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Theses are just a couple of the the animals my family has on display in our home. They show a difference between difference types of hunting and their possible effects. Deer hunting, although it could be recognized as a trophy sport, is often used as population control and food supply. In America, brown bear hunting is a purely trophy hunt, which uncontrolled, could lead to a downturn in the brown bear population. As of today, brown bears are classified as least concern, and hopefully with the continuation of proper regulation they will remain that way.

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Today my Lorax found a picture of three hogs I shot on my most recent hunting trip. I explained to the ole Lorax that these hogs are classified as invasive species, which is a type of nonnative species that does a great deal of harm to the environment. For example, these feral hogs do millions and millions of dollars in crop damage per year in just Texas alone. The nations farmers and other wildlife scientists have struggled for years with ways to kill off this extreme invader. Surprisingly, a brief period of time gummy bears were used because of a chemical contained in them that killed hogs. So, because of this extreme boom in poplulation, hunters everywhere are highly encouraged to shoot these hogs whenever given the chance.

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ale cristancho
genetic biodiversity is the variation in genes that exist within a species. when species are bred for traits and their genes are altered by human contact, they are called domesticated species.  livestock, crops, and even dogs that are considered domesticated species, will slowly start experience a decrease in genetic diversity as generations pass

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My Lorax and a Well Ventilated Natural Gas Stove- Nabeeha Naeem

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My Lorax and a Well Ventilated Natural Gas Stove- Nabeeha Naeem

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We usually think of air pollution as being outdoors, but the air in your house or office could also be polluted. Poor indoor air quality can cause or contribute to the development of infections, lung cancer and chronic lung diseases such as asthma. 60 percent of homes in the state that cook at least once a week with a gas stove can reach pollutant levels that would be illegal if found outdoors. These pollutants can come both from cooking burners—especially gas burners but to a lesser extent electric burners also—as well as from cooking itself. The primary health effect of nitrogen dioxide, which is also found in the fumes of any type of combustion, is an increased likelihood of respiratory problems. This is why taking care of the air quality at home is very important. Using proper ventilation systems and having fume hoods above stoves is a great way to prevent indoor pollution and stay safe from the harmful effects of this kind of pollution.

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Flat Lorax and the Broken Lights - Adrian Ramos

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Flat Lorax and the Broken Lights - Adrian Ramos

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Recently, our Christmas lights that wrap around our yard have stopped working, and we couldn’t figure out why. Just two days ago, the same thing happened to some of our neighbors. My dad went to go talk to them and learned that the rabbits and squirrels in the neighborhood have been chewing and ripping the light cords. Some of the neighbors were so upset that they proposed the idea of exterminating some of the animals since there’s been quite an increase lately. I personally am completely against the idea considering that these animals are probably some of the few remaining from before their habitats were cleared to build the houses. Habitat destruction is one of the main causes of declines in biodiversity, and it is happening every day as a result of developing areas. When the animals begin to become a slight nuisance, even though the animals were there first, humans almost immediately try to find ways to get rid of them. Even though rabbits and squirrels are present in many places, theys should still be left alone since they just try to navigate the drastically different environment.

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Me and my Lorax visited the new construction site behind my neighborhood. This is an example of habitat destruction as there used to be large field. The land was cleared for the new buildings.  The field used to be home to coyotes , rabbits and a wide variety of different plant species but now it is a site for new structures. The life that was here is now gone which makes Mr. Lorax sad.

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Wow, my Lorax sure is hungry, he easily finds himself in my pantry, this is time he found himself in the nuts section. My Lorax sure thinks that nuts are just bought but little does he know all the factor these nuts bring into our world. These nuts serve plenty of services, one that I think it truly important is their regulating services. Natural ecosystems like these nuts help regulate environmental conditions, such as when you plant a seed or a nut it has the possibility of helping our environment by creating some
Sort of life. Isn’t that truly great?

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My Lorax with recycled flip flop toy - Anqi Zhang

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My Lorax with recycled flip flop toy - Anqi Zhang

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Abandoned flip-flops are an environmental disaster. Thousands of them are washed up onto the beaches and coast. They destroy the natural beauty of the beaches, clog waterways and threaten the eco-system of the area. Fish swallow them and suffocate. Baby turtles can't make it back into the sea. Ocean Sole is a small non-profit organisation that works on marine conservation. They work with artisans to transform the discarded flipflops into elephants, giraffes, lions, rhinos, dolphins, sharks, turtles and more. These colourful and large creations are a colourful message and reminder for people to protect our environment.

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Silly Lorax, found itslelf snooping around the pantry, oh is he hungry... well frankly after spending hours and hours in an apes textbook I managed to find some important information about honey. Wouldn’t it be funny if honey was just made my chemicals and humans? Well it is not. It is made my bees and flowers.. simple? Not really. In more detail, bees have an interaction with plants that increases their chances of survival, well the survivor for both ecosystem; this process is called mutualism since there’s is two species interacting. Thanks to this, this process plays as a supposed system by providing a support services allowing humans to create an economic benefit from pollination.

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As I was in the car, my Lorax and I noticed something very peculiar. There were trees and shrubs on the sides of highways and roadways. They are placed there despite it leading to less road space for us humans and loraxes. So why are they there? They are there functioning as cultural services, one service category of the five service categories when considering ecosystem services. These tiny roadside ecosystems and habitats sit there for the instrumental value of content and aesthetics. My Lorax thinks that we should be putting our government funds into more intrinsic valued ecosystems rather than ones that serve our sole benefit.

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Ray Zhang- My Lorax Getting Into Some Fishy Business!

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Ray Zhang- My Lorax Getting Into Some Fishy Business!

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Here is my Lorax hanging out with some fish. Although these creatures live in a controlled life within a tank, they is still competition between them over who gets the most food. Competition is the struggle between individuals over who gets the natural resources and can result in a loss of biodiversity if one species is unable to keep up with another. This was detailed by Charles Darwin when he wrote his theories on natural selection. He believed that the animals with the highest fitness, which is the ability to reproduce, would do the best in nature. Animals who take longer to breed and are susceptible to disease and other ailments would have the lowest fitness, which meant that they would be the first to become extinct should any major changes happen. This theory has become extremely prevalent in contemporary times as humans have emerged as the dominant species. Human overpopulation and habitat destruction or repurposing is a catalyst for the "sixth major extinction" of the world, as the intensive human land use has resulted in a loss of habitat and resources for other animals, meaning only the most fit survive.

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Hrishikesh Jadhav - Lorax and the Producing Flowers

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Hrishikesh Jadhav - Lorax and the Producing Flowers

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This is a photo of my Lorax next to some bright red flowers. As you can see there is a lot of sunlight reaching to this plant through the windows and on a daily basis we give it some water. This plant as a producer will go through the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration. Producers are vital to the trophic pyramid levels as they receive the energy from the sun and when consumed pass on said energy to primary consumers. Autotrophs such as this flowering plant are the only ones that can get this energy and transfer it on and without any producers the whole food chain would dismantle. Additionally, producers serve another benefit because they convert Carbon Dioxide into Oxygen to which we breathe and use in our daily lives to respirate. It is important to preserve and grow as many producers as you are able to because of pollution and destruction of environments we are losing the one thing that could slow down the rising Carbon Dioxide in the environment.

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My Lorax just happened to randomly run into a bouquet of daisies. Unfortunately it's not a bee, so it can't pollinate the flowers. But this is important because it reminds me of an important symbiotic relationship in nature: mutualism. Mutualism is a symbiotic relationship in which two species who interact both benefit from the relationship. A crucial mutualistic relationship in ecosystems is pollination. Pollinators such as bees or other insects or birds use the flowers as a source of food. In return, they pollinate the plants and spread the pollen to other plants, helping the plant species to reproduce. Both the pollinators and the plants benefit. Another example of mutualism would be lichen: the interaction between a fungus and algae. The fungus provides valuable nutrients to the algae, and the algae provides food for the fungus through photosynthesis.

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Colin Weil's Lorax and the Declining Diversity of the Dog Statues

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Colin Weil's Lorax and the Declining Diversity of the Dog Statues

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My Lorax found two new playmates today by our fireplace. My dad bought the blue dog one day, and some time later we found the matching gray one. Ever since then we have looked for other versions of these dog statues every time we visit a home goods store; while we have found many other types of dog statues that are similar, we have not bought any of them because they do not look the same as these two identical dog statues. This situation is very similar to the current global predicament of declining global diversity in both wild and domesticated species. Just as my father and I are very selective in our purchases and will not buy a dog statue unless it is a perfect match, around the world livestock producers and breeders have chosen specific species and traits to maximize their output or appeal at the expense of many other species, which has contributed to a decrease in global genetic diversity across many types of domesticated plant and animal species. If we do not buy any other types of dog statues, our home will lack any "genetic" diversity and we would only have these types of statues in the whole house. Similarly, the focus on specific traits and species over others in all facets of modern breeding and animal care has resulted in many species or genetic traits being wiped out entirely, and unless something changes to protect these vulnerable or underlooked species, we could risk losing many diverse plant and animal species and genetic traits to artificial selection in the near future. Species diversity has declined around the world today, and without change the problem will only continue to get worse.

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There is a huge rise in brands switching to cruelty free options for testing their makeup and skin-care products. This was brought on by the increase in the American public advocating for animal rights and an end to animal cruelty. Although most test animals include mice, rats, and rabbits, this movement also brought on the decrease in the purchase of real fur and leather clothing items.

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Here my Lorax is posing with an egg. Although this egg appears to be innocent, it is actually a product of artificial selection. Artificial selection is a form of evolution that involves scientists picking desirable traits within a genome to pass onto a species. In the case of the egg, the chicken that laid the egg may have been bred to lay bigger eggs at a faster rate, which would make production more efficient and profitable. Something that is easily confused is the difference between genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and artificially selected organisms. The major difference between these two is that GMOs have traits that don't necessarily have to be in the genome of the organism. For example, crops can be given the ability to naturally produce pesticide, which is a trait that they don't inherently have. On the other hand, artificial selection involves breeding to produce the optimal organism based on the current genome. This means that there cannot be traits that are not originally in the genome. Because of this, artificial selection usually only results in bigger and stronger organisms, not organisms with completely new abilities.

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My flat lorax and my moms plants- Nabeeha Naeem

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My flat lorax and my moms plants- Nabeeha Naeem

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Here is my flat lorax with some of my mom’s plants. These plants are autotrophs—Organisms that use the sun's energy to produce usable forms of energy; and primary producers. These producers use solar energy to convert CO2 and H20 into C6H12O6, glucose using the energy coming through the window. Through photosynthesis, they also create oxygen as a waste product which is vital for humans to sustain life. They are at the base of the trophic pyramid and have the most energy. These plants can be consumed by secondary consumers such as herbivores which are heterotrophs and gain energy from eating plants even though some of it is lost as heat.

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My Lorax is seeing an example of a food chain, where a primary consumer(my dog) is ingesting a producer(leaf). In food chains you can see most of the time how the sun gives energy to the producers so that they can generate glucose and oxygen, through the primary consumer eating the producer it will show how the organisms are related to the food that they eat. Also through graphic levels it shows how energy travels through the organism, the producers will receive more energy that the primary consumer, because as the graphic levels go up the less energy is passed through.

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My Lorax is seeing an example of a food chain, where a primary consumer(my dog) is ingesting a producer(leaf). In food chains you can see most of the time how the sun gives energy to the producers so that they can generate glucose and oxygen, through the primary consumer eating the producer it will show how the organisms are related to the food that they eat. Also through graphic levels it shows how energy travels through the organism, the producers will receive more energy that the primary consumer, because as the graphic levels go up the less energy is passed through.

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-Diana Gonzalez

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My Lorax and I stopped by some plants in my backyard today. These plants undergo two unseen processes, photosynthesis and respiration. Photosynthesis occurs when the plants are subject to sunlight and respiration occurs all day. Sunlight, as well as water and carbon dioxide, are taken by the plant and converted into usable energy. This energy is then used through respiration to allow the plant to perform its daily functions. The plant is consistently active and no one can even see it.

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my lorax is sitting in front of a tree in my front yard. the tree has been dropping acorns down into the mulch. the abiotic and biotic factors in our front yard include the following:
abiotic:
water in the soil, the nitrogen and carbon in the soil, the ph of the soil, the temperature, the wind, and the sunlight or lack thereof.
biotic:
the tree, the worms in the mulch, the acorns growing on the trees, the microorganisms growing on and around the trees and the plants that grow in my yard.

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Hrishikesh Jadhav - Lorax and Fish Ecosystem

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Hrishikesh Jadhav - Lorax and Fish Ecosystem

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This is my Lorax and it is in front of my fish tank at home. The tank has 12 fish and they consist of large algae eaters to human made neon colored fish. I took this picture to show the interaction that the fish have in their environment which consists of real shrubs, rocks/shells, and a large castle to swim through. Though it is confined in an area, we try to treat the fish well by cleaning their tank once a month and feed them twice a day. This is essentially a "mini ecosystem" in my house as fish are able to survive and reproduce in the conditions we made for them. It also relates to diversity in this small community because we have multiple species of fish which contribute to the species richness and biodiversity. It is also important to note that this mini ecosystem can translate to a real on because it contains the necessary components in order for on to function.

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Will Gambrell- My Lorax and I adventuring 

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Will Gambrell- My Lorax and I adventuring 

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My Lorax and I decided to go on an adventure into the woods. In the photo, my Lorax is sitting in a thorn bush with y’all shrubs around him. Behind the shrubs is a small oxbow, and behind the camera is a slow moving creek. As we explored this oxbow and creek, we came to realize it was teeming with life. Producers such as cattails, reeds, and algae could be found throughout the water, and upon closer examination small water striders and bugs could be found. These organisms would be considered primary consumers, feeding off the producers and utilizing their energy. Along the backs of the creek we saw 2 large bullfrogs. The bullfrogs could be seen hunting these bugs, making them a secondary consumer, utilizing the bugs energy for life. We also saw a large cottonmouth swimming up onto the bank, perhaps going to eat a frog. The snake would then be considered a tertiary consumer, the 4th trophies level. This all relates to APES study in the way that it is a visual representation of a food chain and shows the diversity of an ecosystem.

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In the picture, my lorax is one of the many shelves with Tyson chicken products at Kroger. Tyson is one of the largest meat and chicken producers in the world. They, along with other select companies, control much ot the meat products and the agriculture involved. Many people buy their products for their convenience, but they do not know much of the specifics of how the chicken is raised. Many farms put animals in to concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) in which they are confined to small spaces where they can barely move for most of their short lives. Tyson likely uses these in order to maximize the output of food on the shelves of grocery stores. Most, if not all their products have traces of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), which are used in the animal feed.  A large amount of our food contain GMOs and it is raising concerns over their effects on human health. In my personal opinion, the United States should follow the steps of the European Union, which allows few GMOs. When purchasing food, people should pay attention to the labeling and once in a while research the process of how food companies make their products.

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This is a picture of my Lorax chilling out with some raw pasta I found.  At first the picture seems kind of boring, but it's actually an example of sympatric speciation: the evolution of one species into two without geologic isolation. This pasta was made from Durum wheat (Triticum durum), which was bred to have four sets of chromosomes and produces medium-sized seeds. Through polyploidy, an increase in the number of sets of chromosomes beyond the normal two sets, the ancestral einkorn wheat has evolved into other larger species. For example, humans have artificially bred Common wheat (Triticum aestivum) to have six sets of chromosomes and produce very large seeds.The pasta shows how humans have been able to create different species of plants by breeding them in a specific way across numerous generations.

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Today my Lorax made a new friend with the small owl statue that my family keeps in our backyard! The owl statue is meant to scare away birds that try to feed on the plants and vegetables growing in our garden and backyard (although it doesn't always do its job very well). The birds that my family is trying to keep away are primary consumers, or heterotrophs, because they feed on the producers (the plants) or autotrophs in our garden. It is also likely that these birds are omnivores, however; many birds also eat some insects. worms, or other creatures to feed themselves, which would make the birds omnivores that act as both primary and secondary consumers in the food web of our environment. Birds are supposed to fear this owl because of the owl's role as a tertiary consumer in the environment; the owls prey on unwanted birds in the area, and if this owl were real it would likely do a better job at keeping these primary and secondary consumers out of our garden! Our garden is also likely helping to keep these birds around by playing the critical role of producer in our miniature backyard ecosystem, taking the energy from the sun and converting it into usable energy for the birds and other organisms around our home. Without the usable food and nutrition provided by the plants in our garden and the neighbor's yards, there would likely be almost no birds around our yard because of their direct and indirect reliance on plants for food energy!