Diario del proyecto Aquatic Ecosystems and Surrounding Species in the Greater Montreal Area

martes, 22 de septiembre de 2020

Journal 1 Entry

In collecting my observations at the Lachine Canal for this project, the vast amount of species of life contained in such a small plot greatly surprised me. I was able to identify signs of life from 6 of the 7 kingdoms, from the algae on the rocks to the abundant plants and animals on the shore. The intricate mechanisms of evolution and adaptation were on clear display from the pollen-attracting hairs of the bumble bee (Genus bombus) to the feathered seeds of the milkweed (Genus Asclepias). Yet despite all this biodiversity, the one thing that all of our observed species had in common is the essential role that water plays in their survival. Throughout all their differences, each one had incorporated water as a fundamental chemical in its biological processes.

The species I'm choosing for my phylogenic placement is the Cabbage White Butterfly (Pieris rapae).
Domain - Eukaryotes
Kingdom - Animalia
Phylum - Arthropoda
Class - Insecta
Order - Lepidoptera
Family - Pieradae
Genus - Pieris
Species - Pieris rapae

Publicado el martes, 22 de septiembre de 2020 a las 08:15 PM por sam_liptay sam_liptay | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

lunes, 21 de septiembre de 2020

Journal Entry 1

Since Ava, Sam, and I chose to do observe water species in our project, we were able to find lots of organisms with similar adaptations and traits. One thing we found in common with most of the plants the three of us observed, (but specifically the tall goldenrod I found, the tufted hair grass Ava found, and the toadflax Sam found), was the length of the roots. Since the plants live on the edge of a waterway, it makes sense that they have long roots to reach nutrients in both the soil on the water bank and the soil underneath the waterway.
I also found lots of flowers, particularly the cow parsley, that had very long stems and flowers that spread outward and upward. I think this adaptation became advantageous because being next to the canal, the riverbank is lowered from the sidewalk level and the plants need to reach to get more sunlight.
Even though I've spent my entire life having it drilled into me how big the tree of life is in my biology classes, it was interesting to watch the tree spiral down to find the locust borer, a bug I observed during the lab. Once I zoomed out I could barely zoom back in. Basically the locust borer exists very deep within the tree, falling under the taxonomy of being an insect and a beetle. It's interesting how it branches off even further within those two groups as well– although it is mostly surrounded by other beetles and similarly related organisms, it's cool how you can scroll back for 10 seconds and see how the locust borers aren't very far from ladybugs or other common insects.

Publicado el lunes, 21 de septiembre de 2020 a las 05:47 PM por ameliacenns ameliacenns | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

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