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.

Free Choice: The Things That I learned From Ms. Malonek's Class

  I've been in Ms. Malonek's Biology class for more than half year, and I really learned a lot of knowledge from this class.  For example, I learned about the cells, and the different uses of each part in the cell.  In addition, I also learned the evolution of humans, so I understood where were we coming from.  Photosynthesis and cell respiration are the knowledge that I learned form seventh grade, but I still learned these deeply in Biology.  I enjoyed the labs we've done in the class, too since I can learn some knowledge from these experiences.  I met many friends in this class, and we can discuss and learn from each other.  Rather than the knowledge from the book, Ms. Malonek always gives us some additional information outside of the textbook.  To sum up these reasons, I learned a lot of stuffs in my biology class.

Compare and contrast two biomes describe them in detail include pictures of plants and animals you are liklely to see

  There are two distinctly different biomes in the Earth, which are terrestrial biome and aquatic biome.  Basically, both biomes contains animals and plants, but one is on the land and another is in the water.  In terrestrial biome, there are reptiles, insects, mammals, and birds. There are also desserts, forests, and grasslands in the terrestrial biome.  On the other hand, the aquatic biome means the oceans, and it also has its unique organisms.  In aquatic biome, there are various kinds of fish and reeds.  In addition, there are still some mammals in the ocean.  Oceans, lakes, pools, streams, and rivers are all the parts of aquatic biome.  The terrestrial biome is similar to aquatic biome since they are both on the Earth with different organisms live in.  To sum up these reasons, the are several similarities and differences between terrestrial and aquatic biomes. 

Which level of a food pyramid is the most important?

  Based on the food pyramid, I discover that the grains are the most essential level of humans.  Most cereals have essential amino acids lysine.  In addition, only 15 percent of grains contain fat and calories.  The most important elements of grains are their vitamins and minerals.  Nevertheless, more minerals of grains are on the brans or germs instead of the components inside, people always take the healthier things aways from them.  The brans are composed of soluble and insoluble fibers.  The soluble fibers can lower the cholesterol in the blood, and the insoluble fibers are the important factor of digestive system.  Even though the grains are less effective after the removal of brans, the components inside still have fibers and iron; these ingredients are very useful for the lives of humans.