Exhibition of the Origin of Life
The origin of life. This zone involves the puzzle of the origins of life and the evolution of organism from single-cell organisms to multicellular organisms and chemical evolution theory. Origin of life on earth is the result of the slow and gradual process of chemical evolution that probably occurred about 3.8 billion years ago. Organisms are originated from the composition of inorganic substances including Methane, Ammonia, and water combined biomolecules. The formation of organism needs following factors.
1.Organic Substance or matter and water.
2.Environment without ordinary oxygen.
3.Energy resources.
4.Long period.
The origin of cell.
1.The occurrence of molecule of tiny organic substance.
2.The occurrence of micro molecules.
3.The occurrence of microspheres.
4.The occurrence of environmental selection.
Stromatolites are microorganism which is classed with blue-green algae or Cyanobacteria forming as thing coning years after year. It creates energy from sun light and fills some air to itself with oxygen.
Mystery of life
The Earth was formed about 4,600 million years ago with the solar system. At first, there was a collision of meteorites and volcanic eruptions. After that, the world began to cool down, but the atmosphere was full of gas. Scientists believed that these gases reacted as a small molecule of organic substance. The important substance was RNA, which could simulate itself. It was wrapped in a membrane bag which was made of the arrangement of a lipid. Scientists called it a Protocell and it has evolved steadily. Finally, it became a stem cell of an organism.
Precambrian Era (from 4,600-540 million years ago)
About 3500 million years ago, the first living organisms in the world were born. They were prokaryote or bacteria that used an organic substance from the environment as energy. Afterwards, the bacteria could be synthesized by light, though they became anaerobic bacteria. About 2800-2700 million years ago, a new group of bacteria began to occur that was known as cyanobacteria that could be synthesized by light and produce oxygen gas. About 2100 million years ago, the Eukaryotic cell with a nuclear membrane began to occur. The endosymbiotic theory explained that the Eukaryotic cell arose from the Prokaryotic cell or the large bacteria ate small Prokaryotic cell, and the cells that were eaten became Organelles. Molecular evidence suggests that the Mitochondria derived from the Proteobacteria and Chloroplasts derived from Cyanobacteria.
Paleozoic Era (from 542-252 million years ago)
About 510 million years ago, the first vertebrate animals were fish, but they did not have fins and jaws. Afterwards, for about 410 million years were the age of fish with fins and jaws and the initial generation of shark. When the atmosphere had higher oxygen, plants and animals evolved on the land. Most plants were plants that grew up in damp environments such as mosses and ferns. The forest began to cover the ground and some fish developed their fins to legs. Then, they became amphibians.
Mesozoic Era (from 251-65 million years ago)
Amphibians developed themselves as reptiles before they developed into dinosaurs that lived in the world about 225-65 million years ago. After that, the small mammals were born. The important thing was the manifestation of the flowering plants. In the extinction of the dinosaurs (and other animals), there might be a large comet that crashed into the earth.
Cenozoic Era (from 65 million years to present)
For about 65 million years ago after the dinosaur extinction, Mammals rapidly evolved and diversified—Hooves such as deer, cow, buffalo, horse, and rhino; Bites such as rat, squirrel, and rabbit; Monkeys with tails like gibbons; Apes such as orangutan, gorilla, and chimpanzee, and of course, humans. The plants of this era were abundant, and the flowering plants evolved very fast. The earth was full of forests.
Classification
Carl Woese and his team used the information of the sequence of nucleotide of RNA to examine the relationship of the evolutionary lines of organisms and other information to analyze the organisms by classifying them into 3 domains: 1. Bacteria; 2. Archaea; and 3. Eukarya. Nowadays, new information has been found continuously, especially the information of biomolecule which made the classification of the organisms changed every time as man is the creator of these classification organisms systems based on scientific data.
The organism is classified into 3 domains. The first is bacteria; it has a kingdom which is kingdom eubacteria. The second is archaea; it has kingdom archaebacterial. The last is eukarya incluing 4 kingdoms; they are kingdom Protista, kingdom fungi, kingdom plantae, and kingdom Animalia.
Mostly, kingdom Protista is a group of single cell organisms. There are various shapes.
Many kinds of cell are unicellular or unicellular-colonial and which form no tissues.
Kingdom Fungi is a group of organisms which are heterotrophic organisms, they obtain their nutrients by absorption. The cell wall of fungi is mostly made up of carbohydrate chitin. The organisms from spore live as decomposer and receive energy by decomposing other clinging organism.
Kingdom plantae, the organisms live as producer in ecosystem. It is autotrophic and able to produce food by the process of photosynthesis. Their life cycle is alternation of generation, they cannot move themselves and there is no nerves system.
Kingdom Animalia, the organisms live as consumer in ecosystem. Mostly, they have sexual reproduction. They have organ system, nerves system, and muscular system so they can move. However, they cannot produce food.
Khonkaen Shell Museum
The Importance and the Conservation
Mollusca are important to ecosystems in land, fresh water and brine. Moreover, they are also important to human in terms of food, medicine, accessories, and culture. So, the sustainable use of mollusk or shellfish is very important– their habitat should not be destroyed in order to conserve their species in the original area safely because the evolution system of mollusk in the ecosystems should be normal. The shell fishery should be controlled in order to not exceed the amount of the mollusk reproduction. And, there should be research to understand the nature of each species to also cultivate the common sense of conservation of people.
Cephalopods
The same species as shellfish. There are 3 groups: 1) Nautilus 2) Squid and Cuttlefish 3) Octopus.
Marine Gastropods
They are the largest group of shells. They have various habitats and diverse roles in the ecosystem. They have many various shell shapes, sharp thorns and other types which can adapt and use venom to hunt.
Bivalves
Most of Bivalves live by filter feeder. They have changed their shape to suit their habitats (i.e. reefs). They also live in coral gaps.
The colors of bivalves were caused by genetics and the food that it had eaten. The color that we see was the result of the evolution over a long period to adjust itself with the environment.
“Pearls” are derived from the Latin word “Pilula” which means a “ball”. Pearls are a symbol of purity. Ancient pearls were also known in the name of “Margarite” from the Greek word “Margartitafera” which means “a shell with a pearl embedded”. The largest peal in the world is the Pearl of Allah or the Pearl of Lao Tzu.
Land Snails
Snails are the only gastropods that evolved on land. They can be found on every terrestrial land, limestone mountains, forests and deserts. In Thailand, many land snails are consumed. Currently, land snails are endangered because of the destruction of their habitat.
Freshwater Mollusks
Freshwater Mollusks are composed of two types—Gastropods and Bivalves.
Humans have used these species for consumption, pearl farming for accessories, pharmaceutical productions and cosmetic ingredients. However, they are also harmful to humans especially because they also carriers of different parasites to humans. Though at present, many freshwater mollusks are at risk of extinction because of water pollution by humans.
The diversity and the Value of the Mollusca
The Mollusca (mollusk) or shellfish is an invertebrate which formed over 450 million years ago. This species can be found in every area and humans have known and taken advantage of them for a long time. For example, some people used money cowry as money (in the Sukhothai period) and amulets for its beauty. They also used clam to gather pearls. In biomimicry, they took the structure of nautilus to make the model of a submarine. In medicine, the poison of a cone shell is used as morphine and others. In Thailand, it was reported to have a diversity of these species of over 3,000. This showed how fertile the areas were.
Exhibition on Biological Diversity Insects and Birds
The zone exhibits birds found in Khon Kean University. In 2000, there are 94 types of birds including 52 types of resident birds, 32 types of migratory birds, and 10 types of both resident and migratory birds. According to reports of researchers, it is found that in Khon Kean University area; around 200 types of birds are found. More than 50 percent is migratory birds.
Bird in the Nature
Bird is an animal with an important role to keep the nature balance. Because of that pest control, bird watching and studying help us to understand nature and environment. Moreover we also enjoy and raise awareness to reserve the nature.
Bird Classification
Beginners should notice and remember dominant feature of each kind of birds including details dominant feature and dominant behavior. Beginners should frequently study the manual, take notes and ask expert. Frequent going out for bird watching can also increase skill of bird classification.
Bird Behavior
Each species of bird has quite different behavior and expressions. We can use that behavior to classify them. Moreover, we can take advantages of their voice to classify but it requires experience and expertness.
Residence and Environment
Each kind of bird has its necessity to live in different environment such as living in jungle, living near community, living around the sea and so on. Therefore residence helps us to classify bird kinds.
Seasons
Season is another way to distingue bird because some birds are found throughout the year while some are found in specific period. For example, owl is migratory bird come to seek for food in winter.
Grus Antigone, which nearly becomes extinct from the nature in Thailand, breeds during the rainy season. They are big and have a long neck. Their head and neck are red. They can fly highest in the world. They are 1.8 meters high when they stand. They can be found in India, South East Asia and Australia. They are bird that has only one couple though out their lifetime.
The exhibition also provide insect classify by their habitat such as insect involve with agriculture insect in the forest and aquatic insect. The insects involve in architecture are mostly classified as predators or predatory insect, and parasitoid or parasitic insect. The parasitoid is caterpillar that destroys agricultural products. On the other hands predator is the insect that is caterpillar, parasitoid or adult parasitoid in order to decrease the population such as grasshopper in sugarcane farm and mango gardens.
We also provide model wild lives in including mammals which are organisms that can be in all environments. Most mammals are viviparous. we also exhibit reptiles and amphibians such as snake, butterfly, lizard, chameleon, small green frog, blue frog and so on.
