fandomhigh | Entries tagged with evolutionary science

For the last week of class Cutter had sent an email to the students to have them meet him and Connor at the beach, “for our final class this week we’re going to be doing some fossil hunting,” he explained, “there are several types of fossils that you can find here - trace fossils and Brachiopod Shells, my personal favourite is the trilobite and you can definitely find them on this beach as well,” he said with a smile as he talked about his favourite fossil.

Conor smiled seeing how excited Cutter was to be out looking for fossils and getting to talk about trilobites and the other fossils they could find. “We have all the tools you will need and we will go over briefly how to use them and then you all can get started having fun and we’ll see what fossils you find. Professor Cutter and I will also be doing our own search, so feel free to ask for any help or let us show you any tricks you might want to use” Connor grinned as he nodded towards the gear set up on the beach. “Most of all, have fun!”

Cutter grinned, “And a trick that’s not as common a technique but will still work if you’re looking for a way to determine whether something is a fossil is, if in doubt you lick it. The rule of thumb for this technique is if your tongue sticks to the rock or shell in question.” Yes, Cutter was a bit of a troll but he was curious to see if any of his students would take him up on the technique. “And as always Mr. Connor and myself will be around to answer questions.”

anomaly_research_nerd

Cutter stood in front of the class as he held his usual large cup of coffee, trying not to think about how few classes there were left now before he and Connor would be teaching under their house arrest, “good morning,” he said with a nod as they started, “this week we’re going to be over fossils, which play a very important part in understanding evolution,”

“A fossil is a preserved remain, impression or trace of any once-living thing from a past ecological age,” he explained, “such examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in amber, hair, petrified wood and DNA remnants,” he said, nodding over at Connor with a smile that he could continue the lecture.

Connor nodded as he started his part of the class, walking to the front of the class as he spoke, glancing at the plate of latkes that had been on the desk when they arrived. They looked good and he hadn't had breakfast yet so they were definitely tempting him a good bit just then.

“Fossils give us a useful insight into the history of life on Earth. They can teach us where life and humans came from, show us how the Earth and our environment have changed through geological time, and how continents, now widely separated, were once connected. Fossils provide important evidence for evolution and the adaptation of plants and animals to their environments. Fossil evidence provides a record of how creatures evolved and how this process can be represented by a ‘tree of life’, showing that all species are related to each other.”

“Fossils can also be used to date rocks. Through the process of evolution, different kinds of fossils occur in rocks of different ages, enabling geologists to use fossils to understand geological history. For geologists, fossils are one of the most important tools for age correlation. Ammonites, trilobites, and molluscs for example, make excellent guide fossils for stratigraphy; they can be used to determine the relative age of two or more layers of rock, or strata, that are in different places within the same country or somewhere else in the world. Fossils are very much like snapshots that show us what the world looked like millions of years ago. The wealth of information that fossils, of all types, can give us is why they are so important to many fields of evolutionary science.”

Connor smiled and nodded as he handed the lecture over to Cutter so he could wrap up with anything else that he wanted to add to the lecture.

“For the rest of the class I would like you to work on your worksheets,” Cutter smiled as he picked up with the class, “and as always Mr. Temple and myself are here to answer any questions that you may have,”

itsananomaly

Connor stood at the front of the classroom that morning, his typical coffee clutched in his hands as tried to focus on the class. They had been back in Fandom for a few days and it was still hard to believe they were back. With a glance a the clock and a nod to Cutter to show it was time he cleared his throat to begin.

“Today we will be taking a look a the research side of evolutionary science and how scientists, archeologists, palentologists, and others come to the theories and discoveries that they do. The first step in most biological studies is fieldwork — to collect needed specimens or fossils from field localities. For bivalves, collecting takes many forms — from simple collecting by hand, to shovel-and-sieving in sand or mud, snorkeling or scuba diving on reefs, or bottom sampling from large ships. Once collected, the specimens are preserved in whatever fluid is best for how they will be analyzed in the laboratory — alcohol or a special salt solution for molecular work, formaldehyde-based fixatives for dissection and histology, or glutaraldehyde for electron microscopy.

There’s also a research method known as Phylogenetic analysis, which provides an in-depth understanding of how species evolve through genetic changes. Using phylogenetics, scientists can evaluate the path that connects a present-day organism with its ancestral origin, as well as can predict the genetic divergence that may occur in the future. Phylogenetics has many applications in medical and biological fields, including forensic science, conservation biology, epidemiology, drug discovery and drug design, prediction of protein structure and function, and gene function prediction.”

Connor nodded to Cutter as he finished and indicated he was good to start his part of the lecture if he was ready.

“The next research method is the design of experiments,” Cutter continued the lecture with a small smile at Connor, clutching his coffee tightly as he did, “this is a task is designed to describe and explain the variation of information that under conditions that are hypothesized to reflect the information, an experiment aims at predicting the outcome by introducing a change of the of the preconditions, which is represented by one or more independent variables. The change in one or more independent variables is generally hypothesized to result in a change in one or more dependent variables The experimental design may also identify control variables that must be held constant to prevent external factors from affecting the results.

Experimental design involves not only the selection of suitable independent, dependent, and control variables, but planning the delivery of the experiment under statistically optimal conditions given the constraints of available resources. There are multiple approaches for determining the set of design points (unique combinations of the settings of the independent variables) to be used in the experiment.” he explained, “another research method that can be quite universal to evolutionary science is the case study method an in-depth, detailed examination of a particular case (or cases) within a real-world context. A case study does not necessarily have to be one observation but may include many observations of one or multiple individuals and entities across multiple time periods, all within the same case study” he finished his portion of the lecture and nodded at Connor that he could finish up the lecture.

“For the rest of the class today we will go over the worksheets I am handing out” Connor said as he passed the papers out. “We’ll discuss some more specific examples of these research methods and how they could be applied to various aspects of evolutionary science. And as always, Professor Cutter and myself are here if you have any questions or need us for anything else.”

anomaly_research_nerd

Connor stood at the front of the class, coffee in hand as it was much needed that morning. Coming off the effects of benign tiny and full of boundless energy and then dealing with a massive sugar crash headache after the weekend, he definitely needed the caffeine boost.

“Alright today we are looking at the special relationships that exist between many different species of plants and animals” Connor said when it was time to begin the class. He looked over at Cutter and gave a small smile. “These are known as symbiotic relationships. Because different species often inhabit the same spaces and share—or compete for—the same resources, they interact in a variety of ways, known collectively as symbiosis. There are four main symbiotic relationships: mutualism, commensalism, parasitism, and competition. I will be discussing the first two of these then Professor Cutter will explain the last two.”

anomaly_research_nerd

Connor was still a little tired after everything the last few weeks but he was feeling good and there was a grin on his face as he glanced at the clock and then set the coffee cup down. With a nod at Cutter, he picked up his notes and cleared his throat as he started the class.

“Today class, we will be talking about another aspect of evolutionary science with a look at how habitats change and evolve over time. Habitats rarely stay the same. Short term changes from season to season bring changes to the plants as well as the animals that come and go throughout a given habitat. Over longer periods of time, some species disappear, and new species may take their place. Sometimes the actions of people can change habitats. Natural areas are often removed or paved over for building, gathering resources, or may be eroded by foot travel or by vehicles or other human activities. And there are also changes in habitat biodiversity that can significantly impact what plants and animals thrive and live in the area. Usually, there is a correlation between a high degree of biodiversity in an area and a healthy environment. When biodiversity is threatened, there are often negative repercussions for the environment. A habitat’s carrying capacity demonstrates this—the balance between the availability of habitat components (food, water, shelter) and the number of animals a habitat can support—and the limiting factors that affect animal populations. Examples are disease, predator and prey relationships, weather, pollution, and habitat destruction.”

Connor looked over at Cutter with a nod as he waited to see if there was anything he wanted to add.

Cutter gave a warm smile to Connor as he put down his cup of coffee to continue the lecture, “wildlife depends on healthy habitats, this includes needing the right temperatures, fresh water, food sources and places to raise their young. Warm temperatures will result in melting ice so polar bears lose their hunting grounds and the warmer waters will mean there is a decline in trout and salmon and other species that need cold water to survive. With water, larger floods will lead to an increase to erosion levels and this reduces the water quality and degrading aquatic habitat. On the opposite end of the scale severe droughts can kill plants that the wildlife depend for food and shelter. With food a lot of animals are migrating or emerging from hibernation too earlier and their food source haven’t arrived yet, climate change has altered food availability for the migratory species and milder winters and cause seasonal food to spoil. Finally with needing a place to raise their young, many wildlife have lost their breeding grounds such as wetlands, which are an essential breeding ground for geese, ducks and other migratory species, meanwhile rising sea levels and changes in salinity could wipe out mangrove forests that will leave a lot of fish and shellfish and other wildlife without place stop raise their young,” he finished his part of the lecture and nodded back over at Connor that he could continue.

Connor picked up the papers from the desk. “Today we have worksheets and a small quiz going over the various connections we’ve discussed between habitats and the plants and animals that live there” Connor said and began handing them out. “Professor Cutter and I will be here as always to answer any questions or provide any direction with the assignments should you need it.”

itsananomaly

Cutter had considered cancelling class after what had happened last week but he eventually dragged himself to the classroom after stopping for one of the largest cups of coffee he could get and he waited for class to begin.

“Welcome back,” he said softly once everyone had turned up and he and Connor were standing in front of the classroom, “this week we’re going to be looking at plant evolution,” which he belated realised that he should have changed this week’s topic after his and Connor’s encounter with the fungi and he looked rather apologetically over at Connor as he began that week’s class, “The early plants were small, unicellular or filamentous, with simple branching, because these plants are small and soft bodied it is often hard to identify plants in the Cambrian Strata,” he explained, “it should be noted that there were no land plants with vascular tissues until the mid silurian,” he nodded at Connor with a small tired smile for him to continue the class.

Connor forced a small smile as he set down the cup of coffee he had been clutching. As he pulled down the sleeve of his shirt, hiding the last remnants of the bruise-like mark from where the fungi had infected him, he started his part of the lecture.

“The first photosynthetic organisms were bacteria that lived in the water. So, where did plants come from? Evidence shows that plants evolved from freshwater green algae. The similarities between green algae and plants is one piece of evidence. They both have cellulose in their cell walls, and they share many of the same chemicals that give them color. So, what separates green algae from green plants? The answer is in the adaptations and how plants evolved to survive on land to be the plants we commonly think of today. Most plants today have adaptations that make them suitable for where they are found- stems, leaves, roots, flowers, seeds, they all are specially adapted to make it easier for the plants to survive and reproduce. Roots that anchor trees in place, stems and leaves that hold onto water, seeds that can spread on the wind, and overall plant design like vining stems or sticky tendrils all help plants adapt and survive in the environments they are found in.”

Connor nodded as he gave a small sigh and looked back to Cutter when he had finished, taking another long drink from the cup of coffee as he did.

“This week we have a worksheet for you to fill in,” Cutter finished up that week’s lecture, “the purpose of this worksheet is to match up the plant to the environment that it is found in and the era it is from, as always if you need help Mr. Temple and myself will be happy to answer any questions that you may have,”

itsananomaly

Cutter and Connor were in front of the class as usual that week, Cutter had his large cup of coffee that was not from Starbucks since everything seemed to have gone back to normal.

After class he and Connor were heading back home to do some more work on the anomaly prediction model but for now they were there to teach, “good morning,” Cutter began, “this week we’re going to be taking a look at examples of animal adaptations, animal adaptation is where a physical feature will not develop during an animal’s life but over subsequent generations,”

He nodded over at Connor with a smile for him to continue the lecture.

Connor took a drink from the coffee cup he had been holding and set it down with a nod and a grin as he started his part of the lecture. “Adaptations occur for a number of reasons. Animal adaptations can occur in response to the environment- a hare’s fur changing to white in winter to help it blend in with the snow is an example of this. Adaptations can also happen to improve protection and survival- a sloth’s slow motions aim at protecting it by making it harder for predators to see. Animals also have adaptations that occur to make it easier for an animal to get food- bird beaks are a great example of this as beaks from woodpeckers to hummingbirds are all designed to fit the food source of each bird. And finally some adaptations are unique to specific animals and their unique environment or needs- the long tongue of a giraffe is an example of this. As you can see with these examples, adaptations come in many shapes and sizes.” Connor nodded as he finished and then looked back to Cutter.

“For this week we have an activity sheet for you to fill in, its to match the animal and the adaption that goes with the animal and then to provide a brief description of how that adaption as helped the animal survive, as always if you have any questions myself and Mr. Temple are around to help you,” Cutter smiled as he finished up class for the week.

itsananomaly

Cutter was in a really good mood when he stood in front of class that morning, he had enjoyed his trip away and he and Connor had decided to try again and he kept smiling over at Connor as they waited for class to begin.

He wasn’t even unsettled by how different Fandom seemed to be these last few days, and a lot more coffee shops than normal.

“Welcome back,” he smiled as he held onto his usual large cup of coffee, which he had gotten from Starbucks. “I hope you enjoyed your trip away and apologies for missing class the previous week, we had an emergency come up at home,” he told them, “this week we’re going to be looking at Adaptability Evolution,”

“Adaptability Evolution has three meanings,” he began, “the first is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment and enhances their evolutionary fitness. The second is a state reached by the population during that process and the final one is a phonetypic trait or adaptive trait and this has a functional role in each individual organism and is maintained and evolved through natural selection,” he smiled over at Connor for him to continue the lecture.

Connor nodded as he set down his Ventii mocha coffee and picked up his notes as he gave a small grin to Cutter.”Adaptation, in evolutionary terms, is the process that species go through in order to become accustomed to an environment. Over many generations, through the process of natural selection, organisms’ physical and behavioral features adapt to function better in the face of environmental challenges. Adaptations are slow and incremental, and the result of successful adaptation is always beneficial to an organism. Snakes eventually lost their legs in order to fit into underground spaces, mice generations survived and grew large ears to hear predators at night, and giraffes ended up with long necks to reach the leaves on tall trees. There are many other examples that can be seen in animals, plants, and even humans.” Connor gave another small smile as he looked back to Cutter when he had finished.

Cutter smiled warmly as he continued the lecture, “this is especially true in the case of niche construction,” he explained, “this is the process where animals including beavers, earthworms and humans use some of their adaptations to change their surroundings so that they can maximise their chances of surviving and reproducing. For example beavers create dams and lodges and that this changes the ecosystem of the valley around them. Darwin noted that earthworms improve the topsoil where they live by incorporating organic matter and finally humans have constructed extensive and varied civilisations such as the Arctic and hot deserts,”

He paused, “for the rest of the lecture I would like you to work on you worksheets and as always feel free to ask myself or Mr. Temple any questions that you may have,”

itsananomaly

An email went round to the students late Sunday evening so that they would know that class had been cancelled for Monday morning.

Your teachers have had to attend an emergency back home. Class has been cancelled for the week. Enjoy the extra week off.

- Professor Cutter

[no class this week sorry, it has been a week for both of us]

itsananomaly

Cutter had been rather sad to say goodbye to Becker, Lester and his Connor, even though he knew they would visit the ARC soon but it had been nice having them visit Fandom and spending time with them.

He had his usual large cup of coffee as he stood in front of the class, “good morning,” he began the lesson, “this week we will be covering the Survival of the Fittest for our next topic, Survival of the Fittest is a term that was made famous by British naturalist Charles Darwin and states that organisms best adjusted to their environment are the most successful at surviving and reproducing,” he nodded over at Connor with a smile for him to take over the lecture.

“There are many examples of this in nature” Connor started with a nod as he set down his usual coffee and picked up his notes for the class. “Natural selection and survival of the fittest go hand in hand. The changes and adaptations seen in natural selection that make certain members of a plant or animal species more adapted to survival are what gives them an advantage in survival. They are the fittest and best suited at that time for their environment and will continue to live and reproduce. A shark born with a mutation that makes its fins smaller and causes it to be less agile will be at a disadvantage and it will likely not survive long enough to reproduce. A shark born with a mutation that makes it more adapted to the temperature changes in the oceans will have a better chance of surviving and passing on that new trait. That is survival of the fittest in a nutshell.” Connor smiled as he looked back over at Cutter.

“So for the rest of the class I’d like you to work on your worksheets and as always if you need help, myself and Mr. Temple will be happy to provide assistance,” Cutter smiled as he handed out the worksheets that they would be working on for that lesson.

anomaly_research_nerd

Connor was feeling the best he had in some time, but there was still the necessary cup of coffee on the desk, though he wasn't clinging to it quite as desperately as the last few weeks. “The topic for today’s class is the theory of natural selection” he said as he started the lecture when it was time. “This is one of the foundational theories related to evolutionary science and many other fields of science such as biology, botany and the studies of plants and animal species. It has undergone some changes from its origins as more discoveries are made and more research has been done. And this is a good thing, it is how it is supposed to be with science and theories- they get tweaked and changed as new information and data becomes available,” Connor looked over at Cutter and nodded to see if he was ready to go with the next bit of the lecture.

Cutter was also feeling pretty good about how things had been going but he also still had his large cup of coffee with him, “Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace are credited with coming up with the theory of evolution by natural selection,” he continued on with the lecture, “natural selection works by genetic mutations that are beneficial to an individuals survival are passed on through reproduction and the result is a new generation of organisms that are more likely to survive to reproduce,”

“An example of this is through giraffes and that the evolution of their long necks has resulted in giraffes being able to feed on leaves that others can’t reach and this gives them a competitive advantage and those with long necks are able to survive to reproduce and pass on this characteristic to the successive generation,”

“Right,” Connor said as he continued. “And we can further break natural selection down into three types- Stabilizing selection occurs when the population stabilizes on a particular trait value and genetic diversity decreases in favor of that dominant and beneficial trait. Some animals ay large clutches of eggs or have many young in order to improve to odds of more surviving to adulthood. Directional selection happens when a single genetic trait is favored, causing any future mutations and changes to continuously shift in one direction. The pepper moth exercise we did in the previous class is an example of this sort of natural selection process. Ad finally there is diversifying selection which happens when extreme values for a trait are favored over the intermediate values. This type of selection often drives the development of subspecies traits such as fur color, size, and feeding habits.”

“So for the rest of class let’s think about these three types of natural selection and let’s see what other examples we can come up with” Connor said as he wrapped up the lecture. “So, who wants to get us started?”

itsananomaly

“Welcome back,” Cutter began that week’s class, “this week we’re going to be covering evolutionary theory, we’ve touched on what evolution is and how it impacts many different scientific fields and this week we’re going to look in depth about what the actual theory is,” he said, “evolution is the change in heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations and evolution occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on a genetic variation and that this in turn results in certain characteristics becoming more or less common within a population over successive generations,” he smiled over at Connor and nodded at him that he could take over the lecture then.

“There’s a lot of complicated words and terms there so let’s break it down with some simpler examples” Connor said with a nod as he continued. “Evolutionary changes come in many forms and there are many examples of it in the world. Even the existence of mankind as we know it today is thanks to evolutionary changes. The process of moving from early primates to modern humans is an example of evolution. The diversification of the different breeds of dogs and cats, each with unique characters and traits that separate them from one another, is an example of evolution at work. Nearly every species today, both plants and animals, has an evolutionary lineage that can be traced back thousands or even millions of years.” Connor nodded at Cutter as he handed the lecture back over to him.

“Evolution can occur if there is a genetic variation within the population and it comes from mutations in the genome, or genetic material of an organism,” Cutter continued, “even though most of the genome remains very similar in a species despite constant introduction of variations, most of the genome will remain in the same in individuals however in evolutionary developmental biology for example, it has been demonstrated that even relatively small differences in genotype can lead to dramatic differences in the phenotype both within and between species and a notable example of this can be seen in the peppered moth between the white and black peppered moths,”

Cutter paused, “and that’s a good segue into today’s activity, we’re going to be taking turns to using the computer and completing both the simulation and the answer sheet about peppered moths, if you need any help please feel free to ask myself and Mr. Temple and we’ll be able happy to assist you,” he nodded to the first person, “why don’t you get us started,”

anomaly_research_nerd

Connor stood at the front of the class that morning, his typical cup of coffee on the desk beside him. Glancing at the clock to check the time, he cleared his throat and began, the lecture.

“So day one of actual lessons. It’s good to see you all here. So today we are going to talk a little about evolutionary science. What is evolutionary science, well it is commonly defined as the study of the history of life forms on Earth, how they adapted, and the ways they changed over time. This is done by studying ancient ancestors to modern plants and animals. It can help us to better understand how species evolve still today.”

Connor gave a smile to Cutter as he continued “For example, mosquitoes around the world today have evolved to be more resistant to pesticides such as DDT which means those chemicals are no longer effective against them. Mosquitoes evolved to adapt to their environment. By studying these sorts of changes that took place millions of years ago, we can better understand how changes like this impact us and the world today.”

“There are many different ways that the study of evolution can be applied to a particular subject and as such there are a number of different sub-fields in evolutionary science,” Cutter continued with a smile as he took over the lecture. “It can cover fields such as zoology, botany, microbiology, theoretical biology, experimental evolution and palaeontology. In addition to these several sub-fields, some of them have also been combined so we have evolutionary ecology and evolutionary developmental biology,” he paused. “We will be going into more in depth look at some of these sub-fields later on in the semester but the study of evolution is vast and with a lot of these topics, we can easily cover one semester with one subfield alone but today’s class is an overview of the theory so we won’t be getting to carried away just yet,” he said with a sheepish grin as he looked back to Connor.

“So for this first class, let’s talk about some of the areas of science that interest you in regard to evolutionary science. Remember, pretty much anything related to the natural sciences can relate back to evolutionary science in some way. For me, I’ve always been interested in palaentology which relates to evolutionary science in that they both involve learning about how the world was long ago and how it has changed over time. I have also always enjoyed technology, which can be very useful when it comes to research, data analysis, experimentation and more. So let’s discuss this further. What are some areas of science that interest you and do you think they relate back to evolutionary sciences in some way as you understand it?”

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Entries tagged with evolutionary science

Evolutionary Science for Beginners - Monday, 1st Period

Evolutionary Science for Beginners - Monday, 1st Period

Evolutionary Science for Beginners - Monday, 1st Period

Evolutionary Science for Beginners - Monday, 1st Period

Evolutionary Science for Beginners - Monday, 1st Period

Evolutionary Science for Beginners - Monday, 1st Period

Evolutionary Science for Beginners - Monday, 1st Period

Evolutionary Science for Beginners - Monday, 1st Period

Evolutionary Science for Beginners - Monday, 1st Period

Evolutionary Science for Beginners - Monday, 1st Period

Evolutionary Science for Beginners - Monday, 1st Period

Evolutionary Science for Beginners - Monday, 1st Period

Evolutionary Science for Beginners - Monday, 1st Period

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