biology

Biology

Discussion 8

In the section about viruses, our textbook discusses how new strains of flu arise via viral reassortment (page 245). This is also known as genetic reassortment. Read the following recent article from MIT News about tracking the spread of bird flu that discusses the impact of reassortment: http://news.mit.edu/2017/tracking-spread-bird-flu-alaska-north-america-0317. Next, address the following:

· Discuss the factors that make Alaskan waters in the summertime an optimal place and time for new strains of influenza to arise by genetic reassortment.

· What do you think is the most interesting aspect of this situation?

Discussion 9

Sometimes we are interested in the way that organisms are distributed across a particular habitat, as described in Chapter 16. Corina Tarnita's research on the spacing of termite mounds in savanna ecosystems is one example. Watch the video about her research, found at: https://youtu.be/nJGpABrEatc, and then address the following:

· What do you think is the most interesting aspect of Tarnita’s research?

· Discuss how the termite mounds benefit other organisms on the savanna.

Discussion 10

Our focus this week is on ecology. Ecology is the study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their physical environments. Watch the video entitled “Some animals are more equal than others…” found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1142&v=hRGg5it5FMI. Then address the following two issues:

· Why do you think that many keystone species are predators at the top of the food chain in their respective ecosystems?

· What do you think is the most interesting or significant facet of the video?