User:Jac1702/sandbox

Article Evaluation
Editing article, "Pharyngeal slit." - Because the article is vaguely titled, "Pharyngeal slit" the discussion of the structure is related to the topic, but I when reading this I was distracted by lack of organization of what each sub-section was written for and the order of the topics was inefficient. Also, there was usage of information and quoting that I feel was not needed in the introduction. The introduction paragraph was very vague and gave little insight as to the purpose of their writing. - Author gave little background on evidence that led to their decision of pharyngeal slits being present in original deuterostomes and such that they did not explain why this evidence supported their theory. It felt like the article on evolution was biased towards pharyngeal slits being homologous between hemichordates and chordates. - Yes view points are very underrepresented, such as the function and purpose of the pharyngeal slit. There was no information on the anatomy of the pharyngeal slit. Also, within their topics they skim very lightly on their evidence, leaving possibilities to explain more in depth. - Sources were properly formatted, the links worked and directed me to relevant articles. The sources did relate to the topic, although I think they could have included more background information from the source to know the context was used correctly. No plagiarism noticed initially. - Facts are referenced at the end of most sentences, all facts are cited. But, the sources are very old some older than 10 years which I believe should be removed and updated with modern research. Almost all of the references were from peer-reviewed research essays from scientists individual experiments. I did not see any obvious biasness, as most articles were based on their data, although bias was not mentioned in the Wikipedia article. - Not much was discussed on the talk page, only that people wished for more diagrams and to cite certain claims (which I believe were fixed as I did not see them in the article". - Wikipedia has this article labelled "start-class" and needing room for more improvement. There was no mention of any WikiProjects. - This article does not go into a detailed account of the importance of the pharyngeal slits to chordates as a synapomorphy, the function, or the evolution to later descendants. I feel like it missed the major discussion points that we stress in class.

Group discussion
While reading this article, it was really hard to know what the purpose was. Content was confusing and organization was in an order that could be improved. As a group we feel that if they added a section discussing the pharyngeal slit before talking about specific parts of the organ and evolution, then the article would be better. We feel that if they discussed the function of the pharyngeal slits and how it impacts the chordates it would greatly improve quality of information. There was a content gap for the function of pharyngeal slit. Include more organization of sub-topics, definitions, and diagrams to create a better picture of the slits in the body. Include more pathway descriptions for respiration and filter feeding and mention importance of slits to these mechanisms. We noticed some vocabulary errors between gills and slits (they are not synonymous). By adding these improvements, connections between the evolution and "arches" paragraphs could be strengthened by the addition of the functionality of the pharyngeal slits. We also noticed confusion in introductory paragraph which revealed no entry purpose. What was the purpose of the article? It was on pharyngeal slits, but there was no mention of important features of this structure. By providing the function of the slits, it would help provide purpose for the article - actually describing the slits and engaging with key points. Refrain from using unnecessary quotes that don't pertain to the main purpose of pharyngeal slits.

'''Was there a reason for the absence of pharyngeal slit function? We noticed that this article lacked clear and consistent description of pharyngeal slit function and definition. It would be helpful to include a separate function paragraph; which could include diagrams, importance of filter-feeding pathways and respiration, mechanisms of the organ, and purpose of pharyngeal slits to the body as whole. By adding this section, the other paragraphs will make more sense within context of the pharyngeal slit as a synapomorphy to the Chordates.'''

My Contribution
I added the parts about comparing it to Annelids and Arthropods, describing the process of invagination, and the explanation of the evolutionary advantages being unknown. I tried to cite them all to our textbook, Kardong, but I couldn't find the "re-use" button that was in the training so they are under separate references which I would like to fix somehow. I'm still working on getting comfortable with this website.

Copy of Article with My Contributions
The dorsal nerve cord is one of the embryonic features unique to chordates. The dorsal hollow nerve cord is a hollow tube, located dorsal to the notochord. It is formed from a part of the ectoderm that rolls, forming the hollow tube. This is important, as it distinguishes chordates from other animal phyla, such as Annelids or Arthropods, which have solid, ventral tubes. The process by which this is performed is called, invagination. The cells essentially convolute into the body cavity, arranging themselves on the dorsal plane above the notochord as mentioned above. The evolutionary explanation for this adaptation from a solid cord to a hollow tube is unknown. The dorsal nerve cord is later modified in vertebrates into the central nervous system which is composed of the brain and spinal cord. A dorsal nerve cord is mainly found in subphylum Vertebrata. Chordates also usually have a notochord, a post-anal tail, an endostyle, and pharyngeal slits. Dorsal means the "back" side, as opposed to Ventral which is the "belly" side of an organism. In bipedal organisms dorsal is the back and ventral is the front. In organisms which walk on four limbs the dorsal surface is the top (back) and the ventral surface is the bottom (belly).

Week 4 - Organism Preference
1: Moray eel, because I am fascinated with their jaws and overall size, I just think it would be cool to be able to learn more about how this specimen functions. 2: Stingray, because I find their morphology really interesting and would love the chance to dissect one of these and see the wing and tail characteristics. 3: Pike/Gar because I think they're a really cool looking fish and I would love to learn more about their teeth.

3 Topics to Edit
Pharyngeal jaw Chondrichthyes Gnathostome

Week 5
User:GermanShortHair/sandbox

Our work is grouped in this group member's sandbox.

Swim Bladder
The gar's swim bladder has been extensively studied to find the mechanics of this organ, as it is used multi-purposely within the fish. Such research has shown that the temperature of the water seems to affect the gar, as they will increase the aerial breathing rate as temperature of the water is raised. Gars can live completely submerged in oxygenated water and remain healthy while also being able to survive in deoxygenated water if allowed access to air. This adaptation can be the result of environmental pressures and behavioral factors.

Anatomy
The gar has paired appendages, including pectoral fins, pelvic fins, while also having an anal fin, caudal fin, and a dorsal fin.

Week 7 - 03/23/2018
Reviewing the Stingray from User:Burner112/sandbox and Skate from User:Dr.Biology/sandbox

Stingray Review
1. The majority of the content is neutral, but I did find some minor phrases that could be improved. When explaining the spiracle, the term "complex" is used and I believe it would be more appropriate to replace it with "more derived" or "highly specialized" in order to implement proper scientific terminology. Also, when discussing the stingray's venom I would refrain from using phrases/words like "what we do know" and "creatures" for the same reasons.

2. Although sources in the venom section and the locomotion section need to be in correct format using footnotes, they are all reliable and come from peer-reviewed scientific journals with accredited status. 3. The draft is a little bit distracting while trying to navigate as there are multiple bibliographies, but I think that's a minor thing that can be easily fixed as the article becomes more developed. I would maybe reorganize the order of topics so at the top you have a general understanding and then get more specific as you scroll down, so put the "Anatomy of stingrays" and the top and then put "locomotion" or "venom" for example. While I was looking at the original Skate (fish) article I would also expand on the topics "reproduction" and "taxonomy." On a side note, the Skate group is also planning on editing reproduction and anatomy so I would collaborate with them as well to achieve a full comprehensive, non-repetitive report for readers. I think that the person doing locomotion could add more topics like the ones offered above as it seems writing about a stingray's movement isn't as extensive as the other topics discussed. Everyone has a proposed idea for pictures that are relevant to their topics.

Skate Review
1. Content is very good and resourceful, there are no hints of bias and is very informative. Scientific terms are used when appropriate and links are provided to overlapping topics.

2. Sources are cited correctly and effectively throughout paragraphs. Most of the information used is directly from accredited scientific articles from studies specifically on skates, which is really good. 3. Structure of topics are well organized. One thing I might add though is putting the anatomy paragraph at the top so readers can picture the animal as a whole before reading more specific body functions! User:Burner112/sandbox is also working on the same article for stingrays it looks like so I would collaborate with them to see what topics they plan on adding as well. You guys could do some really cool work comparing and contrasting rays and skates. I think the workload is proportioned equally and I really like the idea of expanding from external and internal topics, I would suggest putting them in the same paragraphs for whatever topic you are working on so readers don't have to go back and forth. Picture ideas are good, I think labelling pictures from lab is an awesome idea, and as for the mermaid's purse, maybe you could find a new one rather than moving it from another section? or if you get lucky and receive a female skate for dissection you could include your own photos.

Week 9 - Feedback Response
As for organization, I think we should arrange it from distribution, to anatomy/functions of fins, then eggs, then swim bladder. In this order I believe it flows better going from general to specific details on the gar. While doing this I will add more tags to other Wikipedia topics, such as the swim bladder for readers to have reference to outside pages. As for images, our gar fish was very difficult to show a good picture of the fins as they were dry and cracking off as we tried to open them up. Because of this, I feel a generic picture might show a better representation of the fins. As for expanding the discussion on the anatomy of the fins I agree that I can expand more on the bones and talk about the evolutionary advantages and comparisons of these appendages while including pictures of our own dissection for the bone section. I really liked the suggestion of comparing our gar with other gar species so I will definitely include more research on that. Secondly, for the swim bladder I agree I can remove the annotative sentence. It's not needed and I can go straight into the facts. I plan on including this section into the gar page and tagging "swim bladder" to the separate post. I'm hoping to use our gar for images, I'm planning on taking them with it inside the body cavity and possibly removing the bladder entirely for individual images. Some peers commented that I should expand more on the research results of the aerial breathing versus aquatic respiration so I think I'll add a sentence to explain the significance of this adaptation.

Swim Bladder
Research on the swim bladder has shown that the temperature of the water affects which respiration method the gar will use: aerial or aquatic. They will increase the aerial breathing rate (breathing air) as temperature of the water is increased. Gars can live completely submerged in oxygenated water without access to air and remain healthy while also being able to survive in deoxygenated water if allowed access to air. This adaptation can be the result of environmental pressures and behavioral factors.

Fin Anatomy
The gar has paired appendages, including pectoral fins, pelvic fins, while also having an anal fin, caudal fin, and a dorsal fin. The bone structures within the fins are important to study as they can show homology throughout the fossil record. Specifically, the pelvic girdle resembles that of other actinopterygians yet still having some of it's own characteristics. Gars have a postcleithrun - which is a bone that is lateral to the scapula, but do not have postpectorals. Proximally to the postcleithrum, the supracleithrum is important as it plays a critical role in opening the gar's jaws. This structure has a unique internal coracoid lamina only present in the Gar species. Proximal to the supracleithrum is the posttemporal bone, which is significantly smaller than other actinopterygians. Gars also have no clavicle bone, although there have been observations of elongated plates within the area.

Week 11 - Images
I added my edited version of a free commons image from Raver Duane of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (I added labels for appropriate fins for readers to reference) and drew my own diagrams of the scapula/pectoral girdle of Lepisosteidae. Once we finish dissecting our gar in lab, we plan on inflating the swim bladder for an image as we believe this will clearly represent the size and respiration capabilities of this organ.