cslavin's blog

The purpose of this experiment was to gain insight on how climate affects vegetation of the shrub Vaccinium vacillans. Different latitudes and elevations were manipulated in order to determine the role they play in growth. Latitude and elevation both impact the amount of sun light a plant receives and ultimately impacts the temperature that a plant grows in. The further a species is from the equator, or the greater the latitude, the less direct sun it receives. Oppositely, the higher the elevation the greater the amount of direct sunlight received (Gurevitch 2006). For this experiment, it was hypothesized that within a region, the vegetation at high elevation will resemble the vegetation at high latitudes. Furthermore, it was predicted that a widespread, common species will show parallel changes in abundance as elevation increases and as latitude increases in New England. 

In the study, “Migratory Reed Warblers Need Intact Trigeminal Nerves to Correct for a 1,000 km Eastward Displacement” by Dmitry Kishkinev and colleagues, Eurasian reed warblers were manipulated to gain information on which cues and sensory mechanisms are used to determine east-west direction, or latitude. Specifically, the ophthalmic branch of the terminal nerve (V1) of these birds was investigated. The nerve contains magnetic senses but little is known about how it functions, so the goal of this experiment was to determine if V1 could be used by Eurasian reed warblers to determine east-west position. To test this, the warblers were captured during spring migration at Rybachy in the Eastern Baltic and displaced 1,000 km to Zvenigorod. A control group was tested, using Emlen funnels, in Rybachy and Zvenigorod. Once displaced, two experimental groups were separated into those that had undergone a V1-section operation or those that had undergone a sham section operation, and the mean group direction was determined for each group using Emlen funnels. The warblers had access to natural day length, natural celestial cues, and local odors.

The mechanical breakdown of protein starts in the mouth. Proteins are chewed up. Chemical digestion of proteins begins in the stomach. HCl is secreted from pariental cells in the gastric pit. It denatures proteins. Cheif cells secrete pepsinogin. Pepsinogin is inactive until it reaches the stomach. Once activated, pepsin breaks the protien into smaller pieces. In the small intestine, chrymotrypsin and trypsin break the small peptide into smaller peptide. Carboxypeptidase breaks peptides into individual amino acids. THe amino acids enter he blood stream and travel to the liver for processing. 

Glucose goes throught the process of glycolysis where 2 ATP and result in two pyruvate molecules, reduced electron carriers, and 4 ATP. In the absence of oxygen, pyruvate is fermented into ethanol or lactase. In the presence of oxygen, pyruvate is converted into acetyl-CoA, reduced electrons, and carbon dioxide, and the acetyl-CoA enters the citric acid cycle. In the citric acid cycle, acetyl-CoA is completely oxidized and reduced electrons, ATP, and carbon dioxide are produced. The reduced electrons are used in the electric transport chain, where they are passed down protiens in the mitochondrial inner membrane. The passing of electrons generates a proton gradient, where H+ is shuttled into the inner membrane space. The protons flow out of ATP synthase and produce ATP. The process is the same for the oxidation of fat besides for glycolysis and acetyl-CoA formation. Lipids are oxidized through beta-oxidation to produce acetyl-CoA, which then follows the same pathway as glucose. 

The three phases of digestion are cephalic, gastric, and intestinal. During the cephalic phase, food has not entered the body, but the smell of food stimulates the central nervous system to start preparing for the injestion of food. The salivatory glands begin to salivate and stomach enzymes are secreted. During the gastric phase, food begins to enter the stomach. A strech in the stomach triggers hormonal and neural signals. Mechanical and chemical digestion begin to take place in the stomach. An increase in pH stimulates G cells to release gastrin, which stimulates stomach and small intesting. The intestinal phase begins when food passes through the pyloric sphincter and into the small intestine. The intestinal phase is regulated by mechanical, endocrine, and neural control factors. 

The three phases of digestion are cephalic, gastric, and intestinal. During the cephalic phase, food has not entered the body but smell and thought of food stimulates the central nervous system to start preparing the body for the injestion of food. The salivatory glands begin to salivate. During the gastric phase, food begins to enter the stomach and there is a strech in the stomach that triggers hormonal and neural signals. Mechanical and chemical digestion begin to take place in the stomach. An increased pH stimulates G cells to release gastrin, which stimulates stomach activity. The intestinal phase begins when food passes through the pyloric sphincter and into the small intestine. There is mechanical, endocrine, and neural control. 

The design of the overall poster has a nice flow. There are defined columns, and the section headings are highlighted and the same size and color which easily allows the veiwer to digest the material. The abstract and introduction, which are the only sections writen as paragraphs, have the same size and color text. The conclusion is writen a bit bigger as bullet points. This imediately draws the eye to the main focus of the project. There are some spacing issues throughout the poster which is a bit distracting.

The poster is organized efficiently. All of the necessary sections are completed. The literature is cited. The information flows nicely. It follows the format of a lab report going from abstract to introduction and so on. Each section is the appropriate length. The graphs and images are confined to the same area and followed by a conclusion. However, there is no figure description, which would have been useful.

The writing is done in paragraphs in the abstract and introduction. It is nicely reduced and to the point. There are few assumptions made in the writing. Overall, there were no gramatical, spelling, or typocraphical errors. There is a few spacing issues that may have been caused due to formating issues. Key points have been reduced to bullet points in the conclusion. Appropriate scientific writing is used on the poster. 

The poster is very informative. The highlights from the study are presented. Some of the data is raw, but it is explained in the conclusion. The graphs are very clear with high resolution. They are eye catching and all have similar color schemes. The poster is ulitmately very persuasive. 

In the study, “Complex movement patterns by foraging loggerhead sea turtles outside the breeding season identified using Argos-linked Fastloc-Global Positioning System” by Antoine M. Dujon and colleagues, the coastal foraging of loggerhead sea turtles was observed. The goal of this study was to gain further information on how loggerhead sea turtles use different neritic foraging sites at multiple scales. Using Argos-linked Fastloc-Global Positioning System, 24 turtles were tracked and recorded. These turtles were selected from a group of 57 turtles that had been tracked due to the duration and multilocational movements. They were monitored for a mean of 6.0 (+/- 4.5) months in the Adriatic Sea and Gulf of Gabes. The two different scales used were site and patch level. Site level being defined as non-overlapping large-scale habitats, and path level being defined as high-use areas within sites. The patches used in a site were similar in nearshore and offshore sites.

Groups will compare the numbr of volunteer species present for their host species in the individual and group potted environments. Information about volunteer species diversity for each host in both potted environments will be recorded in a Google spreadsheet. This information will be used to do a side by side comparison of the diveristy of volunteer plants in individual and group potted environments for all the host plants included. From the class data, patterns and trends will be recorded to make inferences about the observed data. The area that each volunteer species covers in an individual and group pot will be recorded. The ratio of the amount of area covered by a volunteer species will be calculated by dividing the total area covered by a volnteer species by the total area of the pot. For all group pots, the area will be 16 m^2.

The research conducted will be beneficial for those who work in greenhouses or are involved in botany. The findings will tell us about the diversity of volunteer species of individually and group potted plants. There are present studies looking into the effects of specidic volunteer plants on host , but they mainly focus on crops. The research that this proposal takes into account involves the growth of volunteer plants in two different potted environments. The findings from this research will present data that may be useful for greenhouses and botanists when deciding which potted environments may be favorable for plant growth. The findings on total area for each volunteer species covers will also be beneficial for greenhouses and botanists to determine the invasiveness of volunteer species in individually potted and group potted evironments. This research will lay the groundwork for further research that could be done to test the invasiveness of the same species of volunteer plants in individual and group potted environments.