BIOL 116 Template 2024
Introduction
The transition from surface streams to the perpetual darkness of underwater caves has driven remarkable evolutionary changes in the Mexican blind cavefish (Astyanax mexicanus). Within the past few million years, populations migrating into caves abandoned their functional visual systems, a trait retained by their stream-dwelling counterparts. This dramatic adaptation is not unique to cavefish; troglobitic animals, including crustaceans, insects, salamanders, and spiders, have independently evolved similar traits, such as eye degeneration and heightened reliance on non-visual sensory systems.
Globally, over a hundred species of cave-dwelling fish exhibit varying degrees of blindness and other cave-specific adaptations, such as reduced pigmentation and enhanced mechanosensory abilities. The Mexican blind cavefish serves as a model organism for exploring how extreme habitats shape life through genetic, ecological, and microbiological influence
Biological evolution is often framed as a process of innovation, with emphasis placed on the development of new traits such as the legs of amphibians, the hair and mammary glands of mammals, or the large and complex brains of higher primates. However, this perspective overlooks an equally important evolutionary phenomenon: regressive evolution, or the loss of structures and traits that are no longer advantageous in a given environment. In many cases, evolutionary progress entails trade-offs. For a newly developed trait, an organism’s ancestors may have lost features that were no longer critical for survival. For instance, amphibians sacrificed the gills, scales, and tails that were essential to their aquatic ancestors, adapting instead to a terrestrial lifestyle.
Blind cavefish exemplify regressive evolution through their loss of functional eyes and pigmentation. Living in absolute darkness, vision itself offers no survival advantage, while maintaining eyes and pigmentation would demand considerable metabolic energy. Natural selection, therefore, favors the loss of these structures. This evolutionary process illustrates that regressive changes are not failures of evolution but rather strategic responses to environmental pressures.
The concept of regressive evolution invites a broader understanding of adaptation as a dynamic process. It underscores that evolution is not solely about the gain of complexity but also about the refinement of function through the loss of unnecessary features.
Bacteroides Thetaiotaomicron and Human Evolutionary Symbiosis
Overall text length (all text sections) should be at least 1,000 words (before counting references), with at least 2 images.
The topic must include one section about microbes (bacteria, viruses, fungi, or protists). This is easy because all organisms and ecosystems have microbes.
Compose a title for your page.
Type your exact title in the Search window, then press Go. The MicrobeWiki will invite you to create a new page with this title.
Open the BIOL 116 Class 2024 template page in "edit."
Copy ALL the text from the edit window.
Then go to YOUR OWN page; edit tab. PASTE into your own page, and edit.
At right is a sample image insertion. It works for any image uploaded anywhere to MicrobeWiki. The insertion code consists of:
Double brackets: [[
Filename: PHIL_1181_lores.jpg
Thumbnail status: |thumb|
Pixel size: |300px|
Placement on page: |right|
Legend/credit: Electron micrograph of the Ebola Zaire virus. This was the first photo ever taken of the virus, on 10/13/1976. By Dr. F.A. Murphy, now at U.C. Davis, then at the CDC.
Closed double brackets: ]]
Other examples:
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Subscript: H2O
Superscript: Fe3+
Section 1 Genetics
Section titles are optional.
[1]
Include some current research, with at least one image.
Call out each figure by number (Fig. 1).
Sample citations: [1]
[2]
A citation code consists of a hyperlinked reference within "ref" begin and end codes.
For multiple use of the same inline citation or footnote, you can use the named references feature, choosing a name to identify the inline citation, and typing [4]
Second citation of Ref 1: [1]
Here we cite April Murphy's paper on microbiomes of the Kokosing river. [5]
Section 2 Microbiome
Include some current research, with a second image.
Here we cite Murphy's microbiome research again.[5]
Conclusion
You may have a short concluding section.
Overall, cite at least 5 references under References section.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Zigli DD, Brew L, Obeng-Denteh W, Kwofie S. On the Application of Homeomorphism on Amoeba Proteus. Ghana Journal of Technology. 2021 Mar 31;5(2):43-7.
- ↑ Bartlett et al.: Oncolytic viruses as therapeutic cancer vaccines. Molecular Cancer 2013 12:103.
- ↑ Lee G, Low RI, Amsterdam EA, Demaria AN, Huber PW, Mason DT. Hemodynamic effects of morphine and nalbuphine in acute myocardial infarction. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics. 1981 May;29(5):576-81.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 text of the citation
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Murphy A, Barich D, Fennessy MS, Slonczewski JL. An Ohio State Scenic River Shows Elevated Antibiotic Resistance Genes, Including Acinetobacter Tetracycline and Macrolide Resistance, Downstream of Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluent. Microbiology Spectrum. 2021 Sep 1;9(2):e00941-21.
Edited by [Isaac Turnley], student of Joan Slonczewski for BIOL 116, 2024, Kenyon College.
