For this project, we were given many different pieces of hardware that were all fossils of different "organisms." Each group was to classify the organisms using taxonomy, make a cladogram, name each piece, and then make a story describing the evolution of each organism. My group and I started out by looking at each piece of hardware and sorting them by certain characteristics, screws, nails, washers, things with metal, etc. Then once we had figured out how we wanted to classify each piece, we made a cladogram on butcher paper. We then started to name and classify each piece of hardware, as well as start on the story of evolution for each one.
Concepts: Cladogram - a diagram that uses different branches to display similar characteristics between different species; this is what we made to categorize each organism Taxonomy - the classification of organisms, includes in order, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species; we used taxonomy to help name each species Species - a group of organisms with similar characteristics that can reproduce and produce fertile offspring, each piece of hardware was a species Evolution - the change in an organism over time; how modern organisms descended from ancestors; we used evolution to connect the different pieces of hardware Natural Selection - the process (includes competition, mutations, survival, reproduction, and changes in population) by which individuals that are better suited to their environments survive and reproduce, passing their traits on; different species in families, like the staple to the nail, used natural selection to explain the change Competition - the limited supply of at least one resource that means organisms will have to try to beat the other in gaining the most of the resource; competition between the hardware meant that some developed better traits to help them survive Mutations - changes in genetic information that often causes a physical change in an organism; this explained why some nails had wider heads, screws had more ridges, washers were thinner, etc. Survival - the continuation of living despite a difficult circumstance; the screws with more ridges survived in the dessert the best, the mountain bolts that could fly could survive the best, etc. Reproduction - the production of offspring asexually or sexually; the organisms with the beneficial mutations could survive and pass on their beneficial traits, like the nails with big heads, or the screws with ridges Changes in Population - over time the population will change to include more organisms with the beneficial trait than without; even though there were only a few bolts that were all metal, eventually all of them were metal because they survived the best Adaptation - inherited characteristics that increase an organism's chance of survival; we decided the certain traits that some of the hardware had were more beneficial, explaining the change Speciation - the formation of a new species through evolution; how each piece of hardware was a separate species descended from another Allopatric speciation - speciation where a new species is formed when two groups of the same species are separated; the Alas are an example of this , being separated by a storm that prevented mating with the other Tenues Geographic Isolation - a cause of speciation, isolates a species by a geographic landmark (ocean, mountain range, etc); this was how the Alis lava evolved from the Hexagonum family, the Contritum from the Tenues, and many of our other species Behavioral Isolation - a cause of speciation, isolates species through different mating rituals and behaviors; this described the holes of the Tenues planus and the different colors of the Stapulae Temporal Isolation - a cause of speciation, isolates species because they mate at different times; the Stapulae nigrum and Stapulae argentum can't interbreed because one of them is nocturnal and breeds during the night while the other mates during the day Genetic Drift - variation in the frequency of different genotypes in a small population; this explained the Alas lava and why they evolved to have wings in the mountains Founder's Effect - when a small population starts a new colony and the new population will evolve to show certain traits according to the founder's genotypes; seen in the Stupra because most of the ones that first came to the desert had pointy bottoms so the ones that live there now have mostly pointy bottoms
Reflection: I think that my group and I worked pretty well together. I think that we all put in a lot of time to this project, making sure all of the pieces were named, the cladogram was put together in the best way, and that the stories were all correct. I discovered that I really like evolution of organisms, and I really enjoyed this unit, especially learning about how and why organisms evolve. I also discovered that I need to be more assertive at telling people what to do; even though we put a lot of time into the project, it wasn't all equal work, and I could have done a better job at making it more so. My group and I didn't do a good job at managing our time. We had to present after the other groups did, because we hadn't recognized all of the parts we needed to complete in the set amount of time. Next time, I will be sure to recognize how much time I have for a project and plan accordingly. Like I said, I didn't take on enough of a leadership role in dividing the work, so in the future I will work on being more commanding of the group without being too bossy.