Mitochondrial Eve

In the field of human genetics, Mitochondrial Eve refers to the matrilineal most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of modern humans. In other words, she was the most recent woman from whom all living humans today descend, on their mother's side, and through the mothers of those mothers and so on, back until all lines converge on one person. Because all mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is generally passed from mother to offspring without recombination, all mtDNA in every living person is directly descended from hers by definition. Mitochondrial Eve is the female counterpart of Y-chromosomal Adam, the patrilineal most recent common ancestor, although they lived thousands of years apart.

Each ancestor (of people now living) in the line back to the matrilineal MRCA had female contemporaries such as sisters, female cousins, etc. and some of these female contemporaries may have descendants living now (with one or more males in their descendancy line). But none of the female contemporaries of the "Mitochondrial Eve" has descendants living now in an unbroken female line.

Mutation and isolation over time has changed the way people look. If it was not this way we would all look alike according to Mitochondrial Eve.

                                 

Famous Person Buried in Rose Hill Cemetary

Raymond Berry Oakley III (April 4, 1948 – November 11, 1972), was an American Bassist and one of the founding members of The Allman Brothers Band.

Listed below are two links. One is a link to the life and death of Ray Oakley and the other a link to the website of the Rose Hill Cemetary:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berry_Oakley
http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/rosehill.html

Sunflower Seed Progression

Week 1-2

Week 3-4

Week  5-6

History of the Olcmulgee National Monument

Click the links below to get an explanation of the history of the Olcmulgee National Monument:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocmulgee_National_Monument
http://www.recreation.gov/marketing.do?goto=acm/Explore_And_More/exploreArticles/The-Ocmulgee-National-Monument.htm

Munsell Soil Color Chart

In colorimetric, the Munsell color system is a color space that specifies colors based on three color dimensions: hue, value (lightness), andchroma (color purity). It was created by Professor Albert H. Munsell in the first decade of the 20th century and adopted by the USDA as the official color system for soil research in the 1930s.

Rocks & Minerals

There are 3 main types of rocks: Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic. These types of rocks are characterized by a variety of different rocks in each category. 

There are also minerals that can be distinguished and sometimes confused with rocks. Some of these minerals include Feldspar, Quartz, and Mica (as pictured above).

For a list and pictures of the different types of rock click the link below:
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-are-the-different-types-of-rocks.htm

The River Walk

09/10/2012

On this day our Lab consisted of a river walk on the Ocmulgee River to do some observations and get acquainted with the life of the outdoors.

Here is a image of the Zone of Study that we observed. During our observations we explored the clam population and flow rate of the river. We were supposed to measure the elevation of the river but unfortunately did not get to that because of technicalities. To get an accurate count of clams we used a sifting  tool which had several different levels eventually reaching the level of only the solids (clams). When doing the clam population we discovered that the number of clams living in the river differed immensely from those living in the river's islands. The clams were found to be in greater population in the river compared to the river's bed. The exact reason for this is not completely determined but I think it is because the nutrients water brings to clams. We also measured the flow rate of the river by collecting objects that would move down the river such as a bottle. The flow rate was measured by releasing the object at a certain location and recording the time it took to get to the end. This is usually done in a linear manner. The flow rate is determined by  distance divided by the time. As I mentioned we did not get to measure the elevation on the river, but I still would like to explain it to my knowledge. If we were to measure the elevation we would have to take a tool that consists of two poles and a piece of string separating the two pole which has marks on them representing levels.  We would take the two poles, put them in the ground and mark the level increasingly.