ID

Phylum Platyhelminthes
Flatworm

They are small flat slimy worms that live in moist soil. They can be from 1mm-600mm of length. Flatworms are single sex and the females can lay up to 10,000-100,000 eggs. The flatworms have difficult life cycle because after the become adults, they live as parasites inside a fish. Since the live in fish or land creatures, those are its predators.
Interesting facts:
Flatworms are known to survive without oxygen for a long amount of time
Flatworms do not have anuses, so they have to regurgitate any food material that has not be digested.


(Possibly)



Spodoptera frugiperda



Armyworm







It turns into a moth when fully grown. A mature caterpillar can be around 1/2" to 2" long. Known to be bad around crops because they will eat everything and anything in an area. Once it's all gone, the armyworms move out and go to another place to find food. Their diet is varieties of grasses and small crops of grains. Armyworms are pest because they can do great amount of damage to crops.

Interesting Facts:

In Tanzania on December 31, around 1,400 acres of grain was destored by armyworms.

A caterpillars infestation is hard to spot due to the fact that the move during the cool nights.

It is known that when a caterpillar is mature, the can go through a whole crop in just a few days.















Hedera helix




Thorndale Ivy


A forest green plant with whitish veins. It has a glossy look to them. They are clinging plants that likes to climb with its tiny "sticky suckers".

Review Questions

1) Well, since plants depends on photosynthesis to survive, if something were to interfere with the photosynthesis, the plant can and will die. Since there is no/barely water getting to the plants, 1), they are dehydrated and are dry from the heat and light of the sun. 2) H2O (water) is needed in the process of photosynthesis in the chloroplast. Without the H2O, the chemical in the photosynthesis can't be completed, meaning that no water=no oxygen, and no oxygen=no sugar. So when the chemical in the plant can't continue, then photosynthesis can't be complete, causing the under watered plants to die.

2) When it's a hot day, the stomas in the plants will close in order to hold water. When this happens, it limits the access to CO2 which reduces photosynthetic yield. CO₂ concentrations in the air spaces which causes the leaf to decrease, but causes the concentration of oxygen released to increase. It's known that this process is wasteful in the leaf, it's called photorespiration.

Storing Seeds

So I read the article about the seeds that are stored in a deep underground vault. I am uncertain about the location because I don't feel that most seeds will survive to the cold conditions that it might be getting or at least it won't plant as well as a normal stored seed. I agree it is a good place to keep it safe from like war and all, but who can really remember where it was located if there happened to be a war? I just don't really see this as such a good idea. The question that still remains in my mind is that one question I recently asked which was, who can really remember the location if there was a war? Is that the best condition for some of the seed plant? Will they still grow the same after being in that condition? And if there was a war, will the seed still be able to be planted on solid that might have bomb fluid or something? " located 130 meters (427 feet) inside a frozen mountain"-CNN. That just doesn't seem like much of a good location for some of the seeds that might be stored inside

Now I read the seed bank, and I also don't think this is a good idea to try and collect every single seed. Once you do, what now? He wouldn't know if a seed will need special treatment before being planted like if a seed needs to soak in water or if it needs to be frozen before planting. If he just tries to plant them wherever, he could kill/waste a lot of plants, flowers, and vegetables. "The Millennium Seed Bank Project aims to house all the 300,000 different plant species known to exist to ensure future biodiversity and protect a vital source of food and medicines"-Reuters. Like I said before, what are they going to do next with the seeds? plant when needed? Will they be fully planted when they need it the most? "Human activities, such as clearing forests, have put flora and fauna at risk."-Reuters. This has also gotten me to question somethings like, wouldn't the spores/seeds from the plants fly off the adult plant to go plant itself? I just think that the plants are smart enough to reproduce to keep it's species alive.

Garden Plot

Short Day Onions:

a) Onions are bulbs or 'fleshy leaves' vegetable. b) Short Day Onions are best planted in places like Southern California, Mexico, Texas. So mostly the Southern and Western areas due to the fact that they temperatures are mainly warm year around. The bulbs will start to come early when there is only 10-12 hours of daylight. c) SD Onions are best to plant in mid October, they start to sprout around 7-10 days. d) This plant is possible for this semester because it gets planted around mid October and is harvest around I believe December? e) It depends on how mush I plant because they each need to be about 6-8 inches apart. f) Well it requires compost and well aged manure. g) Onions need about 1 inch of moisture a week and mulch to keep the soil moist. h) Companion for onions are like beets and beans and lettuce.

3) Onions can get diseases like BLB "Botrytis Leaf Blight" which is a fungal disease that happens in a lot of onions around the world. Spots will start to appear on the leaves. BLB can be controlled by spraying effective fungicides and removing the infected bulbs.

Pictures

Pictures are here

Carbon Fixation in Elodea: Lab

1) Well I kinda don't because if white regions have no pigments, meaning that it has no chlorophyll. Without chlorophyll, I don't think that the plants can make carbohydrates, making that part of the plant look white and dead, but the green parts of the plant are keeping it alive.

2) The phenol red changed color because carbon dioxide was being put into the phenol as we blew in it, the changing of the color was showing that it was receiving the dioxide.

3) When we blew into it, it didn't take as long because we were giving it straight dioxide so it changed quickly. It would depend on how much and how fast you blew into it to determine if it changes colors fast. The changing in the plant meant that the plant was taking the oxygen from the phenol and giving it out. With the help of lighting.

4) The test that we did with the lighting was to show if it was really needed that the water plant needs light as well to fully go through photosynthesis and that test was proven that light was needed. We had a plant in light and a plant out of light to compare the two.

5) No because that test tube did have carbon fixation to feed off of. So since there was no plant to give it carbon, the test tube with no plant stayed the same, even when it was in light.

6)

IV

Giant Salvinia is Native to Brazil and grows in fresh water like ponds and reservoir. They were introduced to the U.S around the 1990's and are known to be the most noxious aquatic weeds because they take over quiet lakes or ponds. It's known to be an aggressive competitors for the environment in the water. What they do is "Forms dense mats that block sunlight and reduce oxygen levels"-Invasive Species: Aquatic Species. This effects the other fresh water plants due to that fact that this noxious weed produces quickly and a lot, meaning that the plants won't get the needed light and oxygen that is needed because of all of the mats covering the water and other plants, stealing their food and air.