The Toothpick Fish Lab

Many labs resemble real life situations. The toothpick fish lab could resemble a stream ecosystem. This lab show how adaptation occurs in the wild and how changing and ecosystem could push a species too far.

Data Analysis:
(G) The green allele is dominant in all case
Combination's that make a green fish-GG, Gr, Gy
(r) The red allele is recessive to the green allele and incomplete to the yellow allele
Combination's that make a red fish-rr
(y) The yellow allele is recessive to the green allele and incomplete to the red allele
Combination's that make a yellow fish-yy
Combination's that make an orange fish-ry

In this environment, the yellow fish die due to the fact that they cannot blend into the plants or the red and orange rocks. The other fish seem to steer past predators long enough so that they reproduce.

F1 Generation
In the F1 generation, all alleles and fish are there. There has been no fish fatalities.

6/12 fish are green
1/12 fish are red
1/12 fish are yellow
4/12 fish are orange
The yellow fish are removed because that resembles them dieing in the wild. Now there are two yellow alleles that have been removed from the gene pool and one less fish possibility. The yellow alleles are beginning to slowly disappear.

F2 Generation
In the F2 generation, there are two less yellow alleles, and one less fish. Now there can be only eleven fish in the stream. One fish has died.

5/11 fish are green
0/11 fish are red
0/11 fish are yellow
6/11 fish are orange
In this generation there are no yellow fish, thus that means there are no fish removed. The yellow alleles are distributed in the green and orange fish. The red alleles are also distributed in the green and orange fish.

F3 Generation
In the F3 generation, there are still eleven fish total. There has been no fatalities.
6/11 fish are green
2/11 fish are red
1/11 fish are yellow
2/11 fish are orange
The yellow fish is removed once again and there are two less yellow alleles in the gene pool. Even though we have been removing all of the yellow fish, the alleles have not disappeared completely. However, the alleles are disappearing and in a few more generations, they will disappear completely. The population also has been decreasing due to yellow fish removal. In the F3 generation, there is one less fish than in the F1 generation.

F4 Generation
In the F4 generation, the yellow fish has been removed and there are two less alleles in the gene pool. There are only enough alleles to create ten fish. There has been one fish death.
7/10 fish are green
1/10 fish are red
0/10 fish are yellow
2/10 fish are orange
There are no yellow fish, thus no yellow fish are removed. The yellow alleles have been distributed into the green and orange fishes.

Environmental Disaster!

Due to man made waste that has been pouring into the stream, the algae, seaweed and other plant life have died. The exposed red and orange rocks and yellow sand provide cover for the red, yellow and orange fish. However, because the green fish cannot camouflage, they are removed resembling predators eating them. Seven fish have been removed because of this.
0/3 fish are green
1/3 fish are red
0/3 fish are yellow
2/3 fish are orange
Now this generation of fish has decrease drastically due to the fact that the dominant amount of fish have all died. The green allele has now disappeared completely. This has occurred because natural selection has allow predators pick off the fish that cannot hide. First the yellow fish began to disappear. Now because the green allele is dominant, every fish with the green allele has a phenotype of green, thus eliminating the green allele completely.


Environmental Impact

This toothpick fish lab is a great way of showing how the environment impacts the survival of a species and determines which genes will be passed down to the next generation. When we started this lab, there were eight of every allele, creating the possibility of twelve fish. When the algae and seaweed dominated the landscape, the yellow fish would not camouflage and then, the predators hunted them down and killed them, lessening the yellow allele and the number of fish in the next generation. in a few more generations, the yellow alleles would have disappeared all together due to natural selection. But before that could happen, and environmental disaster stuck. All of the seaweed and other plant life died due to toxic man made wast, making the environment hostile to the green fish. Because the green allele is dominant over every other allele, the fish is deemed to be green if they have a green allele. Because of this, the green fish got picked off by predators and went extinct, taking the allele along with it. But if there was and over abundance of algae and plant life, then the red, yellow and orange fish would all disappear due to natural selection. Overall, the environment in which and organism lives in, has a great impact on its survival and determines whether it can pass on its genes, or not.

The Balancing Act

According to recent research, cats are better physicists, when it comes to drinking that is. Scientists have uncovered that when dogs drink, they merely use their long tongue as a scoop; as for the cat, they have much sophisticated matters. First, the dip the tip of their tongue in the liquid, quickly bringing it up to pull it closer. Then they close their jaw severing the liquid column before it succumbs to the laws of gravity and fall back down into the bowl. But what is most surprising about this all, is that the cats already have the knowledge programmed into their system to know how rapidly they must lap.

This scientific research had all began when Roman Stocker's cat began to consume breakfast. Then Stocker wondered,"How does he do that?" So he borrowed a high speed camera and video taped his cat drinking water. Stocker took that video, along with several others of wild cats drink water, and analyzed it. He and the other researchers noticed that cats and dog lap up water very differently. Both species would extend their tongue and curl them back towards the chin. This is where the similarity ends. The dogs tongue acts as a ladle spooning up water as it comes back up. The cats tongue however, would stay empty. Only the tops of the cats tongue would touch the surface. As the cats tongue pulls out of the water, the inertia of the movement draws water up. During that time, gravity is also pulling the column down. As these opposing forces stretch the column, the cat then closes it's mouth at the right moment and it gets a mouth full of water before the water falls.

http://www.livescience.com/animals/physics-behind-cat-drinking-101111.html

Penguin Tracking, is it worth it?

Tracking penguins in Antarctica has given us valuable information about global warming and its affect on Antarctica, but its affects on the penguins are great. Penguins with bands have had less chicks and higher death rates than penguins without these bands. These bands somehow have created less energy for the bird to live and reproduce. Scientist have a theory that the bands create extra baggage and more difficulty when it comes to swimming and catching fish which may have increase mortality rates. Many people now argue that banding penguins is not humane to the penguins and we shouldn't band them in the future. Tragically, if we continue to band penguins, their population will decrease, but if we stop banding penguins, we may sacrifice valuable information.

Camouflaging Prey

At first glance, all you see is leaves. Look again. Do you see that? That bird over there? It has to look like a leaf to survive. Survive being eaten by the hawks in our neighborhood. It is prey, nutrients to many, but to survive, it camouflages. But without the tree, the bird will die, but without the bird, the tree will not be affected in any manner, so it is also a form of commensalism. Thanks to its camouflage, this bird lives to see another day

Limiting Factors

This is a biotic limiting factor found in our local neighborhood, the bush. This bush is a limiting factor because it limits the amount of sunlight and water that reaches the ground and the other vegetation. It also limits the amount of shelter it can give to bugs and or other animals. But this is not a population due to the fact that it is a single organism not many.

The Aquarium

On Friday, our unit went on a field trip to The Camden Aquarium. It was an awesome trip, even though we didn't get to everything. There were touch pools, hippos, seals, penguins and a lot more! The first thing our group did was touch the sharks, that is nurse sharks of course. When a shark started coming my way, I stuck two fingers into the exhibit and felt the flank of the shark. I was surprised, a lot of people said it feels like your ear or it feels like your nose, but actually, it was squishy like your stomach and a little bit course like sand paper. The next shark that came around, i touched its back. That time, it felt more like your ear except a little bit more squishy. We left that exhibit and went outside to go see the seals and penguins. All the penguins were guarding their own little patch of territory. The one penguin that claimed the shower, seemed to have a smile on its face. Next, we went to go see the seals. There was one on top of a rock in the middle of the pond, tanning. As I looked more closely, I realized it had finger nails and toe nails just like humans. Its back was wrinkly and filled with blubber and so was its neck. Every now and then, it would lift up its flipper and rubbed its eye. After that, we saw sharks in the shark tunnel with other fish. I wonder if the fish are scared of the shark. Then we saw hippos. Did you know that birds poop every fifteen minutes? The hippos were sleeping and the fish inside of the tank, were cleaning the hippo. The rest of the day, we saw all kinds of interesting animals such as the shark ray. From underneath, it looked like a stingray from up top, it looked like a shark. I think that the shark ray is the boundaries between the shark and the sting ray, they are both very closely related. The cnidarians we saw were bio luminescent, they would light up. The puffer fish I saw, had a little smile on. It wiggled back and fourth like it was dancing. The field trip was a blast. I learned so much about sea creatures and saw cool animals.

Science Mysteries Answered

Many people like the delicious popcorn. But how does one tiny hard disgusting kernel, become a puffy popcorn???? I took this to the next level, I searched and searched for the perfect answer to my question. Through my research I have found, that a popcorn kernel needs 4 things, to make it pop. The first thing surprised me a little. Popcorn needs to have somewhere between 16% to 19% of water. The next critical thing on the list is, The actual kernel has to be strong enough to withstand the steam inside of the popcorn until the inside is fully cooked. Next, the outer shell of the popcorn has to be perfect, no dents or cracks. I thought that that was pretty obvious. Finally, the temperature has to be perfect for enough steam pressure to burst the kernel in to delicious nutritious popcorn.






Another interesting science mystery has yet to be answered. In school, I did a lab, a lab unlike others. We filled an ordinary soda can with a little bit of water, we heated it up, and dunked it into ice cold water. We heard a pop, like a balloon. I took a look at the can, it was crushed. I couldn't find a definite solution for this awesome mystery, so I made a hunch. I knew it was something that had to do with air pressure. I also knew that hot air is denser and cold air is not. The last piece of information I knew was that hot air rises and cold air sinks. But all those don't matter for my hunch. From chemistry, I learned that hot air expands while cold air huddles. My guess is that when the water in the can was hot, the molecules expanded. But, when it came in contact the the extremely cold water, the density disappeared and the popping sound occured because the can shrunk and got squashed.