Quiz 2 Flashcards
Driftless Region
AKA “Paleozoic Plateau”
-Glaciers din’t come through this area and flatten it out, inside streams cut deep valleys, also, no sediment (debris) “drift” was left behind because no glaciers came and stirred things up
Paleozoic Plateau
A rugged area full of holes due to erosion of rock that comes from the Paleozoic area
-contains bedrock and limestone
karst topography
the landscape in the Driftless region, or Paleozoic Plateau, “hilly” landscape full of holes, caves, sinkholes, and deep valleys which were all caused by erosion
Decorah Shale
Directly underneath the Galena Limestone
-it’s impermeable to water so water spreads out along top surface of the Decorah Shale and forms a long cave which leads out to a spring of water
Galena Limestone
First layer right underneath a sinkhole
-water dissolves down the Galena Limestone which dissolves away because of the reaction of calcium carbonate in the limestone and water
-opens up into a cave
calcareous tufa
the dissolved calcium carbonate from the limestone earlier exits out through the spring entrance and interacts with the O2 in the outside air
-forms a crust of precipitation on leaves and sticks, fossilizing them and rendering them useless as food sources for organisms
-builds up layers and layers at entrance over time
adaptation
a trait that increases the fitness of an individual in a particular environment
fitness
the ability of an individual to produce offspring compared to other individuals in the population under a specific set of circumstances
(research) hypothesis
relays a tentative explanation/prediction to answer a question based on observation, must be tested
- (research): explanation for an observation that is predictable and testable
discovery- based inquiry
simply observing and describing what you study
*you might do this first before even forming an hypothesis
hypothesis-driven inquiry
The testing of a hypothesis
-seek to address a specific, measurable, and answerable question.
alternative hypothesis
An alternative hypothesis is one in which a difference (or an effect) between two or more variables is anticipated by the researchers; that is, the observed pattern of the data is not due to a chance occurrence
*alligator bumps might be due to sound mechanics or acne, rather than original hypothesis that they are used to detect ripples in water that indicate prey is nearby
controlled experiment
all conditions except one, the dependant variable, are left constant
replication
if the experiment can be replicated and produces the same results, it’s more likely to be correct
dependent variable
A dependent variable is a variable whose value depends upon independent variable s. The dependent variable is what is being measured in an experiment or evaluated in a mathematical equation. The dependent variable is sometimes called “the outcome variable.” Y AXIS
independent variable
is a variable that stands alone and isn’t changed by the other variables you are trying to measure. For example, someone’s age might be an independent variable. X AXIS
What is limestone made of and what are it’s qualities?
calcium carbonate, it erodes and dissolves easily
important things to note about adaptation and fitness
-not all traits will increase fitness (brown vs blue eyes in humans), so not all traits are adaptations
-a trait might be advantageous under some conditions but not under others (environmental changes)
-Fitness doesn’t always mean the organism is the fastest and the strongest and the biggest
Aspect of Experimental Design???
-controlled experiment
-control group
-treatment group
Treatment group
has manipulation in the experiment
-group that receives a treatment in an experiment. The “group” is made up of test subjects (people, animals, plants, cells etc.) and the “treatment” is the variable you are studying.
Bar graph with error bars
bar represents the average (mean) and the error bars represent variability in the data
X-axis
independent variable (cover or no cover on bumps of alligator jaw)
Y-axis
Dependent variable (time, voltage going through body when drop of water released in the dark)
n
number of replicates, (12 replicates), # of alligators tested in each condition (24 total)
Descriptive Statistics
Describe the data using central tendency of the data (mean/avg, median, mode) to tell us something about a population
drawback: the median will be the same regardless of the variability of the data so need to use another technique
Describe the data using the variability of the data
shown with error bars, if error bars overlap, probably very similar, show how much variation there is in the sample of individuals
*use range