Wednesday, April 30, 2014

There's a reason why French fries are so appealing (Botany of Desires)

http://www.beesnwasps.com/page/Bees+and+Flowers

http://www.ecology.com/2012/09/24/dirt-soil/
 Everything in the environment is dependent upon each other. For example, bees and flowers have a very tight relationship caused by coevolution. Both the bee and the flower want to benefit from the interaction and end up benefitting both. The bee is able to get food from the flower and the flower is able to spread its pollen to other plants to fertilize.







Much like the relationship of the bee and the flower, humans and plants rely on coevolution to obtain a food source (for humans) and spread its seeds (for the plant).







http://www.trans-high.com/product/green-apple_4.html
The ecological world is split up into four different desires: sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control.


The apple is an example of sweetness and represents human desire for objects that are sweet.











The cannabis represents intoxication




http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/04/16/want-to-get-rid-of-synthetic-cannabis-legalize-real-cannabis/



The potatoes represents control, which is why french fries taste so good. 
http://www.thekitchenhotline.com/2010/07/potato-salad-is-mushy/



And lastly, the tulip represents beauty and the human desire for beautiful things. 
http://www.zeewallpaper.com/tulip-hd-wallpapers/

All of these plants have been domesticated by humans because of their appeal to humans. They all are able to manipulate human minds, making them strong candidates for agriculture. 

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Predator v. Prey lab (The Big Bad Wolf is Coming to Get You)

I killed an entire ecosystem three times! Three times! Well, technically it wasn't my fault.

In this lab, we were simulating population growth. Our group chose the arctic tundra (represented by a white piece of paper). We were given four different colored pieces of paper, which represented the different colored bunnies. We creatively named them, white bunny, yellow-green bunny, green bunny, and teal bunny. The wolves were different sizes according to the size of their paper.

So here's how it worked. We started off with four bunnies, one for every variation of bunny and one lone wolf. That wolf was then tossed onto the arctic tundra paper to hunt for its prey. If it landed on a bunny, that meant the bunny was dead. If the wolf caught three or more bunnies in one hunt, then it lived and reproduced. If it didn't catch three or more, then it starved to death and a new wolf was introduced. The remaining bunnies doubled at the start of the new round.


Round #
White
Yellow-Green
Teal
Green
Wolf
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
0
1
3
4
2
4
0
1
4
8
4
6
0
1
5
12
6
10
0
2
6
20
12
10
0
4
7
20
14
16
0
8
8
8
8
10
0
16
9
4
0
0
0
6
10
0
0
0
0
0
11
1
1
1
1
1
12
2
2
2
0
1
13
4
4
0
0
1
14
2
8
0
0
2
15
2
10
0
0
2
16
0
18
0
0
1
17
0
30
0
0
2
18
0
46
0
0
4
19
0
50
0
0
9
20
0
22
0
0
16
21
0
0
0
0
6
22
0
0
0
0
0
23
1
1
1
1
1
24
2
2
2
0
1

The empty rows in between some of the rounds signifies the new start after a mass extinction. 

Graph Title: Number of Animals v. Generation
x-axis: generation
y-axis: population

This graph has all four bunnies and the wolf populations relative to the generation number. 

In a realistic environment where wolves didn't randomly fling themselves at their prey, the white bunnies would survive longer because their fur has adapted to their snowy surroundings and provide camouflage. The variation of wolf sizes helped determine who would get more prey and reproduce and survive to the next level. The bigger the wolf, the more bunnies it caught.

That's all folks.

Until next time.