Predator and Prey Lab Data Analysis

In this lab we looked at how populations of certain environments can directly affect other populations due to their place in the food chain. So if we look at the graph we can see that as the wolf population or the predators stays low the rabbit population increases tenfold. This means plenty of food for the wolves though, and soon the wolf population goes up at the cost of a decline in rabbits. As the rabbits decline near the end of the data the wolves go almost extinct letting the rabbits grow rampant in the biome.  This is how the food chain works when one population of a predator and prey situation goes down, the other goes up.

Trouble In The Temperate Forest

       In this post I will be talking about the waste water spill that accidentally happened in a forest in the eastern US. This happened when a large truck was transporting some sewage from a treatment plant that overflowed and flooded. Unfortunately when the truck was driving on the back roads to get to the next town over where the sewage could be taken care of, it swerved off of the road and dumped thousands of gallons of human waste into the forest. Obviously this is going to have a big impact on this delicate ecosystem and I will explain why this little accident is going to have some big effects.
       First of all, human waste will hurt the quality of the topsoil. Unlike animals with plant based diets human waste does not decompose easily and has most of the nutrients gone. If any bile were to make its way into a stream or creek in the forest many animals would die from diseases floating about in the water. A lot of animals do not have strong enough immune systems to handle human diseases. This bile would also destroy almost all plant life in the area it hits. The best adapted animals to survive this disaster would probably be birds or animals that can move elsewhere. The reason it would be best to just get away from the affected area is because this waste would kill the plants and negate the food chain by taking out the primary producers.  If there was a waste-water spill over the entire biome, the entire forest would fall apart.

Biome Project

My Own Biome Project

          In this project everyone was given a different biome to research and present. I was assigned the temperate forest to research. Naturally, I planned a very extravagant and costly trip to the eastern United States for a year to observe the forest and "become one with nature." In this time I learned a lot about this biome that I would like to share with you if you are considering visiting a temperate forest in the near future. Let's start with the abiotic factors of this environment. Temperate forests are heavily affected by the changing of the seasons. This means that trees and plants will lose their leaves in the fall and re-bloom in spring.  This means there is a top layer of soil that is fairly rich.  However, the soil quality is usually rocky and sandy especially beneath this first layer.  This biome gets a decent amount of rain (40-150 inches per year) and in harsh weather it can even snow during the winter.  The temperature varies because of these seasonal climates but the summers get very warm followed by cool winters.  Unlike the tropical forests of the world temperate forests do not have all the light absorbed by a top canopy of trees.  Although the trees in this biome are often large leafed they do not blot out the sunlight and the forest floor booms with plant life.  This allows for very good shelter for animals in the temperate forest. While birds nest in the many tall trees bears and other animals can burrow in dead trees, brush, and in caves.

World-builders.org

High School Earth Science/Soils

          This brings us to the biotic factors of the temperate forest. In the way of plants there are many tall growing trees like sequoias and pines. During the sunny seasons the floor of the forest is lush with a wide array of shrubbery and other plant life. With many places to hide this starts a long food chain with small animals like mice that are prey to larger birds, snakes, and small mammals. Grazing animals like deer are prey to hunters like larger felines, canines, and bears.  The moist and warm variation in this biome lets a large population of decomposers thrive: mushrooms.

Vtaide.com

myweb.rollins.edu

          An important animal to remember on the food chain of this biome is the human.  Human started fires can happen easily in this biome with all the dead brush from winter that remains until it is decomposed. Humans also use this biome quite often to get lumber and wood for paper.

ths.sps.lane.edu

          To survive in the temperate forest organisms must adapt just like in any other survival situation.  What is unique about this forest is that they must be prepared for the climate changing throughout the year. In plants, most trees have much larger leaves in the forest so that they can absorb more light and water to store for growth and energy. This is because they do not get these things year round.  Certain animals have a very unique adaption to survive the differing seasons. Bears go into hibernation for the winter because they can not go out hunting or gathering if their is snow on the ground.  Micro organisms are adapted for this environment because a lot of the bacteria that can be found in decomposing plant material does not need much more than oxygen and a food source to live.  

Animal Behavior Lab

Pill Bug Lab Write Up

Abstract

In this lab we took our first look at behavior in organisms by examining pill bugs in different environments. Our first experiment tested whether 10 pill bugs would choose to go into a dry or wet chamber if they could move between both at any time.  We tested this at first with no light in either chamber and then light in both.  In the next experiment we saw if they would choose to go to a side with rocks in it or a flat side. For the final experiment we tested to see if they went into a side with honey or a side with no honey.

Introduction

Behavior is how one acts or conducts alone and with others.  Proximate questions are based on the reaction to outside stimulation of the organism.  Ultimate questions are aimed towards things that the organism is inherently due to genetics and evolution.  For example a proximate question about bird song would be what call does a bird make when it is in danger or needs help. An ultimate question would be what tone does the bird hit.  This is ultimate because a bird's song tone would be dependent on what type of bird it is and how it has evolved.  This is why organisms have fixed action patterns like a fish swimming.  This is what is needs to do to get water to flow through it's gills.  However imprinting can affect these actions.  A proximal cause of imprinting could be that for many generations a population of animals didn't hunt, they gathered and stored.  If that population did this for many generation it would forget how to hunt and if the gathering was no longer possible the population would not be able to hunt due to imprinting.  The universal cause of imprinting is learning.  In geese you can not take farmed animals and release them back into the wild.  They have learned that they will get fed and do not need to look for food or means for survival.  This leads to taxis and kinesis behavior.  Taxis behavior is a directed response to something like a tree or plant growing towards the source of light.  Kinesis behavior is completely sporadic on the other hand.  For Example, when a deer gets shot during a hunting trip if it lives it will just bolt in any direction and keep running until it dies. When looking at behavior it is also important to note classical and operant conditioning.  In classical conditioning things are connected in the brain to one action.  For example after a few years in public school, kids associate the bell with recess or lunch. When the bell rings they know to go to the lunch line or go out and play.  Operant conditioning is when things are remembered in the brain by enforcement or punishment. A dog will learn to roll over if he know that he will get a treat after. Positive re-enforcement to the good and negative to the bad.  Knowing all of this we looked at pill bugs and how they responded to different environmental factors.

Hypothesis

For the first experiment we thought: if given the choice then the pill bugs would go to the moist chamber because it is more like their natural environment under rocks.  For the second half we thought that the pill bugs would still prefer the moist test chamber but would be more active in the light.  In the next experiment we predicted if one chamber had rocks then the pill bugs would prefer this chamber because it is also closer to their natural environment.  The third experiments hypothesis was that if one chamber had honey in it then the pill bugs would prefer it because it would be more damp then the chamber without honey.
Materials

2 Test chambers with a pathway between them

10 randomly selected pill bugs

1 pipette full of honey

25 Fish Aquarium Blue Rocks
1 Timer

Procedure and Results

For each lab we started by scattering the pill bugs near the connection between the two chambers so that the initial results would not be too biased. We marked how many pill bugs were in each chamber every 30 seconds.  

Blue= Wet, Red=Dry

Blue=Rocks, Red=Flat

Blue= Honey, Red= No Honey

Conclusion

In the first experiment we learned that when it was dark the pill bugs did not move much. As soon as there was light in the test chambers though, the bugs preferred the moist test chamber.  Due to the light this could be kinesis behavior, but the bugs definitely crowded to the damp chamber.  In the second experiment we learned that the pill bugs preferred the side with the aquarium rocks. A few of them tried to get under the rocks like in their natural habitat.  The others in the rocky chamber attempted to use the rocks to escape confinement. In the final experiment we observed that something about the honey attracted the pill bugs to that chamber. This could have been just that the honey chamber was moist or the bugs tasted the honey and liked the sweetness.  In either case the pill bugs preferred the honey coated chamber.