Breeding Bunnies: Discussion Questions

My original hypothesis was that, as the generations changed, the population would become predominantly thick-haired. This hypothesis proved to be right, because by the third generation the gene frequency of thick-hair was 81% and thin-hair was 19%. As the generations changed, the predominance of the thick-hair could be easily observed through the change in alleles. In the first generations, the number of alleles of F was 49 and of f was 49 too, 50%. By the third generation, the number of F alleles was 39 and f was 9, meaning that now, the f alleles only accounted for 19%.
In a real habitat world, considering immigration and emigration, the difference between F alleles and f alleles would only increase. This would occur because the rabbits immigrating to the top of the mountain will only go there if they know that they can survive, and the ones that think they cannot, will emigrate. To simulate this effect, we would have to add some F alleles for each generation, and take away the same amount of f alleles.
Because we have not shared our results with the class yet, I am not sure of what the other groups, who represent the bottom of the mountain and the middle of the mountain have found. Never the less, based on our results I can imagine what they had. The group that represented the bottom of the mountain probably had opposite findings. The predominance of the f alleles was clear and it probably occurred at approximately the same rate as ours. This would happen because the rabbits of the bottom of the mountain cannot have very thick hair because they would be too hot. The group that represented the middle of the mountain probably had a stable number of f and F alleles, but a clear predominance of the Ff individuals. This is so, because in the middle of the mountain, the rabbits need to have a hair of intermediate thickness.
The result of this simulation is an example of evolution because as the rabbits spread across the mountain because of natural causes, the populations adapted to best fit the environment. This represents the survival of the fittest. The rabbits fittest for the environment survived, and their predominance soon became a complete dominance.

Population questions

Brazil's current population shows a fast growth. The number of babies greatly surpasses the number of elders. This fast growth is not good for a country. In the next 15-20 years, Brazil's population will probably still be able to be sustained by the environment, but it will become overly crowded. With that, consequences such as unbearable traffic jams and huge lines in public places will become routine. This may already be observed in cities like São Paulo and Rio. If the population continues growing like this, cities like Brasília, Curitiba, Florianópolis and etc will become just like these two. With that, violence increases and everything becomes harder. As time goes by, the environment will no longer be able to sustain so many people, reaching maximum capacity. If the population growth continues like this, within the next 50 years, Brazil will probably have met its carrying capacity, so the population will now begin to decrease. Because the resources will be scarce, the "survival of the fittest" will begin. The people who can afford, or who have access to health, education and basic needs will live, the people who do not, will begin to die. Eventually, the population will become steady again.
This fast growth might help the economy in the beginning, because since there will be more options, businesses will be able to choose from a wider range, allowing them to pick the best of the best people. But, as population continues to grow, there will not be enough jobs for everybody, increasing unemployment rate, poverty, diseases, resources become harder to get, a lot of energy and water is required to sustain the country, among others. With this energy and water, we will increase pollution, and for those who believe, worsen global warming. More forests will be cut down, species will become extinct, water will become scarce, housing will be hard to find. Hopefully, population growth will stop before Brazil reaches this point, because as a developing nation, we cannot afford to undergo such drastic changes all at once.

Questions

For our experiment, we decided to test how head size, in proportion with the body, would affect the balance of 1st graders. To my surprise, from our graphs, we observed that there is not a pattern. This could have happened either because there really isn't any relationship, or it could be due to the fact that the first graders did not balance for as long as they could have. Which means, they balanced for sometime and then stopped, not because they lost their balance, but because they thought that balancing a little was enough. Given their age, this is totally understandable and I wonder if our results would have been different if we had tested the Juniors in Mr. Nystrom's class. My prediction is that head size in proportion with the body, does affect your balance, but it's not the only factor. Some people, are more balanced than others and other factors come into place, such as, leg length, flexibility and the natural talent or abilities that some people have for some things and other people do not. Even though there are other factors, I believe that we would have been able to see a correlation, even though it would probably be  a minimal one. I believe that there would be a correlation because the bigger your head when compared to your body, the more weight you will have in front, and the less weight you would have in the back, consequently, affecting your equilibrium. Because we did not have extreme head sizes, either minimum or maximum, our histogram did not have a wide range. With a greater amount of trials and people in both extremes, our histogram would have been wider, and the curve would be easily observed.

Plant Post

1) Common name: Banana tree 

    Common name in portuguese: Bananeira

    Scientific name: Musa Balbisiana

2) Location on campus:

 3) Pictures:

 4) What attracted me to this particular plant was the fact that it had fruit growing right now. After talking to the school guard that was telling me about the plant, I learned that after the tree has fruit, the branch is cut down, because it will no longer have fruits. The other branches have not yet flowered, therefore, I will be able to observe them during the next two years. Another thing that made me choose this plant was the fact that there is a purple "flower" that peels off according to it's matureness. When this purple flower has peeled off completely, the bananas are ready to be eaten. I found this very interesting and wanted to observe how long it takes for this purple flower to peel off, and if it really tells us when the banana is ready to be eaten. 

5) During the next 9-21 months, I expect to see this branch that currently has bananas be cut down, and the remaining branches to have fruits and after, be cut down as well. I wonder, and hope I can also find out during this period, whether the plant dies or not after all the branches are cut down. 

6) What surprised me about this plant was this purple flower and parts of it that had already peeled off. I found this discovery to be very interesting, and a proof of how plants have a lot more to it than most of us know. I also enjoyed learning that they only have fruits once in their life and then are cut down. 

Why did you choose to take IB Biology?

Truthfully, the only reason why I'm taking IB Biology is because it is necessary for the IB Diploma. Science is not my passion, and I have some trouble with it. It is much harder for me to understand science than it is for me to answer philosophical questions, write essays, use critical thinking, or any communication skills. My passion is not about things with a right or wrong answer, rather, it is about using critical thinking to come up with an opinion, or write a report. Lately, I have been thinking of taking International Relations in college, clearly, science is not going to be an omnipresent part of my future. Regardless of this, I have a passion for learning new things in an interesting way. Today, I understand it's necessity and importance much more than I used to, and maybe that's a step towards starting to like science. Like history. I did not like history at all, again, because it did involve any critical thinking, rather, the study of facts that have happened and cannot be changed. Regardless of this, last year, my history teacher made classes so interesting that I really enjoyed learning history. I hope that this happens again this year, and based on the first class, I really think that it will.

How is a pyramid like science?

A pyramid is like the science process because in order to build a pyramid, and for it to stand firmly, there needs to be a method, and team work, just like in scientific experiments. When doing the pyramid experience in class, we needed the entire group to help us with the method, and with the execution of this method. Like in science, the scientific method and the experiment are even more successful when there is more than one pair of eyes making observations and conclusions. If the pyramid is not well constructed, it will fall apart. And in science, this can be observed in scientific theories that have not been well elaborated and proven. Without the proper evidence, the theory falls apart. The second similarity between a pyramid and science, is that as you evolve in the process, it becomes more delicate. In a pyramid, the higher it gets, the more fragile it becomes, and higher the chances of it collapsing. In science, the deeper the study gets, the harder it is to prove, and if the final theory cannot be proven, all the other ones before it will be discredited.

How is a puzzle like science?

In my opinion, science is the study of the physical and natural world, in an attempt to further understand the universe. A puzzle is like science in the sense that each puzzle piece represents a scientific discovery, and eventually, these puzzle pieces come together to create a greater picture. Just like in science. Tiny experiences joined together help us have a greater picture of the universe. Important scientific discoveries happened bit by bit, with numerous experiences and failed attempts. The essence of science, like in hard puzzles, lies in experimenting and trying again if a piece does not seem to fit in with the others.