Prema's Blog

Data-Based Question: Rhythmical Behavior Patterns

1) They seem to have a longer lasting flight in the early autumn that lasts from sunset to midnight.  However they also have several short flights for about an hour or two immediately after the sun sets. By the middle of the fall, also at the start of the sunset, they begin to fly but are average in length. They begin flying when the sunset occurs which becomes earlier in the day throughout. By the end of autumn the flights are shorter and as the pattern suggests, the flights occur at sunset. They begin flying the earliest at 6 which is early compared to the other parts of the autumn.

2a) The bat’s flight occurs several times in a day during the summer in comparison to once a day in the autumn. The bat flights occur at the start of sunset in both autumn and summer. However, in late summer some bats fly around the sunrise but this doesn’t happen in the autumn

2b) In autumn I assume that there is less prey available during the hours immediately past 24:00 and that is perhaps why they don’t look for prey then. This is why they fly during the 18:00 to 22:00 window when prey is abundant. However in the summer the prey is more readily available at more times, so they can fly more often.

3) There is rhythmical variation. The flights in autumn are consistent to the sunset pattern, whereas the summer flights are more sporadic and even reach the sunrise period. The majority of flights still begin at the sunset period, and the sunset varies throughout the year.

Inquiry: Altruism in Species

1)       I select the Pan troglodytes, more commonly known as the chimpanzee. Chimpanzees live in a large community that includes all individuals that regularly associate with one another and smaller subgroups. The subgroups are unpredictable and members can change quickly. The average size is about 10. There is a distinct linear dominance hierarchy in male chimpanzees, and males are dominant over females.

2) The researchers set up closed rooms that each held a piece of banana or watermelon. The only way for a chimp to get in was if an unrelated spectator ape released a chain to open the room. It was found that the spectators often altruistically helped the other chimps get the fruit, even if they got no reward themselves.

3) The chimpanzees have faced natural pressures in terms of obtaining food. They have evolved to stand upright on a big limb of a fig tree and pluck figs just overhead, and when they’re on the ground, they’ll stand up to pull down branches.

DBQ Birdsong: Innate or Learned?

1) Sonogram one and two are of the same duration and share similar frequencies.

2a) All three sonograms have a similar patter n of notes.

b) The song of the white crowned sparrow is both due to innate factors and learning. This is because they have a genetic template and if exposed to hearing songs in the critical window for imprinting, they will have their own variation on the song.

3a) Sonogram four and five have a similar pattern of notes.

b) All three sonograms have similar frequencies.

c) Because the genetic template requires a song from its own species to mature and birds learn to ignore the song of other species.

d) Their findings is evidence for learned behavior because the white-crowned sparrow imitated the song of another species as it heard the song during the critical period for imprinting and the strawberry finches song became imprinted on the white crowned sparrow.

Data-Based Question: Chemotaxis in Woodlice

1) A stimuli for bringing them out may be thermal stimuli where one arm blows in warm air and the other one cold air.

2) The majority of all three species go towards the scented air arm. The rest sometimes go towards the unscented air arm.

3) This is probably because of their olfactory receptors. Olfactory receptors are activated when chemicals bind to them and stimulate an action potential.  Olfactory receptors are essentially chemoreceptors.

4a) The reproduction rate needs to be high so most of the time they will go to the scented arm where most of the species goes to reproduce.

b) The need prey to feed on because they need energy from food to function. They sometimes travel to where the rest of the population isn’t, so that they can find prey to feed on. There is a 2:1 ratio of reproduction to food consumption.

DBQ p. 303

https://12chabpr.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/e-2b-perception-hearing/

As I have already done this DBQ in another post before, I have left the link above.

1. A large group of people who are benefitting from the smoking industry are the manufactures:  the smoking industry owners, the smoking industry managers, the factory employees who depend on the industry for an income. Advertisers and media agencies benefit as well as some governments.

2. A negative externality is the impact on the smoker who can develop difficulties and diseases such as cancer leading to grief and stress for friends and family. Another negative externality of smoking is second hand smoke as it affects children, friends, family and strangers who move around the smoker, as their health may suffer from this experience.

3. The government could raise cigarette prices or impose higher taxes on them making them too expensive in the current economic recession. More money can be invested in anti-smoking advertisements and health education classes in schools. Banning smoking in public places, like was done in Europe would decrease the convenience of the product decreasing people’s motivation to buy cigarettes; thereby increasing public health.

1. The Social problems depicted by in engraving are: Fighting, hunger, death and neglecting family.

2. Alcohol can’t be consumed and purchased legally until the age of 16 and in some countries 21 therefore the laws create in an improvement in underage drinking. However, drug abuse, has increased so widely that not even the law enformencent can prevent the negative consequences of drug abuse to families, friends and the users. Although problems relating to a certain kinds of drug abuse have improved, new drugs leading to new substance abuse problems have surfaced.

Medical Definitions of Death

1) a. It would be the cardiopulmonary standard and there are machines to check if the heart and lungs are functioning.

b. The biological standard would be the most ethical; Given that the organs of the organism are dead so there is nothing unethical about pronouncing it dead.

2) Higher brain function does not define a person, therefore it is not ethical to distinguish between the death of a person and their body as they are the same.

3) Quality of life is conditional, based on gender, location, financial situations. The definition of quality of life isn’t clear, making it problematic. The good aspects to euthanasia are that it ends suffering and it also supports the right of an individual to end their suffering. However, there are people who consider it to be homicide and who argue against it. Sometimes euthanasia is done performed under orders of the individual and this is when its considered homicide.

DBQ:The Human Brain: structre

1) Natural lesions could be a variable affecting evidence –making the evidence unreliable. Evidence obtained through experiments are collected in closed environments allowing for scientists to collect more specific evidence that is stronger than evidence from natural lesions

2) The problem with vivisection is that animals are also living creatures and vivisection involves hurting, even killing, animals for scientific purposes.

3) Descartes’ statement is incorrect as the brain is an organ. The brain, much like the stomach and lungs are a part of the human body. Therefore, the brain is definitely a part of the body. Furthermore MRI evidence shows the blood fow to different parts of the brain as a response to movement, thinking, breathing showing the connection between the body and the brain.

DBQ: Garter Snakes and Prey Selection

1.a)Lassen County Population: < 5 is 83% and ≥ 5 is 17%

Humboldt Count Population: < 5 is 32% and ≥ 5 is 68%

Santa Cruz Population: < 5 is 15% and ≥ 5 is 85%

b) The main prey of the Lassen County population of snakes would not be slugs given that they were to survive through natural selection as slugs are a rarity in the inland location they are found in. The Lassen County population behavior tends to eat less slugs than other snakes like those  in the Humbolt County and Santa Cruz areas, because there  is an ample amount of slugs there, their behavior is to go for slugs.

2) It is likely the snakes in Lassen County will suffer as their prey – slugs- are limited. Through time however, the Lassen County snakes, because of natural selection would change their behavior and begin eating more slugs. Furthermore, conflict may arise between the snakes from Lassen County and Santa Cruz as the increase in population would lead to a decrease in prey, also a decrease in survival rate.

3. a) There is evidence in that feeding score 9 frequency is considerably high. Also a frequency of a feeding score of 0 is much less than the parent Lassen County population.

b) There’s evidence in the frequency for the feeding score of 10 is low for the F1 generation.

4. They use chemoreceptors to detect the slugs.