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.

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.

First 10 "collected" items for AP Bio

These needle like trees are considered a leaf of a gymnosperm. Gymnosperms lack the fruits and flowers of that of the angiosperm. Their leaves are usually needle like, with the leaves almost becoming part of the stem.

On this piece of bark are a few patches of lichen which can simply be called fungus. A lichen is parasitic and can take over and drain the nutrients from a tree or its host. Like this fungus poison ivy can also wrap itself around a tree until no further sunlight is penetrating through to the tree eventually killing the tree.

This is a deciduous leaf. deciduous means to drop or shed off at a certain seasons. this leaf has fallen from the tree and matches the simple opposite description of leaves. meaning is has bilateral symmetry and for the most part has a simple outline.

This is my Coleus Doing well i would like to think, anyway this picture is demonstrates the xylem of a plant. the xylem is a tube that carries water from the roots to the leaves to help nourish and feed the rest of the plant.

The small stem looking objects inside of this petunia are called anthers. the long tall stem in the center is actually the ovary of the flower but the rest of them are anthers. the anthers are where the pollen is held. and when bees or birds brush by and pick up this pollen and/or drop it off the flower can then be fertilized.

This tall non-flowering plant has a very large stem. within this stem is a tube like organ called the phloem. the phloem is responsible for carrying and dispersing the nutrients absorbed by the roots to all other plant parts where it is needed.

This is a snail shell, home to what i now know as a gastropod. a gastropod is an organism belonging to the mollusk family, who lives in a shell. most gastropods have long tentacle like eyes. this shell happens to be empty. this either means it died, or possibly took a trip to France in which case someone ate them for dinner.

This is an empty muscle shell, it once was a littoral zone organism. this means this organism lives anywhere in between where land touches the water, and out into the water where there is a sufficient amount of light for plant growth on the floor of the body of water. I picked this shell up in surf city LBI, making my body of water touching land the ocean.

This is an ectothermic organism, a.k.a. my 3 goldfish. ectothermic means they are cold blooded animals.

This is Sampson one of my foster pups i just recently adopted out to a good home he is a great example of eukaryote. he is filled with eukaryotic cells. this means his cells have an enclosed nucleus, and that his cells are surrounded and enclosed by a membrane.

Summer Scavenger Hunt Part 2 (I just added it to part one, so part one is under this)

ENDOTHERM: Well these are the two bunny rabbits from Kelsey Kowalski's backyard. We went there after camp and I thought it would be the perfect time to do my AP Bio! Well these bunnies are examples of endothermic animals. An endotherm is a warm-blooded animal that can generate its own heat to maintain its body temperature. The bunnies were cute, but the top one bites! Oh, and that's Bria in the picture. :)

















EXOTHERM: This is the pond in Kelsey's backyard. In the second picture, you can see Dara, attempting to find and torture the froggies...... just kidding, just find them haha. Frogs are examples of exothermic animals. Exotherms are cold-blooded animals and they get their heat from their environment.















ANIMAL THAT HAS A SEGMENTED BODY: In this picture lies a crippled grasshopper because it wouldn't stay still long enough for me to take the picture. Well this grasshopper has a segmented body. It is segmented into a head, thorax, and abdomen.


FRUIT-FLESHY WITH SEED: This is a picture of my crab apple tree that is on the side of my driveway. The second picture is when I smashed it with a cup. When I smashed it, there was some leakage and you can see two little seeds that were inside. Another example of a fruit that is fleshy and has seeds is a tomato.

STIGMA & STYLE OF CARPEL: Well the first picture is of the flower that I took in Mapleton and the second one is when I cropped it and labeled it. The stigma is the receptacle for pollen. The style is the stalk that connects

the stigma with the ovary. The carpel is made up of the female reproductive organs.















GYMNOSPERM CONE: Gymnosperms are seed-bearing vascular plants that are cone shaped. I saw this tree on Mansfield Rd East when I was walking to Mapleton. Male cones are usually small while the female cones are bigger. This is because the males just need to produce the pollen while the females have to produce the seeds.

XYLEM: This plant has a really long stem. Part of this stem is the xylem. The xylem is responsible for transporting water and soluble mineral nutrients from the roots throughout the plant.
























INSECT: This is my insect. It's a cicada!. Well, I was too afraid to take a picture of it even though it was dead, so I took a picture of Kelsey taking a picture of it. Cicadas are the things that make that really annoying sound. It is used as a mating call by the males and sometimes attracts both females and males. Cicadas are insects belonging to the family Cicadidae.

POLLINATOR: That little bee there is a pollinator. A pollinator is an insect that carries pollen from one flower to another. The relationship between the insect and flower is a mutual relationship, meaning both sides benefit. Sorry that my camera pretty much is horrible. I did not want to get any closer to it either.








KERATIN: As you can see, this is my hair, skin, and nails. Keratin is the key structural material that makes up the outer layer of human skin. It also is a key component in the structure of hair and nails. Arthropods sometimes have their exoskeleton made partly of keratin.








PART 1


















COMMENSALISM: These two pictures were taken from the inside of my basement because I could not get a good picture from the outside. These pictures represent commensalism. Commensalism is a relationship between two organisms in which one of them benefit and the other does not benefit or suffer. This is a good example of this because the spiders make the webs on the plants so that they can have a home. It does nothing for the plant though. The plant is unaffected in this relationship.



CONIFER LEAF: As I was walking around my development, I came across this plant. I had to walk through some random person's lawn to get to it. Well this is a conifer leaf. Conifers are trees with needles or scalelike leaves and cones as opposed to broad, flat leaves. Conifers are classified as gymnosperms or plants with naked seeds not enclosed in an ovary.




ARTHROPOD: Here, stuck on my mouse trap, is an arthropod. An arthropod is an animal with a segmented body, exoskeleton and jointed appendages. Spiders are arthropods called arachnids. Arthropods include insects, spiders, millipedes, and crabs.






AUTOTROPH: This plant is an autotroph. An autotroph is any living organism that synthesizes organic substances from inorganic molecules by using light or chemical energy. The plant uses sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars. This is called photosynthesis. Autotrophs are the primary producers in all food chains.







AMYLASE: Amylase is an enzyme that breaks starch down into sugar. Amylase is present in our saliva, where it begins the chemical process of digestion. Foods that contain much starch but little sugar, such as rice and potato, taste slightly sweet as they are chewed because amylase turns some of their starch into sugar in your mouth which is interesting.






EPITHELIAL TISSUE: This is sheets of tightly packed calls that line organs and body cavities as well as external surfaces. The skin and the linings of the various passages inside the body are made of epithelial tissue. It provides a covering for deeper body layers.








MUTUALISM: This is an example of mutualism. Mutualism is a symbiotic relationship where both organisms benefit. The bee and the flower are both benefiting in this picture. That is because the flower is getting its pollen passed from one individual to another. The bee benefits by getting the nectar or pollen. The nectar or pollen are a solid food source.






THORN OF A PLANT: When I saw this, I had to use this as one of my items. These thorns are crazy and they just look painful. A thorn is a branch of a plant that becomes woody, hard and pointed. I would think that the point of thorns is for protection of the plant.








POLLEN: It is kind of cool how you can see my reflection in my phone. ;) Anyway, this is pollen. Pollen is the fine spores that contain male gametes and that are born by an anther in a flowering plant. Pollen is transported by pollinators such as bees or moths.























DECIDUOUS LEAF: This is a deciduous tree/leaf. Being deciduous means that the leaves fall off at maturity and in plants, it is the result of natural processes. It could also mean that the leaves fall off or dry out during a certain season. Well during the winter, these leaves will fall off and grow back later. The leaves will also turn brown.