Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Photic Zone: Beach

The Photic Zone is the uppermost layer of the ocean or lake that is the area near the surface with enough light to support photosynthesis. In this zone, both the chemical and biological activity can be enhanced by penetrating solar radiation. This zone is about 20 meters in depth of the ocean and can be the living support and home for a variety of many different organisms and species.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Amniotic Egg: reptile eggs


An Amniotic Egg is any member of the group of vertebrates that develop an egg that will hatch into a baby instead of babies that are out in the open when being born. Reptiles produce these eggs where they normally burry them or keep them out of reach of predators who would try and eat them. After around 2 months, the eggs will hatch, and many babies wiggle out to start their life in the dangerous world.

Auxin-producing area of a plant: tomato plant

Auxins are the plant hormones or plant growth substances that act like a substance that governs the pattern of tissues developed and the position of the various cell types within a tissue. This is a picture of a tomato plant in my Grandpa’s garden. The tomato plant, along with all plants, makes its auxin in its shoot apical membrane and the auxin travels downward in the phloem. Auxin is essential for cell growth, affecting both cell division and cellular expansion.

Eukaryote: Jumper


A Eukaryote is an organism consisting of cells in which the genetic material is DNA in the form of chromosomes contained within a distinct nucleus. My pig named Jumper has his very own set of DNA that doesn’t match any other pig in the world. His also has a distant personality of showing love, which consisted of playing with the hose and nudging me onto the ground to role because he wants me to play with him.

Succession: Anteater

Succession is the order in which or the conditions under which one after another succeeds to a property, dignity, title, or throne. This mom anteater gave birth to this baby boy anteater only a month ago. The mother’s mate is among one of the highest rankings on anteaters, so this baby boy with step into his Father’s footsteps when he reaches of age. As the young grow up and take control over the new population of anteaters, they will begin to reproduce, making offspring that will start a new generation. These offspring will do the same as the ones before them have, mating and making the species grow and succeed.

Ethylene: Fruit (ripening banana)

Bananas are picked when green and artificially ripened after shipment by being gassed with ethylene. Ethylene is a gaseous organic compound with the formula C2H4. All plants produce ethylene, but bananas produce a higher concentration and amount of it, which causes them to ripen more quickly.

Asexual Reproduction: Starfish

Asexual Reproduction is a method of producing new young plants or animals from a single plant or animal and without separate male and female cells joining together. This can happen through fragmentation, when each fragment develops into mature, fully grown individuals that are a clone of the original organism. A sea star detaches its arm that eventually develops into an independent individual sea star. A sea-star arm can only regenerate into a whole new organism if some of the central disk of the sea star is part of the chopped off arm.

Commensalism: Clown Fish

Commensalism is the association between two organisms in which one benefits and the other derives neither benefit nor harm. A clown fish and sea anemone are an example of this. The clown fish lives among the deadly tentacles of a sea anemone. The anemone's tentacles contain nematocyst, which paralyzes the anemone's prey and protect it against predators. Oddly, the clown fish cannot be stunned. Living within the anemone's tentacles, the clown fish also gains protection from the nematocyst, as well as food from left-overs of the anemone's meals.

Littoral Zone Organism: Coral

The Littoral Zone is where the land and sea meet, between the high and low tide zones. It is rich in nutrients and oxygen and is home to a variety of organisms. The turbulence of the water is another reason that this area can be very difficult one in which to survive - the rough waves can dislodge or carry away poorly-adapted organisms. Many intertidal animals burrow into the sand (like clams), live under rocks, or attach themselves to rocks. The coral is located in the littoral zone because most corals require sunlight and grow in clear, shallow water.

Homeostasis: Crocodile

Homeostasis is the ability of the body or a cell to seek and maintain a condition of equilibrium or stability within its internal environment when dealing with external changes. Like humans, crocodiles perform homeostasis when the body regulates body temperature in an effort to maintain an internal temperature. They remain in their burrows during the day, coming out at night to hunt in the water, along the banks of the river or pool and into the forest. During the dry season (for those living in savanna areas) they may spend longer period within the burrow.

CAM plant: Pineapple

CAM is short for crassulacean acid metabolism, which are plants that go through a type of photosynthesis in which CO2 is taken up and stored during the night to allow the stomata to remain closed durning the day. This allows the plant to decreases the amount of water loss. This is a picture of a pineapple found at the store with “Stanley” the little paper man, with many CAM Pineapples.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Gravitropism: Sunflower

Gravitropism causes sunflower plants to naturally grow upward, responding to the gravitational pull. If a sunflower seedling is grown in a vertical container, then placed on its side, the plant will bend itself and continue to grow skyward. Auxin concentration is responsible for the sunflower doing this. 

Radial Symmetry: flower

Radial Symmetry is the arrangement of parts of an organism around a single main axis, so that the organism can be divided into similar halves by any plane that contains the main axis. This flower can be split and cut in multiple different angles and directions, and would still by symmetrical to the other half of the cut.

Ectotherm: Snake

An Ectotherm is an animal that is dependent on external sources of body heat. Snakes live in various habitats and include burrowing, tree-dwelling, ground lovers, freshwater and marine forms. During the winter, many snakes will burrow underground to hibernate. This allows their body temperature to stay elevated, allowing them to survive the cold winters. During the warm days, the snakes will usually be out and about, staying warm and getting as much food as possible. This Carpet Python has a heat lamp above him in his cage to keep it at a normal temperature to keep him happy and active for the guests.

Redox Reaction: birthday candles

A Redox Reaction is the transfer of electrons during the oxidation-reduction reactions involving loss of electrons in an oxidation reaction and gain of electrons in a reduction reaction between species is utilized for work that is useful. For my 16th Birthday, we made cinnamon rolls and put the candles on top of them for me to blow out. Candles use Redox Reaction through combustion, which is the burning of animal fat light to form lamps, torches, and candles.

Niche: camp picture

A Niche is the specific area where an organisms inhabits or makes its home. At the 4-H camp in Las Posadas, there is a little creek that gives life to the surrounding plants and animals. This water is the home to many small species of fish, along with the giving of water that the birds and other animals to drink. Mammals, insects, amphibians, and birds all rely on this creek and the surrounds near it for their survival, which is why some animals would make their home near this creek to know that they can survive and thrive in the environment.

Vestigial Structures-ostriches

A Vestigial Structure is an organ that was once useful in the animal’s evolutionary past, but now has no apparent function now. The ostrich has no use of its wings, so it has adapted to a mode of life that depends on running to escape predators. It has evolved a cloven hoof consisting of only two toes, similar to that of the other animals that share its plain's existence.

Stigma & style of Carpel: up close flower

The yellow strands coming out of the middle of the flower is the pistil or the carpel. The carpel is the female reproductive organ of the flower. The stigma is the circle on top of the carpel. The stigma is sticky which helps it trap pollen. The middle part of the carpel is the style. The style is the stalk of the carpel.

R-Strategist: bunnies

R-Strategist animals are the species that reproduce early in their life span and produce large numbers of usually small and short-lived offspring in a short period. The breeding season for most rabbits lasts 9 months, with the normal gestation period of about 30 days. At the age of 6 months, the females can begin to have the babies.  The average size of the litter varies but is usually between 4 and 12 babies, with larger breeds having larger litters. This means that in one season a single female rabbit can produce as many as 800 children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Mating Behavior: Flamingos

During the breeding season that starts in spring and ends at the end of summer for flamingos, they use Wing-Salute to attract a mate. During this time, the flamingos stand up tall, spread out their wings, puff out their chest, and looks as if they are continuously saying no. By doing this, it allows the males to show off their fitness and well maintained and groomed black feathers.

Gymnosperm cone: Pine Cone

All male Gymnosperm cones are similar to all conifers and are in the middle of the trees in big clusters. A female Gymnosperm cone contains ovules which, when fertilized by pollen, become seeds and are located at the higher ends of the trees and are by themselves. Both of these cones are structurally different to one another. Normally the same tree produces female and male gymnosperm cones, which makes it possible that the wind is what is used to pollinate the cones.

Basidiomycota: Mushrooms

A Basidiomycota is a large group of fungi. A mushroom is a fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. Some mushrooms are toxic, but some are edible if cooked correctly. Many species of mushrooms appear overnight, growing or expanding rapidly, which makes it almost impossible to predict when they are going to show up.

Pollinator: Green Bottle Fly

A Pollinator is an insect that carries pollen from one flower to another. They do this by flying into the male anthers of a flower to the female stigma of a flower to accomplish fertilization flying to another flower and doing the same thing. Usually the pollinator, which in this case is a fly, is collecting pollen from the flower and that is how pollination occurs, but sometimes, they may just land on the flower and pollinate it by accident due to hiding or breading. By these pollinators helping the plants pollinate, the plants are able to make more flowers, which then allows the process to start over.

Territorial Behavior: Hippopotamus


Hippos kill more people than any other animal in Africa. They are extremely aggressive and territorial, and will attack anything that ventures into their stretch of river. Hippos give birth to 1 baby every 8 months and the mothers protect it with their life. This could be why on land, they will run for the water if startled or felt like something was going to hurt the baby, anything that gets in their way will be taken down. They seem to feel that attack is the best form of defense, and weighing in at 3 tons, they have a good advantage over almost everything.

Altruistic Behavior: Warthog

Altruistic behavior is the selfless concern for the welfare of others. Warthogs would rather run than fight. They are also slower and have less endurance than most animals; therefore, burrows are essential to their safety when being chased. These animals have poor eyesight, which also puts them at an even greater disadvantage. With all of this, Warthogs have to work together to live. Each one puts in their duty to help the group’s change of survival increase.

Cuticle Layer of a plant: Leaf

The cuticle layer of a plant is the waxy layer that covers the outside of the plant. This Aralia Fabian Cane has a cuticle layer that is shinny, which makes it look slick and smooth. Most plants and trees have a cuticle layer on the leaves. It helps protect them from the weather and other insects.

K-strategist: Giraffe

K-strategists tend to be highly adapted to their environment and are able to compete successfully for food and other resources. They also tend to inhabit stable environments and have relatively long life spans. Giraffes are able to survive by reaching the leaves and food from high up in the trees that other animals would not normally be able to reach. They have the capability of killing a lion and other killer animals with the strength of their back legs. A female giraffe is able to reproduce in her 5th year and it takes them 15 months to produce a baby. With the death rate low, giraffes have been able to flourish and keep their population stable.

Homologous Structures: Rhino

This Rhino has similar homologous structures as myself in both the neck, legs, and back. We both have 7 bones making of the neck portion of the vertebrae, have the Humerus, Radius, and Ulna in our legs and arms, and have a back with a backbone, ribs, hips, and tailbone. Even though the size in the bones differs from a human and a rhino, but the structure and function is the same.

Heterotroph: Horse

A Heterotroph is an organism that cannot synthesize its own food and is dependent on complex organic substances for nutrition. Makenna’s house Par “Cash” is a heterotroph because he depends on her feeding him every day. He needs both grain and hay for him to stay healthy and in shape. The grain to him is the protein, and the hay keeps his intestines and insides moving regularly.

Population: Kangaroos

A population consists of all the inhabitants of a particular town, area, or country. When an explorer saw a strange creature hopping around, he asked a native Australian what it was called, and he responded “kangaroo” meaning “I don’t understand” your question, which is how the name came about. The mob of kangaroos, peacocks, and ducks has created a population by living together in one area at the zoo.

Epiphyte: Water Lilly


An Epiphyte is a plant that grows on another plant but is not parasitic. This Water Lilly grows from below the water, where it gets its nutrients in the dirt nutrients from the underwater plants. These lilies grow off of the plants and algae from underneath the water. After the flowers have closed for the final time, the flower stalk “corkscrews” and draws the developing fruit below the water, which is what the Water Lilly would grow off of for the next session.

Frond: Palm Tree

A Frond is the leaf or leaflike part of a palm, fern, or similar plant. This Needle Palm has the Botanical name of Rhapidophyllum hystrix and grows to about 5’ tall. They can adapt well to different soil types and have high drought tolerance after putting them into the pot or ground.

Endotherm: Hudsun

An Endotherm is an animal that can generate internal heat and is a warm-blooded animal. A cow is an endotherm and my steer Hudsun is an example. He has the capability to be ok in the cold, rain, snow, and heat. Even though he was spoiled rotten and was given a fluffy bed every day, he would be just fine living out on the fields with the other cows.

Hermaphrodite: Snail

A Hermaphrodite is an individual animal or flower that has both male and female reproductive organs. A snail is one of these animals. The real name of a Snail is Helix Pomatia and depending upon the type of snail, they are able to reproduce as soon as 6 weeks to as late as 5 years. Most snails we see are Land Snails. Snails burry their eggs in the topsoil, and within 3 weeks, the new snails are born and ready to start life.

Seed dispersal: Dandelion

Seed dispersal is the movement or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. Dandelion seeds are lightweight and the fluffy parts get caught by the wind and act like a parachute bringing the seed to the ground. These seeds can travel a long way before they land in good growth environment and then begin to grow.

Predation: Lion

Predation is the preying of one animal on others. A lion’s favorite prey is deer, but in different environments, lions will also eat antelope, buffalo, guar, and domestic livestock. Lions kill animals of all ages and physical conditions, including animals that are elderly. When prey is near, the lion begins its stalk. When it gets close enough, the lion rushes the prey and uses his claws, shoulders, back, and next to force it to the ground.

Pollen: Close Flower

Pollen is the powdery substance of grains that is discharged from the male part of a flower or from a male cone transported to the female ovule. This substance is normally yellow, and is located in the middle of the flower. Pollination Leads to the creation of new seeds that grow into new plants. This happens when pollinators rub against the stamens then fly to another flower or plant and rub against that stamen. This pollinates the plant it happens to every plant that animal lands on.

Parasitism: Mosquitoes, Flies, Tick, Flee

Parasitism is the association of two organisms where one benefits by harming the other organism. At 4-H Camp in Las Posadas, my friend Bryan got a tick right below his nipple. Ticks dig their head into the organism’s body and begin to burrow its way into the flesh. It sucks the blood from the organism, causing them pain and discomfort. The tick was removed by hot tweezers and Bryan was fine after having the heat burn was relieved.

Long-Day plant: Onion

A Long-Day plant is a plant is the physiological reaction of organisms to the length of day or night. The North is where the Long-Day onions are produced, so Most of the onions around here are Long-Day Onions because the father away you get from the equator, the amount of time that the plants see the son varies. There are short winters and long summers that allow the onions to have a chance to produce lots of top growth before the day to bulb.

Introduced Species: Felis Catus (Domesticated Cats)

Introduced species are organisms that have been brought into an area in which they do not naturally occur. Introduced species can compete with and cause problems for native species. Introduced species are also called exotic, non-native and alien species. My cat Oliver (Gato) is said to have been said to have evolved from a common ancestor with the lions, tigers, and cougars. Feral cats can live in forests, grasslands, tundra, coastal areas, agricultural land, scrublands, urban areas and wetlands. Domesticated cats have turned into the animal that more people have in the world than any other animal.

Gymnosperm leaf: Pine Trees/ Bush

A Gymnosperm plant has seeds not enclosed in an ovary. There have needles instead of leaves like on a flower and they produce cones rather than flower petals or fruits. They came up with this as the name because in Greek, gymnos, which means "naked," and sperma, which means "seed," and came up with "gymnosperm."

Genetic Variation within a population: Dogs

Genetic Variation is variation in alleles of genes, occurs both within and among populations. It is important because it provides the “raw material” for natural selection. This is our Dog Care & Training Project in 4-H and as you can tell, there is a variation of dogs. We have big dogs, small dogs, black dogs, golden dogs, all in the same 4-H Club and in the same population. They will always be different, and that’s what keeps things interesting.

Dominant-Recessive Phenotype: Dairy Calf (Black & White)

The Dominant genes are the genes that get passed down to the offspring and can be seen through visual appearance. The Recessive genes are the ones that get passed down but are barely seen or unseen at all because the Dominant genes are overpowering. In my Dairy Calf named Simon, the phenotype of the Black and White got passed down as the Dominant gene. In the sun, you are able to see a reddish tinge in his hair, which tells us that in his family tree, the red was recessive gene. It got passed down to him but the Black and White Dominate Phenotype overpowered it, which is why he looks the way he does.

Detrivore: Earthworm

Detrivores  are heterotrophs that obtain nutrients by consuming decomposing or dead organic matter. They can live on almost any soil with an organic compound. After eating the organic compound, they release the waste back into the environment and start the process over again.  They contribute to decomposition and the nutrient cycles and are a huge part of many ecosystems.

Bilateral Symmetry: Goat’s Faces and Necks

Bilateral Symmetry is the reflection along a central axis, so that the body is divided into equivalent right and left halves. These are my goats Milo (right) and Otis (left) and they both have bilateral symmetry to themselves. For both Milo and Otis’s face, if you cut it in half, both sides look the same. Their faces aren’t the only parts of their body that are symmetrical. They both have different amounts of brown down their neck, and if you look on both sides if them they are equal.

Autotroph: Plant, Tree

An Autotroph is an organism that is capable of synthesizing its own food from inorganic substances, using light or chemical energy. At the 4-H Camp at Las Posadas, the campers and staff members sleep in the wilderness, under the stars at night. Everyone is put into tribes and I was on the Cap’n Crunch tribe. There are many activities everyone gets to do and one of the main one is the Nature Hike. On this hike, you learn all about the forest and the plants in it. You learn that all the trees and plants that surround us are autotrophs.

Anther & filament of Stamen: Up close flower


The Anther is the part of a stamen that produces and contains pollen and is usually borne on a stalk and the Filament is the stalk that bears the anther in a stamen. In the flower, you can see the anther (white) and filament (brown) in the middle of the flower.

Animal that has a segmented body: Bee

A animal that has a segmented body means that they are split up into the three major segments of the head,throax, and abdomen. A bee has three segments of the thorax, six visible segments of abdomen, and a head. The head consists of the important organs:  Antennae, Eyes, Mouth parts, and the internal structures. The Throax consists of the organs: wings, legs, and pollen basket. Lastly, the abdomen has the organs: Digestive track, stinger, reproductive system, and the wax scales.

Adaption of a plant: Cactus

The Cactus is a plant that has learned to adapt to its environment in the desert. Cactus have adapted to the environment where there is no water for months by teaching itself to spout at any moment when the rain falls, bloom quickly, ripen their seeds in a few days, then die. The cactus also has a thick waxy layer on the outside of its stems and leaves that help it retain water and protect it from the sun. Most cactus and other plants in the desert have developed roots that grow up
 to 80ft. long that allow them to reach the water well below the desert floor

Adaption of an animal: Polar Bear

The Polar Bear has learned to adapt to the cold environment by having a thick layer of blubber (fat) that keeps them warm while swimming in cold water. The thick insulation of fat allows the polar bear to stay warm when the temperature gets to below 37 degrees Celsius. Being insolated is good on really cold days, but they tend to overheat often, so they walk slowly, swim, or rest to relieve some of the heat. They have learned to close their nostrils when underwater so they don’t run out of oxygen when the dive for prey, navigate ice floes, and search for help.