Journal entry

For my journal entry I chose to sit outside at on a bench in a park in an area near my house. 

As I observed the ecosystem around me I snapped photos, and here they are!

These trees are angiosperms, they are producers.

This tree is a gymnosperm, it is a producer

These trees are also gymnosperms and producers.

This is a tree stump, and grass. 

This is a patch of moss on the ground.

This is a pine cone beside the bench. Pine cones come form gymnosperms.

If you look far in the background you can see a patch of ferns. Ferns are producers.

This is a robin, robins are part of the animal kingdom and are consumers

This is another pine cone on the ground beside my foot

The little circle in the grass is a Fungi fruiting body called a mushroom.  Mushrooms are decomposers.

This is a close up version of the mushroom. 

This is a picture of a spider. Spiders are part of the animal kingdom, and are arthropods.  They are consumers.

Mosses

Mosses growing on a tree and on my lawn

What characteristics unify mosses? 

Mosses are part of the phylum Bryophyta. Mosses need to live in a wet environment to survive. They thrive and grow most abundantly in  bogs, swamps, moist woods, and near streams. Mosses vary in appearance, but most are less than a few centimetres tall. They lack the water conducting tubes that are found in more complex plants, true roots, stems or leaves. 

This is an illustration of the typical moss plant

This diagram explains how mosses reproduce via alteration of generations. Alternation of spore producing generation (sporophyte 2n) with gamete producing generation (gametophyte n). 

Photo from: http://scitec.uwichill.edu.bb/bcs/bl14apl/bryo1.htm

What features do mosses have that have enabled adaptation to a land environment?

Mosses have several features that have enabled them to adapt to land environments. They have developed a multicellular plant body. Special structures like rhizoids developed which absorb water and are used for anchorage. They also have photosynthetic tissue that help in the absorption of carbon dioxide without losing much water from exposure to light.

Multicellular green algae

Green algae is part of the phylum Chlorophyta. One important characteristic is that all algae must live in or near a source of water. Green algae contain chlorophyll, and  they have photosynthetic pigments. Green algae always store their food in the form of starch. Green algae have chloroplasts that are enclosed in a double membrane. Most multicellular green algae develop specialized tissues, but they lack leaves, and roots like the more complex plants of this kingdom. Green algae are isogamus, which means that rather than having separate male and female gametes, they have only one type of gamete. Below is a diagram of the life cycle of green algae. 

Haploid spores turn into a haploid leaf-like structure called a thallus. The thallus then produces gametes. When these gametes are fertilized, they change into Diploid zygotes. which under go meiosis and produce spores.

Below is a picture of Oedogonium algae

Green algae can corm long threadlike colonies like the ones depicted above. These colonies are called filaments. Oedogonium  algae often grow in ponds. 

Where do algae fit into the world? Algae provides homes for many animals; Is an important source of food. Humans use algae in many of the foods eaten today! Without algae, life as we know it would never have evolved, because algae produces much of the Earth's free oxygen through photosynthesis. The chemicals in algae are used for many different things such as medicines, processed products, and cosmetics. Algae is a very important part of our lives.