Week 6 Reflection

This week in science we learned about Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution.  Charles Darwin was an English scientist who studied the natural world on the HMS Beagle. His 5 year voyage brought him to South America, the South Pacific, and most importantly the Galapagos Islands. Darwin made many observations on the diversity of the flora and fauna on these islands, and noticed that although the species were unique to the environment, they were similar to species in other parts of the world. Darwin noticed that so many plants and animals were well suited to the environment they inhabited. Artificial selection are breeding experiments allowing us to select specific traits, and Darwin wondered if there was a force in nature similar to artificial selection. He then came up with the hypothesis of natural selection and "survival of the fittest." Natural selection stated the changes in population occurs when organisms with favorable adaptations reproduce and pass on the traits. An adaptation is any trait that aids in the chance of survival and reproduction of an organism. Evidence that Darwin's theory of evolution exists are fossil records, anatomical records, molecular records, and artificial selection. Along with learning about Darwin, this week we learned about the evolution leading up to modern man. We have learned about the various stages such as the Australopithecus, Homo habilis, and the Homo ergaster.

http://www.biology-online.org/images/darwin_finches.jpg                   

Week 6 Reflection: Evolution

This week I learned about Evolution. Evolution is the change in a kind of organism over time. Charles Darwin was an English scientist and was the founder of the modern evolutionary theory.  He studied the natural world on a voyage of the HMS Beagle. The voyage was to South America and South Pacific. There, he studied plants and animals, recording observations in the Galapagos Islands. He found many species of plants and animal life unique to the island, but similar species in other parts of the world. He specifically studied turtles and birds. Charles Darwin came up with Natural Selection, which is the change in populations that occur when organisms with favorable variations for an environment survive, reproduce, and pass these variations on. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution can be applied to explain the evolution of adaptations in organisms. I also learned about gene pools. A gene pool is the combined genetic information of all the members of a particular population. I also learned that the two main sources of genetic variation are mutations and the genetic shuffling that results from sexual reproduction. Genetic drift is the random change in allele frequency.

Week 6 Reflection

For the week of 2/10 - 2/14 I learned about evolution. Evolution explains how modern organisms have descended from ancient organisms. Charles Darwin was an English scientist who founded the modern evolutionary theory. He studied plants and animals on a five year voyage on the HMS Beagle. His observations were on the Galápagos Islands. He found many species of plants and animals unique to the island but also seen throughout the world. Darwin's explanation for evolution was natural selection. Natural selection is the change in populations that occurs when organisms with favorable variations for an environment survive, reproduce, and pass these variations on(adaptations). Adaptations are any trait that aids the chances of survival and reproduction of an organism. Darwin's theory of evolution can be applied to explain the evolution of adaptations in organisms.

Week 4 Reflection: Pedigrees and Family Tree

This week in science we learned about pedigrees and family trees. A pedigree is a family tree that shows the genotypes of family members. By looking at a pedigree, you can determine the genotype of all family members by knowing only one or two genotypes. In a pedigree there are different symbols that represent gender, whether the person has or does not have the trait, and in x-linked cases if the female is a carrier. Typically on a pedigree, females are represented by circles and males are represented by squares. If the figure representing a person is shaded in they have the trait and if it is not they do not have the trait. In the case that the pedigree shows a x-linked trait a female's figure could be half shaded in meaning that the female is a carrier of the trait or disease. Each pedigree shows one trait, whether it is autosomal recessive, autosomal dominant, x-linked recessive, or x-linked dominant. Autosomal dominant is shown as two dominant alleles or one dominant and one recessive allele (AA or Aa), autosomal recessive is shown as two recessive alleles (aa), and x-linked is shown by the two alleles connected to the x chromosomes. Not only can you determine genotypes with a pedigree, but you can also determine whether a pedigree is showing an autosomal recessive, autosomal dominant, or x-linked trait by just using the figures and what they represent.

https://migrc.org/Library/AutosomalRecessive.gif

Week 3-4 Reflection

http://www.perunamaa.net/donrosa/intro_long.shtml

For the weeks of January 21st - January 31st, I learned about Pedigrees and Family Tree. The different shapes in the pedigree represent gender, Circle =  Female and Square = Male. The shapes are also shaded or not, representing carrying the trait = shaded, and not carrying the trait = unshaded. In sex linked traits men either have the trait or they don't because of their Y chromosome. Unlike females that can have the trait, be carriers, or not have the trait. Although, in not sex linked traits males and females can be carriers, have the trait, and not have the trait. If either gender is a carrier then the shape is half shaded. In Family Trees, it can show a family members lineage as far back as they can remember. We began a project using websites to document our family trees. You can put in a lot of information such as age, dead or alive, current or former spouses, and other things. Family Trees are genealogical trees.

Week 3/4 Reflection

This week I learned about pedigrees, and how to create a family tree. Pedigrees show the different types of traits that can be passed on through generations. In pedigrees different shapes and colors represent gender and traits. Circles are females, and squares are males. If the person has the trait, their shape is shaded in. If the person does not carry the trait, their shape is not shaded in. Females can only be carriers of the trait if it's sex linked, so their shape would be half shaded. Males can't be carriers of sex linked traits because of their Y chromosome. Family trees are diagrams showing the relationships between people throughout generations. In biology, for a project, we created a family tree online, showing the generations of our families. You can include the name, age, and location where they live on the website. You can also add if they are currently living, or if they have passed. The website also allows you to add peoples current or former spouses. As shown in the image below, is a pedigree chart.

http://faculty.ucc.edu/biology-atsma/pics/pedigree.gif

Week 2 Reflection

This week I learned about Mendelian Genetics.  Gregor Mendel was a monk who studied genetics by using pea plants.  He used punnett squares to figure out which traits the offspring of two "parents' would have.  This week, I learned about dominant and recessive traits, as well as homogeneous and heterogeneous.  I learned that genotype is the collection of genes and alleles in an organism, and a phenotype is the observable characteristics of an organisms.  I also learned how to do monohybrid and dihybrid crosses.  They were pretty difficult.  On thursday, Anna and I created a "child".  We had to use dominant and recessive traits to determine the genotype and phenotype of our "child".  Our child's phenotypes were oval face, star eyes, straight hair, thick smile, curved ears, downward nose, green skin, blue eyes, long hair, freckles, yellow nose, and teal ears.

Our "Child"