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.

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.

Cartoon

This cartoon illustrates animals trying to save other members of their species because they don't want their "friends" to be eaten.  As we move along to the next cartoon we see that the same animal that was trying to keep someone from eating, is now eating.  This shows that although we don't want our own kind to become hunted, we ourselves are also hunting.  The animal does not even realize that it is doing the same thing it was trying to stop.  It also gives light to the saying we don't care about a scenerio until it happens to us.  The predator prey relationship is an important one; not allowing one species to dominate another.  As a prey population decreases, a decrease in the predator population will follow.  Once the predator population decreases, the prey population increases, and then causes an increase in the predator population.  Many organisms need to eat to survive.  Instead of bashing one organism for "killing" another we should understand it is merely doing what many of us others do on a daily basis.  We should rather respect the greatness of the predator-prey relationship.

Natural Selection in Beetles

I am modeling the evolutionary process of natural selection on a beetle population. I showed it by before natural selection and after the process was complete. You can see how there was variation in color of beetles before natural selection and after only the brown survived long enough to reproduce. Since the green beetles were eaten more by birds more brown beetles reproduced. After generations only brown traits are passed down, because those are the only ones to survive and become more common. The mode of evolution is selective due to predators. In this case the environment didn’t help the green beetles camouflage, causing them to be eaten and spotted more than the brown beetles were. Eventually the process will go on long enough to only reproduce brown surviving beetles.

Natural Selection In Hummingbirds

The evolutionary process that is modeled above is natural selection.  As time went on the beak of the hummingbird changed.  Before the change the hummingbird's beak was very fat.  This made it hard for the hummingbird to get food from the flowers.  As time continued the birds beak began to get thinner in order for it to get its food.  I chose this evolutionary process to model because the environment wasn’t able to provide for the hummingbirds with fat beaks, so in order to survive better they adapted to their environment and over time their beaks got thinner.  The thinner beaks let them get the nectar from the flower easier. This change occurred by the hummingbirds with the thinner beaks surviving better than the ones with the fatter beaks. This evolution is selective, but not random because the birds passed on the trait for a thinner beak. This change did not occur very fast, it happened over a long period of time. The source of variation is that the hummingbirds with fat beaks weren't able to compete and survive as well as the hummingbirds with thinner beaks were.

Natural Selection

My model depicts a prime example of natural selection.  The example deals with English peppered moths which come in two different colors: a light shade and a dark shade.  In England prior to being industrialized, the moths with the light shade were better adapted to the environment because they were more adept at camouflaging in order to hide from predators.  This made for a larger population of the light shaded peppered moths.  Once England became industrialized and numerous factories were built there was a lot of pollution in the air.  The factories mainly ran on coal which produced a thick black smoke.  The smoke inevitably reached and settled on the plant life making the trees considerably darker.  The dark trees made the light shaded moths visible, and more prone to predation; allowing for the dark shaded moths to survive and reproduce.  Ultimately there was a greater population of dark shaded moths than light shaded moths.  Natural selection allows more the more fit member of a species at the given time reproduce at a higher rate, due to less predation or the ability to easily obtain resources, which increases the frequency of the given trait that makes that member more fit.

Natural Selection In Giraffes

I chose to model the evolutionary process of natural selection and how it affected giraffes.  I chose to model it by showing the changes before and after of the giraffe due to the natural selection. I chose to represent it in this way because you can easily and clearly see the drastic change that occurred in the giraffe, from short neck to long neck. Natural selection though didn't make this change suddenly, the length of the giraffes necks increased in increments over time through evolution and eventually increased to the current long neck size. The reason for this evolutionary process as shown above in the picture is because the short neck giraffes couldn't reach the leaves in the trees and therefore couldn't survive. This evolution is selective because only the giraffes that had longer necks were able to successfully compete, and then be able to reproduce with other long neck giraffes, and thus producing offspring with more long necks, and fewer with short necks. This isn't random evolution because only the long neck giraffes would survive so they would be the only ones reproducing and making more long neck giraffes, because that is the favorable trait in their environment. The source of variation that lead to the evolution was that there were giraffes in the same area that had shorter and longer necks, and the ones with longer necks were able to reach the trees to eat and survive, so the ones with the shorter necks couldn't compete as well and therefore wouldn't reproduce to create more short necks.

Natural Selection in Sharks

My model shows the evolutionary process of natural selection in a shark population.  I drew pictures of the shark population before and after natural selection occurred.  I chose to represent natural selection in this way because it shows how the colors of the sharks changed due to natural selection.  The change in color of the sharks was due to predators.  The gray color of the starting population was visible to the predators in the dark blue oceans.  As time passed, their color patterns changed.  The topside of the sharks turned into a dark blue or gray color that allows them to blend in with the sea.  Their bellies turned into a white color that protects them from predators below them.  When the predators look up, the sharks' bellies blend in with the bright colored surface water due to the sunlight.  This mode of evolution is selective, rather than random.  Only the sharks with the new color pattern would be able to camouflage and survive from the predators.  Other species of animals have also adapted to be able to camouflage in their environments.  Escaping from predators is the main source of this evolution.  Sharks that are better blended in the sea will be able to have a  higher successful hunting rate.

"Platypus" Natural Selection

The evolutionary process shown is natural selection. I used colored pencils and paper to draw the changes after natural selection. I chose to represent natural selection in this way because it shows a clear picture of how the population of “platypus” changed. What led to this change is a lack of food source. All of the food that was originally being consumed by the “platypus” was nearly gone and another food source was needed for survival. The only other food source was a crustacean that lived in small niches in rocks. The “platypus” with the sharper beaks were able to access this new food source, while the others were not. This is a selective mode of evolution; only the “platypus” with sharper beaks survived to reproduce. This is not random evolution. Ducks and other birds have had pointed beaks to help them access food. This characteristic is the source of variation in the “platypus” beak.

The First step to fixing the problem, is to acknowledge it.

Plastic Ocean

           
(Sorry, the picture won't rotate)  In this picture, I drew many animals being affected by this ocean pollution. The bird (Sea gull) is trapped by a piece of string that got caught under a rock. The bird, unfortunately can die from this since it can't move around. I also drew many fish on their way inside of  a coke bottle. The coke bottle serves as a site where fish THINK they're going to find food. However, the fish coming out of the coke bottle has a plastic ring around it which only proves that it's a hazardous site. At the bottom, a sea turtle has gotten caught in another plastic ring where you can see it has become deformed. As a whole, the garbage in the ocean is only causing it to become a grave site to all sea animals. Evidently, everyone in the ecosystem will be affected.

Plastic Ocean

In my drawing, i am depicting what is happening in the article "Our oceans are turning into plastic..are we?", but in a very literal sense. The person on the boat S.S. Idiot is dumping an abundance of garbage into the ocean, which accounts for the extremely polluted gyre spoken about in the article. The fish is saying to her children to watch out for all the garbage, because unfortunately many marine animals get caught or eat the garbage, which leads to their death. Then the dolphin is saying that every bit of plastic ever made still exists, showing that this pollution will always remain there, and will ultimately always negatively effect the marine animals, and everyone on the planet; once one ecosystem is destroyed then this effects other ecosystems as well.

Ecology Poster

After reading the article "The Rape of Appalachia" I decided to make a campaign poster.  This poster is telling people to vote no to mountaintop mining.  They should vote no because mountaintop mining is hurting everything around it.  It is forcing people and animals to move from their normal habitats because the ground is not sturdy for them to live there.  Also this mining is affecting the miners that work there.  It is an extremely unsafe process and should be ended immediately.  There are other things we can substitute using instead of coal, like solar panels that are environmentally friendly.

Ecology Poster

I made this poster after reading the article "Our ocreans are turning into plastic...are we? written by Susan Casey.  The main thing on this poster is the earth in someone's hands.  The only way earth's problems can be solved is if YOU help.  The bottom of the poster is the ocean filled with garbage,but mostly plastic items.  The four animals are trapped in the plastic that us humans use.  We need to learn to be more considerate and think about the environment before making such bad decisions.  If everyone is aware of the harmful effects that humans are causing, hopefully they will help make a change.

I Am Plastic (Ecology Project)

I Am Plastic

By Kevin Tresselt

I am plastic.

I pollute the sea,

With bags, bath toys, traffic cones, jugs, and other debris.

Along with my friends, I create a huge plastic gyre,

Covering up large portions of the ocean, so it no longer looks sapphire.

I am plastic.

Created to withstand fire and bending,

The chemicals that help me are scarier than uncontrolled government spending.

The toxins within me can cause cancer within you and your brethren,

And create countless future problems for all of your children.

I am plastic.

I can barely be seen,

Because I am the nurdles that act so mean.

I absorb pollution, like a supersaturated poison pill,

Waiting to be eaten by a big fish with no will.

I am plastic.

Can you guess how I move?

Not by boats, ships, or the usual groove.

I get dumped on land, where the wind picks me up,

Then travel down streams to the ocean with my fellow cups.

I am plastic.

Believe it or not,

I used to be as valued and admired as a beautiful yacht.

I’ve given people credit cards, spandex pants, and medicine breakthroughs,

But today people hate me, and I rarely receive a simple thank you.

I am plastic.

Everyone uses me,

And while people are learning how to fix my problems, there are no guarantees.

Yes, scientists are trying to identify and remove me through major endeavors,

Unfortunately I will never breakdown; I’ll be here forever.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Description of Poem

This poem acts as a reflection of the giant plastic gyres that have been created in many of Earth's oceans.  The poem portrays the damaging effects of these pools of plastic, including negative effects on humans as well as other animals.  While the poem does defend plastic at one point, noting its usefulness when it was first created, it quickly refutes this.  In effect, the poem warns people of the dangers that plastic items impose, and that something must be done to address this large problem.

Here it is.

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