Mutation Blog

Ayuyu (Coconut Crab)

        If a coconut crab would go through a mutation, it would be much bigger than its usual size and and have the ability to live in water. The average size of a coconut crab is 60 cm, but once gone through mutation, it would be 90 cm long. Though they are part of the crab family, they are consider a land-living arthropod, in which they can't live in the water for long. But if it were to undergo a mutation, it would produce special lungs and gills similar to a fish gill so they would have the ability to breathe in water and roam around without limited time.

     As it is in its mutation form, there would be differences among the regular and the mutated ones. Since they are 30 cm larger than an average coconut crab, it would affect the species with living in one habitat, which means competition with food and survival. The bigger crabs may take more than enough of the resources provided, leaving the average crabs with the least amount. Another part of mutation that would affect their species is  respiration. Since the mutated ones have the ability to live in water, they might not only eat just plants or vegetation, but eat meat as well. They would then be considered predators in the marine habitat. That means the mutated crabs would be omnivores.

      Due to the change the coconut crab has gone through, it would be beneficial for these mutated organisms. Through the adaptions they have developed, it would benefit there kind of species to survive and natural selection will give these species the ability to produce more offspring for the sake of their specie's survival.

   

Species Blog

                                                                      Papaya

                    The papaya is a common fruit known for it's sweet, delicious taste for recipes and just eating it alone. The papaya came from the plant Carica papaya, a sole species from the genus Carica in which overall belongs to the Caricaceae plant family. Other organisms generating to that plant family are mostly different types of papayas, such as the Oak-leaved papaya, Mountain papaya, Jacaratia or Wild papaya, and many others. Since the papaya was originated in the Mexican region, which also relates to the Spaniards, papaya was first introduced during the Spanish invasion in the 17th century. After Ferdinand Magellan discovered the Marianas, him and his fellow Spaniards influenced our ancient chamorros in many ways, especially agriculture. Farming was a huge priority together with religion during that time. The Spaniards introduce a variety of plants and animals to the anicient chamorros, in which the papaya is one them. They grew the papayas and it expanded and became to many regions in the CNMI. 

Sources:

"About the CNMI." Northern Marianas Humanities Council. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2014. <http://northernmarianashumanities.org/sec.asp?secID=8>.

"Papaya." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papaya#Distribution>.

"Family: Caricaceae." Family: Caricaceae. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2014. <http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/b/Caricaceae/none/none/cultivar/0/#b>.

Adaption Blog

Adaptions

Since I didn't have any animals to show and explain their adaption, I focused on more on plants. Here are the three organism that I discovered:

The organism above is a flower that resembles or is similar to the Plumeria, however it isn't one. The flower is grown in our little garden which lives near the streets. With the rich soil growing in our little garden, the flower is able to growing naturally and beautifully. Most of the time several people visit our house to check on the flowers or little birds rests in the bushes for a while.

One of the island's favorite plant, the hot pepper, also grows in our garden. Because of the rich soil in our garden, we were able to grow a lot of hot pepper. Once the hot pepper turns ripe, we picked them out and use it to make spicy sauces, such as the finadeni'. There are also some moment where we spot some garden pest, especially ants, crawling in the plant.

 The papaya tree is one of the most visited by many organisms in our garden. Just like the flower and the hot pepper plant, the rich soil produces the papaya's sweet, soft, tasty flavor that I really love. There are rare moments when I discover the Marianas Crow pecking on the ripe papayas. Even ants crawl on the papayas to taste our sweet papaya. 

Site Description 
(Cleo Cuizon)                            Pinatang Park

       Pinatang Park is located in SongSong village on you way to the highway here in Rota. It used a water park, but unfortunately, is has been abandoned. However, several people still visit here to swim or just to relax. Though this place may not look as neat is it used to be, but is good place to hang out friends and swim and relax under the cold refreshing water and white sand. What makes it site different is that the park is mostly made out of rocks and corals.

           One reason why I love to be here is because of their mini-beach which is located at the way back of the site. The entrance to the beach is surrounded by rocks but has cemented stairs so you'll be able to go down to the the beach and sit at the sand. My favorite part is the jump-off that is made by rocks. The pathway to the jump-off is actually on the other side but it's not that far. According the pictures, you can see that plants are actually growing in the rocks, which makes so unique. The picture at the right shows where me and my friends usually use to jump in the water. Getting down to the edge might be painful due to the pointy rock but it's actually worth the try. And if you're lucky enough to spot one, you'll see tiny fishes swimming with you in the water. 

(Here's a view of the Wedding Cake Mountain when you're at the pathway of the jump-off.)