Ecology Unit
Global Warming Socratic Seminar
Humans are contributing to global warming by releasing Carbon Dioxide into the air through breathing, car exhaust, factory exhaust, and the product of leaving trash on the ground. Humans release Carbon Dioxide when they breathe. Cars and factories produce many green house gases including Carbon Dioxide.
We (humans) can carpool and reduce car exhaust in the air. In my opinion, that is the biggest contributor to global warming besides breathing. But, since you can't stop breathing the next best option is to reduce car exhaust.
As an individual I can carpool. Carpooling is an excellent option for reducing global warming.
Humans are contributing to global warming by releasing Carbon Dioxide into the air through breathing, car exhaust, factory exhaust, and the product of leaving trash on the ground. Humans release Carbon Dioxide when they breathe. Cars and factories produce many green house gases including Carbon Dioxide.
We (humans) can carpool and reduce car exhaust in the air. In my opinion, that is the biggest contributor to global warming besides breathing. But, since you can't stop breathing the next best option is to reduce car exhaust.
As an individual I can carpool. Carpooling is an excellent option for reducing global warming.
Find a Solution Proposal
Trash has significant impacts on the biodiversity and carrying capacity. The approximate carrying capacity of black tailed deer is 13 deer per square mile. Trash kills the plants that grow in the area. Those plants are the food source for the black tailed deer. The evidence can be seen whenever you go hiking around Stafford Lake. The trash holds back the potential that could become the area around Stafford Lake. The solution is simply pick up trash you see.
The final production of this video turned out very successful. Everyone collaborated very well in the process of making this video. Some thing we could've done better was using our time better. It took us too long to make the story board and filming the video. We would have been able to finish more classwork if we had better time management but the end product was amazing.
I learned how many different species are really in the ecosystem. These species are so vital to the ecosystem and they all take part in the beautiful landscape, Stafford Lake. Society needs places like Stafford to remember the natural beauty of the Earth.
Trash has significant impacts on the biodiversity and carrying capacity. The approximate carrying capacity of black tailed deer is 13 deer per square mile. Trash kills the plants that grow in the area. Those plants are the food source for the black tailed deer. The evidence can be seen whenever you go hiking around Stafford Lake. The trash holds back the potential that could become the area around Stafford Lake. The solution is simply pick up trash you see.
The final production of this video turned out very successful. Everyone collaborated very well in the process of making this video. Some thing we could've done better was using our time better. It took us too long to make the story board and filming the video. We would have been able to finish more classwork if we had better time management but the end product was amazing.
I learned how many different species are really in the ecosystem. These species are so vital to the ecosystem and they all take part in the beautiful landscape, Stafford Lake. Society needs places like Stafford to remember the natural beauty of the Earth.
Terrarium
The biome of our terrarium is rain forest. The deepest part of the soil is made of sand and above it is soil with charcoal in it. The desired air conditions are humid since the rain forest is humid. Our venus fly trap is the consumer. The earthworms are the decomposers. The little grasses are the producers. The fly poops, the fly traps eat the fly, and the worm decomposes the fly poop.
The biome of our terrarium is rain forest. The deepest part of the soil is made of sand and above it is soil with charcoal in it. The desired air conditions are humid since the rain forest is humid. Our venus fly trap is the consumer. The earthworms are the decomposers. The little grasses are the producers. The fly poops, the fly traps eat the fly, and the worm decomposes the fly poop.
Here is a picture of our terrarium every week.
Over time our flytraps kept dying and the orange peels kept decomposing. I cut the dead parts of the plants off so it could keep growing. Once I cut them little tiny buds started growing where the previous "mouths" were.
Over time our flytraps kept dying and the orange peels kept decomposing. I cut the dead parts of the plants off so it could keep growing. Once I cut them little tiny buds started growing where the previous "mouths" were.
CCD Reflection
My partner and I created graphs to study populations of bee colonies throughout the years. Neonicitinoids are very harmful to the queen bees and without a queen bee the bee colony has a higher chance of collapsing. Climate change also affects the bee colonies. The stabilizing factors are the pesticides humans are using. Destabilizing factors are the climate change because the weather and humidity cannot be changed. We learned about graphing and curve fits as well as trend lines. We determined what equation best represented the graph.
My partner and I created graphs to study populations of bee colonies throughout the years. Neonicitinoids are very harmful to the queen bees and without a queen bee the bee colony has a higher chance of collapsing. Climate change also affects the bee colonies. The stabilizing factors are the pesticides humans are using. Destabilizing factors are the climate change because the weather and humidity cannot be changed. We learned about graphing and curve fits as well as trend lines. We determined what equation best represented the graph.
Natural Product Development and Discovery Lab
We gathered plant material, weighed it, made alcohol and water extracts, filtered the extracts, poured agar plates, spreaded bacteria on agar, placed filter paper on discs on bacteria, and let it grow overnight.
The purpose of this lab was to find potential cures for human ailments. Specifically, testing extracts for antibiotic activity.
In the MeOH extract didn't show any antibacterial activity. Every filter paper in the H20 extract showed antibacterial activity. There was a clearing of about 1.5mm around the filter papers. Both positive controls had a clearing of about 1mm around them. Both negative controls did not have a clearing around them.
Some errors we could have made were contaminating the sterile environment, using incorrect measurements, or accidentally switching the positive and negative controls. The next step would be to recreate the lab over and over to get more accurate results.
We tested plant material to see if it had any antibacterial properties because there are many plants in the jungle that may contain antibiotic material that could be used for medicine. Our results show that the H2O extracts contain antibiotic material. Both of the positive and negative controls worked as planned. The MeOH did not show any antibiotic activity. This type of assay is important to biotech because it allows us to make new medical advances. These advances may be more complex than a mint leaf but they make a difference. Biodiversity allows scientists to research a wider variety of materials to find cures and answers.
We gathered plant material, weighed it, made alcohol and water extracts, filtered the extracts, poured agar plates, spreaded bacteria on agar, placed filter paper on discs on bacteria, and let it grow overnight.
The purpose of this lab was to find potential cures for human ailments. Specifically, testing extracts for antibiotic activity.
In the MeOH extract didn't show any antibacterial activity. Every filter paper in the H20 extract showed antibacterial activity. There was a clearing of about 1.5mm around the filter papers. Both positive controls had a clearing of about 1mm around them. Both negative controls did not have a clearing around them.
Some errors we could have made were contaminating the sterile environment, using incorrect measurements, or accidentally switching the positive and negative controls. The next step would be to recreate the lab over and over to get more accurate results.
We tested plant material to see if it had any antibacterial properties because there are many plants in the jungle that may contain antibiotic material that could be used for medicine. Our results show that the H2O extracts contain antibiotic material. Both of the positive and negative controls worked as planned. The MeOH did not show any antibiotic activity. This type of assay is important to biotech because it allows us to make new medical advances. These advances may be more complex than a mint leaf but they make a difference. Biodiversity allows scientists to research a wider variety of materials to find cures and answers.
Here, the alcohol filters are in the plate on the left, and the water filters are in the plate on the right.