Crankin' It Out 7/5/15

So I know that this is a bit late because life gets in the way and you get all wrapped up in being in the moment. Who wants to be on a computer inside when there's so many other things going on, stories to listen to and tell, and stars to be stared at? This will be a quick post. Most of the day was spent finishing the assignments that we have had coming to us. Dr. Gilchrist is a very kind laid back person most of the time but she 's definitely not afraid of doling out the work. It takes a certain kind of student to be able to live on a paradise island but also keep working on essays and species identification inside. Our most recent essay was on the difference between a colonial organism and an individual organism. It was pretty confusing at first but once everyone was talking about it and trying to sort it all out, out loud it was quite an interesting and crazy topic. We compared the Portuguese Man of War and sponges in the essay. If you don't know about either of these I recommend that you take a quick Google adventure.

Typically biologists define an individual organism as, “on genome in one body” which is a definition based up on physiological and genetic criteria which is rather problematic when investigating colonial organisms. A multicellular organism is made up of various types of cells that are specialized and grouped together to carry our specific life processes. In a colonial organism the organism itself is made up of multiple constituent organisms that can be either multicellular or unicellular. Many of the life processes in this colonial organism are spread out amongst various cells that are of the same species; this is called division of labor. While one group of cells might be focused on producing nutrients another group could be engaged in a different action. A colonial organism can be set apart from a conventional colony of independent organisms by the close association of its component parts, and typically by the presence of differentiation into two or more specialized component types (i.e. the polyps specialization). The biggest difference between a multicellular organism and a colonial organism is that the individual cells of the colonial one can continue to thrive and survive on their own while in comparison, if you were to separate the cells of a multicellular organism the cells would perish.

We also participated in one other sampling method exercise where we took a square that was 5x5m and divided it up into 1x1m squares and focused on 3 specific ones. We found this exercise so easy as this was the 3rd transect activity that my group was participating in. That's honestly about it. Grace is working on her SCUBA Open Water certification next to me and I am so glad watching the long (and kind of boring) videos. Natalie, Thomas, and I want to wait until she can go out and we can all dive together, and hopefully even do a night dive one time. The nights here are always relaxed so I really enjoy that part of the day as well as all of the learning because you can always look back at the end and say that you did a good days work.