Monday, September 27, 2010

Apologia Biology, Module 3, Kingdom Protista, Part A

Quizlet Vocabulary Game, M3 
M3 Recap Blog Post at Sahm-I-Am
Module 3, Part B

►Kingdom Monera is bacteria.  That's easy to understand.
►Best I can figure, kingdom Protista consists of organisms that are mostly found in water or some kind of moisture.  Some live in insects, humans, or animals.
Both of these kingdoms are microorganisms (seen with a microscope).
►Kingdom Monera (bacteria) are single-celled and are prokaryotic.
►Kingdom Protista is mostly single-celled, but single-celled or multicellular, their cells are eukaryotic (have distinct, membrane-bounded organelles).  Each organelle in the cell has a different job.  This adds more complexity to the organisms of kingdom Protista.

As a reminder, here are the differences in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells:

As you can see, in addition to kingdom Protista, all the other kingdoms we will study later - Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia - also have eukaryotic cells.

►►Bacteria cells, Plant cells, and Animal cells.
Which kind are Protists?  Kingdom Protista has two divisions.
Subdivision Protozoa has cells that are animal-like.  Not animal cells, but animal-like cells.
Subdivision Algae consists of plant-like cells.


Look at the different parts (called organelles) of a Eukaryotic Cell.  Click on animal or plant cell.  
Different organelles have their own jobs to perform to maintain the life of the cell.  Hover over the organelles of the cell to learn their names.  Below the cell, hover over the names to see any organelles you may have missed.
Notice which organelles the animal cell does not have that the plant cell has, and vice versa.
The organelles that are in both cells, are they each the same shape?
You do not need to know all this now - that will come in a later module.  It is good to be familiar with this information.




(1) p. 67-70, Classification in Kingdom Protista
Kingdom Protista is divided into two subkingdoms:  subkingdom Protozoa, and subkingdom Algae.

Subkingdom Protozoa is divided into four phyla.  The division is based on locomotion - how they move.  To me, these are more interesting than the organisms in subkingdom Algae. 

Subkingdom Algae is divided into five phyla.  The division for Algae is based on three things: habitat, organization (single or multiple cells; one phylum has some colonies), and by type of cell wall.

Each of the nine phyla for subkingdoms Protozoa and Algae has one or more examples in the genus category given in the text.
There are many genera (pl. for genus) and in each genus category, there are many species.  Some examples are listed only by genus and are Capitalized and italicized, and some are specific and give both genus and species.  The species is only italicized, not capitalized.
(Think "general" and "specific", although 'genus' is not very general when you think about the fact that it is the 6th category in the Biological Classification system!)
Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, species

Kingdom Protista:  Subkingdom Protozoa


(2) p. 71-73, Phylum Sarcodina
Phylum: Sarcodina
Locomotion: Pseudopods (false feet)
example: genus Amoeba (uh mee' buh)

►See images of amoebas!
Amoeba Dinner!
Watch this amoeba eat.  It uses its pseudopod locomotion to move and to engulf its prey.  To begin with, everything moves slowly until the prey realizes it is caught!


More amoebas.


Other Sarcodines - members of the Sarcodina phylum:
Entamoeba gingivalis
Entamoeba coli, or E. coli,(but not Escherichia coli)
Entamoeba histolytica
The genus Entamoeba contains many organisms that live inside humans.
Which of these three ↑ are harmless, and which are harmful (and therefore a parasite)?
And what disease(s) do they cause?




~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~




(3) p. 74-78a, Phylum Mastigophora
Phylum: Mastigophora
Locomotion: Flagellum
example: genus Euglena (yoo glee' nuh)

Euglena, from a pond


Euglena's movement by whirling its flagella, and by drawing its cytoplasm into the central region of the cell, then re-extending itself forward.



Euglena are both heterotrophs and autotrophs (p. 74)
(Although some biologist say to be an autotroph, it has to only make its own food, and not acquire it elsewhere.)
But if a Euglena is deprived of light too long, it will no longer be able to make its own food, even if it has plenty of light later.
Euglena are saprophytic heterotrophs since they only feed on dead things, and therefore they are also decomposers.

To Clarify:
Heterotrophic bacteria can be saprophytes, and therefore also a decomposer.
Heterotrophic bacteria can be parasites, and are not decomposers.
Autotrophic bacteria manufacture their own food by chemosynthesis or photosynthesis.




In the following video, the boys says the Euglena "can be a plant or an animal, depending..."
Per my email to Apologia, "it it neither a plant nor an animal; it is considered a protist."
Also, Euglenas do not use their "eye" to see.  It is there to sense light and the Euglena is drawn toward the light, but it cannot see the light.



See different types of protists with flagella.  Since these organisms that are from the kingdom Protista, subkingdom Protozoa, and all have flagella, they are in the phylum Mastigophora.  
Not all the genera (pl. for genus) in the phylum Mastigophora are euglena.  Euglena is perhaps the most common.


Volvox Reproduction



►See a closeup of a volvox colony.  You can even see the flagella and eyespots!  Also see the thin strands of cytoplasm holding it together.  It is awesome how they organize themselves like little planets with North and South poles.  Scroll down.
So beautiful!  And our Creator made this!  =D  This is a terrific page!




Other Mastigophorites - members of the phylum Mastigophora: 
Volvox
Trypanosoma
►Trichonympha
Which of these three ↑ live in colonies?  How do they move?
Which one is beneficial to a termite?  Why?
Which one is carried by the tsetse fly and causes disease? (this would make it a parasite)  What disease?




~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~




(5) p. 78-79, Phylum Ciliophora
Phylum: Ciliophora
Locomotion: Cilia (sil' ee uh)
example: genus Paramecium (pair uh mee' see um)


A paramecium moves by beating the tiny "hairs" on its edge.  These are called cilia.
Paramecia have an oral groove where they take in food.  You can see the oral groove around 40 seconds when it starts turning over several times.
The little "blobs" throughout are food vacuoles.  After a paramecium takes in food through the oral groove, it pinches off a little section with the food inside it.  This is now a food vacuole, and it will move to other parts of the paramecium, taking food to its whole body.



Other Ciliates - members of the phylum Ciliophora:
Stentor
Balantidium coli
Which of these is shaped like a trumpet?  What does it eat?  How does it get its food?
Which of these is a parasite found in fecal matter of many species?



Flagella and Cilia
Here is a video that shows some protists from different phyla. You should recognize most of these names.
Look at p. 62 in your textbook.  These are some organisms found in pond water, and now you will be able to recognize many of them.
Chlamydomonas are green algae, which we will be studying in the second half of the module.
Phacus, a Euglenoid, then "relatives of Phacus".  They are species of the genus Euglena.
Paramecia, mentioned above.
Stentor, mentioned above.

Watch the food move down thru the stentor.






~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~




(6) p. 80-83, Phylum Sporozoa
Phylum: Sporozoa
Locomotion: None
example: genus Plasmodium (plaz' moh dee um)

The genus Plasmodium is home to a very deadly sporozoan.  They are parasites.  They form spores while in the mosquito, but while in a human they multiply in a different way, and can multiply very rapidly.
Study the spore formation stages on p. 80.

Sporozoa



Study the Life Cycle of Plasmodium on p. 81
How a Mosquito spreads Malaria


Sadly, this is true.



Another typical sporozoan - member of the phylum Sporozoa
Toxoplasma gondii
This sporozoan parasite can live in mammals, particularly what animal?
Pregnant women are told to not clean up after these particular animals because it may cause what?
The spores can be spread further by houseflies, cockroaches, insects.
►Once infected with a Toxoplasmic parasite, a person will have it the rest of their life.  See a video about the Toxoplasma parasite.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Pythagorean Theorum

(1) The Pythagorean Theorum


(2) Converse of Pythagorean Theorum


(3) Several examples


(4) YayMath.org - Pythagorean Theorum

Algebra - Pythagorean Theorem from Yay Math on Vimeo.


Interactive math game.  After doing a few, you'll see the pattern.  =)
Click the Help tab for instructions.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Trigonometric Ratios - sine, cosine, tangent

After watching these videos, see if you can complete these sentences using the words sine, cosine, and tangent.  Write the the following completed sentences in your notebook.
soh-cah-toa
1. Out of the three measurements, the _______________ is the denominator two different times.
2. The _______________ is never the denominator.


(1) Explanation of sine, cosine, tangent


(2) Several examples, very good.


(3) YayMath.org - uses a graphing calculator, if you're that far into trig.  (hehe, not me!)
►Accompanying worksheet for this video.


Sunday, September 12, 2010

Apologia Biology, Module 2, Kingdom Monera (bacteria)

Quizlet Vocabulary Game, M2  
Good and Bad Bacteria - a good review
M2 Recap Blog Post at Sahm-I-Am 


Kingdom Monera - bacteria



(1) p. 37-41, Bacteria 
The organisms that make up kingdom Monera are all prokaryotic.    
These prokaryotic cells are bacteria.
Bacteria is made up of organisms that are one tiny cell each.  They are single-cellular.  They can only be seen with a microscope.
So if you can actually see any living thing, you will know it is not made of only one cell, but is multi-cellular.

See these images of how prokaryotic cells may be drawn differently.
Image 1, Image 2, Image 3 (scroll down)
There may be more than one correct name of a certain part of a cell.  DNA and nucleoid, for example.   
Also notice fimbriae (sing. fimbria) and pili.  (This is because of which job the fimbriae are doing -- bottom of p. 39)


But the main thing to know is that prokaryotic cells do not have organelles (little organs) like a eukaryotic cell does.
►See this image that compares the two kinds of cells.
--In the cytoplasm (also called cytosol) of a prokaryotic cell, there are ribosomes and DNA.
--In the cytoplasm of a eukaryotic cell, there are many organelles, each with their own job.

►The fimbriea/pili are not used to move the bacterium.  They are for grasping.  They grasp surfaces to adhere to them (fimbriea), or they grasp other bacteria as part of reproduction (pili).
►Prokaryotic DNA is arranged in a winding, circular shape that connects end-to-end.  There is only one replication origin (original DNA strand) when replication starts.
►By contrast, eukaryotic DNA is linear (in a line); it does not connect end to end to form a circle. The DNA in a eukaryotic cell is enclosed in a nucleus -- it is "membrane-bound."  Other organelles are enclosed in membranes also, much like little water balloons of all shapes.
In eukaryotic cells, when the DNA is replicated, there are as many as 1000 replication origins.

 Despite these differences, however, the underlying process of replication is the same for both prokaryotic and eukaryotic DNA.


►More about: ProkaryotesEukaryotes
(when used as an adjective, these words end in -ic)


The shapes of bacteria.  There are three basic shapes of bacteria. (see image), source.
-Sperical (cocci), which is round.
-Rod-shaped (bacilli), which are longer.
-Helical (spirilla), which look like a spiral.
These three shapes of bacteria have variations and different groupings.  (see image) source.


Read about the size of bacteria, a single, prokaryotic cell of the kingdom Monera.

Shape and Movement of Bacteria  You may not understand all this, so listen twice!  (You will learn on p. 43 about anaerobic bacteria that do not need oxygen.)




Case for a Creator - Bacterial Flagellum





~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~





(2) p. 41-44, The Eating Habits of Bacteria

A. Heterotrophic bacteria get food from other sources.
      1.  parisitic bacteria - parasites that feed off a living host.
      2.  saprophytic bacteria - feed from a non-living host; decomposes dead things for food.  Saprophytes are therefore also called decomposers
B.  Autotrohphic bacteria - manufactures their own food by either photosynthesis or chemosynthesis.

►Click to learn more.
A chat box may pop up a couple of times, asking if you want help.  Just ignore or X off the box each time.
Replying, even just saying "no, thank you," may result in taking you to another page.

We learned about photosynthesis in Module 1.  
Chemosynthetic bacteria use a different process to manufacture their food.  The difference is their source of energy.  
Photosynthesis uses energy from the sun.


Simply digesting food does not give us energy.  In order to get energy from the food we eat, there is a complicated chemical process.  That is why we breathe - so we get the oxygen needed to help perform this complicated process.
Since humans breathe, we are aerobic organisms.
However, some bacteria do not need oxygen to be able to convert their food into energy by chemosynthesis.  They are anaerobic organisms.  Typically they may live deep underground or in the bottom of a swamp.  These bacteria help decompose dead organisms or convert useless chemicals into chemicals that can be used by other life forms.  These bacteria are another essential part of God's Creation.


The growth of a population of bacteria






~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~



(3) p. 47-50, Genetic Recombination in Bacteria
Genetic recombination in bacteria can occur in one of three ways.
  1. Conjugation - temporary union of 2 organisms to transfer DNA
  2. Transformation - transfer of DNA from a non-functional donor cell to a functional recipient cell
  3. Transduction - the process by which infection by a virus results in DNA being transferred from one bacterium to another
Conjugation: 
 (this is the plasmid sending a strand from the donor to the recipient, not the DNA sending it)





Transformation:





Transduction:





Flu Attack!  How a Virus Invades Your Body





~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~



(4) p. 50b-51, Bacterial Colonies

Some images in your text on p. 51 are staphylococcus, streptobacillus, and streptococcus.
Staphylococcus aureus (genus and species) is the Latin name for Staph infection.
Streptococcus pharyngitis is the name for strep throat.
Others named were diplococcus, tetracoccus, and diplobacillus.
Remember bacteria can can have variations and different groupings.  (see image) source.
The shape of the bacteria is in the name.  Did you also notice the prefixes in the above names of bacteria?  This indicates the number, and/or the way the bacteria is grouped in its colony.




~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~



(5) p. 53-54, Classification in Kingdom Monera
The first way we separate the organisms in Kingdom Monera is by their cell walls.

Using a Gram stain process (named after Hans Christian Gram) can tell what kind of cell wall an organism has by the the color of the cell wall after staining.  (see image)
One type of cell wall will retain the dark purple stain, because it has a certain thick layer (peptidoglycan) on the outer layer of the cell.
This is called a gram-positive bacteria.
Other bacteria's cell walls have a thin layer of peptidoglycan further into the layers, and it does not retain the dark stain, and the last pinkish stain is retained.
This is a gram-negative bacteria.
►See the peptidoglycan layers in gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.  In this diagram, it is indicated by a brownish layer.

►Watch this animation of Gram stain procedure.  Scroll down and read the steps on the left as the animation happens on the right.  It is fast!  So after you carefully read the steps, re-watch the animation of the steps.  They play continuously.

Escherichia coli, commonly known as E. coli, is Gram-negative, while Streptococcus (Strep) is Gram-positive.






~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~




(6) p. 54-56a, Classes in kingdom Monera
There are 4 phyla in kingdom Monera.  The phyla are divided into classes for different reasons. Phylum Graciliacutes (Gram-negative) is further divided into classes by how they obtain food.
The phylum Firmicutes (Gram-positive) is further divided by shape.  The other two phyla are not divided into classes because they each have only one class, but there is a reason they are different phyla than the first two I mentioned.
Study carefully before attempting the On Your Own 2.14.
Take notes similar to the table at the bottom of page 55.




~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~




p. 60
Experiment 2.2, Pond Life, Part B. (Part A was preparation for this experiment.)
►At Julie's blog, see bacteria in the pond water her class collected.
►At Julie's blog, see videos of bacteria in pond water.  (Experiment done in M3 - continued from M2)
►At Michelle's blog see A Microscopic World video of bacteria from their pond water.
►Michelle's class viewing bacteria in samples of pond water.
►Video -- The reaction of her class last year when they opened the stinky cultures!

We're not able to actually do the experiments, so here are some pictures of bacteria.  See if you can find any names you recognize.  There are two bacteria for Salmonella, but only one causes food poisoning.  There are others I think you will recognize.
Here are also some videos of bacteria.
Microbiologia I


Bacteria Growth


White Blood Cell Chases Bacteria


Salmonella Cell






A video from TVschoolhouse.com.  This is a great website!
►Click to watch a 10-minute video about good and bad bacteria.
In the video, he talks about 3 kinds of bacteria - parasites, saprophytes, and autotrophs.
    Why doesn't he mention heterotrophs?
Because parasites and saprophytes are the two kinds of heterotrophs - bacteria which do not make their own food.
Bacteria grow best at around our body temperature or a little lower.  So when you have a fever from white blood cells attacking the bacteria, that inhibits bacterial growth!  God sure knows what he's doing!
Also learn about how bacteria take in food thru their cell walls.
Keep watching!  =)



Monday, September 6, 2010

Tom Lehrer - New Math =)

Remembering the Elements Song y'all learned thought about learning in Module 13 of Physical Science, I thought you would enjoy this one.  More simple, but very clever. 

Now I might be able to actually learn this one!  =)