How are Species Related?
And How Can We Represent This?
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Project Description
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Our Presentation
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Our Script
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What We Needed to Do
This project was designed to give us a general overview of how organisms are related, and how to find common characteristics and ancestors. A cladogram is a essentially a tree diagram, with species arranged in a line at the top of it. They are placed so there is at least a single characteristic that all the organisms share. As you move to the right, the qualifications get more specific, with everything to the right having that trait. By doing this, it is possible to see the relations of organisms.
For this project, we were given a box of hardware tools, and were told to create a cladogram, then classify, name, and create a story about them. Below is the official handout.
For this project, we were given a box of hardware tools, and were told to create a cladogram, then classify, name, and create a story about them. Below is the official handout.
Our Presentation
A Small Story
TopicsSpeciation
Speciation is the process by which a new species is formed. All of the other speciation terms fall under this general umbrella term. Alopatric Speciation
Alopatric speciation is the formation of a species where there the populations are not in the same place. An example might be a population of beetles, with some natural genetic variation. One day a flood separates a portion of the beetles, and there is no longer any gene flow between the two populations. Over time, the two populations evolve separately according to their individual environments, forming a new specie. Sympatric Speciation
Sympatric speciation is the forming a new specie where the population of that new specie is not in a different location than the existing one. Reproductive, Behavioral, and Temporal isolation are all different means by which sympatric speciation could occur. Reproductive Isolation
Reproductive isolation occurs when a section of a population of a species living in an area begins to gradually develop independently. Over time, that section of the population is no longer able to interbreed with the main population, stopping gene flow. This is a method of sympatric speciation. Behavioral Isolation
Behavioral isolation happens when a section of a population living in an area develop a set of behaviors that make them not desirable to breed with, in the terms of the rest of the population. Overtime, the result of consecutive mating with a specific, more narrow population, reduces gene flow, and eventually stops it. This creates a new population with new traits, and therefore a new species. This is an method of sympatric speciation. Temporal Isolation
Temporal has to due with the mating times of different organisms within a population. Over time, a set of a population may begin to breed at a different time than the rest of the population. This means that the gene flow is cut off, resulting in the independent evolution of a new specie. This is a method of sympatric speciation. Geographic Isolation
Geographic isolation is a method of alopatric speciation. What this means is that this methods isolates two portions of a population. This cuts off gene flow, then the two populations evolve independently. This creates a new specie. |
Reflection
This project was the first one that we attempted in our sophomore year. This created some problems, as our class was still a bit rusty in terms of our collaboration skills. While this may not seem like a large problem, it still made some issues a sticking point. We should have worked better together. The second issue was our presentation. It was rough and unrefined, something that could have easily be fixed if we had taken the time to fix it. However, for all of our problems, there were many things that we did well. First of all, we were able to outline what we needed to do for each day, enabling us to get a working timeline of our project. Another strength of our group was the ability for any one person to be able to ask a question of our group. This meant that everyone on the project understood what we were doing. |