BIOL 1012 by Patricia Segura

Padlet Assignment 1

patriciasp715 — 2025-08-27 01:06:46 UTC

This tree represents how evolution has progressed over time through various points. To begin, the tree has grown from the root or the common ancestor. The common ancestor is most likely a eukaryote that first existed about 2.1 billion years ago. A eukaryote reproduces through sexual or asexual reproduction. Reproduction brings mutations upon the DNA of the offspring and in other words, variation. This has caused different adaptations to occur for organisms to respond to their environmental conditions and other factors. For instance, frogs have evolved to live in water and on land to have a higher chance of survival. Through variation and adaptation, new characteristics appear, creating new species. Therefore, multiple branches or kingdoms of eukaryotes exist including plants and animals. The location of specific organisms on one branch signifies similar characteristics between them. For example, horses and humans have four limbs, so that is one reason why they are on the same branch. Essentially, this tree is similar to a phylogenetic tree since it does not necessarily indicate time, but a possible evolution illustration of several eukaryotes.

Padlet Assignment 2

patriciasp715 — 2025-08-27 19:17:10 UTC

Escherichia coli or E. coli is a foodborne disease often associated with consuming raw or contaminated ground beef, drinking pasteurized milk, or swimming in contaminated sewage water. Nonetheless, contamination can also happen during a cattle's slaughter or while milking a cow. There are hundreds of types of E. coli, however most of them are harmless and live in the human intestines. Symptoms of E. coli include abdominal cramps, bloody diarrhea, and kidney failure. A stool specimen should be completed especially if the sick person has bloody stool. Most people recover between 5 to 10 days while avoiding anti-diarrheal agents. However, there is a low chance for those under five years old and elderly people to develop hemolytic uremic syndrome caused by E. coli. Most recover without antibiotics if they only experience diarrhea. Those who experience multiple symptoms are susceptible to these possible long-term effects: high blood pressure, blindness, paralysis, and dialysis. It is particularly important for people who are infected to do proper hand washing and to avoid swimming in public areas. The best ways to prevent E. coli is by cooking beef thoroughly with the help of an instant-read thermometer, only drinking pasteurized milk, and avoiding cross contamination between surfaces that came into contact with raw meat by handling cooked meat with clean appliances.

Padlet Assignment 3

patriciasp715 — 2025-09-27 01:58:07 UTC

I believe we see or use less monocot plants compared to dicot plants. For example, we see several corn fields during the summer with narrow leaves. One of the most popular monocot plants is grass. If I were to pull grass from the ground where I do not want it to grow, I would observe fibrous roots. Meanwhile, dicots are more commonly found or consumed. In many grocery stores, we see jalapeños, spearmint, rosemary, and basil. When we planted our jalapeños, they had small tap roots. Additionally, we see roses with 5 petals as decoration in front of buildings and homes like mine. My least favorite dicot has to be poison ivy because of the symptoms it can cause. Nonetheless, I have seen its oval or palmate leaves from afar.

Padlet Assignment 4

patriciasp715 — 2025-09-27 02:23:33 UTC

The phylum Porifera is most likely the first phyla of how the animal kingdom came to be about. Porifera means "pore-bearer" which have ostia or pores on their surface. Porocytes control what enters and exits the sponge's pores. Sponges are usually described as asymmetrical with no organs nor tissues. This means they have no digestive system, so water must enter their central cavity and exit through their osculum to survive. The water is the key factor that brings nutrients to the sponge. Additionally, sponges are made up of two layers of cells with mesohyl or collagen between each layer. The outer layer is called the pinacocyte which allows it to stick to a surface. An important type of cell are the choanocytes since they have flagella that controls the water flow in the central cavity. It can bring in organic material and phytoplankton. However, the ping-pong tree sponge does not use water to receive nutrients, but instead consumes crustaceans.

Moreover, spicules, made in sclerocytes, are a form of physical defense against predators. Spines and toxins are also forms of defense. Spermatocytes and occytes are the cells that allow for reproduction to occur for sponges. Another important type of cell are the amoebocytes because they can turn into any cell that is needed within the sponge. Sexual reproduction occurs due to water as well since sperm cells try to find another sponge. They can also asexually reproduce through gemmules, budding, or fragmentation.

Padlet Assignment 5

patriciasp715 — 2025-10-09 17:34:00 UTC

Homeostasis is explained through various scenarios such as body temperature, blood glucose, blood clotting, and childbirth. Specifically, there is a diagram where the body temperature is trying to be lowered. The stimulus is the first part of the cycle, where it indicates that the body temperature is higher than 37 degrees Celsius. Next, the sensor measures the values from the stimulus. Then, the sensor or the nerve cells in the brain and skin sends this information to the control centre. The control centre or the hypothalamus processes the data and decides if an effector should be signaled to proceed. The effector could be a muscle, gland, organ, or another body part. Its responsibility is to lower the body temperature back to normal. In this scenario, the effector is the sweat glands. This is an example of the body using negative feedback since the body is trying to return to homeostasis.

Padlet Assignment 6

patriciasp715 — 2025-10-09 17:48:55 UTC

A bicuspid aortic valve is a congenital heart defect that occurs in one to two percent of the population. This disease is also heterogenous or that is causes different symptoms within different patients. It occurs when elastin in the largest vessels becomes damaged or a changed flow pattern occurs in different parts of the heart. Some people never really find out they have this condition until it turns into aortic regurgitation or aortic stenosis. Root replacement is one of the highly advised treatments to bicuspid aortic valve disease. Additionally, people can go under surgery for root repair which is more beneficial for younger patients. They can undergo a cardiac MRI scan, an echocardiography, and other tests to correctly diagnose bicuspid aortic valve disease. Moreover, symmetry is vastly important during root repair since it deals with the folds of the fused sinuses that allow blood to flow adequately.

Padlet Assignment 7

patriciasp715 — 2025-11-12 02:15:00 UTC

The desert biome has a vastly dry and hot climate. There is also never much rainfall in the desert biome. The temperature changes from a hot day to a freezing night. As a result, there are only a few types of plants including cacti and succulents. They have to heavily depend on their water storage since there is low precipitation in the desert. Additionally, camels are one of the animals that can survive in this biome as seen in the image above. Other animals that people can see there are snakes and lizards. This biome has a low biodiversity due to its limited variety of species.

Padlet Assignment 8

patriciasp715 — 2025-11-12 02:44:42 UTC

Biodiversity is all of the species one sees out in nature. It is anything from a few bushes to a colony of ants. However, it does not only include the amount of species, but also their genetic variability and the diversity of ecosystems. Moreover, biodiversity is a recent concept from the 1980's, where people began to become concerned over the human impact on the environment. Biodiversity is important because of its economic value, ecological life support, cultural value, recreational value, and its scientific value. We all benefit from biodiversity from fishing, monitoring our clean water, creating artwork of nature to ultimately taking a hike. There is also a negative value of biodiversity like crocodiles or the smallpox virus. We consider them to be negative due to our fear over being hurt or becoming sick. Overall, people are continuing to become concerned over our impact on biodiversity and carrying out strategies to assist the prosperity of biodiversity.