think of either performing any types of religious behaviors or rituals. And it’s true, they don’t; but, they do possess the prerequisites that religious behavior is built upon. Collectively, both groups display compassion, empathy, creativity, self-awareness, and heightened consciousness of the world around us. Essentially, religious behaviors did stem from these groups, but it was only the necessary roots that are displayed, namely empathy and compassion.

Estimating Population Movement

Submitted by afeltrin on Thu, 01/31/2019 - 10:30

I expect that the monito del monte is nearer to its northernmost part of its range in this area at the beginning of the study period. As the study period develops and the years increase, the population in that area constantly decreases. The population is decreasing because they are moving south towards cooler temperatures as climate change is occurring. This species has a specific range of temperatures they can live in and as the Earth is constantly heating, they have to move towards cooler temperatures further away from the equator. The pattern of the graph makes sense since each year, the Earth becomes a couple of degrees warmer, so the monito del monte cannot handle temperatures out of their range and they move away from that area. If they were in the southernmost part of its range at the beginning of the study, we would see the population still decrease, but not as dramatically. In ten years of the study, from 2000 to 2010, the population decreased by half. If this were the southernmost area, we would expect the decrease to be more gradual.

Ocean Acidification and Reproduction

Submitted by afeltrin on Wed, 01/30/2019 - 13:47

This paper focused on examining the effects of increasing levels of ocean acidification on certain critical stages of development, namely early development and reproduction. Shell-formation is critical in certain organisms and rising levels of carbon dioxide in the environment diminishes these organisms’ abilities to form these protective, calcium carbonate shells. In sea urchins, it is shown that a decrease in pH can lead to weakened sperm motility, which, in turn, leads to lower levels of egg fertilization. The effects of ocean acidification on early development include decreased larvae growth, abnormalities in their skeletal development, higher rates of death due to their smaller size, and reduced success of shell development. To grow adequately, larvae require a specific range of temperature, and increasing acidification will surely impact this. Regarding reproduction, higher rates of carbon dioxide lead to decreased reproductive organ growth, leading to lower success rates of reproduction. Interestingly, egg development is not affected in the studied species. Regarding larvae and adults, it appears that both can withstand differing levels of acidification, as well as different species. With rising carbon dioxide levels diminishing the populations of certain marine species, we will expect to see grave consequences in the marine ecosystems. These organisms, like crustaceans, echinoderms, and corals, provide as a food source for other species and a lack of these could eventually lead to extinction of certain species. It is becoming increasingly concerning as to how marine organisms are going to respond to the increase in ocean acidification. An unanswered question plaguing scientists today is whether these organisms will be able to adapt to these challenging conditions.

The Popular Myth of Profiling in Forensic Psychology

Submitted by afeltrin on Wed, 01/30/2019 - 13:02

We recently learned about the criminal mind in Forensic Psychology. Often, many falsely believe forensic psychologists, for example, the characters on Criminal Minds, spend a majority of their job profiling criminals to be arrested. Interestingly, their job consists of nearly no profiling. They mainly focus on analyzing caught criminals and assisting in determining competency and the legitimacy of an insanity plea. Surprisingly, and also not that surprisingly, the United States is home to 76% of the world’s serial killers. An estimated 83% of American killers are Caucasian, with men making up nearly 90% of the world wide total of serial killers.  According to decades’ worth of research, the typical serial killer is a white male in their late 20s to early 30s. Typically, they kill within their own race and utilize a method of murder that is very hands on, like stabbing, for instance. Most of the victims are selected because they all share some sort of certain characteristic. For example, Ted Bundy would choose women in their 20s that had long hair that was parted in the middle.
 

 

Methods of Collecting Horse Behaviors

Submitted by afeltrin on Wed, 01/30/2019 - 12:40

We watched the two videos of Equus caballus (morgan horses) twice, that were filmed at the UMass Hadley Farm, taking note of behaviors displayed each time between three mares and three foals. There were no adult male morgan horses present in either video. The total video time watched was 48 minutes and 55 seconds. For each unique behavior noted, we gave it a unique name, described it, and took a still image of the behavior in progress. Along with the image, we noted what time the behavior occurred at. We added information relating to the context and postures of the horses while the behaviors were happening. We then created six categories intuitively based on the occurrences of behaviors displayed. The horse behaviors were grouped in these categories in a logical manner based on their differences and similarities to the criteria given.

Characterization of an Unknown Organism

Submitted by afeltrin on Fri, 01/25/2019 - 15:39

The organism's body moves in a clear tandem, often displaying repetitive motions as it moves. Both ends of the organism move; yet, they seem as if they are separately controlled. It seems as though each end has a mind of its own. It has many short legs and displays odd body movements at times. The organism’s body appears to exhibit bilateral symmetry. Often, it stops to ingest the food present. The body is segmented, similar to millipedes. The anterior end contains darker pigmentation. There are small, brown spots along both sides of the body. Short hairs are examined along the body. It moves solely around the perimeter of the container. Two short legs are present at the end of the body, appearing to expand and contract. The front six legs appear to point out, similar to true legs, whereas the ten back legs are flatter and more circular. It can rollover if stuck on its side or back. There are two segments between the front and back legs that do not contain legs.

Characterization of an Unknown Organism

Submitted by afeltrin on Fri, 01/25/2019 - 15:30

The organism's body moves in a clear tandem, often displaying repetitive motions as it moves. Both ends of the organism move, yet, they seem as if they are separately controlled. It is like each end has a mind of its own. It has many little legs and displays odd body movements at times. The organism’s body appears to exhibit bilateral symmetry. Every so often, it stops to ingest some of the food present. The body is made up of segments, similar to millipedes. The end with the head contains darker pigmentation. There are small, brown spots along both sides of the body. There are short hairs along the body. It moves solely around the perimeter of the container. Two tiny legs are present at the end of the body that seem to expand and contract. The front six legs appear to point out, more like true legs, whereas the ten back legs are flatter and more circular. It can rollover if stuck on its side or back. There are two segments between the front and back legs that contain no legs.

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