What surprised you from the worm's dissection?

  The worm dissection surprised me because its long body and the weired stuffs inside its body.  When I cut the worm from its anus, I saw some black dusts falling off from the worm.  I used the needles to hold the worm, and I felt the smoothness of the skin of the worm.  I saw there are both external and internal tissues and muscles of the worm.  In addition, I can see the vessel system and digestive system of the worm, so I can understand the body system of the worm.  Even though, I did not finish the whole dissection of the worm, I was still surprised by the half of the dissection.  On the other hand, I hope that I can finish the worm dissection and totally comprehend the function of each parts inside the worm.

Alternation of Generations

  Alternation of generation is a word that describes the plant's life cycle.  It is a multicellular diploid form with a multicellular haploid form, and the elements of alternation of generation are two haploid gametes, two diploid gametes, sporangia, and gametangia.  The two processes of alternation of generation are meiosis and fertilization.  Meiosis is reduction of chromosomes from diploid number to haploid number, and fertilization is the fusing of chromosomes from haploid number to diploid number.  Similar to animals, the alternation of generation is also the sexual reproduction of plants, and it is an essential part of plants.  On the other hand, fungi or algae have alternation of generations as well as plants; hence, this is not a unique life cycle of plants.

Why is dissection an important part of a biology curriculum? Which animals and/or plants should be included in biological studies?

  Dissection is usually the process of disassembling and observing something to determine its internal structure and as an aid to discerning the functions and relationships of its components.  Dissection is important to the biology curriculum because the students need to understand what looks like inside the organisms, and see the muscle and tissue structures.  The variety of animals or plants need to be included in the biological study because the students have to know the different structures and functions of various kinds of organisms.  For example, mammals, reptiles, fishes, insects, birds, flowers, trees, and fungi can all be the part of biological study for dissection.

Community Interaction

  Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources.  ex: Two cats snatch the same rat.



Commensalism is a class of relationship between two organisms where one organism benefits but the other is neutral.  ex: Cattle got insects after the livestocks walk by.

Mutualism is he way two organisms biologically interact where each individual derives a fitness benefit.  ex: The relation between ungulate and bacteria.

Predation is a predator feeds on its prey.  ex: The snake feeds a mouse.

Parasitism is symbiotic relationship between organisms of different species where one organism benefits at the expense of the other.  ex: Fleas ingest blood from dogs.