Stable Fly Lab Report

Akram Alnounou

Prof. Molumby

BIOS 101

21 September 2017

Answers to Problem Set #1

1. a) The purpose of this experiment was to demonstrate whether or not stable flies will flourish or have a role in rural cow pastures. The assumption is that stable flies are present on cattle in large feed lots but absent on cattle in open range like in a rural cow pasture. (2) This experiment was to test that assumption. By definition, a stable fly is a pest which obtains blood by biting on humans and various animals such as horses, cattle, dogs, and pigs. (1) They were found in Australia over 100 years ago. (1) There is a little to no difference between a stable fly and a house fly. (1) Ecologists can distinguish between them because the stable fly has

The study talks about the importance of microorganisms that live in soil. These microorganisms are a critical part of the ecosystem and its functionality as a whole. They also maintain the fertility of the soil. The experiment was done to test whether the increase in nitrogen and phosphorus in the ecosystem because of human activities affects microbial communities or not. This study was done because human beings don’t have a primitive and definite answer to how microbial communities are being affected by our daily anthropogenic activities that increase the concentration of nitrogen and phosphorus in the ecosystem. The procedure was replicated at 25 globally distributed grassland sites and was done in two stages. During the first stage, experimenters used marker genes to illustrate the response of archaeal, bacterial, and soil fungal communities to an increase of nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations. The second stage was to determine how the addition of the nutrients changed bacterial communities functions. This was done by sequencing metagenomes from a couple sites in which the addition experiment occurred. Results confirm that the increase in concentration of nitrogen or phosphorus influences and creates a shift in the taxonomy and functional attributes of soil microbial communities.

The article illustrates how the species that we have in our environment today has been affected by the inconsistent change in weather due to climate change. The article also states to what extent this is affecting species, i.e. causing extinction. The rate of extinction will not only increase, but also exponentially accelerate in the future. Some of the methods that are currently being done to mitigate climate change is trying to find secure habitats for the species that are being affected and have lost their original habitats. Because the weather is constantly changing around the species involved, some of them can’t seem to find suitable habitats on their own to live in with regards to the rate of weather change. It is mentioned by the author that humans are also affecting the rate of extinction because they are taking away from essential resources that some of the species need. The author states that adaptation to the changing climate is essential for the extinction rates to level up or go