Biological Magnification

What is the big long confusing looking (and sounding) word?
Biological Magnification can simply be described as increasing a substance's concentration as the substance moves up a food chain, pyramid, or web. This is often detrimental because the substance is usually toxic.

How does it occur?
Well, it starts at the very bottom with the producers who, by mistake, bring the substance into their bodies. Later, a primary consumer, squirrel or rabbit, will eat the plant and ingest the substance. Because of the flow of energy (remember that only about 10% of energy is actually available for the next trophic level), the consumer will need to eat more plants and, in turn, ingest more of the substance. The substance is now somewhat concentrated within the primary consumer. The next levels, the secondary and tertiary consumers, eat the primary consumers and will eventually have a build up of the substance. Certain conditions need to be met in order for a pollutant to bio magnify:
1) Pollutant must be long- lived.
2) Pollutant must be concentrated by the producers - the plants.
2) Pollutant must fat-soluble.
Fat soluble, you ask? Once the producer is eaten, the substances move into the consumers fat storage. Once that consumer is eaten, the next consumer will have the substance in their fat tissues. Hence, this causes a build up in the fat tissues. Since fat is not water soluble, it does not leave the bodies of the consumers or the cells of the producers naturally to the environment and build up can occur.

How can us, the humans, solve this growing problem?
We can help prevent and possibly stop biological magnification by stopping the production of man-made synthetics like pesticides. It may seem like a ridiculously easy thing to do but imagine how many pesticides are used daily on our crops and local farms. The first step is to reduce the amount used and then move onto a more natural solution that is easily broken down by the environment and water soluble.

DDT
DDT was a long lived insecticide that improved the health of humans and was not easily broken down by the environment. It improved human health by killing off bugs that contained diseases of all sorts. A significant negative effect of DDT was the interference it caused with calcium in bird eggs. The eggs would be laid soft and often break early in development, causing their numbers to decline. Rachel Carson published her book called Silent Spring in the early 1960's explaining the detrimental effects of DDT and was key in the banning of the substance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UiCSvQvVys

References:

• http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/102/ecosystem.html
• http://marinediscovery.arizona.edu/lessonsF99/chautran/index.html

Dresses and Dates and Homecoming! Oh, my!

Breathe in. Smell that? It's the gorgeous scent of the new school year, the oncoming autumn, and ,yes, homecoming. Homecoming is the one thing that the returning students to Sparta High look forward to all the while breaking in new courses, new friends, and ,inevitably, the new school schedule- which I still have mixed feelings about. If you're not from the general Sparta area, homecoming to you is probably another day in the life of awkward high-schoolers trying to ask a pretty girl to a dance while trying to keep his dignity and cool. At Sparta, though, homecoming starts basically from the first day of summer up until the day after the dance, because we're all trying to come down from "homecoming high". From the seniors trying to out prove the juniors to the famed Red Apple that glistens in the light, homecoming is all that jazz and more. Every grade puts together a float, which of course means that a select group of creative people come up with the ideas while the less creative try to nail a piece of plywood to another piece of plywood. Then comes the mock rock, fancy wording for a dance created exclusively by the grade at hand- freshmen create the freshmen mock rock, juniors create junior mock rock and so on and so forth. In the midst of the "dancing" is the hope that maybe a class will beat the senior class and prove their dominance on the food chain of high school. Usually it's no good but we continue to hope and wish. Then, the day of the homecoming football game, all we do is play games that show our less athletic and more fun side of life to win points for each grade. Then homecoming dance is the next night and is filled with memories and pictures that will last a lifetime in the hearts of many.
My homecoming experiences have been very interesting. I was the new child at Sparta last year and with only a month to make friends, I went with a group that I was not particularly close to. None the less, it was enjoyable and I will always remember it as my first dance as a highschooler. Scary. This year, with me actually having friends, I am going with my tight-knit group of kin. I hope to have an enormous amount of fun and hopefully will create new memories.
To conclude this ridiculously long post, I leave you with the words of Mr. Burrows
"Live. Do not merely exist."

First AP Bio Blog

Hi everyone out there on this fine day! My name is Mary Galbraith. I love writing, reading, and music. I am hoping to become an Orthopedic Surgeon in the Air Force. Due to my lacking of 20/20 eyesight, I would not be able to operate any of the jets in the Air Force but would love to be in the planes flying from one area to another while performing operations on soldiers or citizens in need. On an off day, you'll most likely find me sitting on my bed or out by my pool, if weather permits that is, reading a good book while blasting music. My favorite activities include swimming, I swam competitively from the age of 3 to the age of 15, pitching, speed ranges from 40 to mid-50 miles per hour, and hanging out with friends. Something a lot of you might not know about me is that I transferred to Sparta the beginning of my sophomore year, so if you don't recognize me, that's probably why. I am taking this course to further my knowledge of the human body and create a better idea of the world around me. I am hoping to better my study skills and prepare me for any college courses I have to take regarding Biology.