The Majestic Moon Flower!

I came across this amazing, and extreme plant while surfing the internet and decided to share my findings with the rest of you beautiful creatures!

The moon flower or Ipomoea alba is a species of morning glory native to the subtropical regions from Argentina to mexico. They grow on vines that reach lengths of around 5 to 30 metres, and the flowers themselves. These flowers are called moon flowers because they are nocturnal and only bloom during the evening and night . In addition, the flower opens up to be round in shape resembling the moon. The moon flower remains open the entire night, just until the sun comes up.

Another strange, yet alluring characteristic that this plant possesses is that it has a very pleasant fragrance is only exposed when the flower is opened. 

I couldn't find a good enough video, but I think these GIFS are a good compromise:

I found this fact really interesting because it reminded me of the time I was in the Philippines in my grandparents village and while I was walking during the late evening, I could smell something really nice and fragrant. When i asked my parent what it was, They told me it was a special flower that only bloomed during the night. I think that this flower and the moon flower may be really close in relation, although occupying areas on completely different parts of the world, and that's just really cool.

Gymnosperms Microscope Lab!

Magnification: Low Power

Magnification: Medium Power

Pine Cones and Acorns

 There are many that think that pine cones and acorns are very similar in a sense that they are both seeds of a tress and that they are an important part in the reproduction of their corresponding tree but this is only only partly true.

Pine cones are produced by coniferous trees as a part of their reproductive cycle. The pine cone is not a seed but it has scales that each contain two ovules that when fertilized, will develop into seeds. They are then released into the environment, their cone may have dropped from the tree, or displaced by the wind with the help of a little wing attached to the seed making it more aerodynamic.

      Unlike the pine cone, the acorn is the seed itself. The acorn is the fruit of an oak tree and has similar qualities to nuts  from other deciduous trees such as the chestnut from a chestnut tree both with smooth, brown surfaces. In comparison to the pine cone, acorns are dispersed in a similar matter; dropped onto the ground and left to be spread around by the surrounding environment.

 A couple days ago when our biology class went on a nature walk to gather our "materials" I witnessed a few things such as the fact that the pine cones were still attached to the tree and the acorns had already fallen off onto the ground. Just an observation. Anyways I came back with a branch, berries, leaves, and other goodies. 

So what do we make of these beautiful tree babies? How about a little winter themed, construction-paper-clad, sparrow bird thing from a single pine cone and a single acorn? Isn't it just great how you can take something from nature and change them so that they look like another nature thing? 

Head: Acorn
Body: Pine Cone

HA. But seriously this craft was really fun and easy to do, felt like good old times in elementary school!

A Close-Up on Vascular Plants

Roots:

Roots are branched underground structures that serve two major purposes; anchoring the plant to the ground, and aiding in the transport of water and nutrients. The roots have little structures called root hairs that have ability to absorb the water and nutrients from the soil which are then transported to the vascular tissues (xylem and phloem) to be distributed throughout the entire plant.

Magnification: Medium Power

 Stems:

Stems are important in providing the support for the plant, if the stem is not sturdy then that may affect the plants growth. Now, there are two types of stems; woody stems and herbaceous stems. Woody stems contain wood and as the years go by the layers of wood add up, strengthening the stem altogether. In addition, the extra strength and the presence of bark allow the plant to survive and grow as the seasons pass. Herbaceous plants have a limited life span only living up to a point where they have flowered/ fruited, and up until then the stem would have died to ground level only to return the next growing season.  Looking at the labelled slide below,  you can see that this is a cross-section of a herbaceous stem.

Magnification: Medium Power

Leaves:

Plant leaves serve the sole purpose of capturing sunlight and converting that into energy. This is done through a natural biochemical process that we all know as photosynthesis. The chemical reaction for this process is shown in this chemical formula: 6CO₂ + 6H₂O (+ light energy)  C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O_2. 

The stomata on the surface of the leaves are responsible for the exchange of gases between the leafs interior and the atmosphere. This is important as the exchange of gases regulates the amount of carbon dioxide and oxygen that we have in the air which is very very substantial to every living thing that lives breathing oxygen (us).

- Midterm Evaluation -

Here's a cluster of things that I felt I did well during the term:

Classification and Taxonomy:
One of the assignments that I did well on for this topic is the classification quiz which I got full marks on! 

YAAAAAY!

In addition to that, I also feel that my partner, Jessica and I did well with the Classification poster in which we had to create new species and classify them based on their traits. Not only did I think we did well on this project, but we had fun creating such creatures...like god must have felt. JK this is biology class.

#FAVE

Evolution:
It was interesting learning  about how animals branch out into species based on the premises on so many things in their environments. One assignment that I felt I did well on was another partner assignment where we had to organize these imaginary animals into an evolution flowchart which took a lot of modification and thought. A great learning experience.

The next assignment that I have learned from is the blog post where we had to pose a question on how an animal had evolved to how it is the way it is. For a link to how the Galapagos Iguana has adapted to life as a semi-aquatic reptile click here.

The final assignment that I want to acknowledge is the lab that the class did on variation where we had to measure our arm spans, heights, foot length, hand spans, and eye widths. I got full marks on this assignment as well.

Viruses:
I learned plenty about viruses just researching for these blog posts.
The next assignment is the virus quiz where I got 19/20, almost perfect but I now know what I missed in one of my answers that prevented me from getting a 20/20 which is something I wont miss for next time.

Bacteria and Protist:
I learned a lot about the bacteria by just looking at them through the microscope and glowing them, shown in a few of my blog posts this including post on the play-doh models that we had to make. 

And on the Bacteria and Protist quiz I got 20/21.

So...What about my grade?

      Being in biology 11 has been quite the journey! I've learned so much that I can apply to my learning to times when I'm just walking in the neighborhood and admiring all the peculiar sights that nature has to offer! The most interesting learning experience that I found really memorable was when as a class we learned how slugs reproduce! Call me gross, but it was fascinating because we see slugs all the time in nature but never in such a way how we saw them dangling from a tree like an ornament. It just lead me to think about how something about everything can be weird when you think about it, and take a closer look. Overall, I think that my learning has been reflected well throughout the term through my assignments and quizzes. I have to admit that I can get behind on my work and blog posts but by now I'm up to date. For a letter grade I think that I deserve an A, specifically a 93% or higher like a 94% or like a 95% maybe a little higher ... now I'm just pushing it, but like yeah I'd be content with a 93%, whatever the marks add up to in the end. 

Stephen Colbert's Bugs!

     Okay so not everyone is familiar with the comedian, Stephen Colbert but you will soon after you read this fabulous article on how a spider and a beetle adopted the names Aptostichus stephencolberti and Agaporomorphus colberti. Both named after Stephen Colbert as a result of the content of his show. After hearing about Neil young and Angelina Jolie getting spiders named after them, he launched a campaign on his show to get these fab creatures named in honor of himself also. 

 The Aptostichus stephencolberti is a type of trapdoor spider that stalks the coastlines of California, discovered in 2007. 

 Agaporomorphus colberti is a type of Venezuelan diving beetle.

The Goblin Shark!

This devilish aquatic monster inhabits the depths of the bottom of the ocean, where it should stay.

See, the thing is, that this creature may look like a regular shark at first glance...

Pretty normal right?

Well, it can also change form to look a little LIKE THIS:

OMG NO.

The goblin shark has jaws that can outstretch and detach from the sharks body in order to pursue and trap its prey. The quick expansion of the sharks mouth is said to create a vacuum effect that sucks the prey into its mouth with ease.

HOW TERRIFYING IS THAT???

FOR MORE INFORMATION, OR JUST FOR THE SAKE OF CURIOSITY, WATCH THIS VIDEO .