Evolution
As our first project in Biology and Biotech, this project was meant to not only teach us its individual concepts, but also teach us about basic practices and ideas that pervade all of Bioengineering. We had three distinct sub-projects during our evolution unit. These were making a hardware cladogram, writing a lab report on PCR and gel electrophoresis, and documenting the evolutionary timeline of a chosen species.
Concepts:
Evolution: The process of a species changing over time (Our project was centered around learning more about evolution)
Natural Selection: The most well-adapted organism has an advantage and passes on its genes until it becomes a dominant change. It follows the order of variation, competition, survival, and reproduction. (In our timelines, we look at the splits in traits, and when traits would die off because of natural selection)
Mutation: Random changes in DNA that can have a positive, negative, or entirely neutral effect on the population. (In our timeline and cladogram projects, whenever there's a new species, there was a mutation that arose that allowed a new species to come forth)
Adaptation: A positive mutation, after it has spread through the population (Our cladograms rely on adaptations to look at evolutionary splits)
Speciation: The formation of a new species through whatever means it may happen. (Without speciation, there would be no new species for us to look at for our timeline)
Allopatric Speciation: Speciation caused by a physical barrier, such as a glacier or a mountain range forming and physically making the two groups unable to interbreed (As a form of speciation, Allopatric speciation forms new species, which allows us to look at the different species from the past)
Sympatric Speciation: Speciation caused by a behavioral barrier, such as part of a population becoming nocturnal, or a two different species having different mating rituals. (Also, because speciation prevents different species from interbreeding, it keeps species separate, which helps make sure that different species stay different)
Taxonomy: Branch of science concerned with the classification of organisms, under the taxonomic levels of: domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species (We used taxonomy in our cladograms to look at how we might classify and divide different pieces of hardware)
Evolution: The process of a species changing over time (Our project was centered around learning more about evolution)
Natural Selection: The most well-adapted organism has an advantage and passes on its genes until it becomes a dominant change. It follows the order of variation, competition, survival, and reproduction. (In our timelines, we look at the splits in traits, and when traits would die off because of natural selection)
Mutation: Random changes in DNA that can have a positive, negative, or entirely neutral effect on the population. (In our timeline and cladogram projects, whenever there's a new species, there was a mutation that arose that allowed a new species to come forth)
Adaptation: A positive mutation, after it has spread through the population (Our cladograms rely on adaptations to look at evolutionary splits)
Speciation: The formation of a new species through whatever means it may happen. (Without speciation, there would be no new species for us to look at for our timeline)
Allopatric Speciation: Speciation caused by a physical barrier, such as a glacier or a mountain range forming and physically making the two groups unable to interbreed (As a form of speciation, Allopatric speciation forms new species, which allows us to look at the different species from the past)
Sympatric Speciation: Speciation caused by a behavioral barrier, such as part of a population becoming nocturnal, or a two different species having different mating rituals. (Also, because speciation prevents different species from interbreeding, it keeps species separate, which helps make sure that different species stay different)
Taxonomy: Branch of science concerned with the classification of organisms, under the taxonomic levels of: domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species (We used taxonomy in our cladograms to look at how we might classify and divide different pieces of hardware)
Projects:
Hardware Cladogram:
In this project, we were given a small tupperware container full of assorted hardware and a large pieces of paper to lay things out on. The box contained things like screws, nails, hooks, nuts, washers, a very small sheet of sheet metal, and plenty more. It was then our task to classify all the pieces by the same method used to classify living species. Below is our final cladograms, which outlines key splits in the lineage, and the story we wrote to give "background" into the "history" of our "species."
Hardware Cladogram:
In this project, we were given a small tupperware container full of assorted hardware and a large pieces of paper to lay things out on. The box contained things like screws, nails, hooks, nuts, washers, a very small sheet of sheet metal, and plenty more. It was then our task to classify all the pieces by the same method used to classify living species. Below is our final cladograms, which outlines key splits in the lineage, and the story we wrote to give "background" into the "history" of our "species."
PCR Lab:
This piece of our analysis of evolution involved using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and gel electrophoresis to look at our Alu repeats. The following lab report was written after our completion of the lab.
This piece of our analysis of evolution involved using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and gel electrophoresis to look at our Alu repeats. The following lab report was written after our completion of the lab.
Timeline Project:
The final part of this project was to look at the genetic history of one modern species. After having to switch species a few times, we ended up just doing the history of humans.
The final part of this project was to look at the genetic history of one modern species. After having to switch species a few times, we ended up just doing the history of humans.
Reflection:
The projects all covered different aspects of evolution, which gave us good insight into how evolution pervades all of biology. However, the times that we had to work on each of the projects would overlap, which would lead to us having a lot of things to do and not enough time to do it. I think that giving us the power to choose our own pairs ended up being a good thing, because most of the pairs worked well together, which led to us being able to get more done. But on the flip side, we had two different groups that we were working with, and when we had a free work day, sometimes the needs of those two groups would collide. Overall, the projects were good, more practice with lab reports would have been nice, and I think that the three projects should be done in three separate blocks. As the year goes on, we should gain the skills to be able to manage multiple projects at the same time, so things should start to show signs of evening out during our next project.
The projects all covered different aspects of evolution, which gave us good insight into how evolution pervades all of biology. However, the times that we had to work on each of the projects would overlap, which would lead to us having a lot of things to do and not enough time to do it. I think that giving us the power to choose our own pairs ended up being a good thing, because most of the pairs worked well together, which led to us being able to get more done. But on the flip side, we had two different groups that we were working with, and when we had a free work day, sometimes the needs of those two groups would collide. Overall, the projects were good, more practice with lab reports would have been nice, and I think that the three projects should be done in three separate blocks. As the year goes on, we should gain the skills to be able to manage multiple projects at the same time, so things should start to show signs of evening out during our next project.