Riccardo's Science Blog

Summary : This project in which I am working with my team, we have the assigned task to create a species that could thrive in the planet of our choosing. There was 4 planets we could choose from, and our species lives in planet C. Planet C is a tropical environment with a flat terrain. It is covered with rain forests that are moist and hot. There are many large pools of water or lakes in the rain forests where killer poisonous plants grow around. The vegetation is comprised of an abundance of leaves, nuts, and fruits and some of the animals are carnivorous snakes, monkeys, fish, insects and birds. Our animal has the body structure of the red-eye tree frog. However, unlike red-eye tree frogs our animal has the traits of other species, such as the eyesight of an owl, the venomous bite/teeth of a king cobra, and the claws of a squirrel. Our animal does like most amphibians do and by soaking itself in the water puddles on planet C and absorbing the moisture through their skin....

Summary:  A cladogram is a diagram that shows us evolutionary relationships between organisms. It also tells us how organisms are closely related. At the top of the cladogram are the names of the organisms. Along the side of the cladogram, you have the different traits. When there is a point and the lines converge, it represent a common ancestor. We can trace the relationships on the cladogram to know which organisms evolved from a common ancestor, not how an organism "evolved" into another. S&EP: Using Models I used models, like cladograms, to find which organism was most closely related to the T-rex. First, we organized all of the information from the cladogram onto a table. For each feature of the organisms, we filled out a row of the table. We used a plus symbol to represent if the feature is found in the organism, a zero means that the feature is not present, a minus symbol means that the feature does not apply to the organism, and a question mark means...

Summary: There are four lines of evidence for evolution: comparative anatomy, embryology, fossil records, and DNA. This evidence is what helps us determine our hypothesis, t hat all living things have a common ancestor and that natural processes can decide who lives and who dies. Embryology is the study of how creatures progress before being born and noting similarities. The fossil record is the process of comparing and contrasting animals that are alive today with fossils of animals who are now extinct to help figure out which animals they may have evolved from. Comparative anatomy is looking at the similar and different features in different organisms and species to see if they may have evolved from each other. Finally, you can use DNA to see which animals are closely related to one another. These lines of evidence help us come to the conclusion that animals evolved and are related to each other through a common ancestor. SP2 - Using models To see...

Summary: Natural Selection is when organisms who are better adapted to fit their surrounding conditions outlive those who aren't and pass down their genes. Out of the five fingers of evolution, natural selection is the only one that can cause adaptations. The idea of natural selection was first proposed by Charles Darwin, who stated that nature could determine which organisms survive and which don't. He traveled on the HMS Beagle and he made important discoveries through South America and wrote a famous book called, the Origin of Species. Darwin saw that birds on different islands acted the same, but looked different. Finches in different environments adapted to have a type of beak that suits their specific environmental so they can eat the food in their environment, he observed. Which sparked Darwin's theory of Natural Selection. S&EP-Using Models: We used a model to show how different species and animals can adapt to certain environments. We tried to use...

Summary: Evolution is any change in the heritable traits within a population across generations. Evolution helps us understand the diversity and assortment of life. The central idea of evolution is that all living things originated from one common ancestor. Evolution cannot occur over a single lifetime. Therefore, if there is no reproduction, there is no evolution. The first finger or the pinky represents small population or that population can shrink. For instance, if a population or gene pool goes through an epidemic, and only 6 people survive, those 6 people will represent the new gene pool. The second or ring finger represents mating. This is where 2 mates have a baby. If two mates with the same type of gene mate, red hair, for example, could start a whole new population with a majority having red hair. The third or middle finger represents mutation - when there's a change in the DNA. Such as if a gene mutation creates a new color of hair. The fourth or the index fing...