Hunger Games Lab Final Analysis

1. In this lab we had 3 different species(pinchers, stumpys, and knucklers) compete for reproduction and survival with limited resources.
2. The pincher phenotype could capture food quickly and easily because fingers can pickup items easily rather than wrists and knuckles. 
3. The population evolved, because as shown in the graph and data table, the pinchers outlived the stumpys and knucklers overtime, dominating the population. In the end, the "a" allele frequency dominated the "A" allele frequency in a ratio of 77:23.
   
4. Some things in this lab were random, like the placement of food and number of food pieces necessary for survival. The non-random occurrences were the reproduction of individuals and deaths of individuals. Because of this, the pinchers evolved to dominate the population.
5. If the food was larger, then the stumpys would have the advantage over pinchers and knucklers. In nature, events like these could occur when a limited resource, such as food, changes. That change would affect the natural selection of the species. 
6. Without incomplete dominance in the knucklers, the species would eventually have reproductive isolation and grow apart because of disruptive selection. 
7. Natural selection goes hand in hand with evolution. It uses phenotypes of species best suited to survive and reproduce to change the genotype of the population over time. Ultimately, natural selection is one type of change that causes evolution. 
8. Different behavioral strategies were observed. A stumpy had sat on a pile of corks until everyone left.This stumpy was successful and survived. Also, some knucklers pushed away corks to form a pile hidden behind them, which was successful at first, but people soon discovered it. Also, people would use their bodies to guard food and block others from the source of food. Pinchers and knucklers put corks in their pockets and shirts as a container. These strategies increased the likelihood of survival and reproduction by allowing individuals to obtain more food. This would affect the allele frequency by keeping certain species alive longer than others, because of their strong desire to survive and reproduce. This often happens in nature, for example, many animals use a defense mechanism where they appear bigger to intimidate predators and competition and to protect their resources. 
9. In evolution, the genotype evolves after natural selection acts on the phenotype. The phenotype is what natural selection acts on for survival, but over time this changes the genotype of the species through evolution. 
10. If there was a human disturbance or natural disaster causing more limited resources, would behavioral strategies be the only way to survive, or would pinchers just completely dominate the population? Or is it just luck, like in genetic drift?

Unit 7 Reflection

   This unit was all about Ecology, and the different aspects and how they all affect the Earth. We talked about the difference between habitats, all aspects of where an organism lives, and niches, all factors that the species needs to survive. Biotic factors are living things, and abiotic factors are nonliving things. An important theme in ecology was homeostasis and interdependence. Homeostasis refers to the idea that environments are healthiest when in balance. Interdependence is a concept that all living things in an ecosystem rely on each other as well as abiotic factors for survival. Another key idea is that all energy originally comes from the sun, then to producers, and then to consumers. 

Diagram showing global productivity in different regions. 

   Producers(autotrophs) provide energy for other organisms in an ecosystem. Consumers(heterotrophs) are organisms that consume energy by eating other living, or once-living things. There are herbivores, omnivores, carnivores, and detritivores. Trophic levels are levels in a food chain that are based on what something eats. Food chains and food webs model the flow of energy in an ecosystem in different ways. 
   Energy pyramids show how energy is transferred up the food chain. Food web dynamics explain the domino effects that occurs when populations at the top and bottom of the food chain decline. Another important concept is the levels of organization: organism, population, community, ecosystem, biome, biosphere.
   The 10% rule states that of energy produced/consumed at each trophic level, only 10% of that energy is transfered up the food chain. This is because the other 90% is lost through heat and waste. In population ecology, terms like density and dispersion are used. Density refers to the number of individuals in a given area, and dispersion refers to the pattern of spacing among those individuals in that area. Some factors that can affect population size are immigration, emigration, births, deaths, disease, predators, limited resources and competition.
   Exponential growth in population is most common in bacteria and viruses and well as species rebounding from near extinction. Exponential growth cannot be sustained in any population because they reach limits known as the carrying capacity(K). Carrying capacity is the maximum population size and environment can support. In the logistic growth model, the rate of population increase slows down as carrying capacity is reached, it does not level off. 
   Another topic discussed was ecological succession, which is the sequence of changes in an ecosystem in response to a disturbance. Primary succession is when succession begins without soil to start. Secondary succession begins in an area where soil remains after the disturbance. The stages of succession are as follows: Pioneer species(grasses, lichen, moss), intermediate species(shrubs and tress), and climax community(trees at full maturity). 

Diagram showing the different stages of succession and examples of the types of plant species commonly involved. 

   The nutrient cycles include the water, carbon, phosphorous, and nitrogen cycles. Water is essential to all life. Carbon is the building blocks for all life. Nitrogen is essential to life in the form of DNA and proteins. Phosphorous is critical to life in DNA, ATP, and lipids. 

   Another topic discussed was biodiversity, which is the total number of species in an ecosystem. Genetic diversity is related to all the different genes within a population and between populations. Species diversity is the variety of species in an ecosystem or biosphere. Ecosystem diversity is the different types of ecosystems throughout the planet. An endangered species is in danger of becoming extinct, while a threatened species is at risk for being endangered. Mass extinctions are widespread, rapid, decreases in biodiversity. Only 5 in history have occurred, but we are currently in the middle of the 6th. This is related to the rapid pace of human population growth. Background extinctions are extinctions that happen normally. 

   The main causes of species loss can be traced to 4 major threats. The first, habitat loss, is caused by human farming and development. The second, exotic species, are caused by humans relocating species from their native location. The third is overexploitation, caused by human harvesting of wild plants or animals. The fourth is change in climate, because species are adapted to a specific range of abiotic factors by nature, and drastic changes outside of their niches causes species to die(especially plants i.e drought or excessive rainfall).

   Plants are the producers, or foundation for the entire ecosystem. From the sun's energy, they provide to the rest of the consumers in the ecosystem. Without them, there's nothing. I wonder how in the future, some super industrialized cities will have enough oxygen for humans to breath considering the few trees. Already, with fossil fuel pollution it is hard to breath in big cities, but will it get worse? How can this be prevented so we can take a step back from the industrialization and restore parts of our natural ecosystem?

   For our conservation biologist project, we easily came up our topic: the arctic tundra. We began our team contract and assigned roles for research with ease. But when it came time to condense our research and begin writing the slides, I ended up doing the entire thing. Luckily, we were able to finish our recordings in class, where Kai then volunteered to do the editing. Overall, it was a rocky experience, because it was difficult to contact people when I needed to, but I think it has made me more assertive. Overall, I think I had been more passive and patient with the group to an extent that was creating conflict for the terms of the project getting done. The experience has given me more of an active voice to listen to others, but make clear what I would like.
   We also watched the story of stuff videos and I posted on my blog a summary and reflection of another video, as well as notes and a response to a question about "The Story of Stuff." You can view it here: Story of Stuff and Story of Cosmetics

Works Cited

Carbon Cycle. Digital image. National Center for Atmospheric Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2017. <https://eo.ucar.edu/kids/green/images/carboncycle_sm.jpg>.

Global productivity and sunlight angles on earth. Digital image. Quia. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2017. <https://www.quia.com/files/quia/users/lmcgee/ecology/sun_angle_latitude.gif>.

Nitrogen Cycle. Digital image. Partnerships for Environmental Education and Rural Health. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2017. <http://peer.tamu.edu/curriculum_modules/Environ_Hazard/images/nitrogencyclesmall.jpg>.

Phosphorous Cycle. Digital image. Wordpress. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2017. <https://raceingminds.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/phosphorous-cycle.jpg>.

Stages of Succession. Digital image. Slide Share. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2017. <http://image.slidesharecdn.com/succession2009-110426161751-phpapp01/95/succession-2009-19-728.jpg?cb=1303834862>.

Water Cycle. Digital image. NASA Precipitation Measurement Missions. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2017. <https://pmm.nasa.gov/education/sites/default/files/article_images/Water-Cycle-Art2A.png>.

 

Story of Cosmetics

Summary and Reflection:

The story of cosmetics was about all the toxic chemicals that are put in everyday consumer products. Exposure to these toxins have been known to damage reproductive organs, and induce disorders like autism, and asthma. Many of these chemicals are known to be carcinogens, which are cancer causing chemicals. Also, it mentioned how the FDA does not even require all ingredients of these cosmetic products to be listed. The FDA doesn’t assess the safety of many of the ingredients in these products. Since 1938, they have only banned 8 out of 12,000 ingredients used in cosmetics. Because of the lack of regulation, cosmetics industries self-assess their products. The lack of government action has ultimately lead to the exposure of toxic chemicals in our daily used products.

Now I feel like I am more skeptical as to what I am putting on my skin, and more curious about what these things mean. I was always someone who would read the labels, but I didn’t do anything about it because I didn’t know what these things were. After all, they wouldn’t be allowed to buy if they weren’t safe right? The interesting statistics brought up about the lack of regulation in the FDA has me worried about everything I use. How do I know my toothpaste, deodorant, chapstick, and shampoo are even safe? Women use an average of 12 cosmetic products daily, while 6 for men. I hadn’t  even realize how many products I really use until I thought about all the chemicals in them. I think overall it has made me more aware of how many things I have, and how most of them are really harmful.

Story of Stuff

Notes:

• The materials economy runs through a process of extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal.
• Every step has an interaction between the system and the real societies, cultures, and environments. 
• We are running out of natural resources, for a number of reasons. For example, the US has only 5% of the world's population but uses 30% of global resources. 
• In the Amazon Forest alone, we are losing 2,000 trees per minute.
• In production, toxic chemicals are added to the natural resources. 
• Externalized costs mean that the social cost is more taxing than the product's cost.
• 99% of items run through the system to later be thrown away after 6 months. 
• The average US person consumes twice as much as they did 50 years ago.
• Planned obsolescence are designed for the dump, so we throw things away and buy new ones.
• Perceived obsolescence convinces you to throw stuff away that us perfectly fine, 
• People in the U.S. see more advertisements in one year than people did 50 years ago in a lifetime.
• The average united states resident produces about 4.5 pounds of garbage per day.
• The garbage is dumped into landfills or incinerated, which both contribute to pollution and climate change.
• Recycling is not enough because many products are not designed to be recycled. 
• People united can change the way the system works. 

Q3: Annie says “recycling doesn’t get to the core of the problem.” Why not?

   For every one garbage can of waste, we put out, 70 other garbage cans of waste were used to produce the waste in that one garbage can. Also,  much of our garbage cannot be recycled because it either contains too many toxins, or it is designed not to be recycled. For example, there are juice boxes that are lined with layers of metal, paper, and plastic, so they cannot be separated for recycling. Although recycling is extremely important to help reduce waste and reuse products, the fact of the matter is that there are more things we can do to make a difference, because just recycling isn't enough.