Cnideria

Phylem: Cnideria

Cnideria are invertebrae animals that are different than most of the other animals because they are able to use their stinging cells to paralyze prey, capture food, and use it to defend themselves. Also refered to as Jellyfish considering the fact that most cnidarians are a type of Jellyfish. But don't forget Anemones and some types of coral are also part the the Cnidaria Phylem.

Here are some example of Cnidarians:

Jellyfish

Sea Anemone

Feeding:

Cnidarians are considered both Carnivores because of how they can paralyze their prey. They cannot actually chase after their prey like other animals, but instead they wait for some unlucky fish to just swim through them and hopefully get a snack out of them!

Respiration:

Cnidarians do not have lungs or gills! So how can they breathe? They respirate by exchanging gases through their entire body surface! That's right they have cells all around their body which allows them to exchange CO2 for O2.

Circulation:

Cnidarians don't actually have a Circulatory System. Instead they transport nutrients in a process called Diffusion. Diffusion is the process where the cells inside an organism transport nutrients throughout the body themselves instead of having arteries that push the blood found in humans.

Excretion:

Cnidarians only have one opening through their bodies which means that they ingest food and excrete waste all through the same opening. Pretty cool eh? But to be clear not all waste is excreted through their opening. Gaseous wastes are excreted through diffusion which is also pretty cool.

Response:

Cnidarians have a simple form of a Nervous System called the Nerve Net System. This means that the cells in the nervous system are spread farther apart than normal which allows Cnidarians to respond to physical contact. So wherever the Cnidarian feels contact automatically move in any random direction.

Movement:

Cnidarian moves with of the water current because of how weak their muscles are. So if the current is pushing left, the cnidarian will also travel left. They move by pushing water out of the their "Bell" top middle section of jellyfish/cnidarian to propel themselves.

Reproduction:

Depending on the specific Cnidarian, these animals can reproduce sexually by the male Cnidaria releasing sperm into the water in hopes that it will reach the female's eggs and get fertilized. From here the embryo are stored in the female's stomach or pouches along her oral arms until they are ready to be released. On the other hand, Cnidarians can also reproduce by budding which means that if a part of the animal breaks off, that part will grow into a new animal while the old animal will grow back what fell off! AWESOME! In other words, if I was a Cnidarian and lost an arm, my arm would grow back and the arm that fell off would grow a new body resulting in 2 Kenzie's!!!

Real life Pokemon?

Nudibranch:

The Nudibranch (a.k.a. A real life pokemon) is truly an animal that will amaze you just by how awesome it looks. It was given the name "Real life pokemon" because of the fact that they all have different  colours and patterns and perhaps that there are over 3 000 species of this amazing animal. It comes from the Phyla: Mollusca and is closely related to the common sea slug. The reason why these little guys caught my attention is by how unique they are compared to other animals and especially to other sea slugs. Don't believe me? Well check out these awesome creatures for yourself!

Chromodoris Annae Nudibranch

Cuthona Nudibranch

Flabellina Exoptata Nudibranch

Godiva Nudibranch

Glaucus Atlanticus Nudibranch 

(A.k.a. Blue Dragon Nudibranch)

(My Favorite type!)

Now here's an awesome video on Nudibranch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWztyHHIsFk

Plant Photo Journal

Mosses:

Mosses are found in moist and shady environments where water is nearby. They need this type of environment due to their swimming sperm. So without water, they cannot reproduce and when plants plants don't reproduce, it leads to their extinction. For example, mosses can live on rocks but only if the rock is moist/wet at all times! Other than that, you will see them on the ground or in grass where moisture is availible at ease. Mosses cannot grow tall because they are Non-Vascular which means that hey do not have tissues that carry water to their cells. In other words, mosses have to absorb nutrients directly instead of carrying the nutrients to other parts of the plant such as their leaves.

    

               Moss
(Found in shaded area in
     front of  the school)

    

              Moss

 (Found in the Forest

   behind the school)

Ferns:

Like Mosses, Ferns are found in Moist environments also because they not only need it for nutrients but it is also necessary for Fern Reproduction. Reason being that once the spores from the Fern are released, they form a Prothallus and the Prothallus need water for their swimming sperm which leads to fertilization. And Fertilization leads to new generations of Ferns. Although Ferns and Mosses are similar in environments, they are different in structure. As you can see Ferns are much taller than Mosses because Ferns have Vascular Tissue! Vascular Tissue allows them to carry water to different sections of the plant which allows Ferns to grow tall and still receive all the nutrients it needs. Another difference is that Ferns need to grow in soil because without soil the plants has no anchor to the ground and with no anchor, it makes it impossible for Ferns to grow tall.

Front Side of Fern

Back side of Fern

Back side of Fern

Front side of Fern

Gymnosperms:

Gymnosperms live in varied environments due to the fact that instead of having spores or swimming sperm, they have seeds which provide protection and can last long periods of time before the seed becomes "active" and starts to grow. But before a seed can be formed, the plant has to first go through pollination. Pollination is when the the anther releases pollen grains (from the male part) and the pollen grain becomes trapped in the ovulate cone (female part). From here, Pollination leads to Fertilization. Now Fertilization occurs because the Pollen grain start to grow pollen tubes and from there, sperm is release into the egg cell. Now a Zygote of the plant has developed which in the future will lead to a gymnosperm seed!

Gymnosperm Bush
(Found in front of the school)

Male Cones

Female Cone

Alaskan Cedar Tree

  Female Cones (Big Spheres)

   Male Cones (Small Ovals)

 






    Gymnosperm tree

(Found in Forest behind the school)

Angiosperms:

Angiosperms are well developed for life on land because of how they have the ability to attract things to them which help disperse their offspring. For example some angiosperms reproduce by Spores and these Spores are found in colourful flowers. These flowers are meant to look beautiful to attract organisms to it and hopefully help in pollination. An example of this is when pollinators such as bees take nectar from flowers. Or another example is when plants angiosperms have fruits! The colorful and tasty fruit is meant to attract animals to eat it and later poop out the seed somewhere far away where that seed can grow and develop into a new plant! Pretty cool, eh?

Dicots:

         Holly Plant

       Red Berries &

Branched Veins in leaves

Oak Tree

Acorns

Branched Veins in Leaves

Monocots:

Tulips

Parallel Veins in Leaves

               Orchids


    Parallel Veins in leaves

Flower Dissection!

Woohoo!

Today in class we did our first dissection ever! It wasn't as cool as dissecting an animal but at least it wasn't as messy either!

Labelling:

This particular flower had 6 Anthers. The anthers are the brown parts on top and they contain the pollen which means that they are the Male part of the flower. The stem which holds the anthers is called the Filament. Together this part of the plant is called the Stamen.

In this photo, the small dark sport on the left of the stem is called the Stigma and is the Female part of the stem. The stem which holds the Stigma is called the Style. And the thick part on the bottom is the ovary which contains the ovule/egg.  Together, this part of the plants is called the Pistil.

This flower had 6 colourful Petals which means it is a Monocot plant. (Monocot plants have petals in groups of 3).

Here is a close-up of the Pollen found on the Anther. Truthfully, I think that the pollen looks like a bunch of insect eggs which does not appeal to me. I don't like insects and I definitely don't like theri eggs.

Now here is a close-up of an Ovule/Egg! As you can see it is unfertilized but it is still an interesting thing to be seen.

Pollination:

Pollination is the transfer of pollen (from the anthers) to the stigma. From there, the pollen can reach the egg and that is when Fertilization occurs. Pollen is transfered from the anther to the stigma through wind or through pollinators such as birds, bees, or other insects. The stigma is quite sticky which make pollen easier to attract. Now that you know what Pollination is, there are two tuypes of pollinaton; Self-Pollination and Cross-Pollination. Self-Pollination is when the pollen from one plant pollinates the stigma from the same plant. Some benefits of Self-Pollination is that it allows the plant to keep the traits that are to theri advantage. On the other hand, Cross-Pollination is when the Pollen from one plant pollinates a stigma found on a different plant! This also gives plants a great advantage because it allows more diversity within the plants which allow them to develop new traits. And new traits might lead to a higher chance of survival.

Classification:

In Conclusion, I think the flower we dissected today would be a Monocot because it has all the traits of a monocot. For example its veins on the leaves are parallel to one another and the plant has 6 petals. And Monocot Plants always have petals in multiples of 3.

Monocot or Dicot?

Angiosperms:

Angiosperms are probably plants that people see on a daily-basis. For example, Angiosperms are plants that bear fruits, nuts, or berries. Out of all the Angiosperms in the world, they can be divided into 2 categories, Monocot or Dicot. There are many traits which allow us to determine whether a plant is a Monocot or Dicot. But in this post, you will see the Microscopic differences between Monocots and Dicots.

Roots:

As you can see, this is a picture of what a Cross-section of what a Monocot root and a Dicot root looks like close-up. It has many vascular Bundles arranged in a ring-like structure. Unlike the Moncot root, the dicot root has only 1 vascular bundle right in the middle shaped like an "x".

 

               Monocot                                   Dicot

Stems:

The pictures below close-ups of what a Cross-section of a Monocot and a Dicot stem. The differences between these stems are that in Monocot stems, the Vascular Bundles are arranged in a ring-like structure right beneath the epidermis and are relatively uniform size. On the other hand, the Vascular Bundles in a Dicot stem are scattered throughout the stem and are all different in size.

              Monocot                                   Dicot

Leaves: 

Below are pictures of cross-sections of a Monocot and a Dicot Leaf. In a monocot leaf, the Vascular Bundles are in line with each other. While in a Dicot leaf, the also parallel to one another but the difference is that in Dicot leaves, the vascular bundles are placed more farther apart.

           Monocot                                   Dicot

Acorns and Pine cones

Comparison Between Acorns and Pine Cones:

Have you ever wondered what the differences between an acorn and Pine Cone are? Well, wonder no further! I have important information about these two things that can change your life (hopefully).

Fun Fact: The whole reason plants are alive is to try to take over the world by producing seeds so that their offspring will hopefully conquer the planet! And if your thinking "What about them Seedless grapes". My answer to you is that they are Genetically modified to have no seeds which pretty much makes it useless in the plant world. All this trouble to make eating fruits more convenient. Is it worth it?

Acorns:

First of all, here are the basics. Acorns are found on Oak trees and are the actual seed themselves. Like many other trees, Oak trees produces nuts and in this case, it is acorns. Acorns are edible but contain Tannic acid which gives it a bitter taste and can be very dangerous for people if taken in high amounts. So just try to avoid eating them. On the other hand, an animal that can handle the Tannic acid would be the one and only Squirrel! And thanks to the squirrel, the seeds can be dispersed into many regions. And in some cases, the wind can help spread out the seeds to make more oak trees in the future.

Pine cones:

Unlike Acorns, Pine Cones are found on Cpniferous Trees and are just part of the tree's reproduction cycle. Because of this, they have to produce seeds themselves. This is made possible when the pollen from the male cone reaches the Ovules in the female cone and BAM! Seeds are being developed under the pine cone's scale. After a couple of weeks, the seeds fall out of the pine cone and are dispersed far distances thanks to their "Wings" which allows them to fly to other locations and hopefully produce a Pine Tree.

Plants with Powers!

Mimosa Pudica:

The Mimosa Pudica (a.k.a. the Sensitive Plant, the Shy plant, then Humble Plant, and many more other names) is a very fascinating plant because it is totally different from the rest of the plants. Native to Brazil, it is found in most tropical climates but can be grown worldwide under the right conditions! Even in an average household! This plant can actually appear as if it is dead just by the touch of the finger. Scientists think, that the Sensitive plant was developed in this way to drive off plant-eating animals because it is highly unlikely that animals would eat a plant that moves when touched. The ability that allows the plant to "droop" is in the cells found in the plant that can sense a change in pressure. For example, when the plant is touched, the plant feels a change in pressure resulting in the vacuoles in the leaf to lose water and appear frail. After a while, the plant will regain it's normal shape as long as the pressure is unchanged or in other words, the plant is left untouched.

Still don't believe me, check out this awesome video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLTcVNyOhUc


Fun Fact: If you want to buy these wonderful seeds, they can be purchased at this website! And this website offers classroom kits which are great for teachers! 

http://ticklemeplant.com/

The Private Life of Plants

The Fig Tree

Out of all the "Private Life of Plants" videos I chose the one about how the fig tree is able to strangle other trees in order for it to ensure survival. Although it may not be a cool time lapse video like the other videos, the information in this video is phenomenal! From watching the video, I learned that not only do Fig Trees produce delicious figs, but also learned that once Fig Trees have a steady source of nutrients, they increase in growth drastically and start to wrap a host tree with its Rootlets. The Rootlets then start to become thicker and soon cover the host tree from top to bottom. Because of the Murderous takeover from the Fig Tree, the host tree is now unable to access it's nutrients because the soil is now filled with Fig roots which take up most of the nutrients. The Host tree, now dies creating a hollow hole for the Fig Tree. Luckily the Fig is able to stand on it's own and move on with it's life.

Still don't believe me? Here is an awesome video that will teach you all about it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCUtpmwacoE&list=PLCC07E66503F99BB5&index=6

Pine Cone Project

Pine Cone Reindeer!

For my Pine Cone project, I gathered natural materials from the forest near our school such as pine, cones, acorns, leaves, and some red berries and was able to create this one of a kind reindeer!

                                Front

                                     Right

                                     Left

Fun Fact: He is currently living in front of the Christmas Tree. Can you spot him?