Topsoil

Topsoil is actually defined right within the word. It is the top of the soil- the outermost layer of soil that exists. Topsoil can range from 2 inches to 8 inches deep and is usually where mostly all plants are planted. This is because the plants get their nutrients from this layer and it is also where the roots take up water. The layer following topsoil is subsoil.  Most of the earth's biological soil activity takes place in the topsoil, especially since it has an extremely high concentration of organic matter, humus and microorganisms.

 In the picture above, we see the topsoil and some vegetables planted on it. The roots of the plant were able to take up the nutrients from the soil and water to grow to the way it is now.


Works Cited:
Campbell, Neil, Jane Reece, and Lawrence Mitchell. “Plant Nutrition.” Biology. Fifth ed. Menlo Park: Jim Green Publishing, 1999. 717. Print.

Bryophyte

Bryophytes make up the division Bryophyta. They consist of mosses, liverworts and hornworts. Bryophytes are simple, nonvascular plants that inhabit land, logs, rocks, or streams but they lack may terrestrial adaptations of vascular plants.They have no true roots and no flowers. Above I took a picture of a moss that grew beside a log since mosses are one example of bryophytes.


Works Cited:
Campbell, Neil, Jane Reece, and Lawrence Mitchell. “Plant Diversity I: The Colonization of Land.” Biology. Fifth ed. Menlo Park: Jim Green Publishing, 1999. 552. Print.

Simple Fruit

The ovary of a flower usually develops into a fruit so that it can protect the seeds inside from wind or animals. The ovary starts to grow because pollination triggers hormonal changes, which causes the fruit to begin developing. The pericarp is the wall of the ovary, which is the thickened wall of the fruit.  As the flower goes away, the ovary grows which parallels the development of seeds. Without the pollination of flowers, the fruit does not develop. A fruit that comes from a single ovary is called a simple fruit, which can be either fleshy or dry. An example of this, as depicted above, would be an apple. An apple is a fleshy fruit. The fleshy part is mostly from flower parts that were fused together located at the base of the flower; the core of the apple was the only thing that develops from the ovary.


Works Cited:
Campbell, Neil, Jane Reece, and Lawrence Mitchell. “Plant Reproduction and Development.” Biology. Fifth ed. Menlo Park: Jim Green Publishing, 1999. 738. Print.

Kingdoms

When classifying life, a kingdom is the second broadest in taxonomy after domain. The five types of kingdoms that exist are Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protista, and Monera. Animalia kingdom consists of animals, plantae of plants, fungi consists of fungi, protista of eucaryotic algae and protozoa, monera of bacteria and blue-green algae.

These plants below belong to the plantae kingdom.

Works Cited:
Campbell, Neil, Jane Reece, and Lawrence Mitchell. “Introduction: Themes In the Study of Life.” Biology. Fifth ed. Menlo Park: Jim Green Publishing, 1999. 10. Print.

Bacteria

Bacteria is one of the prokaryotic domains, the other being Archaea. Since it is a prokaryote, it has no nuclear membrane, no organelles except for ribosomes in the cytoplasm and all its genetic material (DNA) is coiled up strands. It is also single-cellular. The domain consists of bacterium, more than one being called bacteria. Bacteria is rod-shaped and can appear in chains. Bacteria is involved in infections, diseases, fermentation, nitrogen fixation or putrefaction.

Above is a picture of feet because bacteria, whether good or bad, is already on the skin in general. There's especially a lot of bacteria around the feet which explains why our feet smell bad after taking our sneakers off. Since the bacteria was in a moist, dark and warm area, it was able to send off its smell which is what gives our feet and socks the extremely bad odor.


Works Cited:
Campbell, Neil, Jane Reece, and Lawrence Mitchell. “Introduction: Themes In the Study of Life.” Biology. Fifth ed. Menlo Park: Jim Green Publishing, 1999. 9. Print.

Cohesion

When hydrogen bonds are able to hold a substance together, this is called cohesion. A good example of this is liquid water. When the bonds break, they quickly form and re-form. They last extremly short but the hydrogen bonds are able to make this process of breaking,forming and reforming very quickly so that the water sticks together. Therefore, water molecules are able to bond to their neighbors, making water more structured than most liquids. This is pictured below in the photo with the water molecules staying together due to cohesion.

Cohesion also plays a big part when it comes to transporting water against gravity in plants. When water enters the roots, it moved upward through microscopic vessels to the leaves. The water in these vessels in the veins of the left replace the water that evaporates from the leaft. Water molecules leaving the veins tug molecules farther down in the vessel because of hydrogen bonding. Because of this, the upward pull is transmitted along the vessel down to the roots. Adhesion also plays a role.


Works Cited:
Campbell, Neil, Jane Reece, and Lawrence Mitchell. “Water and the Fitness of the Environment.” Biology. Fifth ed. Menlo Park: Jim Green Publishing, 1999. 38. Print.

Population

When an area is inhabited by a group of individuals of the same species, it is known as a population. Some populations are isolated, rarely reproducing, while others are denser. For example, a mountain range or unconnected river can separate a population. Individuals near a population center are more closely related to members of the same population than other populations because they are more likely to breed with those of the same population. In a population's gene pool, all of the alleles in the individuals of the population are considered at all gene loci. An allele is said to be fixed in a gene pool if all members are homozyous for the same allele, meaning they all have a specific trait. However, there are usually two or more alleles for a gene. To refer to a population's frequencies of alleles and genotypes, the term genetic structure is used.

An example of a population of ducks is depicted above.

Works Cited:
Campbell, Neil, Jane Reece, and Lawrence Mitchell. “The Evolution of Populations.” Biology. Fifth ed. Menlo Park: Jim Green Publishing, 1999. 429. Print.