Bio/Geo Timeline

The point of studying the bio/geo timeline was to have an understanding of what existed in the earlier periods of time on our planet. The time period that I studied with my group was the carboniferous period. During this time, many coal beds were beginning to form. Terrestrial life was also established during this period whereas amphibians were dominant land vertebrates, which evolved into reptiles. At this time, many forests covered a large amount of land on the planet and this eventually formed coal beds.A change in climate caused a minor marine and and terrestrial extinction event. During the later half of the period, the planet faced many glaciations, low sea level, and mountain building as the continents collided to form Pangaea.

In order to show my full understanding of the carboniferous period, I had a lot of contributions made. One thing I did was make the 150 word summary of the carboniferous period, which gave the class and myself a better understanding of everything. I also made the fossil that had to do with the period. It was a carving of a fern, which is a weed-like plant that was around during this time.

Alternate assignment

While watching the the seal in a first person point of view, it was really interesting in a variety of ways. From this angle, you can see what its like when the seal is roaming around the tank. It also was interesting to see how trained the seal was. It seemed to know whenever the trainer wanted it to come up to the surface, which makes me wonder if it was its sense of smell, hearing, or if it had really good vision.

 The first thing that interests is why the orange filefish got its name when it consists of mainly yellow and black. In a way, they are like a flounder because they have a very thin, flat body. I found it really neat to hear that these fish tilt their head down when they are swimming because I do not understand why this would benefit this species in any way.

Although I have seen penguins do many things before, I can not stop thinking about how they are such good climbers with small arms and legs. I found it really interesting that penguins are territorial and return to their natural habitats after they migrated. I guess I don not know as much about penguins as I thought I did because I believed that all penguins were adapted to really cold weather.

Veterinary staff were examining pneumonia that a turtle had. One of the procedures they used is called bronchoscopy which is where they inserted  a scope through the trachea in order to reach the lung. By doing so, the veterinarians can see if the tissue is diseased or not. They did a "tracheal wash" in order to obtain the bacteria/fungus and get a sample of it to see if they can find an antibiotic or anti fungal to fight it off. While I observed the photos of a normal trachea, I noticed that there were two bronchi: one led to the right lung and the other to the left lung. During the bronchoscopy, there seemed to be a significant difference between the normal trachea and the turtles right lung. The turtles right lung seems OK because I can see the bronchi, but I also notice a lot of smaller holes which concerns me.

Seaweed

Seaweeds are a diverse group of organisms that live in the Earth's oceans. They are known as algae which are not plants or animals. Seaweeds are photosynthetic, which means that energy from sunlight into materials needed for growth. Instead of roots, seaweeds have hold fasts which attach them to the seafloor. Their stem is called a stipe which supports the rest of the plant. The leaves of the seaweed are called blades which provide a large surface for the absorption of sunlight. Most seaweeds have floats which photosynthetic structures of the seaweed buoyant so they can absorb energy from the sun. The entire plant body of the seaweed is known as the thallus. Seaweeds are a food source for marine animals and are nutritional base for some food webs. They also provide shelter and a home many fishes, birds, and marine mammals.

 What are diatoms?

Diatoms are photosynthesizing algae

To what division and class diatoms assigned?

Division Chrysophyta, Class Bacillariophyceae

What are the major characteristics of diatoms?

 Diatoms are commonly between 20-200 microns in diameter or length. The cell may be solitary or colonial 

Describe the life cycle of a diatom. 

When a cell divides each new cell takes as its epitheca a valve of the parent frustule, and within ten to twenty minutes builds its own hypotheca; this process may occur between one and eight times per day.

List five human uses for diatoms. 

Diatoms reduce high blood pressure, clean the human colon, lowers cholesterol, reduce one's weight, ad strengthen hair, nails, gums, and teeth.

Explain the role of diatoms in the carbon cycle.

They reduce the amount of CO2 in the air during photosynthesis.