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.

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.

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.

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.