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Padlet Assignment #1 - Evolution of Humans

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Padlet Assignment #1 - Evolution of Humans

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I chose this picture because it represents the overall evolution of humans. On the far left, there is a primate that walks on all fours, which symbolizes our ancestors from long ago. The second figure has ape-like characteristics and is primitive to its surroundings. The third figure has more human-like features and is carrying a tool. The fourth figure appears to have a spear in hand, which shows the development of intelligence and survival skills. The final figure shows an upright stance with modern human-like features. This illustration demonstrates how humans evolved physically and mentally over millions of years. Overall, the image simplifies the concept of evolution and displays the transformation of early primates to modern humans.

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Padlet Assignment #2 - Agaricus Bisporus

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Padlet Assignment #2 - Agaricus Bisporus

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Fungi are a kingdom of living organisms that includes yeasts, molds, and mushrooms. As we know, there are various living organisms such as plants, animals, and bacteria. Unlike other organisms, fungi absorb nutrients from other sources by breaking down dead plants and animals. The phylum Basidiomycetes contains diverse fungi. These are common mushrooms typically found in jelly fungi or plant parasites. An article titled Agaricus Bisporus, The Commercial Mushroom by Milne Library stated that the mushroom is the "most commonly used mushroom because it's sold in grocery stores and put on pizza." This mushroom grows in caves or underground structures alongside humid environments and stable temperatures. The structure of this mushroom is made up of branching filaments.

Source: https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/botany/chapter/agaricus-bisporus/

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Padlet Assignment #3 Monocot and Dicot plants

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Padlet Assignment #3 Monocot and Dicot plants

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Monocots have one cotyledon, parallel leaf veins, scattered vascular bundles, and flower parts usually in multiples of three. Dicots have two cotyledons, netlike (reticulate) leaf veins, vascular bundles arranged in a ring, and flower parts usually in fours or fives. Using that table, common grasses and cereals you see every day, like lawn grass, corn, wheat, and rice, are monocots. Bulbs and garden flowers such as onions, garlic, tulips, and lilies are also monocots. Most garden vegetables and fruit plants you use daily, like tomatoes, beans, apples, and roses, are dicots. A quick field check involves examining the leaf veins (parallel veins indicate a monocot, netted veins indicate a dicot) or counting flower parts to help identify which group a plant belongs to.

Sources:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monocot_vs_Dicot.svg

https://www.britannica.com/plant/angiosperm/Classification

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The video explains that mollusks are soft bodied animals, many of which have shells for protection. Their bodies are divided into three main parts: the foot, used for movement; the visceral mass, which holds the internal organs; and the mantle, which can produce the shell. Mollusks also have a complete digestive system with both a mouth and an anus. Many species use a radula, a rough tongue like organ, to scrape or cut food before eating. Most mollusks have an open circulatory system, but cephalopods like squids and octopuses have a closed system that allows them to move faster. The video also highlights that mollusks have gills for respiration, which are important for their survival in aquatic environments. Some, like cephalopods, use siphons for movement by expelling water. Overall, mollusks are a highly diverse phylum that encompasses clams, snails, and squid, each adapted to distinct environments.

Source: https://youtu.be/CiTFUok1-bs?si=zCklglC2XmZysucz

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This website explains that homeostasis is the body's way of keeping internal conditions stable, such as temperature, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels. It describes how the body uses negative feedback loops to restore balance when something changes. For instance, if body temperature rises, the brain signals sweat glands and blood vessels to cool the body down. It also mentions positive feedback loops, which amplify changes until a specific outcome occurs, like in childbirth or blood clotting. Overall, homeostasis is a continuous process that helps the body function properly despite changes in the environment.

Source: https://openstax.org/books/anatomy-and-physiology-2e/pages/1-5-homeostasis

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Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Discuss the role of homeostasis in healthy functioning

Contrast negative and positive feedback, giving one physiologic example of each mechanism

Maintaining homeostasis requires that the body continuously monitor its internal conditions. From body temperature to blood pressure to levels of certain nutrients, each physiological condition has a particular set point. A set point is the physiological value around which the normal range fluctuates. A normal range is the restricted set of values that is optimally healthful and stable. For example, the set point for normal human body temperature is approximately 37°C (98.6°F) Physiological parameters, such as body temperature and blood pressure, tend to fluctuate within a normal range a few degrees above and below that point. Control centers in the brain and other parts of the body monitor and react to deviations from homeostasis using negative feedback. Negative feedback is a mechanism that reverses a deviation from the set point. Therefore, negative feedback maintains body parameters within their normal range. The maintenance of homeostasis by negative feedback goes on throughout the body at all times, and an understanding of negative feedback is thus fundamental to an understanding of human physiology.

Negative Feedback

A negative feedback system has three basic components ( Figure 1.10 a). A sensor, also referred to a receptor, is a component of a feedback system that monitors a physiological value. This value is reported to the control center. The control center is the component in a feedback system that compares the value to the normal range. If the value deviates too much from the set point, then the control center activates an effector. An effector is the component in a feedback system that causes a change to reverse the situation and return the value to the normal range.

In order to set the system in motion, a stimulus must drive a physiological parameter beyond its normal range (that is, beyond homeostasis). This stimulus is "heard" by a specific sensor. For example, in the control of blood glucose, specific endocrine cells in the pancreas detect excess glucose (the stimulus) in the bloodstream. These pancreatic beta cells respond to the increased level of blood glucose by releasing the hormone insulin into the bloodstream. The insulin signals skeletal muscle fibers, fat cells (adipocytes), and liver cells to take up the excess glucose, removing it from the bloodstream. As glucose concentration in the bloodstream drops, the decrease in concentration-the actual negative feedback-is detected by pancreatic alpha cells, and insulin release stops. This prevents blood sugar levels from continuing to drop below the normal range.

Humans have a similar temperature regulation feedback system that works by promoting either heat loss or heat gain ( Figure 1.10 b). When the brain's temperature regulation center receives data from the sensors indicating that the body's temperature exceeds its normal range, it stimulates a cluster of brain cells referred to as the "heat-loss center." This stimulation has three major effects:

Blood vessels in the skin begin to dilate allowing more blood from the body core to flow to the surface of the skin allowing the heat to radiate into the environment.

As blood flow to the skin increases, sweat glands are activated to increase their output. As the sweat evaporates from the skin surface into the surrounding air, it takes heat with it.

The depth of respiration increases, and a person may breathe through an open mouth instead of through the nasal passageways. This further increases heat loss from the lungs.

In contrast, activation of the brain's heat-gain center by exposure to cold reduces blood flow to the skin, and blood returning from the limbs is diverted into a network of deep veins. This arrangement traps heat closer to the body core and restricts heat loss. If heat loss is severe, the brain triggers an increase in random signals to skeletal muscles, causing them to contract and producing shivering. The muscle contractions of shivering release heat while using up ATP. The brain triggers the thyroid gland in the endocrine system to release thyroid hormone, which increases metabolic activity and heat production in cells throughout the body. The brain also signals the adrenal glands to release epinephrine (adrenaline), a hormone that causes the breakdown of glycogen into glucose, which can be used as an energy source. The breakdown of glycogen into glucose also results in increased metabolism and heat production.

Interactive Link

Positive Feedback

Positive feedback intensifies a change in the body's physiological condition rather than reversing it. A deviation from the normal range results in more change, and the system moves farther away from the normal range. Positive feedback in the body is normal only when there is a definite end point. Childbirth and the body's response to blood loss are two examples of positive feedback loops that are normal but are activated only when needed.

Childbirth at full term is an example of a situation in which the maintenance of the existing body state is not desired. Enormous changes in a person's body are required to expel the baby at the end of pregnancy. And the events of childbirth, once begun, must progress rapidly to a conclusion or the life of a person giving birth and the baby are at risk. The extreme muscular work of labor and delivery are the result of a positive feedback system ( Figure 1.11).

The first contractions of labor (the stimulus) push the baby toward the cervix (the lowest part of the uterus). The cervix contains stretch-sensitive nerve cells that monitor the degree of stretching (the sensors). These nerve cells send messages to the brain, which in turn causes the pituitary gland at the base of the brain to release the hormone oxytocin into the bloodstream. Oxytocin causes stronger contractions of the smooth muscles in of the uterus (the effectors), pushing the baby further down the birth canal. This causes even greater stretching of the cervix. The cycle of stretching, oxytocin release, and increasingly more forceful contractions stops only when the baby is born. At this point, the stretching of the cervix halts, stopping the release of oxytocin.

A second example of positive feedback centers on reversing extreme damage to the body. Following a penetrating wound, the most immediate threat is excessive blood loss. Less blood circulating means reduced blood pressure and reduced perfusion (penetration of blood) to the brain and other vital organs. If perfusion is severely reduced, vital organs will shut down and the person will die. The body responds to this potential catastrophe by releasing substances in the injured blood vessel wall that begin the process of blood clotting. As each step of clotting occurs, it stimulates the release of more clotting substances. This accelerates the processes of clotting and sealing off the damaged area. Clotting is contained in a local area based on the tightly controlled availability of clotting proteins. This is an adaptive, life-saving cascade of events.

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1.5 Homeostasis - Anatomy and Physiology 2e | OpenStax

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A negative feedback system has three basic components (Figure 1.10a). A sensor, also referred to a receptor, is a component of a feedback system that mo...

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Source: https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=98b32be7-ff60-31ac-be88-992daae671e5

This article examines misconceptions about the human digestive system among higher secondary students using concept maps. The authors, Chavan and Khandagale, sought to identify common msiconceptions about the digestive system. Their study subjects were 11th grade students, using concept maps as a diagnostic tool. The authrs explain how these concept maps are useful becuase they examine the connections and hierarchies between digestion, absorbtion or enzymes. The findings of this study revealed that there was a proportion of students which held misconceptions defining digestion as "hard food is converted into simple diffusible assimilable nutrients" and misunderstanding whre the canal "starts" amoung others. The authors found that once the misconceptions were identified, they set interventions to correct students' understanding. In the end, they concluded that concept mapping is the best way for teaching or learning for diagnosing and remediating misunderstandings in difficult discussions. This study relates to the digestive system because they discuss misconceptions within the system which is very vital to understand. It also sheds light on different learning stragies which best can help in these scenarios.

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Identification of Misconceptions about the Human Digestive System Using Concept Maps among Higher Secondary Students | EBSCOhost

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Discover this 2023 paper in Online Submission by Chavan, Rajendra L.; and, Khandagale, Vidyanand S. Abstract: Concept maps help detect misconceptions and provide revision exercises to assess comprehension once a topic has been introduced. A concept map is a schematic drawing used to show the connection among the concepts in propositional form. A concept map is a helpful tool for illustrating the relationships between main concepts and sub-concepts. The main objective of the study was to identify misconceptions about the human digestive system among higher secondary students using concept maps. The data was collected from higher secondary students XI class students) (N = 388) with the help of students’ preliminary concept maps and researcher-made concept map tools. Findings of the study showed that secondary school students hold misconceptions related to the human digestive system, i.e. few (22.68%) students have misconceptions such as ‘Human Digestive System is the process by which hard food is converted into simple diffusible assimilable nutrients’, few (19.32%) students have misconceptions such as ‘Alimentary Canal starts with the throat,” etc. The present paper will help use concept maps for the identification and remediation of students’ misconceptions.

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The chaparral biome is found in areas with Mediterranean climates, featuring hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters. It is dominated by drought resistant shrubs and small trees with hard, leathery leaves. This biome receives low annual rainfall, usually between 10 and 17 inches, making it prone to frequent droughts. Fire is a natural and essential part of the chaparral ecosystem, helping many plants reproduce and regrow. Some plants have adapted to fire by resprouting from deep roots or releasing seeds that only germinate after burning. The vegetation often contains oily compounds that make it highly flammable, aiding in the natural fire cycle. Wildlife in the chaparral includes animals like coyotes, deer, lizards, and many bird species that can adapt to heat and dry conditions. Overall, the chaparral is a highly specialized ecosystem with plants and animals adapted to survive extreme climate and fire.

Source:

https://www.californiachaparral.org/chaparral/

https://www.letstalkacademy.com/chaparral-biome-california-mediterranean/

https://www.britannica.com/plant/chaparral

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Video: https://youtu.be/GK_vRtHJZu4?si=stRZziHl7JOhu3TE

This video discusses the importance of biodiversity and how there is thriving ecosystems are vulnerable to collapse. Biodiversity is what makes ecosystems strong and resilient in the face of change. Biodiversity is divided between three features: ecosystem diversity, species diversity, and genetic diversity. These features are more denser and more resilient and navigate through the ecosystem, as seen in the amazon rainforest. Genetic diversity is within individual species which allows them to cope with fluctuations like disease or climate changes. A known fact is when species disappear this is due to a weakened gene pool. In other environments such as coral reefs, removing a certain organism like coral can undermine the system. this is important to know because thousands of other species depend on it for survival. Overall, this is important for the survival of all organisms on earth because its seen as a safety net.

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Why is biodiversity so important? - Kim Preshoff