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.

glossary

Expense: At the risk of something

phenotypes:a phenotype is an observable characteristic or trait

genes:the basic physical unit of heredity; a linear sequence of nucleotides along a segment of DNA that provides the coded instructions for synthesis of RNA, which, when translated into protein, leads to the expression of hereditary character.

species: A group of organisms living in the same ecological niche and capable of interbreeding with each other.

My reflections on Charles Darwin

Chalrles Darwin was very dedicated to his work. When he was given an unreasonable deadline to complete his books on his theories (Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle) he did not give up but instead buried himself in his work at the expense of his health. The doctors advised to lay off his work completly for a few weeks but only after a few days of rest, he resumed his work. It is believed that his overwork led to repeted episodes of stomach pains, vomiting, severe boils, palpitations, trembling and other symptoms for the rest of his life.

From reascearching on Charles Darwin, i have learnt that perseverance is very important to acheive one's goals, but one should know one's limits and not work yourself sick. Therefore having balance in life is very important.

Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection

Natural selection is one of the most important concepts in biology. Charles Darwin introduced this theory in his book"On the Origin of Species". Basically, natural selection refers to the differential sucess in reproduction of different phenotypes (a phenotype is an observable characteristic or trait) resulting form interacton with the environment.

The main features of Darwin's theory describes how new species formed:

1. Firstly, there is an over production of offspring.
2. Despite this, there remains a constancy of numbers within the community because only a fraction of the population survives.
3. This is due to selection pressures due to the environment. Examples of selection pressures would be the competion for resources and presence of predators.
4. Variation exists within the community due to the presence of different genes wich results in the expressions of different phenotypes.
5. In the wild, it is the survival of the fittest and different phenotypes have different sucess of survival. The evironment selects for individuals with favourable traits .
6. As those that survive, are likely to mate with survivors, their offspring would natuarlly have genes which confer favourable traits.
7. Over thousands of generations, a species will form.


References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_selection
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenotype
RJC diversity and evolution lecture notes

Famous biologist- Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin, born on 12 February 1809 who came up with the theory of natural selection. In a nutshell, the theory suggests that all species on earth evolved from a common ancestor. This thoery was the main explanation for evoulution in the 1930s and is the cornerstone of biology.

Darwin was supposed to study medicine at Edinburgh university but instead neglected his medicinal studies to research on marine invertebrates. He embarked on a 5 year voyage on the HMS Beagle and became a reknowned geologist who made observations and theories supporting Lyell's uniformatarian ideas. On his voyage,he collected fossils of wildlife that confused him which induced him to investigate the transmutation of species (The evolution of one species to another) which led to his theory of natural selection.

Because of his contribution to science he was one of five non-royal personages to be honoured with a state funeral when he passed away on 18 Apri 1882.

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