For the first Biology/Biotech project, our class chose from a list of animals on an endangered species list provided by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Table groups of three or four people had to determine if the species we chose would go extinct or have a rise in population again. Ty, Derek, Evan, and I chose tigers as our animal. We did not have a specific type of tiger, our data was collected off of generic information about the extinction possibility of all tigers. Our table's goal was to find out if tigers would go
Concepts
Extinction: the termination of an organism or of a group of organisms, normally a species.
Evolution: change in the gene pool overtime. Different kinds of evolution include micro (small) or macro (big).
Biodiversity: the variety and variability of life on Earth.
Gene Pool: the stock of different genes in an interbreeding population.
Mutations: when a DNA gene is damaged or changed in such a way as to alter the genetic message carried by that gene.
Non-random Mating: when an individual species mates with another in order due to advantageous traits. The blue-footed boobies choose their mates based off of their health which is shown through the color of their feet. Non-random mating provides an increase in population when mating with species containing advantageous traits.
Shrinking Population: Decreased number of a species due to natural or artificial variables.
Gene Flow: The movement of genes or alleles between interbreeding populations of a particular species. Gene pools can affect the genetic variability within a population.
Speciation: the formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution.
Natural Selection: Species thrive or go extinct due to natural disasters and other species in their environment.
Artificial Selection: The breeding of plants and animals to produce desirable traits. Artificial selection is the interference by humans.
Sympatric Speciation: The process through which new species evolve from a single ancestral species while inhabiting the same geographic region
Allopatric Speciation: The evolution of species caused by the geographic isolation of two or more populations of a species.
Throughout this project I had a very good time creating a slideshow, video, and Kahoot! Evidence to extinction was a very interesting topic and I learned many new things about tigers as well as other species chosen by my classmates. I excelled at sticking to our Ghant Chart by getting work done efficiently everyday. I accomplished this by staying on task and doing the required work everyday and planning ahead. I also improved my communication skills by talking to my group about how to divide the workload and work together. I want to improve my leadership skills by the next project by taking more initiation. I also believe I could have improved our project more by having a better attitude towards finishing our video. I was stressed over how little time we had to create a video, but it worked out fine after all.