BIOL 1012 by

Assignment 1

lmclend2 — 2025-03-18 18:28:57 UTC

Human evolution has always interested me. I love learning how humans came to be and how we functioned. One example of human evolution is upright walking. It is common for us now, but you have to think: who came up with it or started it? Fossils also come into play when you think of human evolution. The layers of rock that you see from a fossil have so much history and detail, really helping us learn about the past. I believe evolution is one of the most critical concepts in science today. Without it, how will you know what animal you are studying and how different species are related? https://www.britannica.com/science/human-evolution

Assignment 2

lmclend2 — 2025-03-18 20:36:38 UTC

I decided to write about Cyanidioschyzon merolae, a simple red alga that has become a model organism for eukaryotes. It’s easy to work with because their "algae works faster than plants and also provide homogenous cellular populations exposed to an almost equal environment." It is also great for conducting experiments at a cellular and extracellular level. Plus, you can manipulate it in the lab without a rigid cell wall. Researchers use gene editing and other methods to tweak the genome and determine how photosynthesis and other cellular processes work. Because it’s so simple, C merolae clearly shows how eukaryotic cells work, especially energy production and organelle interaction.

Assignment 3

lmclend2 — 2025-03-31 00:27:42 UTC

When I walk around the neighborhood or help my mom with her gardening, I enjoy identifying different plant types. I can pretty much tell whether a plant is a monocot or dicot before it's fully grown just by looking at it, a few of them. For example, grasses and corn are monocots: they have one seed leaf so you would only expect one seed leaf to come out. Whereas dicots like sunflowers or rosebushes have two. The veins in the leaves provide another major hint. Monocots have parallel veins, just like in lilies, while netted veins like in a maple leaf are more common with dicots. Petals are a dead giveaway. Monocots mostly have three, such as tulips, but dicots usually have four or five, like roses and daisies. The stem arrangement offers help too. For monocots, like wheat, the vascular bundles are scattered but in dicots, for example sunflowers, they form a ring. Another fact I find interesting is that fibrous root systems, such as in corn, are normally associated with monocots while dichots, like carrots, have tap root systems. The differences do not end there! Monocots and dicot also differ in pollen. Monocots have a single pore while dicots have three.

Hence, even while taking a walk in a park or when I am buying flowers, I find it really easy to distinguish a plant as a monocot or dicot by just looking at specific features.

https://www.sciencefacts.net/monocot-vs-dicot.html

Assignment 4

lmclend2 — 2025-03-31 01:02:01 UTC

I love how this video explained everything I needed to know about gill slits. One interesting detail I learned is that when the fish swims, oxygenated water is forced over the gills while deoxygenated blood flows through the gills since there is more oxygen in the water than in the blood. The oxygen is diffused through the gills into the fish. Also, something that is cool is that carbon dioxide is released through the gills. Fish have always been an interesting animal to me. Gills, mainly because it is another type of function to breathe. I never understood how animals could breathe underwater when I saw all these other animals breathing the air I did. It is fascinating to see how different animals function and their physical characteristics.

The video I used is from a website I pay for. You can watch the first minute or so without paying, and then you have to pay for the rest, but here is the link.

https://study.com/learn/lesson/video/gills-concept-function.html

Assignment 5

lmclend2 — 2025-04-17 00:15:10 UTC

Homeostasis is the process that keeps our bodies running no matter what is going on outside of the body. Homeostasis manages things such as temperature, blood glucose, water levels, and respiration. The brain and hormones help keep our body within a range of normal values that are safe for us. For example, if the body gets too hot, you sweat for cooling. Generally, homeostasis is maintained through negative feedback. When the body detects a slight change, it incorporates a process to change or counteract that change. Positive feedback also exists. For example, during delivery, a woman's body is continuously contracting until the newborn presents itself. If homeostasis didn't exist, humans would be diagnosed with conditions such as diabetes mellitus or hypertension. It is astonishing to think about all of the things that happen every millisecond to keep the human body functional and healthy, most of which we are not even aware!

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559138/

Assignment 6

lmclend2 — 2025-04-17 00:41:35 UTC

When something disrupts the normal hair growth cycle, alopecia, or hair loss, arises. Alopecia can be caused by a myriad of factors. Some factors include genetic, immune, stress, some diseases, etc. Our hair grows in cycles, which include growth, resting, and shedding stages. When the hair cycle is disrupted, it can thin and/or spot bald patches on top of our heads. Some types of alopecia are non-permanent, including alopecia areata, androgenic alopecia, and stress and medication based hair loss. Other types of non-permanent hair loss can include traction alopecia (caused by wearing our hair tight or in similar styles for extended periods), or trichotillomania (a habit of tugging or pulling out hair). Scarring alopecia is permanent because it fully destroys the hair follicle. Scarring alopecia can occur from autoimmune diseases or infectious diseases. With some non-permanent alopecia, treatment can include minoxidil, finasteride, some new treatments, JAK inhibitors, and platelet rich plasma therapy. In cases of scarring alopecia, dermatologists will target the root cause and manage whatever treatment is necessary such as antibiotics for infections and/or medication that modulates immune response in autoimmune diseases.

Assignment 7

lmclend2 — 2025-04-30 00:13:59 UTC

The water bodies, ponds and lakes, are classified into fresh water ecosystems and they can be regarded as non-flowing water bodies. These are typically lentic habitats, where organisms congregate in all zones of these sites: littoral, limnetic, profundal and benthic - since they host diverse organisms, aquatic plants, fish, amphibians, and birds and invertebrates, among others. Depth and season affect light penetration and temperature which also in turn affect life at various layers in terms of biodiversity and levels of oxygen available therein. Nutrient elements such as nitrogen and phosphorus are required for growth. They may result in eutrophication when in excess. Ecological services are critical in such systems, such as water filtering and flood management. In these water bodies, there are lived habitats for many animals and breeding grounds. Lastly, they are sources of recreational and aesthetic values to man.

https://untamedscience.com/biology/biomes/lakes-ponds-biome/#:~:text=Lakes%20and%20Ponds%20represent%20a,ponds%20are%20known%20as%20limnologists.

Assignment 8

lmclend2 — 2025-04-30 00:28:44 UTC

The video above define biodoversity as simply the many different kinds of life on Earth; plants, animals, fungi & microbe. This diversity is the very fabric for which ecosystem services — pollination, clean air and water, climate regulation etc. When a species vanishes, there are responses in the ecosystem, after all every species plays a role. Biodiversity loss are a serious threat to the health of our planet, as human-induced deforestation, pollution, climate change (and other species extinctions) drives rapid species extinction; the biodiversity loss caused by these human factors. Conservation of biodiversity, needs to encompass both establishment of protected areas and sustainable use. Also key is the lessening of human influence (e.g greenhouse gas emissions). Finally, biodiversity conservation is a basic requirement to have a healthy future for all life on Earth.