Coral Reef

Barrier Reef

Atoll Reef

Fringing Reef

1. How is each reef structure formed?

· Fringing reefs are closest to shore, sometimes touching the shore.

· Barrier reef form when land masses sink, and fringing reefs become separated from shorelines by wide channels.

· Atoll reef- An atoll can also be formed when a volcanoes completely blows up and is no longer visible.

2. Where is each reef structure found?

• Fringing reefs border shorelines of continents and islands in tropical seas. (when no body of water is in between/separating the land and the reef)Fringing reefs are commonly found in the South Pacific Hawaiian Islands, and parts of the Caribbean.
• Barrier reefs are common in the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific and which occurs farther out or offshore. Here, the reef and island is separated by a body of water a lagoon.
• Atolls are commonly occurring or found in the Indo- Pacific. And they are mostly found as circular

Christmas Tree Worm

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Annelida
Class: Polychaeta
Order: Canalipalpata
Family: Serpulidae
Genus: Spirobranchus
Species: Spirobranchus giganteus

Habitat: The Christmas tree worm, Spirobranchus giganteus, is found on coral reefs in tropical waters worldwide.

Description of Life Cycle: There are both male and female Christmas tree worms, Spirobranchus giganteus. They reproduce by casting their eggs and sperm into the water. The eggs are fertilized in the water then develop into larvae that settle on coral heads and burrow into the coral.

Description and Behavior: The Christmas tree worm, Spirobranchus giganteus, is a Christmas tree-shaped serpulid tube-dwelling worm with magnificent twin spirals of plumes used for feeding and respiration. This cone-shaped worm is one of the most widely recognized sedentary polychaete worms. They come in many colors including orange, yellow, blue, and white and, though they are small with an average 3.8 cm in span, the are easily spotted due to their shape, beauty, and color. The colorful plumes, or tentacles, are used for passive feeding on suspended food particles and plankton in the water. The plumes are also used for respiration. Though the plumes are visible, most of the worm is anchored in its burrow that it bores into a live calcareous coral. Christmas tree worms are very sensitive to disturbances and will rapidly retract into the burrow at the slightest touch or passing shadow. They typically re-emerge a minute later, very slowly, to test the water before fully extending their plumes.

Genetics-Cell Cycle Questions

1. What is DNA?

· Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a very important molecule found in all living cells.

2. What are the 4 bases?

· A, T, C, & G. Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine, and Guanine.

3. What 2 pieces of information did the scientists need to solve the elusive structure of DNA?

• base-pair interactions
• Genetic engineering

4. What are the specific base pairs?

• Adenine (A) forms a base pair with thymine (T), as does guanine (G) with cytosine (C) in DNA. In RNA, thymine is replaced by uracil (U).

5. How does the pairing rule effect the shape and structure of DNA?

· The sequence of the pairings forms a code which holds genetic information. When the code is paired, each rung in the helix would become equal in length, and the sugar-phosphate backbone will smoothen.

6. What does the DNA do during cell division?

• Cells stop dividing because the telomeres (protective bits of DNA on the end of a chromosome) become shorter with each division and eventually can no longer protect the chromosome.

7. How many base pairs does E. Coli have? How long does it take to replicate? How is the DNA packaged in the cell?

· E. Coli has around 4 or more million base pairs. They can replicate in millions in minutes and billions a day. E. Coli is package tightly to a cell in condensed fashion.

8. How many base pairs does Human DNA have? How long does it take to replicate? How is the DNA packaged in the cell?

· About 3 billion pairs in about a half to a full day. It is packaged in 23 distinct chromosome pairs that’s “Spiral” shaped.

1. What is RNA? How different is it from DNA?

· Ribo-Nucleic Acid is the copy of the DNA. It has a single filament and the thymine found in DNA is replaced in RNA with uracil.

2. How are the RNA messages formed?

· Messenger RNA (mRNA) is single-stranded. Its sequence of nucleotides is called "sense" because it results in a gene product (protein). Normally, its unpaired nucleotides are "read" by transfer RNA anticodons as the ribosome proceeds to translate the message.

3. How are the RNA messages interpreted?

· Codons, in groups of three nucleotides.

1. Describe cell cycle.

• Cell’s chromosomes are divided between the two daughter cells, and cytokinesis, in which the cell's cytoplasm divides forming distinct cells. From here, the cells continue to divide by two in a repeated process.

2. What is nuclear division.

· When the nucleus divides and engage with subphases

3. What is interphase?

· Interphase is the "holding" stage or the stage between two successive cell divisions.

4. Cytokinesis?

· Is the process whereby the cytoplasm of a single cell is divided to spawn two daughter cells.

5. Homologous chromosomes?

· a pair of chromosomes containing the same linear gene sequences, each derived from one parent. The chromosomes tend to pair or synapse during meiosis. They have the same genes, in the same location, but the genes have different versions (not like in sister chromatics that are exact replicas)

6. Phases of mitosis (5 of them)?

· -Interphase, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, and Telophase

7. Phases of meiosis and how it is different from mitosis?

• Prophase I , Metaphase I, Anaphase I, Telophase I, Prophase II , Metaphase II, Anaphase II, and Telophase II. Meiosis may start out the same as with mitosis, but then they eventually split once again after the first cytokinesis to form more chromosome 8.

8. Describe the process and purpose of crossing over?

· - Each parent cell has pairs of homologous chromosomes, one homolog from the father and one from the mother. In meiosis, the maternal and paternal chromosomes can be shuffled into the daughter cells in many different combinations. This ensures genetic variation in sexually reproducing organisms. Further genetic variation comes from crossing over, which may occur during prophase I of meiosis.

Parts of a Cell

1.) What is a Cell Wall?
2.) What is a Nucleus ?
3.) What is a Cell Chromosome?

Fish of the Marianas Assignment

Name: Scientific Name: Location:

1. Whale Shark Rhincodon typus Rare but may be found around our deep waters
2. cownose ray Rhinoptera neglecta can be seen inside our lagoon
3. undulated moray Gymnothorax undulates can be found in the holes of rocks and corals
4. Whitetip soldierfish Myripristis vittata under rocks or inside little caves
5. Crocodile needlefish Tylosaurus crocodilus found in and outside of reefs in the surface of the water.
6. trumpet fish Aulostomus Chinensis found in and outside of our reefs
7. giant grouper Epinephelus Lanceolatus found in our deep waters
8. Bluefin trevally Caranx melampygus found throughout our waters
9. Yellowstripe snapper Lutjanus kasmira found around the reef
10. thumbprint emperor Lethrinus harak Found in our sandy beaches
11. oriental butterflyfish Chaetodon auripes found around coral and holes in the reef
12. emperor angelfish pomacanthus imperator found all over our reefs
13. red and black anemonefish Amphiprion melanopus can be seen around our reefs in sea anemones
14. Great barracuda sphyraena barracuda found in our waters in and ourside the reef
15. sunset wrasse Thalassoma lutescens can be seen all over our reefs
16. bluebarred parrotfish Scarus ghobban can be seen around coral
17. lined bristletooth Ctenochaetus striatus can be seend all over our waters inside of our reefs
18. Yellow tang Zebrasoma flavescens found around coral
19. star puffer Arothron stellatus found in our sandy beaches and reefs
20. Grey reef shark Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos can be seen around inside and out of our reefs

Pre-Test

1. What causes the tides? Tides are caused by the gravitational interaction between the Earth and the Moon. The gravitational attraction of the moon causes the oceans to bulge out in the direction of the moon. Another bulge occurs on the opposite side, since the Earth is also being pulled toward the moon (and away from the water on the far side). Since the earth is rotating while this is happening, two tides occur each day.

2. What is animal adaptation and why is it important to animal survival? Animals come in all shapes and sizes, and they live in all kinds of environments. An environment is everything that surrounds and affects how an animal lives. All animals have adaptations that fit their environments. An adaptation is a part of an animal's body or way that an animal behaves that helps it survive.

3. What is a symbiotic relationship? A situation in which plants or animals of different species live together in a mutually advantageous relationship

4. What is density? Density is a mass of a given volume of a substance.

5. What are the main causes of currents in the oceans? Surface ocean currents are mainly wind-driven and occur in all of the world's oceans.

6. What is sea floor spreading? A process by which new sea floor is formed as it moves away from spreading centers in mid-ocean ridges.

7. What is biological evolution? Is that all life on Earth shares a common ancestor, just as you and your cousins share a common grandmother.

8. How do scientists classify animals? Scientists classify animals by looking at their similarities and differences.

9. What is the scientific method and what are the steps? First of all, you should name the problem or question. Secondly, you should form an educated guess or hypothesis of the cause of the problem and predictions based upon the hypothesis. Thirdly, you should test your hypothesis by doing an experiment or study (trail and error). Finally, you should check and interpret your results.

SeaFloor Spreading

Sea Floor Spreading

1. What is a sea floor spreading?

A process by which new ocean floor is formed by lava erupting from a rift valley, pushing the existent floor outward from the rift.

2. What are some of the major land forms that are created from plate movement?

At the margins of the plates, where they collide, move apart or slide past one another, major landforms are created such as mountains, rift valleys, volcanoes, ocean trenches, and mid-ocean ridges.

3. How were the Mariana Islands formed?

The islands are tranquil of volcanic rocks that some how creates the Marianas Island by overlain with coral and basically for thousands of year raised many of the islands significantly the height is above sea level forming high cliffs.

4. What evidence exists today that the plates are still moving and that the islands are ancient volcanoes?

Prime example of evidence still exist is Earthquake and volcanoes activities are still dynamic until now.

5. What is an atoll?

An atoll is an island of coral that encircles a lagoon partially or completely.

6. Why atolls are mainly found on the Pacific?

As we all know, the ring of fire surround the Pacific Ocean we tend to deal with several volcanoes that are still active continuously which is one of the process of forming atolls. In addition, coral reefs tend to survive on atolls due to our climate (warm water).