Endangered Species

Outline

To better understand biodiversity we have been investigating the unity and diversity of life on Earth. From common ancestors and speciation to adaptations and extinctions. The more modern impact on biodiversity is humans and how they can influence and change the course of history for life on Earth. In this project we chose to focus on an endangered species, in our case the Green Sea Turtle, and make an informational visual about it, answering key questions about it.

Evidence of Work

In order to present our information we made a sort of advertisement. Ideally this would be in a magazine, but it shows our overall goal and a few fun facts explaining key points about their turtles and their life. Along with the poster we added a short artist statement further explaining the purpose of our works.

Extinction Project Explanation

Content

  • Evolution: gradual development of a species from another species usually over a long period of time, which is the idea of this entire project
  • Natural Selection: when adaptations that allow an organism to better fit their environment increases their survival and reproduction, while the ones that don't have the adaptation are not as well suited and die off, this is what leads to evolution
  • Gene Pool - the possible genes available in a population, which affects the traits those organisms' offspring has
  • 5 Fingers of Evolution - The 5 fingers of evolution are a simple and widely accepted reasoning of how evolution occurs, which was the focus of the project
    • Small Population - when the population shrinks the gene pool is limited to the genes left over of the survivors, who ideally survived because they have the best traits
    • Non-Random Mating - mating based on appearance, meaning the most attractive in a population get mates
    • Mutations - a random change in DNA that causes new genes to be added to the gene pool changing it completely, mutations can be classified an an adaptation and passed down through generations
    • Adaptation - a advantageous change that a species makes or acquires over time to better survive its environment, the adapted species have a higher chance of surviving and then pass said adaptation down to next generation
  • Speciation - when a new and distinct species evolves from one original species, speciation is evidence of evolution, here are a few types:
    • Allopatric - when populations of the same species become separated due to geographic changes, and one of them adapts to the new environment, creating a new species that can no longer breed with the other
    • Sympatric - when species evolve differently, to the point where they can no longer interbreed. This type of speciation is somewhat inexplainable
  • Extinction - when a species completely disappears from Earth, or it can no longer reproduce (only all male or all female still living), the point of this project is to bring awareness the this in a species

Reflection

This was supposed to be a quick project, completed in class with a partner, so it should have been easy. However, while people had already created their interactive presentations, such as a game show, demonstration, or cake, school was abruptly cancelled, due to COVID-19. Considering we had done most of the research in class, all we had to do was create the visual at home which was not a major task. However, the stress of the outside world did make it a little more complicated. While having to not only worry about daily school work, but also the politics of a new pandemic, it was hard to be a conscientious learner. Attempting to learn at home, with little to no influence other than self motivation is insanely hard. Procrastination along with countless distractions at an arms reach really impacted my focus on this project. I was lucky enough to have a partner that would remind me to do my part, but this project along with my other classwork has shown me that I have to be responsible along with cooperative with my school work or my education will begin to dwindle. I most definitely could have managed my time better because even when I was doing in class work, I was playing games and doing other things because I lacked a sense of urgency or drive. However, it was something I could do at home, which I did, in order to relieve my partner of some of the workload. This project was, in my opinion, a great start to at home learning and I cannot wait to see what else this experience has in store.