Who Wants to Live a Million Years: Analysis of a Natural Selection Simulation

1. It took four tries for my species to survive a million years. If my species did not have the needed genes to get through a catastrophic event and could not adapt quickly enough, they would die. I believe this is definitely true for any real species. 
2. The successful phenotypes I chose were long legs, long necks, stripes, fur and fat. These phenotypes showed the widest variety which was necessary since i could not predict what would happen. I knew my species needed to be ready for anything. Long legs and camouflaging stripes allowed the species to run and hide. A long neck helped the species reach fruit high in trees, and the fur and fat kept them warm in cold weather.
3. I do not think that my species would be greatly affected by genetic drift. The species was well rounded enough to be prepared for almost any sudden catastrophic event. 
4. The dominant phenotypes seemed to be fur and long legs. They appeared most commonly, almost always being present. A long neck seemed to be recessive. It randomly appeared even if it was not an original phenotype or had been absent for awhile.
5. A: fat and fur, B: slim with no extra body fat, C: camouflaging stripes and long legs, D: long neck and tall
6. I believe this game would be more realistic if the phenotypes were less predictable. Adding in mutations or harmful phenotypes might enhance the stimulation.

GATTACA Essay

    The question I have chosen to answer is about the symbiotic relationship between Jerome and Vincent, and how it benefits them, what they get out of it, and how this concept defies the rules of biology. Both Vincent and Jerome lack an emotional or physical quality. Jerome being the brawnier of the two, and Vincent the brain. Both men lack the other quality (brawn or brain) and have therefore struggled to accomplish their dreams. Therefore when they become “one person” they create the perfect being.

Vincent has never been especially athletic, while Jerome was a champion swimmer. Unfortunately Jerome became paralyzed from the waist down in a car wreck and has no more use for his remarkable strength, until he gives it to Vincent. Vincent is able to use Jeromes steady heartbeat and perfect genes to disguise his scrawny muscles and weak heart. With his new physical statistics he is able to accomplish his dreams. Jerome is able to feed off of Vincents energy through the experience and get a taste of inspiration and motivation, both being emotional traits he lacked.

Vincent had always been an “in-valid” outsider, and Jerome was now crippled. In other words both men seemed to have no life purpose, until they met each other. Their qualities balanced each other out, they experienced not only success, but also friendship for the first time. This feeling of utter, achievement and fulfilment gave the men more of a purpose in life. For the first time they saw what beauty the world had to offer, they found a spark in life.

The idea that two people can act as one person questions the logic behind biology. The fact that Vincent was able to use Jeromes DNA to disguise as him is quite remarkable. it basically says that your inherited genes don’t matter if you can just find others to use. A person would also be able to easily steal identities with just some DNA. Any biological test could be passed, your hereditary traits would essentially mean nothing.

In conclusion, Jerome and incent are able to complete each other. They physically and emotionally morph into one being. Jerome is able to live out his dream through Vincent, and Vincent can accomplish his thanks to Jerome. Both men give an equal amount and receive an equal amount. They discover both friendship and inspiration.

GATTACA essay

The human spirit – Anyone can overcome great adversity and there is no gene for the human spirit. Consider Vincent’s imperfections and strong will to live and chase after his goals and Jerome’s perfection, lack of desire, addiction, and depression.

In the movie GATTACA humans have added a new norm two their society.  Unnatural selection and genetically modifying humans.  The result, a perfect human being.  No flaws or imperfections, the best of what you could ever reproduce.  however some couples choose natural selection. An example of this happening was a boy name Vincent he was born through in a natural way, but he was born with many flaws. The most obvious was his physical disability. He also had a brother but he was born through unnatural selection and was perfect. Vincent also met a man named Jerome who was the best of the best and he had everything going for him but one thing.

Even in the future there is still discrimination but this time it is down to the genes. People who are born through unnatural selection instantly have more opportunity that natural born people. For example Vincent was a janitor for the longest time and he wasn’t even allowed to get a chance to be interviewed. How ever there is one thing that will truly show which human was the best. Natural born or unnatural born. It is the person’s will to succeed. Because the unnatural born people had everything for them and didn’t have to strive for greatness because they had it since birth they end having no drive. However a person who has had nothing, had to work and claw his way to the top, he is the one who possesses the passion.

A great example of a person who has had everything since birth is Jerome. Jerome is a person who is the spitting image of perfect. Except for four things. His legs no longer worked and the fact that he had no determination, depression and addiction. He was addicted to drinking and smoking and he was extremely depressed. It didn’t matter how smart or athletic he was never going to be the best. He said that “Jerome Morrow was never meant to be one step down on the podium.” The act that he lacked desire meant he was never going to be on the top. So in reality it doesn’t matter if you’re perfect in everything else. You need to have a goal or desire that you must reach.

Vincent was a person who was born with many imperfections, which makes him the exact opposite of Jerome. Vincent had a heart condition, but his biggest setback was the discrimination that was posed against him. How ever this ended up aiding Vincent in the end. What it did was force him to work extra hard to be the best. His strong will to live and never to give up made him a better worker than his brother and Jerome. Vincent never quite and kept striving to be his best.  

So in the end it seemed to appear a person born through genetic modification is almost at a disadvantage towards natural born people. The passion, determination and the will to succeed are the only things that you need to be successful. The human spirit, it decides whether are not a human will succeed in life. Not the human anatomy.

A Matter of Selection

In the Willow Glen Garden we have been growing a species of plant called brassica oleracea. From the time we first planted the seed and when they first sprouted, we could not notice any real differences.  However, now that they have grown almost to adult hood there are quite a bit of differences between them.  Because we have just finished our unit of genetics I can now look at these changes in more depth and understand how they happened.  One of the largest distinctions that I have noticed was the  leaves growing on the plants themselves.  Each family of brassica oleracea has a different sized leaf and shape.

Broccoli: Leaves vary from 20 to 30 cm long and 15 to 20cm wide. With green leaves and light green stem.

Kholrabi:  Leaves vary from 30 to 40 cm long and 15 to 25cm wide. They have purple stems and dark green leaves.

Dino Kale: Leaves vary from 35 to 45 cm long and 8 to 13cm wide. The leaves are always very narrow and dark green with a light green stem.

Green Cabbage: Leaves vary from 25 to 30 cm long and 15 to 20 cm wide. The leaves are dark green with light green stems.

Siberian Kale: Leaves vary from 25 to 30 cm long and 10 to 15 cm long. With dark green leave and purple stems. The leaves are also have ruffled edges.

Purple Cabbage: Leaves very form 15 to 20 cm long and 15 to 22 cm wide. With purple leaves and stem.

The data shows that all of the plants have different sized and shaped leaves.  A dino kale has long skinny leaves, but the cabbage has short wide leaves.  The characteristic that shows that largest range is the size of the plant.  One plant like to broccoli can be up to 3 feet tall where as the cabbage can only reach about one foot.

The reason why all of these plants have such different structures is because of the fact that their genes had to change because they were always having to adapt to their new environment.  Natural variation forms when there is a natural force that is affecting the species enough to make it adapt and change.  Because of this change it is common for more than one population of the same species to form.  Our plants that we are growing are great example of this.  Because natural forces it had to adapt.  However not all of the species went through the same natural force, making different populations with different characteristics.  To adapt the plant went through a number of mutations until one of them benefited the plant.  It can also be considered descent with modification.  Each generation becomes better suited to it's environment.  Another reason why there is such a large variation is because of us.  To make harvesting or anything easier they would use a process called artificial selection.  To produce a desired outcome they would change the plants anatomy. An example of this is the case with cabbage.  Humans had genetically modified it so that the buds would grow closer together. This type of selective breeding is the reason why there are so many species of brassica oleracea. 

Out of all the plants one characteristic that seemed to stay the same was the color of either the stem or the plant's leaves. The all had darker green or light green parts.  An example of this is the broccolis or cabbages that had green stems while the others had different colored stems but green leaves. I believe the reason why the one thing that they did not change was color because it never really had a reason to change. What ever thing that was making the plants adapt, must of not have need the color to adapt as well.

In order for a scientist to get a desired trait from the plant they could use a variety of methods. One could be that they move all of the plants into an environmental biome where it would force the plants to go under numerous mutations. A more modern and scientific way is that scientist could find a desirable trait, and then imbed it into the plant.   

Matter of Selection

I have observed that the shape  of the leaves seems to be the most different throughout the Brassica Oleracea plants. There appears to be four different leaf styles, bumpy, frilly, oval and long and skinny. Out of color, stem build and height, leave shape has proven to show the most variety, most of the colors are green or purple, stems are mostly thick with branches, and the plant heights all range from 1 foot to 3 feet.  

FRILLY

BUMPY

OVAL

FRILLY

LONG AND SKINNY

I believe the reason for this variety is natural variations. Each plant serves its own purpose and has to survive its own way. So they have they will each have their own structure that allows them to do so. For example, all the plants hold water and protect themselves differently, so the veins and structure of their veins are different. Other factors such as environment and sun exposure may affect things like the height of a plant. plants that rehire a lot of sun will grow taller than those shorter plants shaded by over things. 

Throughout all the plants, the color of dark green stays eminent. Every plant has at least a little bit of dark green somewhere. Most appear on the stems if not on the leaves, for example, cauliflower and broccoli which have flowers instead of leaves, have dark green stems. Others types of broccoli and kohlrabi have purple stems and green leaves.

Selective breeders could create variety through the environment in which the plants must survive. If the plants were all put in an environment alien to all the plants, then they would create the same adaptations. For example, if one were to put all the plants into an environment with a lot of shade, the plants may grow taller so they can reach the sunlight, dew and rain water.

  

A Matter of Selection

         Over many years, brassica oleracea have evolved into many different species. Sometimes it might even be difficult to notice that the plants are from the same family. Over the past week, I performed some research on the brassica oleracea species growing in the WGHS GOLD Garden. Surprisingly, the largest variation in characteristic between all the plants were the leaves. The greatest range of variation was also seen between the leaves.

KOHLRABI:
Leaves-

• 34 cm long, 20.5 cm wide
• dark green
• spread far apart from each other
• purple stems

SIBERIAN KALE:
Leaves-
 

• 27.5 cm long, 13 cm wide
• rough texture, ruffled edges
• dark green leaves, bright purple stem
• purple stems

DINO KALE:
Leaves-

• 38 cm long, 8 cm wide
• very dark green
• narrow
• textured leaves
• light green stem

CABBAGE (green):
Leaves-

• 26.4 cm long, 18 cm wide
• close together
• medium green color
• light green stem
  

BROCCOLI:

Leaves-

• 27 cm long, 16 cm wide
• medium green 
• spread apart
• light green stem
  

PURPLE CABBAGE:

Leaves-

• 19 cm long, 17 cm wide
• close together
• purple leaves and stem

CAULIFLOWER:

Leaves-

• 25 cm long, 11 cm wide
• leaves fairly close together, but as the plant grows taller, flowers spread farther apart
• light green leaves and stem

        As the data above shows,  the variations among the leaf characteristics (size/shape) are very large. There is the cauliflower with short narrow leaves, the kale with ruffled edges, and the cabbages with wide leaves close together. The characteristic that exhibits the greatest number of variations was the appearance of the leaves. The largest range of variation is the size of the overall plant. The cabbages only grow to be a few feet tall, but the broccoli grow twice that height.

       All of these plants are so different because over time, their genes changed to become accustomed to new environments. Humans might also have caused artificial selection among the plants over time. They modified plants' genes to produce a desired outcome. For example, naturally, cauliflower and broccoli usually don't have their flower buds so compressed together. However, over time humans changed these plants to have the flower buds close together to create a "little tree." This type of selective breeding has produced different forms of brassica oleracea. Even though most plants today are modified in some way, plants can also evolve into different species through descent with modification. If a plant is forced to adapt to a new environment or an unpredictable change in population occurs, one type of plant or trait within a species might become the more dominant gene. When the offspring are bred, they have a high chance of not being exactly the same as their parents. Their genes will have shifted to accommodate new changes and this process is repeated through all generations. With natural variations, mutations can occur and this is also a reason why the plants become so different. 

      The color of the plants were the most consistent because they are all close together in shades of green. They go from light green to dark green, then gradually change to purple. All of these colors are similar in some way. The anatomy of the plant that is the most the same is the bulb of the bottom of the plants. They are all about 15 cm across and 10 cm tall. All of these bulbs are above the soil and thick and round. The only difference is the color of the bulb. 

      In order to get the characteristics breeders want in plants, they use modern technology to find the traits inside other plants and transfer them into the desired plant. Once they find the trait and it is implanted into the plant, they have to multiply their supply of this new mutation. This process, selective breeding or artificial selection, produces a new variation of an old plant. Scientists are able to do this fro any trait. 

Who Wants To Live A Million Years: Analysis Of A Natural Selection Simulation

1. How many generations did it take for you to finally win a game? Why do you think it took this long? What do you think this means/suggests for most real species on Earth in terms of their species's chances of long-term survival?
2. It took me 3 generations to finally get a group to survive a million years. I believe it took me so long because I didn’t really know all of the limiting factors and I also wasn’t sure what body traits worked the best. I can apply this to real animals and understand that it make take a few tries for a species to make a descendant that works best in it’s environment. This also shows that not all species will be able to survive because they didn’t adapt the quickest. For example, I could add one animal with a desired trait and the population that breed the quickest with that animal would survive.

    2. Which initial phenotypes/phenotype combinations did you select and    

         why?Which starting/initial combinations seemed to allow you to

         continue/survive the longest (win the most games)? Why do you think this

         was so? The phenotypes that I used were, one animal with long legs  

         that was thicker and had stripes. The second animal had long legs

         and a long  neck with stripes and was skinny. My final animal was

         short and very fat  with stripes. I believe that this group worked

         because there was a larger diversity which made the chance of one

         or two animals that had the phenotype that could survive all of the

         limiting factors.

3. Do you think this population of theoretical creatures would be greatly affected by genetic drift? What evidence of drift did you see as you played the game (simulation)? I definitely believe that the population was affected by genetic drift. Some drift factors were the meteorite, volcano, ice age and the extreme heat.
4. Which alleles/phenotypes seemed to be dominant and which seemed to be recessive? How could you tell? The tall, fat and the striped genotype all seemed to be dominate because they appeared the most often een though I paired that genotype with other ones like skinny and stipless
5. Match the environments/situations/conditions below with their corresponding adaptations:

        (a) cold conditions; (b) hot conditions; (c) new large predator on the scene; (d) new tall food source

         (a)= short with short legs. Thicker/fatter. More fur.

(b)= skinnier. Long legs. Long necks.

(c )= Long legs. skinnier. stripes.

(d)= Tall legs. long necks

6. How would you improve this simulation to more realistically represent natural selection and biological evolution? Discuss at least three improvements.One improvement could be that they could add another species that could be in competition with them. A second improvement could be that the population had to migrate to another terrain or an area with different geographic features. Or an event where humans come in and take all their living space.