Unit 8 Reflection

This unit was primarily about gene selection and how evolution happened and how it works. Through the "Bird Beak Lab," we learned how different phenotypes help and hurt organisms in an environment, and how everything can change when a new factor is randomly added in.

In the "Hunger Games Lab," the idea of natural selection was reinforced when we experimented with how different react to environments, and how the future populations start to look like the "winners," or the organisms with the best traits.
Through vodcasts, we learned about Darwin's observations and conclusions about natural selection, ultimately saying that future generations look like the organisms with the best traits to survive. We learned how to determine allele frequency. First, you add up the total of all alleles. Then, add up the total for each type of allele. For each type, divide the number by the total. If the allele frequency has changed, then the population has evolved.
We were taught about different causes of speciation, such as behavioral isolation, caused by changes in courtship/mating behaviors or occupying different niches, and temporal isolation, in which timing prevents reproduction between populations.
Genetic drifts is when a random event drastically changes a population and results in change of allele frequency.
Lastly, we learned a lot about the history of life. In 1953, Stanley Miller and Harold Urey conducted lab experiments that showed that the abiotic synthesis of organic molecules in a reducing atmosphere is possible. Amino acids have been found in meteorites, possibly serving as building blocks for life. 
History is broken into eras, while eras are broken into periods.
I want to learn more about how we know about the history of Earth.
In projects, I have worked towards becoming more assertive by taking a step back in projects and allowing people to do more of the work while not being micromanaged. I still need to work on finding a happy medium between this, doing work myself, and making sure everyone is still working on what they are supposed to be doing.