CSI NDB: Reflection

Hello again! Today I will be talking about a biology project that I completed along with my classmates.

 

As the title suggests, we had to create a mystery for the rest of the class to solve, like in CSI. We had to use various tools and forms of technology to create a story line, have clues, evidence, analysis and all the necessary tools to solve the murder mystery. We then presented this in class, showing the videos, giving storylines, letting the “investigators” (fellow classmates) perform tests and figure out how Wilbur the pig died. To add a level of difficulty, we had to have a cause of death related to a certain system, we had the endocrine system, and at the end of the presentation the rest of the class should be able to guess what system was compromised.

 

The basis for our CSI mystery is Wilbur the pig is found dead in his home and there are various suspects, including his wife and boss, because of the suspicious circumstances. We showed the class video interviews between the police and each of the suspects, as well as the doctor looking at Wilbur’s body. Through this information and various pieces of evidence presented in class, like a urine analysis test and items found in a trash can, the class had to determine who killed Wilbur, how he was killed and what system was effected. The class was able to successfully determine who did it, the wife, and at the end we had a quick review of the endocrine system and its various parts.

 

Overall, I thought it was a very creative and different project where we were able to learn about body systems while also group work, technology and fun! I would definitely support doing this project for a future AP Biology class, as it is enjoyable, informative and also forces you to learn about how the body systems work together. It was great seeing what other people did for their project as well and trying to solve the mystery definitely adds a level of interest and interaction. CSI NDB was a success and if you’re in a different AP Biology class, I would definitely recommend doing something similar that integrates the content into a real life situation!

 

Thank you for reading this post and make sure to check out my other blog posts!

 

 

Introduction to the diets of Dolphins

Hello! This is my first blog post and I’d like to talk about my research I did this summer and how it got me excited for AP biology.

So this summer I was part of an internship at the UC Santa Cruz Long Marine Lab in the Mehta Lab. This internship allowed me to research and look at the diets of marine mammals in the family Delphinidae.

 

The research was conducted to gain more insight into what Delphinidae eat, because eventually the data will contribute to a marine mammal database that has information on diet and all other components of marine mammals’ lives. My mentor had done diet analysis for phocids, and decided that I could undertake the task for other marine mammals, and I chose to do Delphinidae.

 

I was the main researcher on this project, but I was mentored and guided by Sarah Kienle, and Rita Mehta, Chris Law and Vikram Baliga all gave me advice and helped me when needed.

Before I even started looking at diet information, I familiarized myself with Delphinidae and found that not just dolphins are in the family, but also whales such as Killer Whales, Pilot Whales and Right Whale Dolphins. Once I did this, I mined through databases and other works of literature to find all possible diet information on the 39 species of dolphins.

Picture found here

I took the data I found in literature and in papers and calculated the overall diet composition for each dolphin species using an equation. I am not sure if I am allowed to share this data publicly yet, so I’m not going to provide the exact results. However, I will give some basic information on my results. I found that overall, within Delphinidae, the major prey species is Actinopterygii, or ray-finned fishes. Cephalopoda, or squids, are also a large portion of dolphins’ diet. Each specific delphinid species has a different major prey species, however that would be a lot of information and detail for this brief overview.

Picture found here

I’m not going to go into more detail about the results, however, the results are complete and can lead to future studies relating to dietary data. The results will eventually be put up, on a database I believe, however I am not sure how soon or exactly where it will be.

 

The data collected from this project is valuable because it provides insight into what exactly Delphinidae are eating, that means we know what to feed them if they are in captivity and how fluctuations in fish and squid numbers will affect dolphins. Also, by knowing what they eat, we can also look at the morphology of Delphinidae and see how diet and morphology correlate. Finally, by learning what fish Delphinidae eat, scientists can see if the fish being consumed have high levels of mercury or other toxins and eventually see the chain reaction in the food chain. To learn more about dolphin diet and mercury, watch the video below!

 

 

I’m very happy that I got the opportunity to do this research and it really showed me what I’m interested in and what researching involves. I’m looking forward to more research opportunities and chances to work with marine mammals!

 

Pictures from:

The group picture I have permission from Chris Law to use