Final update on plants

The other post would not publish for some reason, and to top it all off I deleted the picture on accident. I had to take an emergency picture in the classroom. (Sorry!)
The Coleus continued to grow nicely, but the begonia wasnt as successful. It probably didn't get enough sunlight because of the shade from the Coleus.

Adaptation Of a Plant

We found these ferns when we were joyriding in the golf cart up north. I noticed that they were growing in the direction of the sun. (Click on these two pictures especially). Being in the woods, there isn't many areas that get full sunlight; they are more so patches of sun here and there. (Which is shown well by the shaded area around the patch of sun). By growing in the direction of the sun in the small area that it shines, the plant gets the most sunlight that it can from where it is. This is an adaptation of a plant; which is when a plant will change to become more suited for its environment over a period of time. I put the whole container of cookies in the picture; (bottom of picture, in the center. Container is blue..) odds are a single cookie wouldn't show up.

CAM Plant

"Crassulacean acid metabolism" (CAM) is used by plants when its living conditions don't have a lot of water. (It's a very complicated night-day routine, but long story short the stoma in the plant stays closed during the day to save the water, and opens at night to collect CO2.)
I used my wallet in place of the normal cookie, because I was at a fruit market and didn't have a cookie with me. Pineapples use CAM because they grow in tropical regions that don't get much rain.

Basidiomycete

"Basidiomycota" is a phylum within the kingdom "fungi". Mushrooms, like this one shown here, are part of this phylum. These were found in our front yard up at the lake; for some reason I've never seen them at home.

Hermaphrodite

A hermaphrodite is an organism that has both male and female reproductive organs. An earthworm is known as a simultaneous hermaphrodite.
These are the worms my sister used to go fishing, they're "neon" to attract more fish underwater.

K-Strategists vs. r-strategists

We rescued these kittens a few days ago from outside.(They're only 3/4 of a pound each. Cutest things ever, I know.) Cats are examples of K-Strategists; K-strategists reproduce to where the mother has fewer babies that require more care and attention over a long period of time. Fewer babies also allows the mother to provide maximum care to ensure that more will survive. The offspring have a longer life expectancy and larger body sizes. (Our mother was not an example of a good mother, however, the theory of K-selection is shown in the sense that she had few babies.)

On the other hand, the hundreds of any larvae shown in the pictures above show the results of an r-stragetist; where reproduction is quick with many offspring. r-strategists belong to the r-selection theory, whose organisms have characteristics such as a small body size, short generation time, and a short time until they reach maturity. The cookie is in multiple pieces in the pictures of the ants... they attacked it when I went to put it in the picture. (Oops) Click on the pictures of the any colony to truly see just how many eggs there are. It's gross.

Gymnosperm Leaf

These are the leaves of one of the pine trees in my backyard. Pine trees are known as gymnosperms because their seeds are enclosed. (See post on gymnosperm cone for full explanation)

Gymnosperm Cone

I found these pinecones on and around some pine trees in my backyard. Pine trees are gymnosperms because their seeds are stored in cones; a gymnosperm is a plant whose seeds don't come in fruits, but in cones and are not visible. Pine trees are known as "conifers"; and the seeds develop inside a protective cone like the ones shown above called a strobilus.

Adaptation of an Animal

Adaptations of animals involve physical changes that help it become more suited to its environment (as well as behavior changes) so it can survive. I found these roly polies under some garden stones in my front yard. One of them was in the middle of rolling into a ball. By doing this, a roly poly protects itself from predators.

Update On Plants! :)

Here are my plants, still alive and healthy. That is the original coleus that we got back in June. If the begonia seems rather small, that's because it is. The original begonia died, as stated in the first email to Mrs. Lawrence. I decided to go and buy a new one and start fresh about 3 weeks ago, so I'm hoping it begins to grow more.

Autotroph

This is a tree in my front yard. It is an example of an autotroph; it makes its own food by photosynthesis which is a chemical reaction where CO2, H20, [inorganic] salts, and sunlight are combined to make the energy. A tree absorbs sunlight through its leaves and combines all of the ingredients within the chloroplatsts of cells.

Animal That Has A Segmented Body/BUG

This here bug is a good example of an animal that has a segmented body. This bug is an Arthopod, classified by its exoskeleton, segmented body and appendages. The segments of the body are split up into the head, thorax, and abdomen. This was easily the most difficult picture I've ever taken; the bug was NOT cooperating in posing next to the cookie.

Anther and Filament Of Stamen

The anther and filament both exsist as part of the reproduction organ of the flower. The filaments are the light green stalks coming from the center of the flower, and the anthers would be the yellow, pollen-covered things connected to the top of the filaments.

Asexual Reproduction

This gorgeous hostess plant is in my front yard. The buds show that the plant is capable of reproduction without fertilization, which is called Asexual Reproduction.

Pollinator/ Dead Bee :)

Again, I apologize for the lack of Cookie of Verification. I took this picture after killing this bee that stung me while I was working. Bees are famously known pollinators, which are organisms that transfer pollen from one plant to another to fertilize. Bees are the leaders in pollination, as they're well adapted to complete the job. Our bee here would be considered an ex-pollinator, perhaps even retired. He shouldn't have stung me.

Hydrophilic

Salt is an example of a Hydrophilic substance. The term hydrophilic is applied to any substance that is "water loving", or basically polar molecules that can form hydrogen bonds with water. Thanks to AP Chemistry, this term actually makes sense to me. Salts as well as sugars are all Hydrophilic.

Connective Tissue

This is a picture of my sister's knee to demonstrate the connective tissue found in the knee. Examples of connective tissue are tendons and ligaments, along with the meniscus. Ligaments connect bones to bones; two major ligaments in the knee are the ACL and the MCL. (Both result in devestating injuries if torn.) The meniscus sits between your femur and tibia and basically acts as a cusion. Finally, tendons connect muscle to bone; examples of tendons in the knee are the patellar tendon, and the ilio-tibial band.

Phloem

This huge branch crashed down in my backyard after a storm. It looks as though it was ripped off the rest of the tree by the wind. With the branch ripped the way it was, it gave me a good look at what the inside of the tree looks like. The lighter colored inner bark is called the Phloem. When it comes to trees, the phloem is the innermost layer of the bark. It mostly deals with the transport materials made during photosynthesis. And as you can see, the Cookie made it in the picture successfully.

Bilateral Symmetry

I apologize that there is no Cookie of Verification, but this picture was taken at Greenfield Village when I went with my family about three weeks ago. I did not have mini cookies on me at the time... lesson learned. Anyway, this beautiful butterfly is a perfect example of Bilateral Symmetry. In bilateral symmetry, one plane (called the sagittal plane) divides an organism into mirror-image halves. From the markings on the wings, they seem to exhibit the mirror-image look.

Parasitism

This is a picture of a caterpillar resting on a branch (and the This-Is-An-Original-Picture Cookie of Verification, or COV ;).) The branch will represent a full-size tree in this case. This picture represents PARASITISM, which is a non mutual relationship between organisms of different species where one organism (the parasite) benefits at the expense of the other (the host). In this case, the caterpillar is a parasite who feeds off the tree, acting as our host, with no benefit to the tree.