Reflections

From this blogging experience, I did not just gain new information, but also learnt life skills such as time distribution and that procrastinating is not a good habit. This exercis has also thought me how to surf the internet to do my research, but also how to blog. From studying about Charles Darwin, I learnt that perseverance is very important, but at the same time. we should also set ourselves reasonable targets and take care of our health. Some of the difficulties I encountered were sourcing for information on the internet because it was difficult to find specific pieces of information. Also, there were many terms which I could not understand because I had never come across those terms before. As a whole, I found this rather difficult but useful.

glossary

epiphytes-An epiphyte is an organism that grows upon or attaches to a living plant)

cuticle-Botany. a very thin hyaline film covering the surface of plants, derived from the outer surfaces of the epidermal cells

lamina-Botany. the blade or expanded portion of a leaf.

nucleus- a specialized, usually spherical mass of protoplasm encased in a double membrane, and found in most living eukaryotic cells, directing their growth, metabolism, and reproduction, and functioning in the transmission of genic characters.

references:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cuticle
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nucleus

Linnaean Txonomy- Orchid

The orchid family is the largest family of flowering plants and its name is derived from the genus orchis. It has a large number of species, about 4 times that of the number of species for mammals. Orchids are found in the tropics or sub tropics.

kingdom:plantae

order: asparagales

family: orchidacea

Most orchids are perennial epiphytes (An epiphyte is an organism that grows upon or attaches to a living plant) and grow on trees. Like most plants, orchids have leaves, roots, stems and flowers.

The structure of the leaves of orchids is dependent on its habitat. For example, if it grows in a dry habitat, the leaves would be thick and leathery and the laminas covered by a waxy cuticle to prevent excessive water loss.

Orchids are herbs and thus do not have a woody stem.

references:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchid

Linnaean taxonomy for The Lion

The lion's scientific name is Panthera leo. Its is from the Felidae family and its genus is Panthera. Hence, the start of its scientific name is Panthera which is its family name, and its unique epithet to identify its species is leo.

domain: eukarya (organisms which have cells with a nucleus)

kingdom: animalia (with eukaryotic cells but without a cell wall)

phylum: chordata (animals with a notochord)

subphylum: vertebrate (has a backbone)

class: mammalia (vertebrates with hair and mammary glands which)

order: feline

family:Felidae

genus:Panthera

species:leo

references:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion

Taxonomy

Taxonomy is a method of classifying organisms devised by Carolus Linnaeus. It involves the use of binomial nomenclature, which is the combination of a genus name and a single epithet to identify each species of organism.

All organisms are classified in a ranked hierachy:
1. kingdom
2.phyllum
3.class
4.order
5.family
6.genus
7.species

references:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linnaean_taxonomy#Taxonomic_ranks

Life cycle of Pandas

1. When a panda is born, it weighs only 90-130 grams.

2. The panda is fully reliant on its mother for the first few months of its life and are breast-fed for the first 8 to 9 months.

3. Most pandas leave their mothers when she gives births again, usually after one and a half years.

4. A panda lives an average of 14-20 years in the wild but can live to about 30 years in captivity.

Classification of Animals and Plants 1-pandas

The scientific name of pandas is Ailuropoda melanoleuca. The panda can be found in Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests located in Southwest China (Gansu, Shaanxi, and Sichuan Provinces) to the east of the Tibetan plateau.

It feeds mainly on bamboo shoots, and eat the leaves stems and shoots of the plant. They can consume between 12 to 40 kg of the plant a day to cater to its energy needs. It is actuall an omnivore contrary to popular belief and a small part, about 1% of its diet consists of other plants and animals such as pikes and other rodents. The diet of the pandas is the cause of its downfall since it relies primarily on bamboo shoots for its survival, but its natural habitat has been cleared for agriculture.

As mentioned earlier, the habitat of the panda is the bamboo forest which is rapidly being cleared for agriculture, fuel wood, infrastructure and hydropower development. This is the main reason why pandas are an endangered species with the threat of extinction.