From here, science could improve their definition of species, so that more species can be classified. Plus, when we find more species, we can learn more about it and expand on the animal kingdom.

It's important to know how many species there are so that we can protect them from going extinct and so that world can keep in balance. Every living organism plays an important role in the world so that everything can maintain balance. also if the are sub species within a species then if some whales completely die off in antarctica then that species of whale will go extinct. the more animals that go extinct the less balance we have in our ecosystem

Introduction

The Whales of Duty (WOD)

(Team Past) Selina, Marvin, Octavia, (Team Present) Prem, and Armando

Orca whales live in the Northern Pacific & Atlantic Oceans & the Arctic Sea. The fossils of whale ancestors were found in Pakistan. Whales have been evolving in the ocean for 50 million years, according to Whalewatch.org. According to science.kqed.org, Orca whales have been around for 11 million years. We can tell how long they have been around based on DNA and their habitat

The term species was a controversial topic for team present because different scientists have different definitions for what makes two animals part of a different species.

There are many reasons that orcas are important, and these reasons justify why we should care about them. the first reason we should care about orcas is that they bring balance to their ecosystems. being an apex predator if they were to be eliminated from an ecosystem that ecosystem would become over populated and would not survive. Another reason they are important is because they are near extinction and show what types of negative impacts we can have on our environment. Finally, they are a controversial animal because scientists cannot determine whether they are one species or multiple.

Research Questions

Methods

ReferencesTeam past group had cards with pictures on them. We grouped them and tried to see which were the closest to and orca whales by their skeletal system. We also read articles about them in order to figure out what physical characteristics the ansestors and the orca whales have in common.

Team present was given a set of cards with orca whales. We were given the task to put the card that has a somewhat similar picture together by using their features in their body such as the Dorsal Fin, eye patches, fins, and the saddle.

Significance and Future Work

Combined Phylogenetic Tree

1.Morris, E. (2011, July 20). Why Killer Whales Don’t Eat People: Where Science and Legend Meet | QUEST. KQED Science. Retrieved May 10, 2013, from http://science.kqed.org/quest/2011/07/20/why-killer-whales-don%E2%80%99t-eat-people-where-science-and-legend-meet/

2.WHALEWATCH || Its Time To Watch Their Welfare. (n.d.). WHALEWATCH || Its Time To Watch Their Welfare. Retrieved May 10, 2013, from http://www.whalewatch.org/whatweknow.htm

3.Sutera, 20014.ScienceDaily, (2012, Jan. 29)

Over the long evolutionary process of whales we can see two things very clearly; one, is that modern orca whales should be considered more than one species, and two, that these different species share many common ancestors. We think that Orca whales and Rodhocetus could be related by their physical traits. The common physical trait that they have is that the share their powerful tail. “The sizes of these extensions on the top of the vertebrae where muscles are attached indicate that Rodhocetus had developed a powerful tail for swimming” (Gingrich, 1994). They both use these tails to swim in the water. Plus, an interesting thing that both animals ungulate their spine up and down to swim. A second piece of evidence that we have to support our explanation is the phylogenetic tree based off of mitochondrial genome data. This tree shows the close relation between types of orcas that share similar DNA. They have been organized into different species because of this, and the tree shows that along with habitat certain whales are more closely related based on their mitochondrial DNA sequences. From this data we believe that orcas should be divided into three separate species. We also believe that the the orcas had evolved from common ancestors that, through natural selection of genetically advantageous traits became whales. This is what our phylogenetic tree explains.

Results

1. How are orca whales related to other organisms (both extinct and living)?

2. Should orca whales be considered one species or multiple species?

School Name

Year

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net, http://www.statesymbolsusa.org, http://www.locolobo.org

Ambulocetus

Orca WhaleDorudon