Predator/Prey Lab Activity

This lab using nonliving creatures still depicts and accurate example of natural population control. This lab accurately shows how when a predator population depends on it's prey population. A predator population can only increase if there was a previous increase in its prey population, and a predator population decreases when there was a previous decrease in it's prey population.

As our graph shows our predator population of wolves struggled to survive throughout the beginning of their existence. This was because of the small population of prey they were expected to feed on. Once the population of the prey rose high enough there was rapid exponential growth in the wolf population. This is natural population control. As one population gets to large another one grows to balance it out.

Our lab was cut short due to time, but next we would expect the rabbit population to continue decreasing. As the rabbit population decreased, so would the wolf population. The rabbit population would probably go extinct in this lab because this lab is slightly unrealistic, but in real life the rabbit population would see a major decrease. The loss in the rabbit population would cause a decrease in the wolf population until the wolf population became very low as well and the process would start over again with the rabbit population beginning to rise again.

Oil Spill in the Caspian Sea!!!

In my previous post I updated my whereabouts visiting the Caspian Sea and the information I learnt while out there. Earlier this week I was informed that there was an oil spill, so I yet again visited the Caspian Sea to see the effects the oil spill had.

After speaking with some of the locals I soon realized that oil spills in the Caspian were more common than most people know. It is estimated that the Caspian Sea holds 48 billion barrels of oil, which in today's world is very useful. This leads to each of its five bordering countries to try to obtain its oil, which occasionally leads to an oil spill.

Oil spills are very bad, but many people imagine oil spills to be way worse than they actually are. "Light" oils such as diesel fuel and gasoline are evaporated in days. The trouble with "light" oils are that they are easily ignited and they are hazardous and tend to kill the animals they touch. "Heavy" oils such as bunker oils are a problem because of their stickiness. They tend to stick to animals with fur causing them to lose the ability to keep themselves warm leading them to die of hypothermia. These oils are typically less toxic, but they also take a lot longer to weather away.

When a "light" oil spill occurs few to many animals and fish may die depending on how many come into contact with it. This tends to be fewer animals because how fast the oil evaporates. After a "heavy" oil spill few fish are harmed, but there is a large effect over time on the number of seabirds and the Caspian seals. 

Animals and plants that are deeper in water, typically the marine life in the south, are better adapted to survive oil spills. This is because the simple fact that most oils float. This means that animals that come in contact with the top layer of the water will typically be the only ones effected. There are also large numbers of deaths in animals due to the cleanup operations that take place after an oil spill. This is a factor that will gradually decrease as time goes on and cleanup procedures improve.

Overall, there will be no major or permanent changes to the biome.

Caspian Sea Travel Blog

Caspian Sea

(Freshwater)

Most recently I have traveled to the Caspian Sea. It was a fantastic trip and it has taught me a lot. One thing that I learned that not many people know is that although it is called a sea it is considered a lake because it is still majority a freshwater source. This is because it is geologically an ocean. The Caspian Sea is the only place with this rare condition.

CIA. Caucasus Central Asia Political Map. N.d. Http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Caucasus_central_asia_political_map_2000.jpg, n.p.

The Caspian Sea also provides many things that other lakes and freshwater sources do not. This includes the major components of modern life; natural gas and oil. It is also a great location for different building stones and various salts

            The water in the Caspian Sea is also much different from any other lake. It is well known for its high percentage of salt. It contains about one third the amount of salt oceans carry, but it is still considered a freshwater lake because the inflowing rivers contain freshwater. It is connected to about 130 freshwater rivers with the main five making up about 90% of its inflowing water.

            The Caspian Sea being the largest enclosed body of water on the planet is often broken into three parts the northern, middle, and southern parts.  The northern part accounts for about 25% of the surface area, but only 0.5% of its volume. The middle and southern parts cover around 37% of the surface area each, and the middle contains 33.9% of the volume and the southern part containing about 65.6% of its volume. It is almost as if the Caspian Sea is made of completely different biomes to make one whole biome. Rainfall ranges from 10-20mm on the east coast to 1000-1200mm in the southern region, and the average temperature goes from about 10°C in the north to 17°C in the south.

Schmaltz, Jeff, MODIS Rapid Response Team, and NASA/GSFC. Caspian Sea from Orbit. 11 june 2003. Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Caspian_Sea_from_orbit.jpg, Caspian Sea

            The Caspian Sea with such a unique environment is home to 1809 species and subspecies of animals. This is made of 1069 kinds of invertebrates, 325 kinds of parasites, and 415 kinds of vertebrates. The most popular fish being the sturgeon in which the Caspian holds 90% of. They are so popular because of the popularity of caviar and fish in the area. Fish are so popularly hunted in the Caspian that some fish like the beluga are in the possibility of facing extinction. Another popular species in the Caspian Sea are the Caspian seals which are also on the road of depletion. There has been a consistent decrease in their population for many years moving them from in the millions to about 400-300 thousand.

Nanosanchez. Caspian Seal. N.d. Commons.wikimedia.org, Caspian Sea.

            The Caspian Sea is home to a food web that seems similar to those of oceanic areas. The northern area of the sea is driven by freshwater algae as the producers, but the southern area is ruled by marine phytoplankton. This leads to primary production being done in the northern Caspian Sea. The producers are typically eaten by zooplankton or planktivorous fish, which are in tern eaten by larger carnivorous fish, birds, or the Caspian seal. There are then numerous types of fish, crabs, and snails that then proceed with the process in decomposing producers and dead consumers.

Modified from Kostianoy, 2005

            The Caspian Sea ranges in salinity levels like no other freshwater lake or pond. The northern areas of the Caspian Sea have salinity levels low enough to allow fresh water species like fauna and flora to grow, but in the south the salinity levels are to high. This is the opposite for marine species, which can grow in the salinity levels in the south and not in the north. The variable salinity throughout the Caspian Sea is like no other and means that every microorganism, plant, or animal has adapted in order to survive.

            While there I also learnt about symbiotic relationships that take place in freshwater biomes like the Caspian Sea. I was taught how algae and fungi work together to form lichens as a mutualistic symbiotic relationship.

            Overall I had a great trip and I highly recommend the Caspian Sea for your next travel.

           

Works Cited

1. "CASP INFO." Environment. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. <http://www.caspinfo.net/content/content.asp?menu=0120000_000000>.

2. "Caspian Sea." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Apr. 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspian_Sea>.

3. "Home Links Caspian Sea & Neighbours." Lists as Navigation. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. <http://www.caspianstudies.com/Links/Country/Caspian.html>.

4. "Caspian Sea Environment." Caspian Sea Environment. CaspEcoProject Management and Coordination Unit, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. <http://www.caspianenvironment.org/newsite/Caspian-Biodiversity3.htm>.

5. "Symbiosis for Freshwater Biomes." Freshwater Biomes. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. <http://thefreshwaterbiome.weebly.com/symbiosis-for-freshwater-biomes.html>.

6. Grove, Maryjanna. "Caspian Sea." The Seas Project. N.p., 8 Dec. 2010. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. <http://theseasproject.weebly.com/caspian-sea.html>.

Animal Behavior Lab

Abstract:
In this lab we search to find different actions and common actions that terrestrial isopods (pill bugs) share. We also look to better understand how their behavior in different environments and their preference between different living environments. By placing ten pill bugs in a dual circle tray that allowed us to simulate two different environment we observed their actions periodically for 8 minutes. Periodically recording the number of pill bugs in each environment allowed us to observe their actions by majority to see their overall preference between two environments.

Background:
In order to observe and understand terrestrial isopod behavior properly there are some things about behavior in general that must first be known. The first being what is animal behavior? Animal behavior is everything an animal does from breathing and walking to how they eat. The study of animal behavior is professionally known as ethology.
While observing an animal or species you must ask different questions to better understand them. In ethology there are two main types of question you can ask, an ultimate question or a proximate question. Ultimate questions are typically why questions and deal with evolution reasoning while a proximate question commonly deals with how questions and deal with everyday reasoning. A proximate question would be something like "How do birds sing?" while an ultimate question would be "Why do birds sing?".
Fixed actions are actions that an animal does instinctively without having to be taught. Fixed actions are trigger as a response to a stimuli. An example would be the greylag goose that has a fixed action to roll her eggs back into the nest. The stimulus to this would be the egg rolling out of the nest and the fixed actions is her rolling the egg back into the nest. Fixed actions make up part of an animals behavior because these are things they do without being taught or without having to learn.
Imprinted actions like fixed actions also help to make up an animal's behavior. Unlike fixed actions imprinted actions are learnt. An animal gets imprinted actions during its critical adolescent years when it strongly observes its parents and begins to adopt the actions of its parents. An example would be young geese which directly follow the actions of their parents. A proximate cause would be that they are genetically wired to find a mother after birth while an ultimate cause would be that they depend on a mother of some sort after birth for survival.
Another two types of movement for animals are taxis movement and kinesis movement. Taxes are the result of a direct response to or away from a stimulus. An example would be the regular migration of birds south. Kinesis movements are non directed movements to a stimulus such as bats flying randomly once startled.
Classical conditioning is when an animal learns to link two stimuli together. Classical conditioning is most commonly known through Ivan Pavlov's experiment in which linked the sound of a bell ringing and feeding time in a dog's mind. This caused the dog to begin to salivate every time he heard the bell ring. Operant conditioning is much different. Operant conditioning occurs through giving an incentive to provoke a voluntary action. A common example of this is giving a dog a treat to complete certain task. Many dog trainers or dog owners give their dog a treat to teach them how to do simple tasks like sitting or staying. The dog then links getting a treat with completing the action and voluntarily begins to complete the task.

Question:
Do pill bugs prefer wet or dry environments? Does the color of the environment change the pill bugs behavior?

Hypothesis:
The pill bugs will prefer the dry chamber over the wet chamber because pill bugs are typically found in drier areas. Secondly, the pill bugs will have little to no preference about the color of the environment.

Materials:
1. A dual sectioned chamber
2. 10 pillbugs
3. 3 White filter papers
4. 1 Blue filter paper
5. A lamp
6. Water
7. Timer

Procedure:

Part One (Wet or Dry)

• Place one filter paper on each side of the dual sectioned chamber
• Dampen one of the filter papers on only one side of the chamber
• Move all 10 of your pill bugs into the chamber
• Record your initial amount of pill bugs on each side
• Record the number of pill bugs on each side every thirty second for eight minutes

Part Two (Blue or White Environment)

• Place one white filter paper on one side and your blue filter paper on the other side
• Move all 10 of your pill bugs into the chamber
• Record your initial amount of pill bugs on each side
• Record the number of pill bugs on each side every thirty second for eight minutes

Data:
Part One

Time(mins)	Number in wet chamber	Number in dry chamber	Notes
0	2	8
0.5	2	8
1	2	8	2 large groups in the dry section
1.5	2	8	Very little movement
2	2	8
2.5	2	8
3	3	7
3.5	3	7	Spreading
4	4	6
4.5	5	5	No movement in dry
5	3	7
5.5	1	9
6	1	9	Clumped in dry
6.5	2	8
7	4	6
7.5	6	4
8	4	6

Part Two

Time(mins)	Number in white chamber	Number in blue chamber	Notes
0	4	6
0.5	8	2
1	7	3
1.5	7	3
2	6	4
2.5	5	5
3	4	6
3.5	3	7
4	5	5	Little ones in white
4.5	6	4
5	5	5
5.5	5	5
6	4	6	No movement
6.5	4	6
7	4	6
7.5	4	6
8	4	6

Conclusion:
By looking at our data for the first part we can tell that there was very little movement with our pill bugs, but the main preference tended to be the dry chamber. Although there were times when the pill bugs did move around there was only one time in which there was a majority in the wet chamber. With this data we can conclude that the pill bugs prefer dry environments. For our second part we tested to see if different color environments changed the pill bugs behavior. We observed lots of movement for six minutes until the pill bugs settled at an almost even ratio. With this we can conclude that the pill bugs had no real preference between a blue environment and a white environment. So, in this lab we have proven both of our hypothesis correct. Possible mistakes that could have been made include miscounting the pill bugs, getting both filters partially wet on accident, or incorrect timing marks. Overall I think our labs were done fairly accurate giving us our expected results.