Dragon Page - Life Cycle & Future

Wow! What an eventful series you have had over the past few weeks. Dragons entered your lives. Baby dragons are being born! What does the future have in store for your little guy or girl?

This page in your dragon book has several important goals:

1. Let future dragon breeders know the cell processes that create new dragons and what happens as the baby dragon grows, develops or heals after being wounded.
2. Explain why it is important to maintain genetic variation in your dragon species.
3. Provide a warning to future dragon breeders about possible mutations.

In order to do this, create a page that will be a great resource for the dragon breeders after you!

1. Life Cycle - Create a diagram that shows the life cycle of your dragon. From egg to death, what are the major stages of life your dragon will pass through.
2. Egg - use diagrams and sentences to explain what happened at the cellular level to result in the egg. You should explain the process that creates the 1n cells. How are these “daughter” cells related to the parent cell? Important: use your dragon’s genetic code as an example.
3. Growth, Development and Repair - use diagrams and sentences to explain the cellular process that takes place to create new cells. How are these “daughter” cells related to the parent cell?
4. Explain what is meant by genetic variation and why it is important for the survival of your species.
5. Mutations - What are they? How could they take place in a dragon? What could be a possible mutation that is positive for your dragon? What could be a possible mutation that is negative for your dragon? For both, explain how this mutation could occur. Are the mutations inherited or acquired? What is the difference?

Today's Readings:

Friday - Gardening Day

Tuesday (after Chinese New Year Break - have a great break!) - Class work time on this assignment

Thursday 2/21 - Page due