Biology Collection #2- Kaitlyn Allen

While visiting the San Diego Zoo, I took this picture of a fern, which is known as a frond. A frond is a plant containing large leaves in separate sections.

Keratin is made up of proteins, these proteins make up our hair and nails.

This picture of a woody stem is from my Aunt's backyard. A woody stem is covered on the outside with bark.

This herbaceous stem is from my begonia, most flowers and vegetables have herbaceous stems. A herbaceous stem is not covered in bark, instead it is soft and usually green.

This is a picture of my brother's tongue, amylase can be found in saliva. Amylase is an enzyme that helps convert sugar into starch.

Deciduous leaves are leaves that fall off during a particular season, this leaf that I found while taking a walk through my grandmom's backyard is an example of a deciduous leaf.

These roses outside of my Aunt's house have thorns on it's stem. A thorn is a sharp point attached to the stem of a plant.

The flowers on my begonia plant contain pollen. Pollen is the fertilizing element of a plant, usually consists of a yellow powdery substance.

These flowers are from my mom's garden, they are considered angiosperms because an angiosperm is a plant that flowers; has seeds contained in it's ovaries.

These flowers are all examples of autotrophs, autotrophs create their own food using the process of photosynthesis.

Collection 2: Katie Harrison

I just wanted to add these pictures of my Aunt Sue's garden to the blog, because I wasn't able to really personalize many of my photos that I took when I visited her and I wanted to be able to prove that these pictures are in fact mine, not Google's or anybody elses (I have all the pictures from this post on my phone and camera, too :) ). The first picture is pretty much showing most of the backyard gardens, the second shows the big "island" garden where I found my hummingbird, the third is of the koi/frog pond, and the fourth is of my aunt by the pond with a tamed frog that hopped onto her arm. As for the pictures towards the bottom, I wasn't able to stick anything in the shots because the animals were moving too fast or the camera needed to be zoomed in.

Angiosperm: Angiosperm plants are those that flower and produce seeds or fruits. This cleome plant in my aunt's garden is an angiosperm plant because it produces seeds in pods and is a flowering plant.

Autotroph: An autotroph is an organism that gains its energy from organic food molecules instead of eating another organism. They usually are photosynthetic organisms. These ferns and other plants from my aunt's garden are autotrophs.

Commensalism: when two organisms' interaction causes one organism to benefit while the other is unaffected. This squirrel's nest at my aunt's house is an example of commensalism because the squirrels are able to make a home, while the oak tree is unharmed by the squirrels.

Littoral zone organism: an organism that thrives in the shallow part of a lake, where photosynthesis still can occur. My aunt has a koi fish pound, which happens to have a family of Leopard frogs living in it. I saw five different tadpoles, all about two and a half inches long, right under the surface of the water, eating algae. The second picture was taken later in the day, so the sun had moved and created a reflection on the pond. I had to use my hand to block out the reflection so the tadpole could be seen underneath the surface of the water. I thought it was a pretty nifty picture, so I added it too.

Pollinator: A pollinator is an organism that transfers pollen from one plant to another. Examples of pollinators are butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. T his female Ruby Throated hummingbird at my aunt's house was actually feeding from a flower, which I've never seen before; usually I only see them at the hummingbird feeder.

Exoskeleton: An exoskeleton is the outer skeleton of most arthropods. This is when the skeleton of an organism is on the outside of the body, while the organs are on the inside of the body. In this picture is a cicada's exoskeleton shell which was recently molted; a cicada has to shed the exoskeleton when its body grows underneath the shell.

Tendril of a plant: Tendrils of plants are the stems that climb, attach, and support the growing plants. The tendrils of this Morning Glory on my deck already climbed the small trellace that's in its pot and the railing, so they are starting to attach to one another.

Anther and filament of a stamen: The anther and filament are the male reproductive parts of flowers, where the pollen is held. The anther of this lily is the brown structure that resembles rice at the end of the thin, white structures called filaments.

Ectotherm: An ectotherm is an organism with a body temperature that varies with it's surroundings. An example of an ectotherm is this oceanic sunfish, because the fish needs to bask in the sun and warmer water to heat up its body up after long, deep dives. On July 23, my family went on a whale watch cruise up off the coast of Block Island, Rhode Island, and while searching for whales, we came across this gigantic fish (yes, both pictures are of the same fish. I know, they look completely different, but I blame it on the cell phone camera). At first, the spotters on the ship thought it was a shark because the fish's dorsal fin was sticking out of the water, much like a shark's would. The marine biologist on the boat estimated this oceanic sunfish to weigh about 200 pounds and be about 5 feet wide by 5 feet tall, which is relatively small compared to the average weight of these monster-size fish (2,200 lbs). I took great interest in these fish, and found out that they eat mainly jellyfish and can even jump out of the water, up to 10 feet in the air! The picture on the left was taken with my camera as the sunfish was basking, while the one on the right was taken with my phone right before it completely flipped over and disappeared under the boat.

Eukaryote: A eukaryote is an organism that is made up of cells that contain a membrane enclosed nucleus and organelles. All animals, plants, and fungi contain these complex cells. During the whale watch, we encountered a pod of these friendly Common Dolphins, nearly 150 strong. The dolphins surrounded the boat, and literally everywhere you looked, there were dolphins jumping and flipping out of the water. I could hear them whistle to each other right next to the boat, and I even saw a few calves, or baby dolphins. They looked like swimming footballs. The adult dolphins were about 5-7ft long, while the calves were about 3 ft long. I was really excited to see these guys because this was my first whale watch, and my first time seeing dolphins in the wild and not at Sea World.

Last Pictures

A woody stem is one that grows in a rigid wood-like consistency. While trees are famous for this, over shrub plants such as blackberry bushes also have woody stems. This is a blackberry plant.

Herbaceous stems are ones that remain green, limber, and non-woody. Many plants follow under this category including waxy plants such as cacti, allow, and other such plants. Of course normal plants also fall under this category, like this onion plant.

When people think of symmetry they usually think of splitting something in half and getting an even shape on each side. Radial symmetry, on the other hand, is when you have an object that looks the same depending on however much you rotate it. If it weren't for the tears, then this toadstool (or is it a mushroom?) would have perfect radial symmetry, meaning that no matter how far or to what degree it is turned it will still have the same shape.

Pollinators, like this butterfly (It's in the center on the flower), are important for the reproduction of angiosperms. These creatures have developed ways of drinking the nectar the plant hold to lure it so that they accidentally pick up its pollen to take it to the next one.

This tick is a parasite: a creature who uses another creature for its own gain while harming the other creature, but not directly killing it. Numerous parasites will steal nutrients from its host, such as water, blood, or other parts. Many examples of parasites are Ticks, mosquitoes, tapeworms, and leeches.

Insects, a type of arthropod, have numerous common themes that separate them from other arthropods. first they have three pairs of legs, unlike arachnids who have eight. They also have three different body parts: The head, thorax (chest-like part), and the abdomen (the butt-like part). This ant is an insect and shows all these traits.

Cellulose is a form of sugar that plants produce to create their cell walls. It is the reason why plants are crunchy and the main building-block in tree bark. In order for organisms to be able to break down cellulose they usually need a special enzyme or bacteria in their stomachs to break it down into simpler sugars.All plants are autotrophs, meaning they all produce their own energy by absorbing it from the sun. I chose this picture of a tree because it looks like its reaching to the sun for more light.

Arthropods, translated from Greek meaning "joint foot", are any creature that has an exoskeleton and numerous joints upon their legs and such. The different categories of Arthropod are Insect, mentioned above, Arachnids, having four pairs of limbs, Crustaceans, aquatic Arhtropods like crabs and lobsters, and Bugs, such as millipedes and centipedes. The creature in the picture is a spider, which is an arachnid.

Kaitlyn's 10 collected items.

Cnidarians have a diplobastic, radially symmetrical body that includes a gastrovascular cavity with a single opening that serves as both mouth and anus. Cnidarians include corals, hydras, and jellyfish, like this one that I found next to our dock.

Arthropods have segmented bodies, hard exoskeletons and jointed appendages including, their pincers, mouthparts, legs, backfins, and antennae. Crabs and lobsters are good examples of an arthropod.

An ectotherm is an organism that gains most of their heat from external sources, such as sitting in the sun or in the shade, like this snake I found by a pile of wood.
An exoskeleton is a hard case deposited on an animal's surface, with each growth spurt an arthropod, like this cicada, must shed its old exoskeleton and begin to develop a new one.

This slug is an example of a gastropod. Many gastropods have a shell that the animal can retreat into when threatened, they move by using a rippling motion, often leaving a trail of slime behind them. They also usually have a distinct head with eyes at the tips of tentacles, like this slug I found inside of our canoe.

An insect is segmented into three regions; head, thorax and abdomen, like this grasshopper I found on the side of our house.
Lichens grow on the surfaces of rocks, rotting logs, trees, and roofs in various forms. I found this leaflike lichen on a tree outside of our house.
An autotroph is an organism that uses energy from the oxidation of inorganic substances or the sun, like this baby spruce tree, to make organic molecules from inorganic ones.
A female pine cone contains microscopic female gametophytes inside an ovulate cone.
A tomato is an example of a fleshy fruit with seeds, some other examples of fleshy fruits with seeds are grapefruits, nectarines and plums.

Autotroph - an organism that makes its own food. Through photosynthesis, autotrophs utilize carbon dioxide (from the air), water (pulled up from their roots), and light energy (from the sun) to make sugar. The autotroph then feeds off the sugar and gives off oxygen gas as a byproduct. Via the process of photosynthesis, a maple tree can produce complex organic compounds (sugars) from simple inorganic molecules (carbon dioxide), rendering it an autotroph.

Auxin producing area of a plant - a plant hormone that speeds up the growth rate of plant cells. Auxin can be found in the root tip and shoot tip of a plant. Without this natural stimulant, plant growth is stunted. One of the locations where auxin is produces on this jasmine plant is at the tip of the stem, right between the two leaves that are growing outward. Auxin also accumulates along the underside of the plant's roots.




Conifer leaves - leaves that are characteristically needle-like or scale-like and found on evergreen/ coniferous trees. Before I went bio-exploring, I held the ignorant assumption that conifer leaves had to be on trees. In actuality, conifer leaves can be found on not only trees, but also bushes and shrubs. Needle-leaved pine trees are what most of us think of in reference to conifers, but I found the following conifer leaves in a coniferous bush in my friend's backyard.



Commensalism - a relationship between two organisms in which one benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed. The birds' nest in our Flowering Dogwood tree is an example of commensalism because the birds were able to make themselves a home while the tree remained unaffected.

AP BIO Summer Assignment

Conifer Leaf

This is a type of leaf that is mostly needle or scale leaved. The picture is one of an evergreen tree. As you can see the leaves each hold hundreds of little needle-leaved, creating a branch of the tree. These types of leaves stay green through-out every season, never turning brown or changing color like most trees, during the different seasons.

A Fleshy Fruit With Seeds

Tomato is a fruit that contains seeds inside, these seeds are used to make more plants of their own kind. There are lots of different types of

tomatoes such as plum, cherry, vine, grape, and red round tomatoes. This type is on a vine tomato, as you can see in the picture. The tomato is attached by a thin vine, to the plant, which is then in a pot, in my family's garden.

Angiosperm

This kind of plant, can flower and also bear fruits. The reason it can do both of these things is that, it holds the seeds of the plant inside the plant's ovary.

Basidiomycete

This type of organism can be classified as a fungi. This picture shows that of a group of mushroom, knowing that basidiomycete are a group of sexually produced spores on a basidia, which is the the top of the mushroom right before the umbrella like top grows bigger.

Amylase

This type of enzyme takes apart starch and turns it into sugar. In the picture you see my mouth, because amylase is present in human saliva. Which helps in the process of digestion. Amylase is also present in the pancreas, because it makes amylase to be converted into glucose to makeenergy for the body.

Thorn of a Plant

Thorns are made as a modification to a plant for some sort of reason, mostly to protect them from animals. In my picture it is shows thorns belonging to a rose plant, the reason this plant has turned to use thorns, is so that animal do not eat the roses. Think about when you pick a rose and you have to be careful not to get stabbed by the thorns because they are very painful. The plant wants to keep the flower so they have adapted a way to keep them alive.

Epithelial Tissue

This type of tissue, covers the body and lines theorgans as well. Epithelial tissue also deals with the protection of the body from harmful things, secretion of oils and water from the skins glands, sensation when feeling objects, and absorption of minerals and vitamins that help the body. The picture is of my arm, showing that the epithelial tissue is my skin, it helps protect my body from the suns rays, and from harmful bacteria getting into my body and organs.

Autotroph

An autotroph is an organism that can make its own food, using light and chemical energy. Autotroph use the process of photosynthesis, to convert water, carbon dioxide into sugar for energy and food for the organism. The picture shows moss, which is growing in place of grass in my backyard. This located in a dark area surrounding the garden, usually moist. The moss is growing by itself using photosynthesis.

Gastropod

These animals are usually in the group called mollusks, which means that they have a shell covering their body. Most have a foot for crawling, and have a head with eyes and tentacles. The picture is of three different size conch shells, we got them on vacation in the bahamas. The body of the animal had already left, meaning that someone had taken it out to eat. The shell covers and protects the soft body of the animal from prey, the only to get the animal out it is to use physical force.

Annelid

These organisms have common names such as earthworm, leeches, or rag worms. The photo shows the dirt in which the earthworm would live, underneath in the soil, you would find an earthworm. They have segmented bodies, that hold their organs. Earthworms are hermaphrodites, meaning that they can reproduce asexually. They also are considereddecomposes, since they feed on rootingorganisms.

Adaptation of an Animal

Animals adapt to maintain survival in their environment, whether changing their fur type, beak style, color of fur or skin type, or shape of body parts. The picture shows a frog that has adapted its skin to blend in with the environment, so that the frog can live without being caught and eaten. This type of adaptation is called mimicry adaptation is when an animal adapts to look like a certain object, in this picture the frog is trying to look like bark.

Endotherm

This is a type of animal that can regulate their body temperature, maintaining the temperature at one constant number. They use glands to help rid their body of excess water, but in animals that have fur covering their body, they rely on panting to help rid their body of excess water since they can not sweat through glands.This is a picture of my yellow Labrador Retriever Sassy, she is 12 years old, and most days in the summer you can find her in this position. She heavily relies on panting during the summer, before researching about endotherm, I believed she was doing thisbecause of thirst, but now I understand that she is actually, trying to rid her body of water.

Frond

A frond is a plant that has divided leaves, almost making either side look identical. Usually found on ferns, the leaves of ferns are grown from the stem of the plant. This is a picture of a frond from the fern plant in my backyard, as you can see the leaves line up almost perfectly next to each other.

Carbohydrate-Fibrous

Mostly consist of green vegetables, containing minerals, vitamins, and fiber. The fiber that is found in these vegetables help the bodies digestive track, keeping it clean and healthy. These vegetables are also low in calories, and your body can never have to many of them. The picture is of a green pepper, which is considered a fibrous carbohydrate, another name for this veggie would be a bell pepper. The taste is sweet and not to spicy, like other peppers, people mostly eat these peppers when they are not fully ripe that is why they are green.

Chlorophyta

This type of biological term, can also be referred to as green algae. This is an unicellular organism, that relies on photosynthesis to survive. There is about 6,000 species of this algae in the world. In the picture that was taken at Sea Isle City, NJ. You can see that the algae has grown over all of the rocks that lead out to the water, making it very slipper to try and walk across. Chlorophyta lacks thins that land plants have so, they are classified as more of a simple organism.

Commensalism

This type of relationship is when one organism benefits from another but the that organism is unaffected. This picture shows horses that live together unaffected, but they do affect the insects that live underneath their hooves, in running around the horses move the dirt, thus moving the insects as well. A special bird called a cattle egret eats these insects for meals, if the horses did not stir the ground up releasing the insects then the egrets would not eat. So they are benefitting from the horses, with out doing harm to the actual horses.

Anther & Filament of Stamen

The stamen is the male reproductive organs of a flower, since a flower usual has both male and female parts. In the picture you see the inside of a flower, the yellow long string like organisms are called the filament, at the top of these filaments rest the anther which holds the pollen of the flower. Once the anther opens to release the pollen which is then carried by bees or wind or water to pollinate another flower to help it grow.

Deciduous Leaf

This type of leaf has one characteristic that most people can identify with is that these leaves turn colors in the fall and loose their leaves in the winter. But during the spring sometimes they spring flowers and keep their beautiful green shade all through summer. The process of them losing their leaves is called abscission. In the picture I took on of the many deciduous trees I have located around my house, that always loose their leaves in the fall, creating lots of raking to do. But they look nice once spring comes around and they blossom.

Cnidarian

This type of organism is mostly know as jelly fish. I know you are wondering why I put a picture of a turtle as the image, but what I researched about Cnidarian is that turtle eat them, so I figured you might be able to find a little bit of that in its tummy. Cnidarian organisms have over 9,000 different species all living in the water, mostly in oceans so that they can eat the coral and algae to stay alive. The jelly substance in the organism is actually non-living, but because it is between epithelial tissue, the jelly fish is alive. The "stingers" that happen to hurt you when swimming are called polyp and are actually apart of their mouth.

Insect

These animals have three main characteristics which include three pair of jointed legs, two antennas, and compound eyes. Having over a million different species makes them one of the most prominent type of animal. For reproduction these type of animals lay eggs, that have to hatch, but they must go through stages which is called molting, this basically means they are changing their skins. The picture is of a praying mantis, that I found when I went to turn on my hose, to water my mother's plants. So I took a picture thinking that it was perfect for bio. The praying mantis is an insect with over 2,200 different species of its own kind. These insects can camouflage their bodies to stay away from being eaten or harmed. As you can see in the picture the mantis is a light brown color to blend in with my houses' siding. A funnycharacteristic of these insects is that when mating the female will actually bite the head of the male off. After she has received his sperm to reproduce.