The same interactions and outcomes in the simulation were also at work in Addie's body and also at work in our community over the past ninety years. Bacteria populations became more resistant to being killed by antibiotics as trait distributions in the population that granted them a competitive advantage for survival became more prevalent over many generations of exposure to antibiotics.
We can help our community fight (or slow) the increasing frequency of antibiotic resistant bacterial infections by communicating a more effective message (than the CDC) for why people should follow CDC recommendations regarding antibiotic use.
We identified characteristics we wanted in a new case to help us evaluate whether the interactions and outcomes of our model for how bacteria populations can be used to explain changes observed in other populations of organisms.
Exploratory behavior in juncos is inherited. Alleles that are or are not inherited can influence what substances are or are not produced by cells in any living creature. We think this might be what is causing differences in their behavior.
In stressful situations the amount of stress hormone in the blood stream is different for juncos from these different populations. This is correlated to the amount of exploratory behavior they engage in. The variation in this physiological mechanism is heritable, which leads to variation in behavior between juncos.
Natural selection can explain the differences in the boldness of individuals from the two junco populations
There are many physical, behavorial and physiological trait differences between the mountain and UCSD Junco populations. This divergence happened in just 60 years of being separated from one another.
Many of our friends and family members aren't following the CDC recommendations for antibiotic use. Different antibiotics have different ways of killing bacteria (dissolving cell membranes, blocking the construction of cell walls, interfering with DNA copying or repair, or blocking protein production).
A bacteria colony is made of many bacterium cells. When the colony grows, some of bacterium are growing in size and then splitting in half producing two bacteria. This type of reproduction can occur every 20 minutes. It leads to exponential growth.
Bacteria compete for limited resources, which limits their population growth. Competition for resources can affect the distribution of trait variations in a population. This can explain some of the patterns of growth we saw in our Petri dishes.
We pulled together what was happening across three different systems (Addie, our Petri dishes, and the simulation). We identified additional objects and interactions to include in a revision to the simulation to help us explore some of the phenomena we still had questions about.
With this interactive, based on the Wall of Birds mural, students explore species from all surviving bird families alongside a select group of extinct ancestors. Students can make comparisons of anatomy, native ranges, and distinctive voices.
This brief video lesson describes how a caterpillar transitions to a butterfly through complete metamorphosis. Discussion/assessment questions and suggested supplemental resources are also included.
In the urban dictionary, "on fleek" is currently a popular slang term that describes something that is 'flawlessly styled or groomed." In this lesson, the students will explore the concept of evolution by using their engineering skills to "build" various bird beaks that are "on fleek," for capturing different types of food.
This lesson introduces students to the concepts of evolution, specifically the evolution of humans. The goal is to get students to link the concepts learned in their DNA, protein synthesis, and genetics units to their understanding of evolution.
