My AP Biology Thoughts

Written by: Hopewell Valley Student Publications Network
  • Summary

  • The AP Biology Thoughts podcast is created by students for AP Biology students. At the end of each unit, students select topics to define, provide examples, and to make deeper connections to other units and the course.
    Copyright 2024 Hopewell Valley Student Publications Network
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Episodes
  • AP Biology Russia Ukraine
    Jun 8 2023

    My AP Biology Thoughts  

    Unit #: 8


    EPISODE TITLE: 

    Welcome to My AP Biology Thoughts podcast, our names are Ramit Dasika, Flavio D’Attilio, Samy Leroux, Landon Schafer, Colin Fahmy and we are hosting this episode called Unit 8 Ecology AND  Today we will be discussing The war between Ukraine and Russia has caused mass destruction to many ecosystems through bombings and other weaponry and how it relates to the AP Biology Curriculum. 

    Segment 1: Overview of Topic

    •  War 
    • The war between Ukraine and Russia has caused mass destruction to many ecosystems through bombings and other weaponry


    Segment 2: Evidence that supports 

    • It causes forest fires- Samy
    • During the process of runoff, the harmful chemicals are collected in rivers nearby. This causes the  water sources contaminated due to chemical leakage from destroyed industrial plants-Ramit
    • During the Russia-Ukrainian War, the Russian soldiers damaged and looted fire engines, computers, and radiation monitoring equipment, while leaving mines and munitions spread across the exclusion zone.-Flavio
    • “In the Donbas region, wrecked sewage works gush their contents into rivers and damaged pipelines fill wetlands with oil.”- Landon
    • “Most of the exclusion zone was damaged by the invasion and may be contaminated with unexploded ordnance and mines,” according to Oleksandr Galushchenko, director of the biosphere reserve. The larger mammals that constantly move around the reserve – wolves, deer, brown bears, lynx, elk, and recently reintroduced bison – are at particular risk, he says.”-Samy
    • “The forests in the zone remain a radioactive tinderbox that, in the event of fires, could send radioactive isotopes on the winds towards Kyiv. The risks of that happening are now much greater, says the UNCG’s forest campaigner Yehor Hrynyk. With fire-fighting equipment looted and much of the exclusion zone dangerous for firefighters to enter, some 65,000 acres has burned since the invasion, and fires continue to smolder in underground peat.”-Colin
    • “Many industrial plants are damaged or abandoned;wrecked sewage works gush their contents into rivers; damaged pipelines are filling wetlands with oil; and toxic military scrap is spread across the land.”- Flavio
    • “A particular concern is the many coal mines abandoned after 2014. With pumping of water halted, they have so far released some 650,000 acre-feet of polluted mine water into the environment,...
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    10 mins
  • Single Use Plastics
    Jun 8 2023

    My AP Biology Thoughts  

    Unit #: 8- Disruptions to Ecosystems



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    EPISODE TITLE: Single Use Plastics

    Jaiden: Welcome to My AP Biology Thoughts podcast, our names are Jaiden, Adam, and Reena and we are your hosts for this episode called Unit 8, Human Stupidity and Single Use Plastics. Today we will be discussing how single use plastics cause disruptions to the ecosystem and how it relates to the AP Biology Curriculum. 

    The Podcast will be broken up into three segments. The first segment will show the general overview of single-use plastics and the second segment will show how these plastics impact the environment and why it relates to the AP Biology Curriculum. Finally, segment three will discuss how we can contribute and reduce single use plastics.

    Segment 1: Overview of Topic

    • Plastic pollution has become one of the most pressing environmental issues
    • According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans generated 35.7 million tons of plastic in the United States. 
    • Single use plastics are plastics that are used for a brief period of time, before they are thrown away. These include plastic straws, spoons, bottles, and bags
    • Microplastics are extremely small pieces of plastic debris. They are generally about five millimeters, or approximately the diameter  an eraser on a #2 pencils,  in length to be considered microplastics

    Segment 2: Just how much harm is plastic causing 

    • Some plastics such as Chlorinated plastics is harmful for the soil around it along with water sources making it harder for organisms to grow
    • It takes 1,000 years for a plastic bag to degrade in a landfill. However, the plastic does not degrade completely but instead becomes microplastics that absorb toxins and continue to pollute the environment.
    • An estimated 13 million plastic tons are thrown into the ocean each 
    • These small plastic particles may harm our health once they have entered our bodies. Plastic products contain chemical additives. A number of these chemicals have been associated with serious health problems such as hormone-related cancers, infertility and neurodevelopmental disorders like ADHD and autism.
    • There are now 5.25 trillion macro and micro pieces, weighing up to 269,000 tonnes. This is because every day, around 8 million pieces of plastic make their way into our oceans.
    • Unlike some other kinds of waste, plastic doesn't decompose. That means plastic can stick around indefinitely, wreaking havoc on marine ecosystems. Some plastics float once they enter the ocean, though...
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    13 mins
  • Isle Royale Predator and Prey Relationships
    Dec 21 2021
    My AP Biology Thoughts  Unit 8 Ecology EPISODE TITLE: The Isle of Wolves

    Welcome to My AP Biology Thoughts podcast, our names are Olivia, Anushka, Mea, and Hana and we are your hosts for the Unit 8 Ecology-the Isle Royale Study podcast. Today we will be discussing the Isle Royale Study and how it relates to the AP Biology Curriculum. 

    Segment 1: Overview of the Isle Royale Study
    • Camping —> DOCTAH guise —-> isle royale —-> us listening to him talk :)

    Segment 2: Evidence that supports the Isle Royale Study
    • Winter controls the ticks (kills them all if cold temperature) 
    • Provide ex of trophic cascading 
    • Predator prey talk abt it
    • Human interaction/interference (trails, being on/off) 
    • Coloring of the wolves 
    • Talk abt winter study (break island into quadrants and take populations #’s) 

    Segment 3: Connection to the Course
    • Predator-prey relationship:  
    • Trophic structure: a flow of energy between organisms in an ecosystem 
    • Energy flow 
    • Parasitic 
    • Importance of genetic diversity

    Thank you for listening to this episode of My AP Biology Thoughts. For more student-ran podcasts and digital content, make sure that you visit www.hvspn.com

    Music Credits:
    • "Ice Flow" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
    • Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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    18 mins

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