Toothpick Fish!

     In science class we have began our toothpick fish project.  We had to randomly pick and form pairs of fish alleles and the color of the fish were based on those alleles.  Fish in our pond had four possible trait color which were green, red, yellow, and orange.  Green was dominant (G) to red (r) and yellow (y) however red and yellow (ry) were incomplete therefore the color of the fish who had those genotype would be orange.  In addition,  that meant that yellow and red  were recessive to green.  Recessive means the traits are there but it is not shown.  Dominant is the exact opposite.  Dominant traits show their appearances.  A fish would be green if their genotype was "GG, Gy," or "Gy".  A fish would be yellow if their genotype was "yy" and the genotype for red fish would be "rr"

                            Genotypes of fish                               Key
                                Genotype                                     Green = G
Color                                                                            Yellow = y 
Green       GG   Gr     Gy                                             Red = r
Red           rr
Yellow      yy
Orange     ry


      Also, when we pulled the fish alleles pairs out we organized them into four generations based on when the fish were created.  The first generation started of with twelve(12) fish but in the second generation the population lowered to nine(9) because the yellow fish were unable to adapt to their surroundings therefore they died sooner than others.  Adaptation is how an organism interacts with their  surrounding.  Furthermore, the third and fourth generation of fish both also stayed at the population of nine because there was a less chance of yellow fish to be formed.


 Here are the total number of each color offspring in each generation:
 
                                                Result of Fish



 Environment             Generation     Green       Red     Yellow    Orange


Lots of                           First               7               2            3              0
seaweed                        Second          6              2            0               1
and Algae                     Third             7              1            0               1
everywhere                 Fourth            6              2            1               0

NO seaweed
or Algae                    Survivors         4               2            1              0



Throughout the four generation the main  way the fish were able to survive were because there was a large amount of seaweed and algae.  In addition, the green, red and orange fish were able to camouflage in with the algae therefore predators were not able to find them.  However, that kept the yellow fish wide open in the environment open to all the hungry predators which decreased the yellow fish population.  But  what would happen if a disaster happened in the pond and all green fish died  because they were unable to adapt.

Rocks and soil have entered the pond therefore hiding the yellow, red, and orange fish however exposing the green.  Therefore, the green fish died which again lowered the population.  The  population has now lowered to seven.  With the green fish gone we have declared our survivors.   Also the disappearance of green fish also effected the way of life in the pond.  Without the green fish the population will increase greatly because now most of the fish in the pond will be yellow, red or orange since there are not many green alleles left. 

Q: What would happen if the population of red fish and alleles completely disappeared due to another natural disaster and the green fish were still exposed to the predators
A:  If the red fish  and alleles completely disappeared than the only two color fish would be green and yellow.  Therefore, when the green fish are created they would be most likely eaten and the whole population of green fish would be gone.

In conclusion, the fish population decreased from the first generation to the last due to the change in the pond habitat.  Some colored fish were not able to adapt therefore they were not able to survive.


      

TOO MUCH SNOW!

New Jersey had enough snow fall.  Just last week we had our sixth snow storm in 30 days.  But the weird thing was that we got snow and thunder at the same time!  South Brunswick specifically, had 19 inches of snow from our last snowstorm and some say enough is enough.  To make matter worse all schools were canceled.  In addition, many over 400,000 people lose power which was scary because this is only January and we still have one more month to go!
With the 19 inches added to the total of snowfall we have over 50 inches!  Too much snow is what I have to say and if snow keeps falling people will eventually have to give up at some point.  What I recommended to people is to make sure you have shovels and a lot of salt especially if you live up north or in the east.  Good Luck and make sure you stay warm.


Here are some pictures of snow!



SOURCE:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/winter-storm-east-coast-batters-record-breaking-snowstorm/story?id=12774029

Add cThree men attempt to free an automobile from the snow on New York's Upper West Side, Jan. 27

Jan Eggers digs out his car in New York City Jan. 27, 2011, the morning after another storm dumped more than a foot of snow in some areas overnight

Punnett squares!!!!!!

In class we have began the study of genetics.  Genetics is the study of  heredity.  In addition to the fun activities we have done for genetics so far, we also began punnett square.  Punnett squares shows the probability of what alleles can occur when people cross genetics.  This all started from a scientist named Gregor Mendel.  Mendel observed pea plants and noticed that some pea plants had the same and different traits from there parents.  This discovery triggered another one.  When a new organism is made the process of fertilization is formed.  Fertilization is when a egg and a sperm is joined together to create a organism.  Another would for fertilization for pea plants is pollination.  Mendel was a smart man and he wonder; what happened if you cross pollinate?  The hypothesis lead to the activity of cross pollination.  Mendel took one tall pea plant and instead of pollinating it into the same type of pea plant he pollinate it into a different type of pea plant;a small pea plant.  In a couple of days Mendel check the pea plants and it seemed that one plants was three fourths bigger than the other.  Mendel tried again and this time he cross pollinated with four plants instead of two plants.  The results was three-fourths of the plants was tall.  Mendel was intrigued with the results which began the study of punnett squares. 

Gregor Mandel known for his discovery of cross pollination.

  






In class we began punnett squares.
 

"A" stands for tall and "a" stands for small

                                                                  

This is a punnett square.  As you can see the mother traits(Top) and the father traits(Left) cross together.  When looking at a punnett square you could decide what the genotype and phenotype is .  Phenotype is what the organism will look like on the outside and genotype is what it really looks like from the inside is the percentage to see if the traits are homozygous or heterozygous.  Heterozygous means it is different and homozygous means it is the same.  In addition, homozygous could be label as dominate or recessive.   Dominate and recessive are how traits are label because some traits over power other.  Those traits are dominate.  However, some traits are the opposite.  They are recessive.  For example brown eyes is dominate to blue eyes.  Therefore, brown is dominate and blue eyes are recessive.  Lastly, homozygous and heterozygous are label by percentage.  For example 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%.In this example above you can see that the scientist cross correctly.  For phenotype is would be 75% tall and 25% short.  For genotype it would be 25% homozygous dominate, 25% homozygous recessive, and 50% heterozygous.  With punnett squares scientist around the world are able to solve more mysteries about genetics.

                                                                                                          By: Whiteknight83    

EXTRA CREDIT!!!!!

The book Tiger by Jeff Stone

  Q: Take any book you are reading (like the one for Lit.) and apply the ecology concepts you are learning about in science to it. Write a minimum of two paragraphs on your blog about science and your novel.


  A: Tiger by Jeff Stone is an engaging novel that shows the ecology concepts that we have and are learning in school. Tiger is about a monk named Fu who is being hunted by the dangerous general Ying.  Ying is hunting Fu because Ying wants the dragon scroll which Fu has.  Therefore, Fu has to run and hide from Ying because if Ying gets the dragon scroll he will become the strongest and most powerful monk who ever lived.  This novel applies the ecology concepts of carnivore, omnivore, consumer, adaptation, and an organism.However, what do these terms and concepts mean?
    
     A carnivore is an organism who eats meat and a omnivore eats both plants  and meat.  Adaptation is where an organism tries to live successfully in its habitat.  A consumer is an organism who eats animals and finally a organism is a living thing. 

However, how do these terms and concepts apply to Tiger?  Adaptation is used in the book because Fu has to learn how to adapt into his surroundings in order to hide and live far away from Ying.  In addition, Fu is a living thing therefore he is an organism.  A carnivore is represented by a cub who makes friend with Fu and an omnivore is based on Fu since he eats both meat and plants.  Lastly both a cub and tiger are consumers.  In conclusion, this is how the novel Tiger by Jeff Stone applies ecology concepts.  I recommend this book 100% because you can NEVER put it down!

Adaptation is where on living organism has to adapt to there surroundings. This squirrel in this picture is an example of adaptation to the environment.  It is an example of adaptation because the squirrel use the tree, on the left of the picture, for survival.  The tree gives the squirrel food because it grows acorns.  In addition, it gives the squirrel a home because the trees has branches and holes that the squirrel could live in.  Also, the tree gives the squirrel protection because the tree is very high.  Therefore, when ever the squirrel sights a predator it could run up the tree for protection.  This tree plays a big part for squirrel survival. 

THIS PICTURE WAS TOOK BY: WHITEKNIGHT83

In the Ecology world these trees are a biotic limiting factor.  A biotic limiting factor is a living, growing feature that limits the population in the ecosystem.  These trees limits the sunlight that plants and grass needs to grow.  However, these trees also provide a source of shelter and food to living animals.  For example, birds and squirrels get acorns from these trees.  In addition, birds make their nest in these trees. This is why trees are biotic limiting factors in the ecology world.

This picture was took by WhiteKnight83