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.

Collection #2 Heather Repetski

This is a picture of a black bear crossing route 321 in Tennessee! I know it was amazing!! this bear is considered an endotherm. meaning warm blooded animal and all mammals are warm blooded. Warm blooded animals like ourselves regulate our own body temperature. When its hot we cool ourselves down, when its cold we use our energy to wrm ourselves up.

These roots you see growing above ground are a great example of an adaptation of a plant. This tree is actually located right next to this waterfall in Tennessee. making the soil it grows in constantly moist and soggy. This treee has adapted to its envrionment and its roots now grow very close to the surface where the soil is dryer and more sturdy.

The Blue starfish near the center of the picture is an echinoderm. This id a creature that lives on the sea bottom or near the abyssal zone. Starfish have tube feet, for movement, protection as well as obtaining food which they eat with their small jaws. teir mouth is also part of there water-vascular system.

This is poison ivy growing up a tree. the leaves of plants have a waxy coating on their leaves to lock in moisture. This is called the cuticle layer of the plant.

This eastern newt is a deuterostome. This means "mouth second" unlike a protostome when the call of the animal is growing it forms the anus then the mouth. In other words the mouth comes second. Most animals with spines are formed this way.

This is a fern. which can be categorized under, pteridophyte. A pteridophyte i s plant that does not produce flowers or seeds but reproduces through spores.

This daddy long leg has an exoskeleton which is almost like a skeleton thats is on the outside of the body. In other animals that have exoskeltons like crabs will molt their skin and replace it with a softer shell that will over time harden.

These 2 pictures are both examples of lepidopteras. They are both scaly winged insects, and have 2 pairs of symetrical wings.
Both moths also have a coiled probiscus from which they suck nectar and food through. (Top-Luna Moth and Bottom-Tuliptree Silkmoth

This is an insect. It has 3 pairs of legs, is segmented into a head, thorax, and abdomen, and has 2 pairs of wings. It belongs to the small anthropod family. I did some research trying to figure out what kind of insect this is, and did not have much luck

This is a cnidarian. It is a simple organism, It has an outer covering called an epidermis, and a inner gastrodermis. Its tentacles and main body have mucus-secreting pores, that give the animal a protective slimy layer.

p.s. I do realize some of this pictures do not have my fingernail in them. I just got back from vacation in TN for a week and we took a trip to the aquarium as well as went hiking up mountains to visit the local waterfalls. Everytime I saw something I thought could be useful for my project i snapped a picture. Unfortunately Heather was a little excited and forgot her nail in the picture but i do have witnesses as well as all of these pictures on my camera if you would like to see them.

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.