Gregor Mendel: The father of genetics
Gregor Mendel, through his work on pea plants, discovered the fundamental laws of inheritance. He deduced that genes come in pairs and are inherited as distinct units, one from each parent. Mendel tracked the segregation of parental genes and their appearance in the offspring as dominant or recessive traits. He recognized the mathematical patterns of inheritance from one generation to the next (DNA from the beginning).
Gregor Mendel, through his work on pea plants, discovered the fundamental laws of inheritance. He deduced that genes come in pairs and are inherited as distinct units, one from each parent. Mendel tracked the segregation of parental genes and their appearance in the offspring as dominant or recessive traits. He recognized the mathematical patterns of inheritance from one generation to the next (DNA from the beginning).
The Plot
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My 4-by-4ft plot.
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Fir-tree: Fir is a genus of 48-55 species of evergreen coniferous tree.
- Throughout time, the fir-tree has not really changed. The ones around our house were mainly grown by man, so the seeds planted were probably store bought.
- So how do these trees reproduce?
- Each fir tree carries male and female cones. The larger female cones contain ovules, which develop into egg cells, or female gametes. To reproduce, the smaller male cones let loose grains of pollen, which are the male gametes. The pollen travels on the breeze to fertilize the egg cells in the female cones. This produces an embryo protected by a seed coating, but the process of ripening takes about three years. After that, the cone opens up to release the seeds (Mackanzie).
- The F1 generation fir tree gets its traits from both the mother and father. The mother genes might have traits for short and thick tree while the fathers traits may be for tall and thin tree. After they cross, the son/daughter tree gets traits from both parents and it might turn out to be a tall and thick tree.
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My dog: Half-black lab and half-golden retriever, he shows trait of both.
- Because of his distinct fur we call him Oreo. His fur shows both traits of his mother (pure-bread golden retriever; gold/brown fur) and his father (pure-bread black lab; black fur).
- After his parents mate, his father, containing traits of black fur and his mother, containing traits of gold/brown fur. We can assume his mother had heterozygous dominant traits for gold fur; Gg, and his father had homozygous recessive traits for black fur; gg. The phenotype of the F1 generation could easly predicted by completing a punnet sqaure.
- 50 percent gold fur, 50 percent black fur. My dog got the recessive trait for black fur.
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Grass: Any plant of the family Gramineae, having jointed stems, sheating leaves, and seedlike grains.
- When you think of grass you probably think of your lawn or feild. Grass comes in many different shapes,forms and can vary in color as well.
- Although in your lawn you only see your nicely cut grass, have you ever seen a yard with un-cut grass? The reason you see diifferent variations of grass is because of their parents genotypes.
- Lets look at the different types of grass. Lets say flat grass is Homozygous dominant (FF) and tube grass is homozygous recessive (ff). The two grasses cross and produce the F1 generation. To predict the F1 generation we make a punnet square and cross the dominant flat grass with the recessive tube grass. We get the phenotypes of the F1 generation: 100 percent flat grass because the flat grass dominates the tube grass.
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Worm: An invertebrate that has a slender, soft, cylindrical or flat body and no apparent appendages. Belongs to the class Oligochaeta.
- There are no male and female worms – all worms are the same and each produce both sperm cells and egg cells (Worm lady)
- Have you ever wondered the difference between an earthworm and a nightcrawler? The difference between them is actually their environmental interaction. The one you see to the left is a common worm and not classified as neither a nightcrawler or red wiggler (a smaller kind of worm). Look at the pic below. Top is a night crawler and the two small ones are red wigglers.
- Either way these two worms are identified from each other because of their interactions with the environment. The night crawlers surface after rainstorms. Why?
- They require oxygen and if their tunnel is filled with water they will have to come to the surface to get it. They “breathe” through their skin and their skin has to stay moist.
- Earthworms are very sensitive to poisons. Rain could be washing pesticide into their tunnels so they have to leave to escape it. They also feed off soil because it gets it's nutritional needs from the living things in the soil.
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American Robin: A migratory songbird of the Turdidae family, named after the European Robin because of the reddish-orange breast.
- The American robin eats a wide-variety of food. Including fruits and berries, worms, grubs and caterpillars. In winter, its diet is made up largely of berries. It is often seen on lawns in the morning looking for earthworms (NatureWorks).
- Robins have developed a unique beak for its environment it lives in. Because of its environmental interactions and its diet, it has developed a beak for the things it eats. For example the sharp and long beak to pick worms and grubs out of the ground.
- Just how Charles Darwin had observed on the Galapagos Islands, the beaks of different finches and their diets. Although this isn't directly related to his theory of evolution through natural selection; the robin has developed a beak for the environment it lives in.
References:
"Worm Lady." Worm Lady RSS. WordPress, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014
Ramsey, Heidi. "#Red #Wigglers vs #Earthworms in #Composting." Pint Size Farm. Pint Size Farm, 17 Apr. 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
"American Robin - Turdus Migratorius." American Robin. NatureWorks, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
"Worm Lady." Worm Lady RSS. WordPress, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014
Ramsey, Heidi. "#Red #Wigglers vs #Earthworms in #Composting." Pint Size Farm. Pint Size Farm, 17 Apr. 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
"American Robin - Turdus Migratorius." American Robin. NatureWorks, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.