Co-evolution 

Mutualism - A symbiotic relationship in which both participating species benefit. 

Aphids are small insects that use their piercing mouthparts to suck fluids from the sugar conducting vessels of plants. They extract a certain amount of the sucrose and other nutrients from this fluid. However, much of the fluid -- so - called honeydew - runs out in an altered form through their anus. Certain ants have taken advantage of this fact and "milk" the aphids for the honeydew, which they use as food. The ants, in turn, protect the aphids against insect predators. 

The female yucca moth is the sole pollinator of the yucca, and the yucca is the only caterpillar host plant of the yucca moth. In fact, the yucca and yucca moth share a symbiotic relationship that is so specialized, each yucca species is pollinated by only one type of yucca moth.

Population Lab

In the beginning of the simulation, it was difficult for the wolves to capture three rabbits at the same time; therefore, the population of wolves was small. However, as the population of rabbits increased, it became easier for the wolves to catch the rabbits, and the population of wolves also increased.

As the simulation was progressing, the rabbits were too close to each other, so the wolves can catch a lots of them at once, therefore, the population of wolves increased too fast, and the population of rabbits became extinct at one point.

Basically, this simulation shows us that the best scenario would be both populations go up, it would benefit both populations to survive, and if one population suddenly goes down, it hurts the other population too.  Our goal should be that we have to try our best to balance the different populations in the nature. 

 

Unfortunately, a volcano eruption had happened in an alpine tundra biome in the Himalayas in Asia.  The most obvious change of the biome was the temperature.  Since the plants and animals are accustomed to the low temperature in alpine tundra, the burning lava had wiped out most of them, and the bigger animals in this biome such as the bighorn sheep and mountain goat went into distinction. 

       

     The ash in the air was another killing factor for the animals live in this biome, the pika or marmot might have successfully avoided the burning lava because their body size are relatively small, but they will eventually be killed by the ash in the air. 

     The animal that most likely would survive after the eruption is ptarmigan because they might possibly have flown away before the eruption occurred.  

     The damage of plantation in the alpine tundra is even more severe. Since the original alpine environment was harsh enough for plants to grow up, the volcano made those plants impossible to survive. However, after the volcano, there is a chance the soil would become more arable, and the cushion plants would have a chance to come back to the alpine tundra.

Alpine Tundra 

Characteristic of Tundra

Climate

Rainfall 

Natural Resources

Plant life( Flora) 

Animal Life(Fauna)

Food Web

Lichen

Location and Human Population 

Animal Behavior Lab Report

Abstract:

  There were few purposes for this lab. First, we caught isopods in the wild and bought them back to the classroom, and we just closely observed their behaviors and structures. Then we used isopods to test three different scenarios: wet vs. dry, acid vs. dry, base vs. dry, to find out which environment they preferred. We placed 10 pillbugs in different environments and observed for 11.5 minutes.  The results were that the pillbugs preferred wet conditions over dry and base over acid. In addition, the pillbugs also showed taxis behavior in all scenarios.

Introduction:

  Ethology is the study of animal behavior.  An animal’s behavior is everything an animal does and how it does it.  There are three types of behaviors:  orientation, agonistic, and mating.  Orientation behaviors take the animal to its preferred environment.  Taxis is an animal moves toward or away from a stimulus.  Taxis is often observed in response to changes in light, heat, moisture, sound, or chemicals.  Kinesis is random movement and doesn’t involve stimuli.  Agnostic behavior is when animals respond to each other in aggressive or submissive movements.  An example would be when the hair on a dog’s back stands up when it is being aggressive.  Mating behaviors are activities that involve finding, courting, and mating with a member of the same species.  An example would be a peacock fluffing up its feathers to attract females.  There are differences between classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is a  type of associative learning in which an arbitrary stimulus is associated with a reward or punishment, but  Operant Conditioning is a type of associative learning in which an animal learns to associate one of its behavior with a reward or punishment; also known as trial-and-error learning.

Hypothesis:

    When isopods are exposed to wet and dry conditions, they will prefer to stay in the wet environment because they are used to living in dark, moist environment.  When isopods are exposed to acid or base conditions, they will prefer the acid conditions.

Materials: 

Petri dish

Connected chamber

Water

Pipette

Filter paper

Timer

Magnifier

Paint brush

Vinegar (acid)

Ammonia (base)

Procedure:

 1. Collect 10 isopods from the wild

2. Place isopods in a Petri dish with a paintbrush and observe them for 10 minutes. Record observations that are characteristic to the bugs.

3. Place a wet filter paper in one chamber and a dry one in the other.

4. Put the isopods in and cover the chambers

5. Start the stopwatch and record the number of isopods in each chamber every 30 seconds

6. After 3 minutes, replace the wet filter paper with one with vinegar

7. Repeat procedure 4-5

8. After 3 minutes, replace the vinegar filter paper with one with ammonia

9. Repeat procedure 4-5

Data

Time (minutes)	Number of isopods in wet chamber	Number of isopods in dry chamber	Notes
0	-	-
0.5	6	6
1.0	5	5
1.5	2	8
2.0	4	6
2.5	4	6
3.0	4	6
3.5	3	7
4.0	3	7
4.5	3	7
5.0	3	7

Time (minutes)	Number of isopods in acidic chamber	Number of isopods in dry chamber
5.5	1	9
6.0	0	10
6.5	0	10
7.0	0	10
7.5	0	10
8.0	0	10
8.5	0	10

Time (minutes)	Number of isopods in base chamber	Number of isopods in dry chamber
9.0	1	9
9.5	3	7
10.0	4	6
10.5	4	6
11.0	5	5
11.5	6	4

Analysis:

       The independent variables were the different conditions in the chambers.  For the first experiment, the independent variables were the wet and dry conditions.  In the second and third experiment, the independent variables were the ph.  For both experiments, the dependent variable was the isopod behavior.  The main control for this experiment was the initial observation.  The kinesis observed at this time was used to determine if the isopod behavior in the two experiments was truly taxis behavior in response to the different conditions.  Other controls include using the same amount of bugs, using a timer, using the same chamber, and using similar textures in the chambers.

            In the first experiment, our data shows that isopods preferred the dry conditions.  This is not what I expected, because pillbugs suppose live in dark and moist environment and they use gills, so they need moist conditions to survive.  This could have been due to different wet conditions.  The isopods may avoid an area if it is too wet and this would skew the results. 

                 In the second experiment, the isopods preferred the dry conditions over the acid conditions.  My hypothesis is wrong again, they do not prefer to live in a more acidic environment. My initial thought was that they live in soil and under logs, which are acidic conditions.  However, it could be another experimental error, because the vinegar was too acidic, they would rather stay in the dry chamber.  

Conclusion:

            From our data, the isopods preferred the dry environment which is against their normal living habit.  My hypothesis was proven incorrect.

            In the acid vs. dry and base vs. dry experiment, the isopods preferred the base condition which is again against their normal living habit.  Most soils areas are acidic.  The isopods did not choose the environment that was closest to their natural habitat. My hypothesis was proven incorrect again.