My Science Space » Biosphere

Not Your Average Squares

Mr. G — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:42:00 +0000

I found this in an old post to this website from 2007, but you know it’s still a likely topic for FCAT.

Do you remember these? We use them to determine the F1 and F2 offspring in the FCAT review stations you did. They are called Punnett Squares. Click the image to get a quick overview on inheritance.

A Cell-a-bration

Mr. G — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:15:36 +0000

Working on your FCAT review and perhaps struggling with the Cell Structure and Function crossword puzzle? Well maybe this will help. Click on the logo below to learn more.

Cell Structure and Function Crossword Puzzle Word Choices. When using two word phrases eliminate the space between words.

cell membrane
cell wall
central vacuole
centrioles
chloroplasts
chromatin
cytoplasm
endoplasmic reticulum
golgi apparatus
lysosomes
mitochondria
nuclear membrane
nucleolus
nucleus
ribosomes
vacuoles

Like a breath of fresh air

Mr. G — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 00:37:00 +0000

EurekAlert!

Contact: Beverly Law:

bev.law@oregonstate.edu Oregon State University

Imagine you are walking in a forest and can actually feel or hear trees, shrubs, and even soil breathing. As the sun shines in the daytime, you sense a huge whoosh as plants breathe in and a long sigh as they exhale carbon dioxide. Just like the in-and-out movement of air in a human lung, the living parts of the forest have regular rhythms of exchange with the air.

Across North America, a network of more than 90 towers called AmeriFlux monitors this daily breathing of forests, grasslands, croplands and shrublands. Professor Beverly Law of the Oregon State University College of Forestry is a “biosphere breathing” expert and the Science Chair of AmeriFlux. Law can use tower data to create a graph of forest breathing; carbon dioxide plotted by time, which looks like a series of up and down lines for each day. Photosynthesis and respiration by forests and other vegetated ecosystems are the processes that cause this daily change in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

All plants photosynthesize, or are able to use the sun as an energy source to convert water and carbon dioxide into molecules that comprise all living tissues. During the day when the sun is available for photosynthesis, plants take in carbon dioxide through tiny pores in the leaves to produce sugar-like carbon molecules for energy and release oxygen. Forests gather enough carbon dioxide from the air to create the equivalent of one pound of sugar per square foot each year.

What happens to those sugar carbon molecules? In just a few days, most of the carbon molecules are broken down and returned to the air as carbon dioxide. Night and day plants are constantly turning carbon molecules, like sugar, into energy to grow. Plants release carbon dioxide to the atmosphere during their growth and maintenance of living plant tissues. Microbes are also actively breaking down dead leaves, roots and animals in the soil; another respiration process that releases a large amount carbon dioxide in forests. Overall, forests exhale about 80% of the carbon dioxide taken up in photosynthesis. The rest of the carbon dioxide becomes the plant tissues that make up lofty trees and soft forest floor.

Law and other scientists want to know: do ecosystems always take in more carbon dioxide from the air than they release? This is an important question because carbon dioxide in the air from burning fossil fuels is the main culprit in global warming.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that traps warm air in the atmosphere which increases global temperatures. Using AmeriFlux tower data, scientists have estimated that in the United States, vegetated ecosystems take up 30% of the carbon dioxide that is released from fossil fuel burning. This is yet another of the services that we receive from forests and natural areas, provided simply by plants’ daily living and breathing!

Perfect Pitch

Mr. G — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 02:06:00 +0000

SCIENCE NEWS
August 29, 2007

Perfect Pitch: “You’ve Either Got It or You Don’t”

Is there a gene for perfect pitch? New study sets the stage for finding out

By Nikhil Swaminathan


	Image: © ISTOCKPHOTO/JACOB WACKERHAUSEN
	GENETICALLY PREDISPOSED?: Assuming this young lady has perfect pitch, could her ability be coded in her DNA?

You don’t have to be Mozart to correctly identify a tone as A-sharp or D-flat. In fact, says a new report, perfect pitch may be genetic In the midst of recruiting subjects for a genetic study on perfect (absolute) pitch—the ability to discern a note from nearly any sort of sound without a reference tone—scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, discovered several interesting patterns among people who have the skill.

More….

Review Punnett Squares

Mr. G — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 02:41:00 +0000

Do you remember these? We used them in class (or at least you should have) to determine the F1 and F2 offspring in today’s FCAT ScAT. They are called Punnett Squares. Click the image to get a quick overview on Punnett Squares and a bit about genetics.

More On Cells

Mr. G — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 03:24:00 +0000

I just loved watching that video in class today and I know many of you enjoyed the Inner Life Of Cells too. But you may have struggled to recognize the cell structures, after all not many people have seen them like this before and it does go quick.

So here a little help. Click on the cell picture to the left and it will take you to a site where you can review cell organelles. Once you’re there click on the name of an organelle to learn more.

Now watch the video again (click on the picture in the post below). Can you find the mitochondrion, Golgi Complex, microtubules, nucleus, cell membrane, and centriole?

Have fun, science is just too cool!

The Wonder of Science

Mr. G — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 03:17:00 +0000

Click on the picture to watch this amazing 3D digital video. It shows you actual processes taking place inside a cell in a way you have never seen before.

Give it a little while to load, especially if you have a dial up connection. If it doesn’t begin to play on it’s own click the play button.

If you’re ready for some advanced cellular biology, here’s a link to the same video with a descriptive narrative and no music. (Life just seems more interesting when set to music)

China’s Pollution Blows Across Pacific

Mr. G — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 01:53:00 +0000

September 6, 2006

Pollution from eastern China often blows out over the Pacific Ocean. Sometimes, it reaches halfway around the world to North America. NASA Earth Observatory.

New research shows that more and more pollution from China is blowing across the Pacific Ocean and reaching the coast of North America. One-third of the pollution is from dust kicked up by gusty winds due to drought and deforestation. The rest is soot, sulfur, and small amounts of metals from the burning of fossil fuels by industry in eastern China.

According to estimates from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), about 25 percent of the pollution over Los Angeles and other California cities starts out in China. As industry grows in China, the total could soon reach one-third of all of California’s pollution. Research stations in Oregon and Washington show the same pattern. Large amounts of ozone, carbon monoxide, mercury, and pollutants have been traced to China.

The increased pollution is one of many environmental problems spawned by China’s huge increase in industry. …more…

Test Day & Internet Extra

Mr. G — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 22:45:00 +0000

I want to thank Mr. Yost who filled in for me today, enabling me to attend teacher development sessions. Yes, teachers still go to school and learn new things to make them better at their profession. Education is a never ending, life long process. In addition to the formal training session run by Principal Lucas, I was able to observe two other science teachers here at Lakeview. Afterwards we discussed various strategies to improve the effectiveness of our classes.

So while I was training today you were taking a test on weather. I hope everyone did well and that our review yesterday was helpful. If you finished your test early enough you began our unit on environmental science by reading about Elroy Masters who works for the BLM. Elroy’s job is to protect the desert wildlife habitat along the Colorado River.

Internet Extra Credit:

Florida has a number of unique wildlife habitats that are currently being protected. Identify one of these areas and write a paper about it. You determine the length of the paper needed to effectively convey the following information:
1) The name of the area
2) Draw a map showing where it is located
3) Write a description of the type of habitat, include major biotic and abiotic factors, include pictures or drawings if possible
4) Tell why it is important to protect this area
5) Explain what threats the area faces
6) Tell who (what agency) is responsible for protecting the habitat
7) List all the sources you used to find this information
Tell us where we can find more information

This is a major extra credit project equivalent to a full multi-day class lab, 100 points. This project may be turned in anytime between now and the end of the second marking period. Projects must be neat, well written and accurate. You may use short direct quotes however they must be in quotation marks and the sources credited. The majority of the project must be in your own words, do not plagiarize.