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10/29/2018

week of 10/29 to 11/02: Forest Biology

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Forest Biology


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What is a forest?


A forest is a large area dominated by trees. a natural woodland unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms (Biotic components) in that area functioning together with all of the non-living physical (abiotic) factors of the environment.

​The 
forest ecosystem is very important.
There are three major types of forests, classed according to latitude:
  • Tropical.
  • Temperate.
  • Boreal forests (taiga)

Latitude: the angular distance of a place north or south of the earth's equator, or of a celestial object north or south of the celestial equator, usually expressed in degrees and minutes.

Longitudes: are therefore imaginary circles that intersect the North and South Poles, and the Equator. Half of a longitudinal circle is known as a Meridian. Meridians are perpendicular to every latitude. Unlike, latitudes, there is no obvious central longitude.
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https://www.roughguides.com/gallery/forests-of-the-world-forest-pictures/ 


​10 Amazing Ancient Forests Around the World


types of forests


Tropical Rainforest: 
  • Contain the greatest diversity of species of all biomes on earth.
  • Temperatures in tropical rainforests remain between 68 and 77 degrees Fahrenheit all year long. Winter is absent in these forests. Most tropical rainforests receive 100 inches of rain per year.
  • Trees in the tropical rainforests grow between 82 and 115 feet tall ​
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Temperate Deciduous Forest: 
  • Located in  Eastern United States and Canada, Western Europe and parts of Russia, China and Japan
  • There are four distinct seasons in temperate deciduous forests
  • 30 to 60 inches of rain per year​
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​Temperate Coniferous Forest:
  • Typically found in coastal areas with mild winters and heavy rainfall or in in-land mountainous areas with mild climates
  • ​Temperate climate with temperature that fluctuates little throughout the year. High levels of precipitation (50-200 inches per year)​

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​Boreal (Taiga) Forest:
  • Boreal forests are found in Canada, northern Asia, Siberia and Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland).
  • About two-thirds of the world's boreal forests are found in Scandinavia.
  • Animals found here must be adapted to long, cold winters and usually have thick fur
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microbiology: a glimpse


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mushrooms are a big part of the ecosystem


  • Kingdom Fungi, one of the oldest and largest groups of living organisms
  • fungal cell walls contain chitin, a protein that also makes insect exoskeleton

phylogenetic tree


The Etymology of Phylogenetic:  The term phylogenetic, or phylogeny, derives from the two ancient greek words φῦλον (phûlon), meaning "race, lineage", and γένεσις (génesis), meaning "origin, source".
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  • A fungus is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms.
  • These organisms are classified as a kingdom, fungi, which is separate from the other eukaryotic life kingdoms of plants and animals
​
  • ​Eucarya: eukaryote, nucleus enclosed within membranes
  • Prokaryote: no membrane, a unicellular organism that lacks a membrane-bound nucleus, mitochondria, or any other membrane-bound organelle.
  • Bacteria: a member of a large group of unicellular microorganisms that have cell walls but lack organelles and an organized nucleus, including some that can cause disease.
  • Archaea:  domain of single-celled microorganisms. These microbes are prokaryotes, meaning they have no cell nucleus
    • ​Extremophiles: thrive in extreme environments
    • we have yet to find a species that causes disease
    •  more complex RNA polymerases than Bacteria, similar to Eucarya
    • Might be able to survive on Mars

fungal life cycle


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https://hostdefense.com/
  • inoculation: Spores alight upon a growth medium (or substrate). If conditions are favorable, spores will germinate.
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https://freshcapmushrooms.com
https://freshcapmushrooms.com/

fungal spores


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  • spore germination: Fine fungal filaments known as hyphae grow from the spores. Compatible hyphae mate to create fertile mycelium.
    • Fungal hyphae release digestive enzymes in order to absorb nutrients from food sources
    • Mutualism: Certain species of fungi may form a symbiotic relationship with plants whereby both species benefit

hyphae


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  • ​In most fungi, hyphae are divided into cells by internal cross-walls called “septate hyphae” for example “Aspergillus”, while some other fungi have non-septate hyphae, meaning their hyphae are not partitioned by septa and this type is called “Coenocytic hyphae“
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  • ​mycelial expansion: Developing mycelium breaks down organic matter and absorbs nutrients from its surroundings. During this stage of growth, mycelium expands at an exponential rate. In its environment, mycelium encounters many competitors and predators which it repels with an amazing array of protective enzymes and compounds. In this sense, the mycelium is the immune system of the mushroom.
    • hyphae are collectively together called a mycelium

  • hyphal knot: Mycelium condenses into hyphal knots, which then develop into “primordia” or baby mushrooms.
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  • ​primordia formation: The mushroom organism produces an amazing array of enzymes and optimizes the constituents of both the mycelium and the developing fruitbody. Host Defense harvests during this peak stage of growth to capture an abundant constituent profile including polysaccharides (beta glucans, arabinoxylanes), glycoproteins, ergosterols, triterpenoids and other myco-nutrients.

  • fruitbody selection: From thousands of primordia, the growing organism selects the most promising few to develop into mature fruitbodies.
 
  • mature fruitbody: The organism channels all of its energy and nutrients to develop the fruitbody, which will then produce spores. Spore generation is the sexual reproduction phase of the mushroom life cycle.
 
  • spore release: The fruitbody releases spores into the environment for propagation. Those that land on a favorable substrate (or growth medium) can germinate, beginning the life cycle anew!
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http://fungially.com

fungi foster an egalitarian network of RESOURCES and Data Transfer (communication) between plants of various species that keep the planet alive


Protozoa: is a single-celled organism that is a eukaryote (which are organisms whose cells contain membrane-bound organelles and nuclei). Most have flagella to move around.
Protozoans: 
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https://www.carlsonstockart.com/

nematode


Nematodes are among the most abundant animals on Earth. They occur as parasites in animals and plants or as free-living forms in soil, fresh water, marine environments, and even such unusual places as vinegar, beer malts, and water-filled cracks deep within Earth's crust. Called roundworm: unsegmented cylindrical body, tapering at both ends
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How Fungi decompose stuff


Isotopes: Carbon-12, Carbon-13, and Carbon-14 are used for Carbon Dating, used to find the age of prototaxites

Prototaxites: is a genus of terrestrial fossil fungi dating from the Late Silurian until the Late Devonian periods, approximately 430 to 360 million years ago

more on the yew tree mentioned in the video


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The type of tree that scientists thought the fossils represented instead of prototaxites. 

One of the oldest wooden artefacts ever discovered by modern humans was made from Yew – a spearhead found in Essex dated at approximately 450,000 years of age. ​

​Top 10 Facts about the Yew


Geologic Periods


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numbers are in millions of years
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plant disease


Disease etymology: Middle English (in the sense ‘lack of ease; inconvenience’): from Old French desaise ‘lack of ease,’ from des- (expressing reversal) + aise ‘ease.’ "discomfort, inconvenience, distress, trouble," 
Monoculture: the cultivation of a single crop in a given area.

  • Living beings do not grow well in a monoculture, the genetic diversity is limited and disease can kill more of the population because there is lack of diversity in immune defense.
 
  • Our agriculture is usually based on monoculture
 
​Pathogen:
 a bacterium, virus, or other microorganism that can cause disease.

plant virus


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plant bacteria


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Bacteria reproduce by binary fission. In this process the bacterium, which is a single cell, divides into two identical daughter cells. Binary fission begins when the DNA of the bacterium divides into two (replicates).

binary fission= Bacterial reproduction


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Bacteria: binary fission and asexual reproduction



​Bacteriophage Viruses infecting bacteria.


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Bacteriophage:
a virus that parasitizes a bacterium by infecting it and reproducing inside it.

bacteriophage replication


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Phage etymology: to eat

plant immune system



Gene for gene model modifies genetics
​for plant adaptation 


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               Punnet Square
  • Gene for Gene Hypothesis: mutual recognition of host and pathogen is not by the genes themselves but by their coded proteins
  • Plants make antifungal, antibacterial, and antiviral chemicals to stay healthy.

  • If they need to drop a leaf to get the pathogen off they do, it is called apoptosis

  • Plants do not need our help to fight disease, plants have lived here for millions of years, they just need to be left alone and not be harmed by human activity, they are however, surviving the human activity.

people thoughts on mushrooms,
​only here to be taken into consideration


A hypothesis on how human brains might have doubled in size with the help of mushrooms over a short period of time, in biology time, only two million years... only a possibility: a hypothesis that biologists like to consider. 

Speaker Paul Stamets: Expert Mycologist and Author, ​https://fungi.com/

Featuring Terence McKenna, Author and lecturer that studied Ecology and Resource Conservation at University of California, Berkeley
Always consider the source, and please don't take substances from strangers

Theory of how animals moved onto land...
​and became mammals


synapsida


  • A group of animals that includes mammals and every animal more closely related to mammals than to other living amniotes
    • Amniote: from Greek ἀμνίον amnion, "membrane surrounding the fetus"
  • The non-mammalian members are described as mammal-like reptiles
  • Existed 312 million years ago, during the Late Carboniferous period
  • Synonymous with therapsids, therapsids evolved from pelycosaurs 275 million years ago, pelycosaurs are not considered a mammal like reptiles 
  • Cynodonts ("dog teeth") (clade Cynodontia) are therapsids that
  • First appeared in the Late Permian (approximately 260 Ma).
    • The group includes modern mammals (including humans)
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cynodonts


Benjamin Burger, PhD
Associate Professor of Geology
Utah State University
Uintah Basin Regional Campus – Vernal, Utah
320 North Aggie Blvd. Vernal, UT 84078
benjamin.burger at usu.edu
(435)-722-1778


​Order Pelycosauria


The first order of synapsids to arise in the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian, around 310 Million years ago, were the pelycosaurs, making up around 70% of all the tetrapod genera alive in the Early Permian. The pelycosaurs are split into six families: http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/palaeofiles/fossilgroups/synapsida/pelycosauria.html
  • Bigger head
  • Ate fish and smaller animals​, first carnivores
  • Canine teeth

​Dimetrodon
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The skeleton of a Dimetrodon, with extremely long neural spines to support the sail.
Reproduced with kind permission from Benton and Harper, 1997

​Ophiacodon
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The skeleton of Ophiacodon, the largest and best known of the earliest pelycosaurs.
Reproduced with kind permission from Benton and Harper, 1997

notes from the bbc documentary on our inner fish/reptile


  • Around 375 million years ago some very daring fish started leaving the ocean and trying to breathe air
  • This was eventually a thing 
  • The fish species split off into amphibians and reptiles
  • The fossil record is rich in the karoo mountains in South Africa.  This is where the excavation in the documentary takes place 
  • Later on there were mammal-like reptiles
    • They had teeth that looked more mammal like
    • Developed mammal-like behaviors
    • Part of their jaw became a set of three ear bones that are now found in mammals, these bones are called: malleus, incus, and stapes  
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what is time?


  • These changes happened over millions of years and do not defy religion, time is relative. 
  • We currently measure time using Cesium 133, the element most commonly chosen for atomic clocks: https://science.howstuffworks.com/atomic-clock3.htm​
  • Time is something that we agree on, not a mandate of the universe 

SOME DEFINITIONS​

  • Atomic Clock - A precision clock that depends for its operation on an electrical oscillator regulated by the natural vibration frequencies of an atomic system (as a beam of cesium atoms)
 
  • Atom - The smallest particle of an element that can exist either alone or in combination; the atom is considered to be a source of vast potential energy
 
  • Cesium 133 - An isotope of cesium used especially in atomic clocks and one of whose atomic transitions is used as a scientific time standard
​
  • ​SI Second (atomic second) - The interval of time taken to complete 9,192,631,770 oscillations of the cesium 133 atom exposed to a suitable excitation

transition from reptile to mammal


375 million years ago
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monotremes


Echidnas and the platypus are the only egg-laying mammals, known as monotremes. The average lifespan of an echidna in the wild is estimated around 14–16 years. 
  • ​The female lays a single soft-shelled, leathery egg 
  • 22 days after mating, and deposits it directly into her pouch
  • Egg weighs 1.5 to 2 grams (0.05 to 0.07 oz)[16] and is about 1.4 centimetres (0.55 in) long
  • While hatching, the baby echidna opens the leather shell with a reptile-like egg tooth.
  • Hatching takes place after 10 days of gestation; the young echidna, called a puggle, born larval and fetus-like,
  • Sucks milk from the pores of the two milk patches (monotremes have no nipples) and remains in the pouch for 45 to 55 days
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platypus


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monotremes: Mammals that Lay eggs



gondwana?


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Gondwana, also called Gondwanaland, ancient supercontinent that incorporated present-day South America, Africa, Arabia, Madagascar, India, Australia, and Antarctica. It was fully assembled by Late Precambrian time, some 600 million years ago, and the first stage of its breakup began in the Early Jurassic Period, about 180 million years ago. The name Gondwanaland was coined by the Austrian geologist Eduard Suess in reference to Upper Paleozoic and Mesozoic formations in the Gondwanaregion of central India, which are similar to formations of the same age on Southern Hemisphere continents: 

ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA:
https://www.britannica.com/place/Gondwana-supercontinent

​Is Gondwana the same as Pangea?


  • The reformed Gondwanan continent was not precisely the same as that which had existed before Pangaea formed; for example, most of Florida and southern Georgia and Alabama is underlain by rocks that were originally part of Gondwana, but this region stayed attached to North America when the Central Atlantic opened.

  • ​Pangaea, Gondwanaland, Laurasia and Tethys. a large supercontinent that existed existed ~225 million years ago at the .. between the close of the Paleozoic and start of the Mesozois (at the Permo-Triassic).​

  • The oldest of the supercontinents is called Rodinia and was formed during Precambrian time some one billion years ago. ​​

  • Another Pangea-like supercontinent, Pannotia, was assembled 600 million years ago, at the end of the Precambrian. Present-day plate motions are bringing the continents together once again.

nothing visible is permanent,
​not even the position of the continents


Continental Drift: the gradual movement of the continents across the earth's surface through geological time.
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slow but constant, change is the norm

mass extinctions


The big five mass extinctions
  • Biologists suspect we're living through the sixth major mass extinction. ...
  • Late Devonian, 375 million years ago, 75% of species lost. ...
  • End Permian, 251 million years ago, 96% of species lost. ...
  • End Triassic, 200 million years ago, 80% of species lost. ...
  • End Cretaceous, 66 million years ago, 76% of all species lost.
​

The Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event, also known as the Cretaceous–Tertiary (K–T) extinction, was a sudden mass extinction of some three-quarters of the plant and animal species on Earth, approximately 66 million years ago.

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10/23/2018

Week of 10/22 to 10/26: Desert animals

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Desert Animals


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ornithology

      --the study of birds


songbirds



birds of prey



eagles


Golden Eagle web site: 
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Golden_Eagle/media-browser/486764

red tailed hawk


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https://www.desertusa.com/birds/red-tailed-hawk.html

Cooper's Hawk


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https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/coopers-hawk

prairie falcon


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https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/prairie-falcon
Eats mostly small birds and mammals.

turkey vulture



Desert Salmander


Amphibians:  include salamanders, toads, and frogs. One difference between the two is the structure of their outer skin. Reptiles are covered with scales, shields, or plates, and their toes have claws.
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http://museum2.utep.edu/chih/theland/animals/amphibians/ambystig.htm

salamander technology


  • Salamanders have the ability to regrow limbs using stem cells. 
  • They can regrow a leg several times
  • Some know bio luminescence 

venomous reptile


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The Gila monster is a species of venomous lizard native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexican state of Sonora.

UTEP Amphibians and and Reptiles web site: 
http://museum2.utep.edu/chih/NHCD/herps.htm 

Lizards of the desert


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  • A yellow-bellied three-toed skink carrying embryos, visible as light orbs inside its body. 
  • Release live babies that hatch inside the body
  • They live in the forest but are here in the desert presentation to show different types of lizards
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/09/100901-science-animals-evolution-australia-lizard-skink-live-birth-eggs/

blue tailed skink



horned lizards



desert rodents



Rabbits



mexican wolves



coyote


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The coyote; from Nahuatl, Coyotl, is a canine native to North America.
  • https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/c/coyote/?user.testname=none 
  • https://www.desertusa.com/animals/coyote.html

concepts covered this week


Taxonomy: classification, especially of organisms
  • Kingdom 
  • Phylum
  • Class
  • Order
  • Family
  • Genus 
  • Species
Symbiosis:
  • Parasitism between opuntia moth and prickly pear cacti  
  • Parasitism: A relationship between two organisms in which one organism (the parasite) benefits and the other (the host) is harmed.
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  • Commensalism/mutualism between roadrunner and pricklypear cactus, mutualism if poo is a good fertilizer. 
  • Commensalism: an association between two organisms in which one benefits and the other derives neither benefit nor harm.
Plant reproduction:
  • ​carpel includes an ovary (where the ovules are produced; ovules are the female reproductive cells, the eggs)
  • style (a tube on top of the ovary)
  • stigma (which receives the pollen during fertilization)
  • Male Reproductive Organs: Stamens are the male reproductive parts of flowers.
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Plant evolution:
  • Scientists believe that plants evolved from green algae (protista)
    • Protista: single celled organism. The animal-like protists are known as the protozoa, the plant-like protists are the algae, and the fungus-like protists are the slime molds and water molds. 
  • Early plants were similar to moss, needed water, could dry out, lived in water
  • Did not reproduce through flowers
  • Plants developed cuticle: waxy cover that prevents water loss
  • Vascular tissue, tubes to transport materials, roots vs trunk
    • Xylems sucks water up: water to leaves from roots
    • Phloem flows food down: sugars down to roots from leaves
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types of plants


  • Bryophytes: seedless, non-vascular, do have cuticle, have to live in the water, can't pull water up so they have to be low to the ground
    • Mosses reproduce by spores that move in water
  • Ferns: seedless, have vascular tissue, can grow bigger, have cuticle, also need water
  • Gymnosperms: needles to prevent water loss, have seeds, seeds don't have shells or a fruit around them for nutrients
  • Angiosperms: flowers, make fruit, vascular seed plants
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Also important: Moncot vs Dicot
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Monocot: flowering plants whose seeds typically contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. 

Dicot: flowering plants whose seeds typically contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon.
 

types of photosynthesis


  • C3 plants are the most common and the most efficient at photosynthesis in cool, wet climates.
  • C4 plants are most efficient at photosynthesis in hot, sunny climates.
  • CAM plants are adapted to avoid water loss during photosynthesis so they are best in deserts.
  • Stoma: also called a stomata, is a pore, found in the epidermis of leaves, stems, and other organs, that facilitates gas exchange. ​

​Cacti are CAM plants

photosynthesis formula


Photosynthesis: the process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water. Photosynthesis in plants generally involves the green pigment chlorophyll and generates oxygen as a byproduct.
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photosynthesis: absorbs red and blue light and reflects green light

https://physicsworld.com/a/is-photosynthesis-quantum-ish/

cycles


Nitrogen Cycle
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  • nitrogen fixing bacteria live with legumes

Carbon Cycle
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Calvin Cycle, in plants
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​ATP: Adenosine triphosphate: made up of the molecule adenosine (which itself is made up of adenine and a ribose sugar) and three phosphate groups
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ATP Chemical Structure
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The numbers and letters are the chemical formula, this is here just so you see what it looks like (not on a test)
  • ​Energy from ATP and from the reduced coenyzme NADPH is used to remove a phosphate group from 3PGA and reduce the resulting diphosphoglycerate (DPGA) to produce the 3-carbon sugar glyceraladehyde-3-phosphate (G3P).
  • There is only 1 net carbon produced to play with for each turn.
  • To create 1 surplus G3P requires 3 carbons, and therefore 3 turns of the Calvin cycle.
  • To make one glucose molecule (which can be created from 2 G3P molecules) would require 6 turns of the Calvin cycle.

Water Cycle
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types of research


Good to know, names of types of research:

​Botany: study of plants
Entomology: study of insects
Arachnology: study of arachnids such as spiders and scorpions
Ornithology: study of birds
Herpetology: study of amphibians and reptiles
Mammalogy: study of mammals

animals


Trophic level:  each of several hierarchical levels in an ecosystem, comprising organisms that share the same function in the food chain and the same nutritional relationship to the primary sources of energy.
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Poison is absorbed or ingested; a poisonous animal can only deliver toxic chemicals if another animal touches or eats it. Venom, on the other hand, is always injected. Every venomous animal has a mechanism (e.g., stingers, fangs, etc.) to inject toxins directly into another animal. It is for these reasons that frogsare can be poisonous to touch or eat, while snakes are venomous when they use their fangs to bite.

cow digestion


How did that cow eat that cactus? 
  • ​​Cattle are ruminants, meaning that they have a digestive system that allows use of otherwise indigestible foods by repeatedly regurgitating and re-chewing them as "cud". 
  • Cattle have ruminant stomachs -- stomach with four separate compartments. The compartments are called the rumen, the reticulum, the omasum and the abomasum. Each compartment has its own specialized duty in the digestive process.
  • A cow briefly chews food as she eats, breaking it into smaller particles. As she chews, digestive enzymes in her saliva are mixed with the food before it passes down the esophagus into the reticulum and rumen. 
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phylogenetic tree


Rabbits (Lagomorphs) and rodents split 
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oh yeah, birds are dinosaurs


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10/14/2018

10/15 to 10/19: Desert Biology

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We live in the chihuahuan desert


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  • Portions of southwest Texas, southern New Mexico, and southeast Arizona.
  • The largest part of the desert is in Mexico. ​
          ducksters.com

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desert creatures web site


Taxonomy


Classification of a species is organized by:
Kingdom
Phylum 
Class 
Order 
Family 
Genus 
​Species

Taxonomy is the practice and science of classification of living things.

latin roots 


THe desert food chain starts with nitrogen fixation


  • Cyanobacteria, blue green algae help with nitrogen fixation, found in desert soil crusts
  • Also done by legumes: beans and peas
  • Nitrogen cycle includes: nitrogen fixation, ammonification, nitrification, and denitrification.
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Nitrogen fixing plants: take nitrogen from the atmosphere and store it in nodules in the roots

local parks



c3, c4, cam plants



calvin cycle


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  • C3 plants are the most common and the most efficient at photosynthesis in cool, wet climates.
  • C4 plants are most efficient at photosynthesis in hot, sunny climates.
  • CAM plants are adapted to avoid water loss during photosynthesis so they are best in deserts.
  • Stoma: also called a stomata, is a pore, found in the epidermis of leaves, stems, and other organs, that facilitates gas exchange. 

plants communicate through a fungal network


Mycorrhizae: a fungus that grows in association with the roots of a plant in a symbiotic or mildly pathogenic relationship

Mycorrhiza:
is a symbiotic association between a fungus and the roots of a vascular host plant, although 29% are non-mycorrhizal plant species.
The term mycorrhiza refers to the role of the fungi in the plants' rhizosphere, its root system.


phylogenetic maps


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A phylogenetic tree or evolutionary tree is a branching diagram or "tree" showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological species or other entities—their 

Phylogeny—based upon similarities and differences in their physical or genetic characteristics.

Bacteria- a type of biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals.

Archaea- a 
domain of single-celled microorganisms,  prokaryotes, meaning they have no cell nucleus, found inside plankton and in extreme environments like volcanic sites

Eukarya- includes eukaryotic organisms. These are organisms with cells that contain a nucleus as well as membrane-bound organelles. 

Desert Arthropods


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Etymology. The word arthropod comes from the Greek ἄρθρον árthron, "joint", and πούς pous (gen. podos), i.e. "foot" or "leg", which together mean "jointed leg".

Insects


Orthoptera: ortho- straight, ptera-wing, grasshoppers, locusts and crickets
Hymenoptera: is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. 

​
Etymology: Hymenoptera comes from the Greek words Greek words hymen meaning membrane and ptera, which means wings. This refers to their filmy, or membranous, wings.
Link: USDA tracks bee populations
Link: There is definitely bee diversity
Lepidoptera: Members of this order include: butterflies and moths. Etymology: Lepidoptera comes from the Greek words lepido, which means scale, and ptera, which means wings.
​Coleoptera: Beetles Etymology: Coleoptera comes from the Greek words koleos, which means sheath, and ptera, which means wings. This refers to the hardened forewings, which are known as elytra in beetles.

Crustaceans


Roly Polies, pill bugs
Desert shrimp: eggs can stay dormant for 30 years
Found in ditches, ponds, pools and other ephemeral freshwater habitats in northern Mexico and parts of the southern and southwestern United States, west of the Mississippi River.
Prehistoric shrimp emerge from Australian desert after heavy rain
Clam Shrimp: there are 8 varieties in Australia

Arachnids


9:40 sun spider, 11:30 giant desert hairy scorpion, 14:00 long nosed snake, 17:30 spadefoot toad, 18:30 rattlesnake


hawk wasp: State insect of New Mexico


Parasitic Hawk Wasp will paralyze tarantula and lay an egg in them then drag the tarantula to a burrow where the egg(s), usually a single egg, hatch and eat the semi paralyzed tarantula

Article: Youth are standing up for the world!!

Teen Climate Activist to Crowd of Thousands: 'We Can't Save the World by Playing by the Rules Because the Rules Have to Change'


Desert Plants


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desert cacti


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opuntia


Opuntia: commonly called prickly pear, is a genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae. Prickly pears are also known as tuna, sabra, nopal from the Nahuatl word nōpalli for the pads, or nostle, from the Nahuatl word nōchtli for the fruit; or paddle cactus.
Nahuatl: a member of a group of peoples native to southern Mexico and Central America, including the Aztecs. Current native speakers: over 1.7 million

​Varieties: divided by type of spines, flower colors, size of pads
                  web site on Opuntia varieties: http://eol.org/pages/37701/overview   

Noticeable traits: -flat paddle-shaped stem segments called cladodes 
                               -tiny, easily detached spines called glochids that
                                 look soft and fuzzy but spine you up
                               -formidable spines in addition to the glochids
                               -flowers are typically yellow, sometimes pink, and rarely white
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Source: http://www.cactusmuseum.com/anatomy.asp 
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 Uses: can be eaten, some animals can chew up the spines,
            you can roast them, peel, or eat the red fruit
Who is in there? road runners nest in there 
Ecology: Does not like soggy soil, naturally grows throughout North and South America from as far north as Canada, through the Caribbean, and down into Argentina.
Below are
​cactus moth babies and adult
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Desert Trees


Desert  Trees: 
​https://www.nps.gov/cham/learn/nature/upload/trees_6_30_09.pdf

Desert SHrubs


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Ocotillo: 
​​https://jornada.nmsu.edu/blog/5-things-you-didnt-know-about-ocotillo 
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Local name Mormon Tea: https://www.birdandhike.com/Veg/Species/Shrubs/Ephedr_vir/_Eph_vir.htm 
Las Cruces Sun News covered it

Our desert used to be more of  grassland than a shrubland but cows changed that 


​Amaranth


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Entire plant is edible including the tasty black seeds. Nutrients: protein, vitamins C and B6, riboflavin, thiamin, folate, pantothenic acid, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, iron, and calcium.
​Red varieties are used by Hopi communities as red dye.

​Desert Gourd


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Desert flowers


​https://www.newmexicoexplorer.com/chihuahuan-desert-bloom/ 

Desert cacti can be eaten in an emergency, but it is nice to let it live and thrive



Animals of CHIHUAHUAn Desert


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10/8/2018

Week of October 8 to October 12: NGSS

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Read Now
 

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)


more on ngss


reflecting on questions such as:
​are forest fires natural and necessary?



space x



Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket lights up California sky



we study the complexity and INTERCONNECTedness of all things



new mexico stem ready standards


jeff bezos' money move

Amazon's minimum-wage increase for its hourly workers comes with a trade-off: no more monthly bonuses and stock awards.

Blue Origin


concept map



our class concept map


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dimensions that we can study in each ecosystem


  1. Diseases that affect the organisms involved
  2. Food Web
  3. Genetic Flow
  4. Environmental Factors
  5. Human Impact
  6. Location of the ecosystem in relation to other ecosystems

wolf spiders live on the ground, do you think that the person that made this video put the wolf spiders on the web just for views on you tube? 



review on punnet squares



environmental considerations



nitrate toxicity in meat industry


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    Author: Jazmin Gannon

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