User:AAMHH/sandbox

Week 2: Article evaluation: Scala naturae

In general, the article seems to make numerous claims however lacks citations to back them up. Although there is a decent list of references a the bottom of the article it appears that the same few sources are used. There are a lot of generalizations made in the entirety of the article and it comes across as a blog or an opinionated piece.

I noticed that in the introduction section the editor states that after angels and demons there are the stars, moon etc, however the stars/moon are not mentioned at all after this statement.

The ‘Divisions and “subdivisions” sections are repetitive. I feel as though there is a lot of subjective information such as the part about Lucifer which adds no value to talking about the different divisions of Scala Naturae. The subdivisions section almost entirely comes across as subjective as it only has one citation and this citation is about the French Revolution.

I also found myself asking why is there a need for the divisions/subdivisions sections and “the chain” section. They both cover relatively the same information, however the chain section has a better lay out.

Also, "The Chain" section of the Scala naturae article is almost entirely copied and pasted from one website (https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/Tillyard01.html), although the source is mentioned at the end of the Wikipedia article.

Scala naturae in evolution/natural science section needs more factual information that is organized from the original idea of Scala naturae to modern ideology.

I believe it's safe to say that the people on the talk page are not impressed by the article. There were many things that I agree with, one of them being that this article makes a generalization of Christianity ideology and needs to clarify the sect and time period referring to. Like all things, Christianity has changed over time, so maybe addressing how the idea of Scala naturae has changed with it.

Overall, I think that the layout of the page needs to be redone to coherent and easy to follow.

Week 3: Add to an article: Scala naturae

I decided to propose changes to the introduction paragraph of the article. I placed them on the talk page for further feedback.

The great chain of being or Scala naturae (Latin for "ladder of being") is the philosophical ideology that all matters of life are organized in a hierarchical linear ladder of perfection and value. The concept was introduced as early as Ancient Greece by philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle but was largely accepted during the middle ages. According to medieval Christians, God was placed at the top of the ladder followed in a downward progression by angels, demons, humans, animals, plants, fossils and lifeless minerals.

Week 4:Group Dissections

• Rabbit
  • I spent a lot of time (in the past) chasing rabbits and consider them to be one of the most interesting animals due to how fast they move, flexible they are and the variations in the past.
  • Things to edit: Morphology section of Rabbit page, Plantigrade, Reproduction of rabbits (no section on rabbits page)
• Skate (fish)
  • I have never seen a skate or anything that looks like it in person and think it would be interesting to learn more about.
    • Egg case (Chondrichthyes), expand on anatomy section of Skate page, Arhynchobatidae
• Amphiuma
  • This was a random choice purely based off the fact that I find the little legs on the large body fascinating.
    • Metamorphosis, Ecdysteroid, the actual Amphiuma page

Week 5: Resources and proposed topic for Stingray page

Discuss the the mechanics of the cartilaginous jaws and teeth (essentially rows of flat plates) in relation to feeding habits of the sting ray and include supplementary images of the jaw and teeth.

Sources:

• Kolmann, Matthew A.; Crofts, Stephanie B.; Dean, Mason N.; Summers, Adam P.; Lovejoy, Nathan R. (2015-12-01). "Morphology does not predict performance: jaw curvature and prey crushing in durophagous stingrays". Journal of Experimental Biology. 218 (24): 3941–3949. doi:10.1242/jeb.127340. ISSN 0022-0949. PMID 26567348.
• Kolmann, Matthew A.; Welch, Kenneth C.; Summers, Adam P.; Lovejoy, Nathan R. (2016-09-14). "Always chew your food: freshwater stingrays use mastication to process tough insect prey". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 283 (1838). doi:10.1098/rspb.2016.1392. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 5031661 . PMID 27629029.
• Summers, A. P. (February 2000). "Stiffening the stingray skeleton - an investigation of durophagy in myliobatid stingrays (Chondrichthyes, batoidea, myliobatidae)". Journal of Morphology. 243 (2): 113–126. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-4687(200002)243:23.0.CO;2-A. ISSN 0362-2525. PMID 10658196.

Week 6: Starting Edit for Stingray page

I couldn't find enough information at this time to solely work on the jaws/teeth of the stingrays and noticed that there is not an anatomy or true characteristics portion of the page, therefore I think that I want to make a section for this. I think that the work that other's in the team will also be great to add in. For the dissection portion of the project I plan on focusing my work on the teeth and jaws. I have started to work on putting the general anatomy section together below: (This was also added to Burner112's sandbox)

Stingrays are composed of cartilaginous skeletons with portions that are strengthen through the process of calcification. The cartilage allows the fish to stay afloat despite its lack a swim bladder.

The vertebral column of the stingray is composed of the pre-caudal and caudal vertebrate, with the pre-caudal forming first.

Stingrays are counter shaded, meaning the dorsal side is darker than the ventral side allowing for the stingray to camouflage with it's surroundings whether it is swimming around or at the bottom of the ocean.

The mouth of the stingrays are located on the ventral side of the animal. The teeth are large, modified placid scales that have the appearance of flat plates which aid in the crushing of hard shelled prey.

Additional resources being used:

Serena, F. (2005). Field Identification Guide to the Sharks and Rays of the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. p. 68. ISBN 92-5-105291-3.

Image plan(s)

I would like to be able to dissect out the jaw with teeth attached during our dissection of the stingray to take my own photos of them.If I am unable to do this, then will find online images.

Week 9: Responding to Peer Reviews

Responses to individual feedback:

• Someone pointed out that my sentences read like bullet points. I agree with this and noticed when making my initial draft that some of my sentences need to be restructured and are choppy to read, which I plan on editing.
• There were a few typos in my section, which I also plan on editing. I will make sure in my second draft to double check for things like this.
• My information is scattered (as pointed out by one of my peers). My plan for this section was to provide general information about the stingray and incorporate our individual dissection topics into it. The information right now is scattered because I am not sure how exactly how we plan to structure it as a group yet. It was just overall easier for me to separated the information I obtained into separate sentences at the time, but it all will be orchestrated into an entire section.

Responses to overall group feedback:

• We need to discuss how and what order we are going to contribute our drafts to the general anatomy section of the stingray page. This will probably have to be done when all of our individual drafts are close to being finished that way we can actually start to compile everything together.
• We were asked to clarify if this will be a new page or an addition to the actual stingray page. I was planning on adding the section to the actual stingray page. This will also be something we have to discuss as a group.

Week 10: Continuing edit for Stingray page

This week I was able to find a lot more information on the jaws and teeth of the stingrays, therefore I decided to focus on this section of my draft. This was posted to Burner112's sandbox.

The mouth of the stingray is located on the ventral side of the species. Stringrays exhibit euhyostyly jaw suspension, which means that the mandibular arch is only suspended by a articulation with the hyomandibula. This type of suspensions allows for the upper jaw to have high mobility and protrude outward. The teeth are modified placoid scales that are regularly shedded and replaced. In general, the teeth have a root implanted within the connective tissue and a visual portion of the tooth, which are large and flat, allowing them to crush the of hard shelled prey. Male stingrays displaysexual dimorphism by developing cusp, or pointed ends, to their teeth during mating season, which then return to baseline during non-mating seasons.

Week 11: Illustrate an article

Ventral view of stingray.

Flat, individual teeth on the lower jaw tooth band of a stingray.

Week 12: Starting to go live

This week I started an anatomy section on the String ray page and added the following section:

"The mouth of the stingray is located on the ventral side of the species. Stringrays exhibit euhyostyly jaw suspension, which means that the mandibular arch is only suspended by a articulation with the hyomandibula. This type of suspensions allows for the upper jaw to have high mobility and protrude outward. "