Geologic Timeline Individual Reflection

In the Hadean eon, Earth was formed, along with the first life forms. In the Archeozoic period shows the earliest evidence of plate tectonics, as well as organic carbon. The Cambrian period has a diversity in which fossils have been recovered. It surprised me that there was evidence of plate tectonics in the Archeozoic period. It is amazing how much humans have impacted the Earth over time. I wonder how old the oldest rock is.

Hunger Games Final Analysis

To simulate the affects of natural selection, my class stood in a circle and fought for our survival by attempting to collect as much food as possible while being 3 different phenotypes: "stumpys," "knucklers," and "pinchers." The "Knucklers," who had to pick up food between their second knuckles of their index and middle fingers, ended up being the most successful with their survival. The "Stumpys" started dying out around trial 4. The population evolved to consist of "Knucklers" and "Pinchers." The results would be different if the food was smaller because it would allow the different beaks to pick up pieces faster. This relates to the real-world because in nature sometimes food becomes larger or smaller. When this happens certain species that don't have large or small enough beaks to pick up the food, die out. The relationship between natural selection and evolution is natural selection is necessary for evolution to occur. Individuals started cheating by turning around to see where the food would be located, as well as picking up food with their hands and not their correct beak form. This behavior could occur in nature if an animal hid or hoarded all of the food from the rest of its kind. In evolution, natural selection acts on both the genotype and phenotype. Positive or negative traits can be inherited that are not physically seen, such as an allele for a disease. Phenotype can also be affected, causing members of a species to have a certain beak. I wonder what kind of bird has the best beak to eat any kind of food.

Unit 8 Reflection

This unit was mainly about speciation. Isolation is necessary for speciation to occur. The three factors that contribute to speciation are behavioral isolation, geographic isolation, and temporal isolation. Behavioral isolation is where there are changes in mating behavior. Geographic isolation is where a physical feature separates a species into groups. Lastly, temporal isolation is where reproduction is prevented because of the timing. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Mutation_and_selection_diagram.svg/2000px-Mutation_and_selection_diagram.svg.png

This unit also taught about Darwin's conclusions. Darwin's first conclusion is that there are winners and losers in the natural world. His second conclusion is that due to natural selection, populations usually end up looking like the winners. An essential theme for this unit is that natural selection causes evolution. I want to learn more bout birds and why some have very colorful feathers, such as parrots, while others have bland colors, such as crows. In an attempt to be more assertive, I have been trying to sit up straighter and make more eye contact. My goal is to very assertive by June.

Below are Darwin's finches.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Darwin%27s_finches_by_Gould.jpg