Our Last AP Biology Lab Write-Up EVER!!!!!

Here's our lab.  Most of the class worked on it together in one big lab write-up.

Hope you like it!

Here's our energy dynamics lab.

Comic

This comic shows energy being transfered from carrots to the rabbit then to the bird. In the first strip it shows a rabbit eating carrots and getting energy from the nutrients. In the next strip it shows a bird doing the same thing but the rabbit being its food source and sharing it with the baby birds. The predator prey relatioinship is another energy transfer.  Each are being brought down the food chain for energy transfer.

Comic Strip

This comic strip shows the energy transfer beginning with the grass (producer). The bunnies scatter as they eat the grass consuming the energy that it gives off. In the third section, the bunny is confronted by the most notorious predator, the hawk. Unfortunately, we had to keep this comic rated PG so the hawk eating the bunny lies behind the censoring "THE END"

Sexual Selection in Butterflies

Sexual selection is a natural selection among organisms in which specific genetic traits are preferred for reproduction. Sexual selection is special because it may cause domination of a desired trait like colorful feathers on a peacock, wings on a butterfly or even loud roars in lions.

There are two mechanisms of sexual selection: intersexual and intrasexual.
Intrasexual Selection involves characteristics which affect the outcome of competition among members of one sex for access to members of the other sex.
Intersexual Selection would influence the evolution of secondary sexual characteristics which determine the relative "attractiveness" of members of one sex to the other sex.

In this case, the developmental evolution of wing patterns lead to the diversification of butterfly species which intersexually, allows them to become more attractive when it comes to mating.

My Comic Strip

This comic shows the grass using the sun's energy for photosynthesis. Then the next frame shows a goat (a herbivore) eating the grass for it's energy. And finally, a little boy is having goat for lunch. Only 10% of the energy produced by the autotroph is passed on to the next trophic level, in this case it is the goat. The boy then gets only 10% of the energy produced in that goat. 

Energy Transfer Comic

Energy transfer from worms to birds

This comic strip shows a mother bird feeding her babies worms she has picked from the ground. The energy transfer is only ten percent in each turn. The amount of energy is decreased by ten percent each time. As the birds eat the worms, they are gaining all the nutrients and necessary products from the worm. It isn't shown in the comic, but when a predator eats the birds, such as a hawk or snake, the energy of the worm will be transferred through the birds but at twenty percent less. This fact makes difficult for food chains to be infinite. There is always a loop. Also, the ten percent decrease each time makes it necessary for top carnivores to eat more of their prey to get more of their needed energy intake.

Comic strip

This particular comic strip uses creative techniques to portray energy transfer throughout an ecosystem. For example, the sunflower is using the energy from the sun to make sugar in its photosynthesis process. Additionally, the primary consumer that eats the plant, in this case the deer, will absorb only ten percent of the total energy from the plant. Finally, the man who hunts the deer in the third picture will absorb ten percent of energy from the deer.

Energy Transfer Comic Strip

This comic strip starts with a rabbit eating grass.  The grass gains energy from the sunlight through photosynthesis.  In the second panel, there is a cow that sees the rabbit.  Since cows are herbivores, he has no interest in getting his energy from eating a rabbit.  In the third panel, it shows the cow also eating grass.  He gains his energy from eating grass, rather than the rabbit.

Comic Strip energy transfer

In this comic strip, a handful of ants are being useless with their energy and the anteater decides there is a better use for them. By eating the ants, the anteater gains about 10% of the energy that was stored in the ants he just ate. These ants gained their energy from whatever they ate, which could have gotten its energy from the sun(main source of energy in almost every ecosystem) or another organism that probably gained its energy from the sun. The type of energy transfer shown occurs between all organisms that eat other organisms. Unfortunately, this anteater will eventually pass on his energy to a larger mammal or will die and decomposers will use the energy he once consumed. Ants being eaten by an anteater is an example of energy transfer in an ecosystem.

Everyone needs energy Comic

 

In this rage comic I am abstractly depicting the importance of energy and energy transformation. In the first panel, someone who is particularly hungry is shown, and he appears to be quite frustrated and angry. This is because when one is hungry, one lacks energy and thus doesn't act normally because energy is needed to function properly in all organisms. Animals take in energy from eating food which contains energy. In the second panel, someone who has eaten well is shown, and he appears to be happy and to be doing well. So once again, when people eat food they are transforming it into energy that they need to perform normal and everyday functions. Ingesting food is necessary for making energy, which everyone needs in order to survive.  

Comic

The shark was hungry so his body needed energy.  In order to get the energy he needed he had to eat something.  Instead of eating the fish, he ate the plants that were growing from the light of the sun.  This shows energy transfer because the sun allows the plants to produce energy that is then passed on to its consumer the shark.

Comic

The seed is planted in the ground gathering all the necessary nutrients from the soil and sun. As a result it grows and at the second week it becomes a flower. However a rabbit eats the flower. This shows the transfer of energy because the sun provides the seed with energy. The seed uses that energy to grow and develop into a flower. The rabbit then eats the flower therefore obtaining energy from the flower.

Comic Strip: Energy Transfer

The snake tries to camouflage itself to prevent being eaten by predators like the hawk. In this comic strip it is returning back to the grass after eating plants from the garden. Thus the energy from the producer (plant) is transfered to the first trophic level (snake). The end of the snake is still in the dark soil so it's not camouflaged. That is how the hawk sees it. The hawk swoops down and eats the snake, transferring energy from the second trophic level to the third.

Sexual selection in Peacocks

Before

After

I decided to model sexual selection as a evolutionary process for my model.  I modeled the process by drawing the peacock before and after the evolutionary process took place. Before the evolutionary effect, the peacock had white feathers and after the process it had vibrant green and blue feathers. The white feathers were too bright for the peacocks and white peacocks were easily spotted by predators, therefore, many males would chose the colorful peacock over the white because they were more appealing. This made sexual selection a selective process as opposed to random since the males had to chose which female they would want to mate with.