Mushroom Blog Posts

A couple of days ago I went on a mushroom foray. I was able to collect two polypore mushrooms. I consider fungi to be one of the most interesting organisms because not only are they some of the world's best decomposers, but they're also extremely diverse in where they live. The three most known types of fungi are molds, mushrooms, and yeast. An interesting fact that holds true for all fungi is how they obtain their food, they absorb it form their surroundings. Because mushrooms are fruiting bodies when picked they do not die. Mushrooms are commonly found after it rains on the ground, in trees, and on trails. When going on a mushroom foray make sure to be aware of your surroundings. When collecting mushrooms it's important to look for spores and the shape of the cap. Also be sure to record where the mushroom was growing, it's location can give a lot of information. It's also good to make comparisons. For example, one of my mushrooms resembled a potato and we determined that it was an Inonotus rheades. Spore prints show the color of the mushroom's spores. Collecting a spore print is a fairly easy process and I've posted a link to a youtube video explaining this. The biggest problem our group had when identifying mushrooms were their similarities. For example, we picked up a small brown mushroom and could not identify it because it didn't have any distinguishing characteristics. When identifying a mushroom it's important to note the location, the color, size, cap and stem type, and it;s spore color. All of these characteristics play important roles in the identification process. This experience has taught me that when collecting organisms to identify the bigger the better. I found that it is much easier to identify a giant orange mushroom than a tiny brown one. Something I found interesting is that when searching for mushrooms you must venture off of the beaten path. You're much more likely to find an interesting mushroom in the woods than you are on a well worn trail. Spore Print Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fNHTmNy5to

Did Birds Really Derive From Dinosaurs?

The possibility that birds derived from dinosaurs has been under argument for years now. I personally believe that the two reptiles have too many similarities for them to not be related. Aside from their physical descriptions, dinosaurs and birds also use their clawed hands to obtain food. But these are only two vague examples, and not enough to support my theory. I plan on filling the next three paragraphs with information that will help you come to the same conclusion I’ve come to. Starting with their teeth and expanding to their forelimbs, the common day bird resembles the now extinct dinosaur. They have flexible wrists, clawed hands, hollow bones, holes in their skulls, strap like shoulder blades, and many more features that the dinosaur once had. I know what you’re thinking. How can an extinct animal be ancestor to a living creature? Well, I’m not saying that the two animals are closely related. In fact, this is where Darwin’s theory of evolution comes into play. Basically, animals evolve over time. Sometimes to better fit in with their environment, but most of the time there is no explanation. Think about how different we are from our ancestors, known as cavemen. Isn’t it essentially the same thing? Over billions of years things have changed, this includes animals. As you can probably see, it’ll be a long time before anyone can really know for sure whether or not birds derived from dinosaurs. Although nothing is set in stone, I believe that birds, while probably not closely related, have derived from dinosaurs. And while I have no way of really being sure of anyone else’s opinion, I can only hope that after reading my article you can at least see my point and understand my reasoning.

Is it Alive? Reflection Blog Post

1.  What pieces of technology used by biologists did you use? How did they help your investigation?
Answer: In the process of discovering whether or not my organism was living we used a microscope, a wet mount slide, and bromothymol blue.  The microscope was used to look for cells, we had to use a wet mount slide in order to do this.  And the bromothymol was used to see whether or not our organism could produce Co2

2.  What problems did you encounter during your investigation?  What solutions did you come up with?
Answer: When we first began our project we wanted to see whether or not our organism could reproduce.  However, we found that it would take too much time and were not able to go through with the experiment.  We changed our questions.

3.  If you could change how you collected data, how would you change it?
Answer:  I would probably keep a neater chart.  I've discovered that when it comes to recording data charts usually work best.

4.  What were the independent variables in your investigation?
Answer: Our independent variables were the bromothymol blue, water, and soil. (different experiments)

5.  What were the dependent variables of your investigation?
Answer: Our organism.

6.  Did you use controls in your investigation?  What were they?
Answer: We only had one control, it was a dry cup with our organism in it.  We also kept it out of direct sunlight.

7.  Did you use a stimulus to elicit a response?  If yes, describe how.
Answer: We used saltwater, freshwater, and soil.  We used them to see how our organism responded to different environments.

8.  Would you consider your conclusion to be a hypothesis, theory, or fact? Why?
Answer:  Considering that our organism did not produce Co2, didn't react to environments, or have cells I believe that our conclusion of it being non living is a fact.

9.  What did you learn from this lab that you will apply to future labs?
Answer:  You should always keep your data neat and accurate.  Also, finish ahead of time so that your group has time to prepare to present.


To look at our presentation simply click on the link below
http://www.slideshare.net/vesselym16/is-it-alive-14179689?from=share_email