Jessica Eddy October 22, 2007 3/3

Class Review:

- Handed in late Bio Field Projects.
- Marked homework.
- Learned about embryos, homologous and analogous features, vestigial features and similarities/differences in DNA.
- Did Analysis assignment.
- Went through and took notes on "Early Beliefs about Evolution" handout.

Thoughts and Opinions:

Its crazy to think that all of the evidence that we base our evolution and scientific history on is as much as we could fit in the back of a pickup truck. I had never thought of it that way and it amazed me. Its interesting how closely related some species are to others. For example, the T-Rex and the chicken. It was hard to picture that image in my head. Overall, it was an interesting class and I learned a lot of new information. I'm just wondering, what species humans are the closest to?

Additional Insight

http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/humanorigins/past/dna.php

The chimpanzee and another ape, the bonobo, are humans' closest living relatives. These three species look alike in many ways, both in body and behavior. But for a clear understanding of how closely they are related, scientists compare their DNA, an essential molecule that's the instruction manual for building each species. Humans and chimps share a surprising 98.8 percent of their DNA.


The light and dark bands on these chromosomes, created by a laboratory dye, reveal similarities and differences among human, chimp and mouse DNA.

Kayleen Fahrlander Friday 19th 3/3

Class Summary

-Hand in quadrat projects
-Take notes from over head on 1st hand out (fossils/evolution)
-Do questions on 2nd hand out (fossils/evolution)

Thoughts/Opinions

- Evolution is such an abstract concept because it's hard to imagine that every living thing may have come from a single one-celled organism.
-Many people may be skeptical of evolution because of religous beliefs, but there is serious evidence (through the study of DNA bases) that proves that some organisms are closer related than we think.


Above and Beyond

Oldest Fossil Ever Found-A team of Swiss and Austrian geologists found some 3.45 billion-year-old dolomite in the Pilbara range in North West Australia. After etching it with acid they found the fossils using an electron microscope.
It is believed that the fossils are of a cyanobacteria - an organism that still forms thick mats in warm shallow seas today.
In the early pre-Cambrian period, they played a vital role in the development of more complex species by being among the first life forms to use sunlight to help them absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen and therefore making the atmosphere breathable.

Kyle hinchcliffe oct.18/07

Today we learned about evolution . the kingdoms of certain species .

I think this class is super fun :). The topics we discuss are fun and educational.

I have no questions

Courtney Miller October 8, 2007...2/3

today we:
-got information on what to do on Snake Hill
-we went up on the hill and marked our little areas
-stayed on the hill till the end of class then walked back.
...that is all.

in my opinion, i didnt like this class because it was cold outside and i wasnt 100% sure what to do. ashley and i were a little lost, but we figured everything out and we were fine but i still didnt really like it. its ok though.

Sarah Kowatch Oct.15 3/3

Today we had a double block. In the First block we learnt about biotic potential and at the end of the block we got assigned a sheet with questions on lemmings. The second block we worked our ecosystem projects or did our homework.

Todays cless was pretty good. We learnt lots of new info. We learnt the 4 factors of biotic potential: birth capacity, capacity for survival, breeding frequency and length of reproductive life. We also learnt carrying capacity: max number of indivuduals of a species that can be supported at a time by an ecosystem; Law of min: nutrient in the least amount is the one that limits growth; Law of tolerance: organism can survive within a particular range of an abiotic factor. We also learnt density-depentant/independat factors. It was kind of boring first block but the second black was really good. We just worked on our projects.

These graphs are examples of carrying capacity and the law of tolerance.

Eleanor McBain- October 11, 2007 3/3

What We Did

• Went back on snake hill to complete assignment (get final temperature readings, collect bugs)


• Cleaned up our area so that no trace of our study could be found


• Came back to the school and worked on our projects.

Thoughts and Opinions

Our assignments are getting harder. Maybe ease up a bit on what to do in the assignment.... like the density of the bugs? I mean yeah... thats kinda hard to figure out. But overall most of the assignments are pretty good. Fun, Worth while and educational. Way to be Mr. C.

Additional Insights:

Density= # of individuals of a species/ size of quadrat.

( our density of..... bugs.... (EEEWWWW) ok we have 12 individual bugs so it would be 12/16 ( roughly... very roughly.. 4x4m) which would equal

0.75!!!! so..
Density = 0.75

Brianna Melcher, October 10, 2007, 3/3

Today in class we:

• Went up onto snake hill to continue working on the ecosystem assignment.
• Second block we came back and started analyzing the plants, bugs, and other things we got from our ecosystem.
• Started working on our reports.

Thoughts and Opinions:

I think this is well worth it because it allows us to get a better look at what happens in an ecosystem.

How do you create a climatogram?

Additional Insight:

To create a climatogram you:

• Enter all your data into a spreadsheet.
• Highlight all the information.
• Start the "chart wizard" by using the file menu: file>chart
• You must choose a graph that has both bar and line graphs. Select the Custom Types tab, find the Line - Column on 2 axes, click next.
• Select columns and click next
• Fill in fields for the chart title, X axis, and both Y axes, click next.
• Confirm your graph.

Memphis Vanbeselaere, Monday October 1, 2007 3/3

TODAY WAS DOUBLE BIO DAY! WHOO HOO!
Today we:

First Block:

• Completed our Unit test chapters 1-3.
• Handed it in
• Marked it.

Second block:

• Discussed the previous class on Friday.
• Watched the Asian Carp video
• Discussed the term "Biome"
• Did a worksheet titled "Who's Where and What's What in Alberta Ecosytems"

Thoughts and Questions:

Today's class was pretty good. The unit test was relatively easy. It was nice that we marked them right away so we knew how we did all in the same day.
Then in second block we discussed a little bit about niches that we learned about on Friday.
We then watched the Asian Carp video that we couldn't get to work on Friday. It was really interesting how the fish got in the river because a flood carried them to the river from fish ponds. I couldn't help but laugh when in the video people were getting slapped across the face by the fish jumping out of the water.
Here is the link to the video.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=yS7zkTnQVaM
Who would have ever guessed that we would be using the wonderful YouTube in the class room.
After we watched the video we discussed Biome. A Biome is a large geographical region with a specific range of temperatures and precipitation, and the organisms that are adapted to those conditions of temperature and precipitation.
Some biomes found in Canada are Taiga, grass land, tundra, muskeg and temperate deciduous forest.
Taiga is also called boreal forest biome. It is dominated by conifer trees.
Grass land is the most fertile biome. Unlike other biomes, grassland only have one layer of soil that can support the biotic community.
Tundra is found in the northern part of Canada and doesn't have very much biodiversity due to it's cold harsh weather.
Muskeg is formed by rain and melted snow that cannot drain from the taiga due to the permafrost and the water soaks decomposing plants and peat moss causing muskeg. It is very swampy and boggy.
Deciduous forest have aspen, balsam popular and birch trees. They have warmer temperatures and larger amounts of humus. They also have more precipitation.

PICTURES:

Tagia: Grassland:

Tundra:
Muskeg:
Temperate Deciduous Forest:


After discussing biomes we did an activity where we separated biotic factors and abiotic factors into the proper biome in a table.
At the end of the class Mr. Challoner introduced the Ecosystem field study assignment.
I think the field study will be really fun because it will be more hands on!

Rebekah O'Brien, Oct.3/07

Today in class we:

- finished reviewing the notes of factors affecting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems
- considered the effects of seasons on lake and pond life in our handout (winter/summer stagnation and spring/fall overturn)
- did text book questions - pg. 107, Q's 1-4, 7 (to be marked!!)


Thoughts and questions:

- i like using the handout to do notes... that way you have the main points already there, but can add more details in if you like
- why does O2 dissolve in water at colder temps?


Above and beyond:

i went to Google and found why O2 dissolves at colder temps...
- it said that there is less O2 in the summer because warm water can't hold as much O2 and because the pond's O2 demand is more in warmer water

http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/contents/dissolved_oxygen.htm

Laura Smith, Sept.27 2007 3 out of 3

Today in class we:

• Marked our lab worksheets


• Played a game of Bio Jeopardy


• Started Unit 2


• Received I can... work sheets for Unit 2


• Did page 82 questions

Thoughts and Questions:

• I am very excited to start Unit 2. I love getting in to new things.


• What is an ecological niche?

Above and beyond:

• What is an ecological niche?

- An ecological niche is an organisms role in an ecosystem. It consists of its place in the food web, its habitat, its breeding area, and the time of day that it is most active.

I think that this blog is an excellent idea. At first you think it is a pain, but it takes five minutes and it is very helpful when you have missed school. When I missed a couple days last week all I had to do was look at the blog and I was pretty much all caught up.

When I went to google to find a picture I typed ecological niche in the search box and this is the picture that came up. I thought it was kind of cool.