Pre-Senior Project Work and Write Up

My senior project is on biodiversity. The sources I have pulled up so far focus mainly on the purpose and importance of biodiversity, and a method of artificial repopulation of endangered and extinct species.

The method of artificial repopulation is reproductive cloning. It is done by taking an egg from an animal (most likely the surrogate) that is the closest (usually common) relative to the animal being cloned in question, and extracting the DNA, leaving an empty shell. Then, you would take the DNA extracted from a cell of the cloning subject and place it in that egg. From there, an electrical shock of some kind will trigger cell reproduction, and after a certain point is reached, the developing egg can be placed within the surrogate.

This method has been proven to work with animals such as the endangered African Wildcat, Felis Lybica. The surrogate used was a common domesticated house cat, so as to not possibly hurt another endangered wildcat in the pregnancy and labor process. This is a great scientific discovery because now we know that we can recreate anything that we can capture the DNA of, as long as there is another similar or related animal. As of the moment, the process is still having kinks worked out, and is highly frowned upon by many groups of people who believe cloning to be of a sort of inhumane practice.

Another example of this was an endangered Wild Ox indigenous to India and Southeast Asia that was cloned using a common dairy cow as a surrogate. This just continues to prove that this process can and should be used to not only help repopulate the food web, but keep the variance high within many dwindling ecosystems.

This ties in with the other sources where it is explained the importance of a diverse environment and how everything relates to one another and is crucial to keep the cycles of life running. An easy example of this would be where a cow is fed by wheat from a farm, and then the dung leftover is used as a fertilizer to feed the soil and crops. This then benefits the crops, which then benefit many animals and bacteria underground. Bacteria feed from many different parts of the plants, and this can be very useful to even the plant at times. More plant life also means more rodents and worms and other insects. These aerate the soil and provide areas for water to sink in and help the crops grow more.

My senior project is on the importance of biodiversity, and how we may soon be required to take action and influence the existence of life itself.

Bibliography:

"Cloning - Reproductive Cloning." Library Index. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2010. http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/2263/Cloning-REPRODUCTIVE-CLONING.html.

Some Quotes to use:

"The reproductive cloning technology used to create animals is called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). In SCNT scientists transfer genetic material from the nucleus of a donor adult cell to an enucleated egg (an egg from which the nucleus has been removed). This eliminates the need for fertilization of an egg by a sperm."

"On January 8, 2001, scientists at Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), a biotechnology company in Massachusetts, announced the birth of the first clone of an endangered animal, a baby bull gaur—a large wild ox from India and Southeast Asia—named Noah. Noah was cloned using the nuclei of frozen skin cells taken from an adult male gaur that had died eight years earlier. The skin cell nuclei were joined with enucleated cow eggs, one of which was implanted into a surrogate cow mother."

United Nations Development Programme. "The Importance of Biodiversity." UNDP | United Nations Development Programme. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2010. http://www.undp.org/biodiversity/biodiversitycd/bioImport.htm.

Some Quotes to use:

"Around 99 per cent of potential crop pests are controlled by a variety of other organisms, including insects, birds and fungi."

"Some 130 billion metric tons of organic waste is processed every year by earth’s decomposing organisms. Many industrial wastes, including detergents, oils, acids and paper, are also detoxified and decomposed by the activities of living things. In soils, the end product of these processes – a range of simple inorganic chemicals – is returned to plants as nutrients."

"The World Health Organization estimates that 80 per cent of people in the developing world rely on traditional medicines derived mainly from plants. In Southeast Asia, for example, traditional healers use some 6,500 different plant species to treat malaria, stomach ulcers, syphilis, and other diseases."

Shah, Anup. "Why Is Biodiversity Important? Who Cares? — Global Issues." Global Issues : social, political, economic and environmental issues that affect us all — Global Issues. N.p., 18 Nov. 2009. Web. 20 Jan. 2010. http://www.globalissues.org/article/170/why-is-biodiversity-important-who-cares.