In this project, we were tasked with developing a presentation on an endangered species and their likelihood of extinction. In the presentation, we had to answer four main questions. Why are all living things alike yet so different? How did there come to be so much biodiversity on Earth and how did all those organisms come to have so much in common? How does life change over time? Our presentation also had to cover many subquestions, which include: How have humans affected your species survival? What specific resources does your species require and how do they get those resources? What resources are most limited for your species? How does this affect their survival? How is your species dependent on other species? How are other species dependent on your species? Why does biodiversity matter in order for your species to survive? How is your species designed to ensure successful reproduction? How is reproductive success threatened for your species? What is the ancestral history of your species? How has your species changed over time? Predict if your species will survive or become extinct. In other words, what direction is the species heading and why? My group, consisting of Kian Namiranian, Sarah Ng, and Jada Nazarian, decided to study the Green Sea Turtle for this project.
Our Work
Here is the video we created for our presentation.
Here are the posters we created for our presentation.
Concepts
Evolution: Evolution is change new characteristic of a species that happens over time and is hereditary. FOr example, the Green Sea turtle evolved from a sea turtle called Santanachelys gaffneyi.
Extinction: Extinction is the death of every remaining member of a species. The sea turtle used to be in danger of extinction, but has since experienced a 53% increase in population.
Natural Selection: Natural selection is when organisms adapt traits to better their survival in a certain environment. Green sea turtles adapted more speed on land because only faster turtles survive and getr to the water.
Artificial Selection: Artificial selection is when humans genetically engineer a beneficial trait for an organism.
Biodiversity: Biodiversity is the variety of life in an ecosystem. Different mutations due to different environments cause biodiversity among sea turtles.
Survival of the Fittest: Survival of the fittest is a phrase used to describe natural selection.
Gene Pool: Gene pools are the amount of genetic variation in a certain population.
Small Population: Evolution due to small population restricts the genetic variation of a population and changes the species.
Non-Random Mating: Evolution due to non-random mating allows the organism to choose beneficial traits to pass on to their offspring.
Mutation: Evolution due to mutation is when a random change evolves a species.
Gene Flow: Evolution due to gene flow is the transfer of genetic variation between populations when certain organisms leave and join a population.
Adaptation: Evolution due to adaptation is when a species evolves due to a change in environment. This is how Green Sea Turtles evolved.
Speciation: Speciation is the creation of new species.
Allopatric Speciation: Allopatric Speciation is the creation of a new species due to a barrier of some kind that is dividing a population. This is the type of speciation that helped to evolve Green Sea Turtles.
Sympatric Speciation: Sympatric speciation is when populations evolve separately without a barrier.
Geographic Isolation: Geographic isolation is speciation due to a geographic barrier. This is a type of Allopatric Speciation.
Extinction: Extinction is the death of every remaining member of a species. The sea turtle used to be in danger of extinction, but has since experienced a 53% increase in population.
Natural Selection: Natural selection is when organisms adapt traits to better their survival in a certain environment. Green sea turtles adapted more speed on land because only faster turtles survive and getr to the water.
Artificial Selection: Artificial selection is when humans genetically engineer a beneficial trait for an organism.
Biodiversity: Biodiversity is the variety of life in an ecosystem. Different mutations due to different environments cause biodiversity among sea turtles.
Survival of the Fittest: Survival of the fittest is a phrase used to describe natural selection.
Gene Pool: Gene pools are the amount of genetic variation in a certain population.
Small Population: Evolution due to small population restricts the genetic variation of a population and changes the species.
Non-Random Mating: Evolution due to non-random mating allows the organism to choose beneficial traits to pass on to their offspring.
Mutation: Evolution due to mutation is when a random change evolves a species.
Gene Flow: Evolution due to gene flow is the transfer of genetic variation between populations when certain organisms leave and join a population.
Adaptation: Evolution due to adaptation is when a species evolves due to a change in environment. This is how Green Sea Turtles evolved.
Speciation: Speciation is the creation of new species.
Allopatric Speciation: Allopatric Speciation is the creation of a new species due to a barrier of some kind that is dividing a population. This is the type of speciation that helped to evolve Green Sea Turtles.
Sympatric Speciation: Sympatric speciation is when populations evolve separately without a barrier.
Geographic Isolation: Geographic isolation is speciation due to a geographic barrier. This is a type of Allopatric Speciation.
Reflection
This project was definitely a great learning experience for me. One thing that went well for our group was the video. We feel like it turned out really well. We were able to shoot all the scenes, record the voice overs, and edit the video with no trouble at all. This taught me more about video editing. Something that didn't go so well for our group was collaboration. Our team members all had very different personalities and we didn't get along very well. This taught me more about people skills and compromise. Another peak was the posters. The posters turned out really well and looked nice for the presentation. This helped me improve my writing and art skills. A pit for us, however, occurred when we forgot to incorporate the big questions into our presentation. This led to the creation of our second poster to answer those questions. This taught me about the importance of thorough, careful work. There are definitely a couple things I need to improve on, though. I need to work on improving my cooperative skills. This would help in collaboration with my group. I also need to work on my thoroughness, so that another incident doesn't occur on my watch. Overall, this extinction project helped me further improve skills I will need later on in life.
This project was definitely a great learning experience for me. One thing that went well for our group was the video. We feel like it turned out really well. We were able to shoot all the scenes, record the voice overs, and edit the video with no trouble at all. This taught me more about video editing. Something that didn't go so well for our group was collaboration. Our team members all had very different personalities and we didn't get along very well. This taught me more about people skills and compromise. Another peak was the posters. The posters turned out really well and looked nice for the presentation. This helped me improve my writing and art skills. A pit for us, however, occurred when we forgot to incorporate the big questions into our presentation. This led to the creation of our second poster to answer those questions. This taught me about the importance of thorough, careful work. There are definitely a couple things I need to improve on, though. I need to work on improving my cooperative skills. This would help in collaboration with my group. I also need to work on my thoroughness, so that another incident doesn't occur on my watch. Overall, this extinction project helped me further improve skills I will need later on in life.