Aashika

Eukaryote – an organism whose cells contain nuclei. The presence of a nucleus is the key characteristic differentiating a eukaryote from a prokaryote. The squirrel on the ledge is a multi-cellular organism and a eukaryote.

Frond - an often large, finely divided leaf. The leaf of a fern plant is an example of a frond. I took the following pictures amid multiple ferns in my music teacher’s backyard.

Fruit: dry with seed – Dry fruits are one of two broad categories of seed-bearing fruit, in which the entire pericarp becomes dry once the fruit reaches maturity. The acorns from the oak tree in my backyard are dry fruits with seeds.

Fruit: fleshy with seed – Fleshy fruits are the second of two broad categories of seed-bearing fruit, where the pericarp and the rest of the fruit are made up of succulent tissues. The apple from the crab-apple tree in my backyard is surprisingly small, no larger than the size of one or two acorns, in fact. It is a fleshy fruit containing seeds.

Gymnosperm cone – a cone-shaped structure with seeds that are not enclosed by a protective fruit. Our pine tree, for instance, produces pine cones which are gymnosperm cones. When these pine cones fall in optimal soil, they grow into new pine trees.

Lichen – a complex organism that consists of a fungus in symbiotic union with an algae, typically found on trees and rocks. The lichen that I found was greenish in color, and it was growing on a couple damp rocks by my friend’s pool.

Pollen – powdery yellowish grains or spores that serve as the fertilizing element of flowering plants. We planted cantaloupe in our garden this year, and although no fruits have come up yet, plenty of cantaloupe flowers abound; each cantaloupe flower has a yellow center containing pollen.

Pollinator – an agent, often times an insect, that carries pollen from one flower to another to accomplish fertilization. A butterfly is an example of a pollinator. As the butterfly draws up a flower’s nectar with its proboscis (a mouthpart that acts as a straw), its legs accumulate pollen. Then the butterfly flies over to another flower and pollinates it.

Herbaceous stem – a green, brittle plant stem with little or no woody tissue. The banana pepper plants in our garden are annuals, meaning they die after one season and we have to plant new ones in the spring. Basically, the stem has only a year to mature before the winter chill gets to it; thus, banana pepper plants have green, herbaceous stems.

Woody stem – a stem of a plant that has been growing for over two years, thickening and accumulating woody tissue. Herbaceous stems grow thick and woody after two years of life, which is why most plants with woody stems are perennials. This oak tree branch has a woody stem.

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.

Many people foolishly think that Lichen is a relative to moss, when in actuality it is a small amalgamation of numerous different small organisms that grow in similar habits to moss. Unlike moss however it does not require a small amount of soil to grow, it just needs an area where nutrients sun and water in available, which is why Lichen can most commonly be seen growing on trees, rocks, and even sidewalks