The Botany of Desire

People often think that they choose which plants to grow in their gardens, and farmers choose which crops or food to grow on farmlands. However, as Michael Pollan points out, this statement is not entirely true. There is another side of this statement: why are there plants available for us to choose from? Because these plants have gone through thousands of millions years of evolution and survived. It is not entirely dependent on us to continue their survival on Earth. Michael Pollan provides some examples that helps us explore the survival of plants.

The first plant Pollan mentions is apple. Apples are known for their sweetness. As the sweetness chart shows, different apples taste differently with respect to their sweetness. The sweetness is largely due to the amount of glucose and fructose in the apple. The more photosynthesis processes the plant undergoes, the more carbohydrate it has in the fruit. Therefore, apples are able to develop and spread across the world through animals by getting eaten by them and the animals are able to carry the seed to somewhere else.

The second plant that Pollan includes is tulip. Tulips are considered one of the most beautiful flowers and the national flower of Netherlands. According to Pollan, the key to tulips' survival is their beauty. Due to their colorful looks, insects and animals are attracted by tulips and therefore transport the pollens while eating the fruit inside.

The third plant is cannabis. Cannabis are best known for their ability to cure wounds for animals and humans. Since the demand for cannabis in the wild is high, more animals and human beings use them and therefore help facilitate the spread of cannabis throughout the world.

The last plant is potato. Potatoes are a good source of nutritions such as starch and other carbohydrates. Throughout the history, potatoes have been an important part of diet for people in different areas of the world. Due to human demand and influence, potatoes are able to survive and flourish.

Wolf and Rabbit Lab

This graph above shows the number of different rabbits and wolves on the green grass. As we can see, the pattern here is that when wolves have relatively small population, the population of rabbits will grow very quickly. This trend is illustrated in Round 1-5. However, the wolves will increase in number at this point because they have more rabbits to prey on and therefore able to produce more offspring. Round 6-9 shows this trend. From Round 11 to 19, the equilibrium between wolves and rabbits are reached and thus the population is pretty even.

In this process, some rabbits become extinct because they have too small a population to survive from the predators (For example white rabbit and dark green rabbits).

Throughout the process, green rabbits have learned to adapt to the environment by variations in their body color. The light green color of their bodies are great for them to camouflage themselves in the grass. Therefore, they have higher chance to reproduce and survive from the predators.

This graph shows the population of rabbits and wolves in a icy environment. In this experiment, we only used small wolves. These wolves are smaller and therefore are not that able to prey on rabbits. As a result, the number of rabbits increase dramatically within a few rounds. However, as population of rabbits increases, the small wolves have higher chance of catching rabbits and increase their chance of reproduction and survival.

My Travel Blog 2--Oil Spill in Lake Baikal

Last week, there was a spill in an oil well at Lake Baikal. This event has drawn scientists' attention quickly around the world. Since Lake Baikal is the home of more than 1,550 species of animals, the damage on the ecosystem is alarmingly dangerous.

Scientists concluded that the immediate impacts of oil spill include causing birds to lose their buoyancy and the ability to regulate body temperature from the coated oil on their feather and causing mammals to have ulcers and internal bleeding from ingesting oil.

"Flying WILD Activity Teaches How Oil in Water Effects Birds"

"Flying WILD Activity Teaches How Oil in Water Effects Birds"

It is important to understand that oil is poisonous for animals. From ingestion, mammals may lose their ability to regulate their body temperatures, which would lead to mass number of deaths. For example, one particular organism that would be harmed by the oil spill is the freshwater seal--nerpa.

Photo Courtesy of Tatiana Baksheeva

Regulation of body temperature is vital to the survival of nerpa. Nerpa is an ectodermic species--one that can and needs to regulate its own body temperature to keep its body cells working and operate homeostasis. However, ingestion of oil can harm its nervous system and therefore stop homeostasis of in its body. Once nerpa cannot regulate its body temperature, when it is swimming in Lake Baikal, it will die in the freezing water.

On the other hand, some organisms might flourish in response to the oil spill. For example, epischura is one of the species that can benefit from the oil spill.

"Epischura baicalensis and other wriggly things"

As Peter Thomson states, Lake Baikal is capable of purifying it self from the help of epischura. "Baikal does, remarkably, cleanse itself. It's a complex process, but the cornerstone is the lake’s most plentiful creature — a tiny, endemic, filter-feeding copepod called Epischura baicalensis. Each Epischura is no bigger than a poppyseed, but there are zillions floating through Baikal, which together form an incredibly efficient filtration system. They suck tiny scraps of food out of the lake, and along with them any specks of pollution they encounter. It’s the Epischura that keep Baikal’s water so pure. They are, as one local environmental activist put it, “the heroes of the lake."

Thomson also comments on the process of epischura's work, "away from a few local near-shore hotspots, the extraordinary powers of the heroic Epischura have kept Baikal’s water free of virtually any sign of these insults. But while they make contaminants invisible to most observers, the Epischura don’t really make the pollution disappear. Instead, they merely transfer toxic compounds from the water into the food chain. And with each step along the chain, the pollutants are concentrated thousands of times: At the top, researchers have found Baikal seals with pollution loads rivaling those of seals in the heavily industrialized Baltic Sea. The contamination may be linked to chronic health problems and even to several mass die-offs of seals since the late 1980s. And the humans who live on or near Baikal eat many of the same fish as the seals do, so they may also be ingesting dangerous amounts of pollutants."

Therefore, according to Thomson, if there is an oil spill at Lake Baikal, the epischura are able to ingest the toxic oil and transfer the toxic to other animals such as seals. Since the seals are already suffering from ingestion of oil, this transfer of toxic oil will further devastate the species. Thus, the epischura's population will increase as a result of increasing demand on filtering the water.

Citations:

https://www.nwf.org/What-We-Do/Protect-Habitat/Gulf-Restoration/Oil-Spill/Effects-on-Wildlife.aspx
http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/oil-and-chemical-spills/oil-spills/how-oil-harms-animals-and-plants.html
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/russias_lake_baikal_preserving_a_natural_treasure/2005/

My Travel Blog--Lake Baikal

"Breathtaking photos of Frozen Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia"

Lake Baikal Homepage

Last week, I traveled to the freshwater lake with the greatest volume and depth in the world--Lake Baikal in Russia! Before I started my journey, I did some research on Lake Baikal and the surrounding area. The lake is located in the south of Siberia and to the north of mongolia. Lake Baikal contains 20% of the freshwater on the Earth. The water quality is extremely good that on a good day you can see 40 meters into the lake. Since it is April now, the lake is still frozen but is starting to melt. The following two graphs provide the information on temperature and precipitation at Lake Baikal. As you can see, the highest average temperature can reach 15 degrees Celsius during summer and 25 degrees below 0 during winter. Also, I didn't experience any rainfall, because the amount of rainfall in April is one of the fewest among the entire year on average. 

Norwegian Meteorological Institute

Norwegian Meteorological Institute

Day 1 Vegetation:

There are about 1,085 species of plants and many of them are "endemic", existing only in the area of Lake Baikal.

On my second day at Lake Balkai, I went to Pribaikalye and visited the famous taiga forest.  I saw the light green of larch, birch, poplar and alder trees growing in the lower belt, covering the slopes. Higher up it is replaced by a belt of a dark coniferous forest - cedar, fir and spruce. Up this belt the slopes are covered with

impassable brushwoods of trailing cedar, through which only bear trails run. Above them on the gentle sloping terrace there are Alpine grasslands with parterres and finally, snowcovered peaks.

In contrast to European new woods the Baikal taiga has preserved trees of all ages - from young ones to 500-600 and even 800 year old giants. It is the only place where pine forests, with the world famous Angara pine tree, extend. Its timber has no match. In the undergrowth of pine forests, on the former burnings and clearings, one can come across rich red bilberries and on the hillsides, fern thickets.

"Lake Baikal Vegetation", BWW.irk.ru

Day 2 Animals:

Lake Baikal is the home of 1,550 species and varieties of animals. More than 80% of the animals are "endemic" as well. 

In the morning, I went on a boat with a local Russian tour guide.

As I heard from my tourist guide on the boat, some fishes can survive more than a mile under water. If they move up to water level with lower pressure, their bodies might literally explode.

Out of all the animals living in the Lake Baikal, the most interesting are the fresh water seals. Here is a picture of it. Look how cute it is!!!

"Nemo Among the Nerpas"

Scientists still have not determined how the seals got to Lake Baikal, although it is supposed that they travelled here in prehistoric times from the Arctic through a river.

The nerpas – how they are often called – differ in many aspects from the Arctic seals as they have adapted to the Baikal climate. For example they have more blood, which makes it possible to them to swim for more than 70 minutes. They can also travel at great depths, sometimes reaching depths of 300 meters under the surface.
One of the most bizarre fish that lives in Lake Baikal is the golomyanka (oil-fish). The golomyanka has no scale and a translucent body. It can swim at depths of more than 1000 meters.

For dinner I had the fish Omul for the main dish. The omul is the most popular fish in Lake Baikal and you will find it in most tourist towns as it is the main food supply of the locals. I took some pictures of them too!

"Omul"

Day 3 Decomposers:

On the third day, I went to a local laboratory and looked at some decomposers.

According to local scientists, there are around 1200 species of invertebrates in the Lake Baikal area. Due to some of these organisms the ability of Lake Baikal for self-purification is one of the greatest. They purify water.

Epishura can be called the filter of Lake Baikal. This small, 1.5 mm long crustacean plays an important role in the pelagic ecosystem. It consumes the majority of Baikal algae and serves an essential feeding object of famous omul. The epishura plays an exceptional part in Baikal's life circle. My fellow scientist took this picture!

Lake Baikal Dimensions of Biodiversity

One-celled and small invertebrate animals, inhabiting the Lake pelagic zone are joined into zooplankton group. They possess such apparatus, that support them in water body. They are free-moving together with Lake waters and occur up to great depths. My friend took this amazing picture!

"Zooplankton"

Day 4 Food Web:

After 3 days of exploring Lake Baikal and talking with scientists, I came up with a food web. This food web shows that algae is feeded on by invertebrates, and fishes feed on invertebrates, and nerpas feed on fishes. On the other hand, invertebrates and other decomposers feed on the dead body of fresh water seal and fish.

"Lake Baikal"

End of Journey: As the journey comes to an end, I started concluding my observations from this trip.

Adaptations:

1. Nerpa: The nerpa are known for their ability to swim under water. They have 2 more liters of blood which enables the nerpa to do without fresh air for almost 70 minutes. According to the observations of workers of the Limnological Institute, nerpa is able to dive at a depth of almost 300 m. This difference from other seals allow them to swim longer. My conjecture of this adaptation is that since Lake Baikal is surrounded with cliffs and has such great size, the nerpa need longer time to spend under water to get a shore or beach where they can get out of water and breathe.

2. Angara Pine: This type of pine tree is different from its original structure in Europe. Angara pine has higher density and higher durability because it has to withstand the cold climate and strong wind during winters. 

Symbiosis:

According to scientists, sponges live in a symbiotic relationship with the photosynthetic algae. The algae lives close to the surface of the sponge, and photosynthesizes light. The algae is provided with a beneficial habitat, protected from predators. The sponge benefits from the by-product of photosynthesis, oxygen.

Animal Behavior Lab

Abstract

In this lab, there were two major purposes of investigation. The first factor of studying isopods’ behavior was their preference on the humidity of their living environment. Data collected from experiment show that isopods are evenly distributed on preference of wet or dry environment. The second factor of studying isopods’ behavior was their preference on the acidity of their living environment. By presenting two different environments with a control, the bugs were free to choose which environment to go to without light. Data show that they prefer slightly basic environment to the acidic one.

Background

Behavior—Behavior is everything an animal does and how it does everything.

Proximate Question—Explanation of an animal's behavior based on trigger stimuli and internal mechanisms (What outside stimuli causes bird to sing?)

Ultimate Question— Explanation of an animal's behavior based on evolution (Why can bird sing?)

Fixed-action patterns—Stereotypical behaviors that are triggered by specific stimuli (Ducks swim once they are in water)

Imprinting—The recognition of some object as “mother” when it’s seen during a critical time period shortly after birth. (Proximate Cause: When the geese were very young, they saw their mothers moving away and calling. Ultimate Cause: Geese have a better chance of surviving when they learn skills from their mother.)

Taxis—A specific, directed motion in response to a stimulus (Photosynthetic protest, Euglena, moves toward the light source)

Kinesis—A random, undirected motion in response to a stimulus (Cockroaches bolt in random directions if a light shines on them)

Classical Conditioning—A kind of learning that occurs when a conditioned stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus

Operant Conditioning—A type of learning in which an individual's behavior is modified by its antecedents and consequences

Hypothesis

If the pH value of the environment is more basic, the isopods would prefer this type of environment to more acidic ones. The independent variable is pH value of the environment and the dependent variable is the number of isopods in this type of environment.

Procedure

1.              Collect 10 isopods from the wild

2.              Place isopods in a Petri dish with a paintbrush and observe them for 10 minutes. Record observations that are characteristic to the bugs.

3.              Place a wet filter paper in one chamber and a dry one in the other.

4.              Put the isopods in and cover the chambers

5.              Start the stopwatch and record the number of isopods in each chamber every 30 seconds

6.              After 3 minutes, replace the wet filter paper with one with vinegar

7.              Repeat procedure 4-5

8.              After 3 minutes, replace the vinegar filter paper with one with ammonia

9.              Repeat procedure 4-5

Data Table

Time (Minutes)	Number in Chamber One	Number in Chamber Two
	Wet	Dry
0
0.5	6	4
1.0	5	5
1.5	2	8
2.0	4	6
2.5	4	6
3.0	4	6
3.5	3	7
4.0	3	7
4.5	3	7
5.0	3	7
	Acid	Control
0.0
0.5	1	9
1.0	0	10
1.5	0	10
2.0	0	10
2.5	0	10
3.0	0	10
3.5	0	10
	Base	Control
0.0
0.5	1	9
1.0	3	7
1.5	4	6
2.0	4	6
2.5	5	5
3.0	6	4

X-Axis: pH value

Y-Axis: The number of isopods in the chamber with vinegar/ammonia filter

Conclusion

According to the data table, isopods’ preference on the humidity of environment lies more with dry environment. However, the number of isopods in each chamber is 3 and 7. Therefore, we cannot draw any definitive conclusion because this result may happen from chance. On the other hand, extreme data of the number of isopods on a vinegar filter paper indicate that isopods do not like extremely acidic environment with pH value less than 2. Looking at the data for basic environment, we can conclude that slightly basic environment does not cause a major effect on isopods’ preference. The number of them is more evenly distributed between the ammonia filter paper and the control as 5 to 5 or 6 to 4. Therefore, from the collected data, we conclude that isopods slightly prefer dry environment, cannot tolerate extremely acidic environment, and like slightly basic environment.