![Picture](/uploads/3/9/5/3/39533155/7371752.jpg?489)
Synthesis:
Zebra's make a bunch of different types of things in their body. For example, they make hormones, feces, and carbohydrates.
For the zebra to make energy it uses the process of respiration. The formula for respiration is:
C6H12O6 + 6H2O + 6O2 = 6CO2 + 12H2O + ENERGY
C6H12O6 (glucose) is organic
6H2O (water) is inorganic
6O2 (oxygen) is inorganic
6CO2 (carbon dioxide) is inorganic
12H2O (water) is inorganic
ENERGY is inorganic
Plants need to use photosynthesis to make glucose. The plants the zebras eat capture energy by using water, light and carbon dioxide, and zebras breathe out carbon dioxide. Glucose is needed for the zebra to make energy as shown in the formula above for respiration. The formula for photosynthesis is:
6CO2 + 12H2O + ENERGY = C6H12O6 + 6O2
Organic and inorganic is listed above.
Regulation:
A zebra is a eukaryote.
One reason why its a eukaryote is because everything except bacteria is eukaryotic. Another reason is because zebra's cells have a nucleus. One last reason is that zebras have more than one chromosome and prokaryotes only have one.
Four factors in a Zebra's environment that are abiotic and biotic; Abiotic: temperature, water supply, and food sources can be harmful at times to zebra's. Biotic: bacteria that causes diseases, predators and man can also be harmful to zebras at times. The temperature is the degree outside and they live in generally hot climates so to fight off temperatures that rise too high for them they could find shade. Their water supply is the water they drink and they just have to hope for no droughts and to be able to stay near a water source. Their food is mostly grass so they will need to roam to fight off not finding any grass to eat. Bacteria can cause diseases that could infect the zebra causing them to die. To stay away from bacteria they need healthy water supply and to stay away from other sick animals. Predators threaten the zebra by catching them to kill them for food. To stay away from them or to help make it difficult for their predators, the zebra stays in a herd because their stripes can help confuse their predators when they are on the run. Man is a factor for zebras when humans take the land the zebras need to survive. As more of their land is used for livestock and agriculture the zebra must move on or have a wildlife preserve site established to help them survive.
Transport:
Osmosis is the movement of solvent molecules through a partially permeable membrane into a region of higher solute concentration in the direction that makes both sides equal. Basically it lets water pass through the wall of a living cell. It happens without any cellular energy. The partially permeable membrane lets some substances pass through the cell membrane and doesn't let other substances pass through. Zebras need osmosis because it allows their cells to get to an equilibrium. Osmosis evens out the amount of water and keeps them hydrated, and keeps them alive.
Diffusion is the movement of a substance, not just water, from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Just like osmosis, diffusion happens without any cellular energy. Basically diffusion spreads out molecules over a cell membrane until they are even in concentration. Zebras need diffusion because when they breathe they produce carbon dioxide which they can't keep in their cells as it would poison them. Diffusion helps them get rid of the carbon dioxide.
Growth:
![Picture](http://www.editmysite.com/editor/images/na.png)
DNA: ATG CCT TTA CAT TGA
DNA after replication: TAC GGA AAT GTA ACT
mRNA: AUG CCU UUA CAU UGA
tRNA: UAC GGA AAU GUA ACU
Amino Acid chain: Tyrosine Glycine Asparagine Valine Threonine
Grevy's zebras have 46 chromosomes; plain zebras have 44 chromosomes and mountain zebras have 32 chromosomes.
Reproduction:
A phenotype exhibited by a zebra that follows normal dominance is heterozygous black. The dominant trait would be a black coated zebra and the recessive trait would be the white stripes on the coat.
AA - Homozygous black
Aa - Heterozygous black
aa - Homozygous white
![Picture](/uploads/3/9/5/3/39533155/1313647.jpg?287)
50% will be heterozygous black
50% will be homozygous white
A trait that can follow incomplete dominance is the tail length.
TT - long tail
Tt - medium tail
tt - short tail
25% of offspring will have the genotype of TT and the phenotype of a long tail.
50% of offspring will have the genotype of Tt and the phenotype of a medium tail.
25% of offspring will have the genotype of tt and the phenotype of a short tail.
A sex-linked trait is eye color.
XBXB - normal female with brown eyes
XBXb - normal female with brown eyes and carries recessive trait of blue eyes
XbXb - female with blue eyes
XBY - normal male with brown eyes
XbY - male with blue eyes
50% will be homozygous white
A trait that can follow incomplete dominance is the tail length.
TT - long tail
Tt - medium tail
tt - short tail
25% of offspring will have the genotype of TT and the phenotype of a long tail.
50% of offspring will have the genotype of Tt and the phenotype of a medium tail.
25% of offspring will have the genotype of tt and the phenotype of a short tail.
A sex-linked trait is eye color.
XBXB - normal female with brown eyes
XBXb - normal female with brown eyes and carries recessive trait of blue eyes
XbXb - female with blue eyes
XBY - normal male with brown eyes
XbY - male with blue eyes
0% of the female offspring will show the recessive phenotype of blue eyes.
25% of the female offspring will carry the recessive trait.
25% of female offspring will be normal with brown eyes.
25% of male offspring will be normal with brown eyes.
25% of male offspring will show recessive trait of blue eyes.
25% of the female offspring will carry the recessive trait.
25% of female offspring will be normal with brown eyes.
25% of male offspring will be normal with brown eyes.
25% of male offspring will show recessive trait of blue eyes.
Response:
Adaptations:
1. Habitat - Zebras live in various habitats which include grasslands. savannahs, and mountain regions. Plains zebras live in the grasslands, Grevy's live in the savannah region and Mountain zebras live in the mountains. In each region the zebras have adapted to help them survive and stay away from predators. For instance Mountain zebras can climb really well. Zebras stripes, skills and size may vary a little depending on the region they are in, helping them to live wherever they are.
2. Teeth - The zebras teeth have adapted over the years and have become really strong upper and lower incisors. These strong teeth help them tear off the grasses they eat. Most of the grasses they eat are thick and have tough stems that make these strong incisors essential. Zebras can even use these teeth to bite their predators.
3. Stripes - Even though each zebra has its own specific and individual stripe pattern, zebras who live in the same area and are of the same species can have similar patterns. This is a great defense mechanism against their predators as it makes it difficult for a lion for example to distinguish which zebra is which. They may all look like a big blur of stripes when they are together.
Adaptations:
1. Habitat - Zebras live in various habitats which include grasslands. savannahs, and mountain regions. Plains zebras live in the grasslands, Grevy's live in the savannah region and Mountain zebras live in the mountains. In each region the zebras have adapted to help them survive and stay away from predators. For instance Mountain zebras can climb really well. Zebras stripes, skills and size may vary a little depending on the region they are in, helping them to live wherever they are.
2. Teeth - The zebras teeth have adapted over the years and have become really strong upper and lower incisors. These strong teeth help them tear off the grasses they eat. Most of the grasses they eat are thick and have tough stems that make these strong incisors essential. Zebras can even use these teeth to bite their predators.
3. Stripes - Even though each zebra has its own specific and individual stripe pattern, zebras who live in the same area and are of the same species can have similar patterns. This is a great defense mechanism against their predators as it makes it difficult for a lion for example to distinguish which zebra is which. They may all look like a big blur of stripes when they are together.
Organism Interaction:
Kingdom:
The zebra belongs to the Animalia kingdom. Three characteristics that identify the zebra in this kingdom are:
1. Zebras eat and digest food in the internal cavity as do animals in the animalia kingdom.
2. Zebras are made up of many cells and animals in the animalia kingdom are multicellular.
3. Zebras have many organ systems, as an example sex organs and respiration organs which allow them to reproduce sexually and use their lungs to breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide.
Biotic Factors:
1. Grass
2. Bacteria
3. Lions
Abiotic Factors:
1. Water
2. Sunlight
3. Sand and rocks
Human Activities:
Human activity can greatly harm and negatively influence the survival of the zebra. Zebras are hunted for various reasons such as to remove them so livestock can graze on the land, for food and for trophies. There is actually a company that offers zebra hunts called African Sky. A zebra skin is a prize to some to keep for themselves or to sell. Another way human activity harms the zebra is by destroying their different habitats to be used for farmland. By clearing out their habitat for farmland their grazing and watering areas are reduced making it harder for them to survive.
Symbiotic Relationships:
Parasitism - A tick is a parasite to a zebra because it sucks the zebras blood and it is a parasitic relationship because the tick benefits but the zebra is harmed.
Mutualism - The zebras share a mutualism relationship with the wildebeest because when the zebras graze they eat on the longer grasses, but they don't eat the entire shoot and they leave the short, sweet part of the grasses for the wildebeest. They both get to eat what they want and both benefit.
Commensalism - The egret and the zebra have a commensalism relationship because when the zebras eat in the grasslands they disturb the bugs that are living in them. The insects move and are caught by the egrets as the insects aren't low in the grasses any longer. The egret definitely benefits from the zebra grazing but the zebra receives no benefit or harm from the egret eating.
Innate Behaviors:
Walking - Zebras innately stand and walk shortly after they are born.
Sleeping - Sleeping standing up is an innate behavior for zebras and they sleep only when they have other zebras around them to warn them if predators are near.
Geochemical Cycle:
Species Interactions:
Zebras ecological niche is that of the large, mammalian herbivore one. That is basically the role they play in their ecosystem. They eat mostly grasses, shrubs and weeds that grow easily in the climate in the savannahs. Zebras also eat leaves, fruit and tubers. Since zebras, like the plains zebra, are in the grasslands, lions are one of their predators. The zebra's niche of eating the grasses is important because they eat the hard tops of grasses and stir up bugs for the egrets to eat, which leaves softer grasses parts exposed for other animals like the wildebeest. Lions prey on zebras which helps provide food supply for the lion and keeps the zebra population under control. Hyenas sometimes kill zebras but usually are scavengers of the carcasses the lions kill.
Food Web
Zebras ecological niche is that of the large, mammalian herbivore one. That is basically the role they play in their ecosystem. They eat mostly grasses, shrubs and weeds that grow easily in the climate in the savannahs. Zebras also eat leaves, fruit and tubers. Since zebras, like the plains zebra, are in the grasslands, lions are one of their predators. The zebra's niche of eating the grasses is important because they eat the hard tops of grasses and stir up bugs for the egrets to eat, which leaves softer grasses parts exposed for other animals like the wildebeest. Lions prey on zebras which helps provide food supply for the lion and keeps the zebra population under control. Hyenas sometimes kill zebras but usually are scavengers of the carcasses the lions kill.
Food Web
Food Pyramid
Reflections:
Some of the information that I have from learning about my organism, which is a zebra, are how it grows, where its habitat is, some scientific terms such as biotic factors and phenotypes, which are its predators, how they have adapted and who they help, and their niche. For instance I learned that a zebra lives up to 30 years in the grasslands for the plains zebra, that lions are its biggest predator and that in their niche they are herbivores who eat the tops of grasses and expose the soft grasses for other animals. Some of the topics for this project were difficult to find the answers for. A couple of the difficult ones were the sections on transport and growth. For the transport section it was hard for me to understand osmosis and diffusion and their differences and then how a zebra goes through them. I had to read several websites explaining the processes before I understood. It seemed that many of the sites I’d click on first didn’t give me enough information or I just didn’t understand it. In the growth section I had an extremely difficult time finding the DNA after replication. I searched many sites and still didn’t find the answer. I ended up asking you Mr. Smetana to help with me with that part and you did. I was relieved and thankful for your help. I learned though that when the information was hard to find at first that for most questions if I kept searching I’d eventually find what I needed and understand it enough to be able to answer the questions.
I had times when I really did enjoy this project and I had times when I didn’t. I liked learning about how the zebra grew up and how long they live. I really enjoyed creating the website because it gave me a chance to be creative and I had never made my own website before. I learned how to enter text and to put in pictures for the site. Drawing the pictures for the different sections was hard because I’m not an artist but fun, especially drawing the zebras. My favorite zebra drawing is on the front page of my website. I also liked being able to learn about each section in class before I had to do that part for the project. Having the rubric helped me understand it more because it gave me a guideline to the sections. The only time when I really didn’t enjoy it was when I would search and search but couldn’t find the answers.
The most challenging part of the project for me would have to be figuring out every specific detail that was needed in the transport section. Sometimes as I was searching I’d find out part of the question such as the definition, but then have to figure out how the zebra went through it. It wasn’t always having to do the extra searching that was hard, it was also difficult to put the answer in my own words. Diffusion and Osmosis were challenging to do in my own words. I tried my best to get everything perfect. Another challenging part was the drawings. I’m terrible at drawing so I had to take a lot of time to do them.
The section I enjoyed the most learning and writing about is the response section. I liked this one the most because in the adaptations part I learned that their stripes can be like a camouflage against predators when they are together. It was interesting to me to learn how when they live together and stay together that their stripes become very similar to each other making them even harder to distinguish one from another. I also enjoyed looking at all the zebras because zebras are gorgeous and I even saw a picture of a white zebra. When I got this project assignment I was frustrated. I thought it was going to be too much, but as I started it I realized it wasn’t that hard. I had to just search hard for answers and follow the rubric so I could understand what I needed to do and check it off as I finished each part.