Emily Silva's AP Biology Digital Scavenger Hunt Set #1 (eight photos)

1) This picture is of the willow tree in my backyard. The willow tree has vines of poison ivy growing up the side. The poison ivy on the left was sprayed with Roundup, a popular herbicide. Roundup kills plants by inhibiting an enzyme, which is a protein that serves as a biological catalyst which changes the rate of a chemical reaction without changing into a different molecule. The Roundup is able to work because the enzyme, EPSP synthase, doesn't stop the chemical reaction when the Roundup is applied. When the enzyme is removed, plants are unable to produce the proteins necessary for survival, so they yellow and die over the course of many days.

2) This picture of my fish tank is a good example of an ecosystem. All of the organisms in this tank, from the shrimp, snails, and fish to the fake plants, pots, and rocks form an ecosystem. The community is all of the organisms in the tank, while an example of a population in this tank are our three Serpia Tetra fish, one of which would be an organism.

3) Meet my pet tarantula, Hyzenthlay. She is a Chilean Rose Hair tarantula. She is of the species G. rosea, and her entire taxonomy is as follows:

•          Kingdom: Animalia
•          Phylum: Arthropoda
•          Class: Arachnida
•          Order: Araneae
•          Family: Theraphosidae
•          Genus: Grammostola
•          Species: G. rosea

4) This is a morning glory. It is closed because this picture was taken in the evening and morning glories open in the morning. This is due mostly to the way the plants evolved. They evolved to open when the insects that pollinate them are the most active, which is in the morning. The flowers react to changes in light and temperature to open in the morning. They die the day they open.

5) This plant is the victim of a type of leaf-rolling insect, a caterpillar which rolls the leaf up and seals it shut with a silky substance. This is a parasitic relationship because this one plant (a hydrangea, to be specific) had many leaf-rollers on it at once, and their goal is to seal themselves into the leaf and then live off of it. This does not benefit the plant in any way, damages it by killing many of its leaves, and is aesthetically displeasing. Leaf-rolling insects pose a larger problem on the western coast in states such as California, and affect fruit trees.

6) My dad has blue eyes. This means that he has homozygous recessive alleles for this trait. My mom has brown eyes, meaning she either has homozygous dominant alleles for this trait, or heterozygous alleles (one dominant, one recessive). I did not inherit my father’s blue eyes, because even if my mom is a carrier of the recessive allele, they only had a 50% chance of producing a child with blue eyes, and I am their only child. However, this also means that I am a carrier of the recessive allele for blue eyes. 

7) These are my two pugs, Daisy (left) and Mavis (right). They are sisters. Daisy was the runt of the litter, and it’s clear from this picture that she’s a bit smaller than Mavis. Runt puppies are caused by where they develop in their mother’s uterus. They often develop in the middle, which is the farthest away from the mother’s blood supply and nutrients. After being born, the milk that the puppies drink contain a fluid called colostrum, which is packed with antibodies to help the puppy’s immune system grow strong. Since the runt of the litter is so small and the other puppies so pushy, the runt can have a hard time getting to drink any milk and may not reap the health benefits of the colostrum in the milk. This can lead to runt puppies dying soon after birth due to health issues, including sickness and weak bones. Luckily, Daisy here grew up very healthy, and she and her sister are now nine years old!

8) Here’s Daisy again, this time sporting a nasty sting from a hornet. Her lip is visibly swollen and pink. The swelling resulting from a sting is due to the body freeing fluid from the blood to flush out all of the venom from the area. The excess of fluid in the area causes swelling and tenderness. Daisy was fine with the help of a small amount of Benadryl and warm water applied to the area.