Toothpick Fish

Throughout each generation, there are always changes in population. The toothpick fish lab was completed in order to determine the way this might happen. There are four colors of fish, which are red, yellow, orange, and green. The phenotype of the fish being green could have the genotype being GG, Gr or Gy. Red would need to have rr, yellow would have yy, and orange would have ry. The green allele is G, red is r, and yellow is y. The lab started out with twelve fish and with all the alleles in the gene pool. There are no fish in the morgue yet. In the first generation, the results were six green fish, one red, three yellows, and two being orange. The yellow fish were put into the morgue. The population of yellow fish had now decreased. The second generation consisted of six green fish, three reds, no yellows, and one orange. The reason for there being no yellows could be because of the death of the yellow fish in the last generation. The third generation included six green fish again, one red, and two orange. Again, there were no yellow fish. There were many heterozygous fish and most turned out to be green because of its dominance. In addition, there were a few heterozygous orange fish, but there weren't many. All the reds and yellow were homozygous, because both of those traits are recessive.

The changes in environment could greatly affect the lives of various creatures. In this lab, some of the toothpick fish were killed off because of factory waste that killed the seaweed and algae, which made it harder to camouflage for green fish. The red and orange survived because the green allele doesn't show up in any of them, and all had good camouflage. Only three were left. If this instance were to be altered, for example, if the red and orange were not exposed to good camouflage, the onsequences wouldn't be the same. The green fish may over populate and if the green fish have good camouflage for a long time, the yellow and red alleles would slowly disappear. Or even if just the red fish would vanish, the yellow or orange would end up vanishing at some point as well. Overall, the genes of different living things make a huge difference in their environment.

Glowing Plants

Roses that glow could reduce the need of street lights, according to the company Bioglow, Inc. A few reasearchers realized that this was possible after transplanting the genes of marine bacteria that allow them to light up into tobacco plants. After doing this, the researchers discovered that the tobacco plants were able to show a faint green glow. One of the researchers, Krichevsky, says this is the first time that plants have been able to glow by themselves. Glowing plants that were created before were sprayed with chemicals or had a temporary glowing effect. Right now, these plants can only glow a little bit, but Krichevsky assures that Bioglow will be able to make them glow even brighter. There are numerous living things that can produce a glow on their own, and Bioglow decided to transplant the gene of marine bacteria. The glow's color could be determined by the luciferase. This could be altered to show various colors on the plant, such as red or blue. Some people believe that this may cause nuclear contamination, but Krichevsky still needs to research further about this. Even though this fact has been discovered, the researchers say that these glowing plants will most likely not be found at a local florist and that this is more of just a visonary thing.

Source: http://www.livescience.com/technology/glowing-plants-101129.html

A Devastating Virus

Crickets that are raised as food for reptiles and other animals are dying because of a terrifying virus. This virus is quickly spreading around throughout cricket farms everywhere in North America. It has already brought millions of crickets to their death. This would assure at least one cricket producer to become bankrupt or out of a job. The cricket producer Elizabeth Payne says that there is no way to cure the virus and because of that, she was forced to go out of business. This virus has also affected crickets in Europe in 2002. In Canada, this destructive virus killed 60 million crickets. This virus came from a certain cricket. Although it is very deadly, it does not effect the other animals that eat crickets. Overall, the year for animals has not been very easy. Many of the cricket producers are now thoroughly cleaning and sanitizing the barns in the cricket farms to prevent more diseases to spread. Hopefully this disease will somehow be stopped from spreading further out, or many crickets will be in danger.


Source: http://www.livescience.com/animals/etc/110112-virus-paralyzes-crickets-and-pet-food-industry.html

This Tree's Niche

This tree may seem small, but it still has a role in the community. It's niche is to serve as a source of food for many birds with its berries and insects living in it. It gives insects food as well with the leaves. Also, it provides shelter for different birds and insects. They may create a nest in this tree. One another niche is to give out oxygen for different creatures. It absorbs sunlight by photosynthesis and absorbs water and minerals from the soil. Many of these different things it provides are in order for certain organisms to survive. Without it, they may not be able to, and die.

Limiting Factors In My Community

These flowers are a biotic limiting factor. This is because they are food for certain animals, such as bunnies. They are a source if nectar for insects. The flowers limit oxygen for many creatures. All these flowers together make a population.

Plant that increases pollution?

The intrusive and creepy kudzu vines have been spreading throughtout the southeastern part of the United Stated. Originated from Asia, these destructive vines may be a cause for ozone pollution. The kudzu rapidly extends along trees and blocks out sunlight, making it a threat. The amount of Kudzu is increasing at a rate of 120,000 acres of the vine growning a year. Ecologist Jonathan Hickman says that kudzu has a huge and negative impact on ozone pollution. The ozone is a part of the smog that clogs air in certain parts of the Earth. Hickman thought that maybe these kudzu vines were a cause of pollution. He decided to test the soil, and realized that nitrogen oxides, which effect the ozone, were doubled after the kudzu arrived in that area. The invasion of kudzu plants could highly effect the air, and increase the range of pollution levels. When Hickman realized that Kudzu plants were also invading the United States, he checked the level there. Luckily, there was no sign of an increase in pollution because of these plants. Hopefully, there will not be any signs in the future as well.

Source:

http://www.livescience.com/environment/kudzu-could-cause-ozone-pollution-100517.html

Strongest Insect

After many tests, scientific evidence proves that a species of horned dung beetle is given the name of the strongest insect in the world. The amazing beetle is called the Onthophagus Taurus. The tiny beetle can pull up to an incredible amount of 1,141 times its actual body size. To test the beetle's strength, the scientists attached a cotton thread to each beetle that was a part of their research. These horned beetles were much more stronger comparing to the hornless ones. Researchers claim that this may solve a puzzle in evolution. Over the years, biologists have assumed that these beetles show better quality most likely because of genes, but this is not what happens in reality. Instead of this theory, there is actually a lot of variability between strength and other traits. The scientist Knell suggests that some traits are actually carried on by habitat more than genes. Over a long period of time there are mutations throughout genes. The conditions must be stable in order for the organism to be able to survive. Knell states that more traits and conditions such as food availability, habitat, and environment. Without these conditions, a creature would not be able to stay alive. Knell had figured out in the study that the more well fed that the beetles were, the stronger they were while fighting. The Onthophagus beetle is definitely an interesting species, and should not be underestimated.


Source:
http://www.livescience.com/animals/worlds-strongest-insect-100323.html