Category: Ecology

Chapter 3 – Water Objectives

 

 

Chapter 3   Water & the Fitness of the Environment
Objectives
The Properties of Water

1.        With the use of a diagram or diagrams, explain why water molecules are:

a.         polar

b.         capable of hydrogen bonding with four neighboring water molecules

2.        List four characteristics of water that are emergent properties resulting from hydrogen bonding.

3.        Define cohesion and adhesion. Explain how water’s cohesion and adhesion contribute to the movement of water from the roots to the leaves of a tree.

4.        Distinguish between heat and temperature, using examples to clarify your definitions.

5.        Explain the following observations by referring to the properties of water:

n                      Coastal areas have milder climates than adjacent inland areas.

n                      Ocean temperatures fluctuate much less than air temperatures on land.

n                      Insects like water striders can walk on the surface of a pond without breaking the surface.

n                      If you slightly overfill a water glass, the water will form a convex surface above the top of the glass.

n                      If you place a paper towel so that it touches spilled water, the towel will draw in the water.

n                      Ice floats on water.

n                      Humans sweat and dogs pant to cool themselves on hot days.

6.        Distinguish among a solute, a solvent, and a solution.

7.        Distinguish between hydrophobic and hydrophilic substances.

8.        Explain how you would make up a one molar (1M) solution of ethyl alcohol.

The Dissociation of Water Molecules

9.        Name the products of the dissociation of water and give their concentration in pure water.

10.       Define acid, base, and pH.

11.       Explain how acids and bases may directly or indirectly alter the hydrogen ion concentration of a solution.

12.       Using the bicarbonate buffer system as an example, explain how buffers work.

13.       Briefly explain the causes and effects of acid precipitation.

 
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Chapter 20 AP Objectives

 

Chapter 20    DNA Technology
Objectives
DNA Cloning
1. Explain how advances in recombinant DNA technology have helped scientists study the eukaryotic genome.
2. Describe the natural function of restriction enzymes and explain how they are used in recombinant DNA technology.
3. Explain how the creation of sticky ends by restriction enzymes is useful in producing a recombinant DNA molecule.
4. Outline the procedures for cloning a eukaryotic gene in a bacterial plasmid.
5. Describe techniques that allow identification of recombinant cells that have taken up a gene of interest.
6. Define and distinguish between genomic libraries using plasmids, phages, and cDNA.
7. Describe the role of an expression vector.
8. Describe two advantages of using yeast cells instead of bacteria as hosts for cloning or expressing eukaryotic genes.
9. Describe two techniques to introduce recombinant DNA into eukaryotic cells.
10. Describe the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and explain the advantages and limitations of this procedure.
11. Explain how gel electrophoresis is used to analyze nucleic acids and to distinguish between two alleles of a gene.
12. Describe the process of nucleic acid hybridization.
13. Describe the Southern blotting procedure and explain how it can be used to detect and analyze instances of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP).
14. Explain how RFLP analysis facilitated the process of genomic mapping.
DNA Analysis and Genomics
15. Explain the goals of the Human Genome Project.
16. Explain how linkage mapping, physical mapping, and DNA sequencing each contributed to the genome mapping project.
17. Describe the alternate approach to whole-genome sequencing pursued by J. Craig Venter and the Celera Genomics company.
18. Explain how researchers recognize protein-coding genes within DNA sequences.
19. Describe the surprising results of the Human Genome Project.
20. Explain how the vertebrate genome, including that of humans, generates greater diversity than the genomes of invertebrate organisms.
21. Explain how in vitro mutagenesis and RNA interference help researchers to discover the functions of some genes.
22. Explain the purposes of gene expression studies. Describe the use of DNA microarray assays and explain how they facilitate such studies.
23. Define and compare the fields of proteomics and genomics.
24. Explain the significance of single nucleotide polymorphisms in the study of the human evolution.
Practical Applications of DNA Technology
25. Describe how DNA technology can have medical applications in such areas as the diagnosis of genetic disease, the development of gene therapy, vaccine production, and the development of pharmaceutical products.
26. Explain how DNA technology is used in the forensic sciences.
27. Describe how gene manipulation has practical applications for environmental and agricultural work.
28. Describe how plant genes can be manipulated using the Ti plasmid carried by Agrobacterium as a vector.
29. Explain how DNA technology can be used to improve the nutritional value of crops and to develop plants that can produce pharmaceutical products.
30. Discuss the safety and ethical questions related to recombinant DNA studies and the biotechnology industry.
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Chapter 21 AP Objectives

 

Chapter 21    Genetic Basis of Development
Objectives
From Single Cell to Multicellular Organism
1. List the animals used as models for developmental biology research and provide a rationale for their choice.
2. Distinguish between the patterns of morphogenesis in plants and in animals.
Differential Gene Expression
3. Describe how genomic equivalence was determined for plants and animals.
4. Describe what kinds of changes occur to the genome during differentiation.
5. Describe the general process by which the ewe Dolly and the first mice were cloned.
6. Describe the characteristics of stem cells. Explain their significance to medicine.
7. Distinguish between determination and differentiation. Explain why determination precedes differentiation.
8. Describe the molecular basis of determination.
9. Describe the two sources of information that instruct a cell to express genes at the appropriate time.
Genetic and Cellular Mechanisms of Pattern Formation
10. Describe how Drosophila was used to investigate the basic aspects of pattern formation (axis formation and segmentation).
11. Explain how maternal genes affect polarity and development in Drosophila embryos.
12. Describe how gradients of morphogens may specify the axes of developing Drosophila embryos.
13. Describe how homeotic genes define the anatomical identity of the segments of a developing organism.
14. Describe how the study of nematodes contributed to an understanding of the role of induction in development.
15. Describe how apoptosis functions in normal and abnormal development.
16. Describe how the study of tomatoes has contributed to the understanding of flower development.
17. Describe how the study of Arabidopsis has contributed to the understanding of organ identity in plants.
18. Provide evidence of the conservation of homeobox patterns.

 
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Chapter 26 Early Earth & the Origin of Life

 

Chapter 26    Early Earth & the Origin of Life
Objectives
The Origin of Life
1. Describe the four stages of the hypothesis for the origin of life on Earth by chemical evolution.
2. Describe the contributions that A. I. Oparin, J.B.S. Haldane, and Stanley Miller made toward developing a model for the abiotic synthesis of organic molecules. Describe the conditions and locations where most of these chemical reactions probably occurred on Earth.
3. Describe the evidence that suggests that RNA was the first genetic material. Explain the significance of the discovery of ribozymes.
4. Describe how natural selection may have worked in an early RNA world.
5. Describe how natural selection may have favored the proliferation of stable protobionts with self-replicating, catalytic RNA.
Introduction to the History of Life
6. Explain how the histories of Earth and life are inseparable.
7. Explain how index fossils can be used to determine the relative age of fossil-bearing rock strata. Explain how radiometric dating can be used to determine the absolute age of rock strata. Explain how magnetism can be used to date rock strata.
8. Describe the major events in Earth’s history from its origin until 2 billion years ago. In particular, note when Earth first formed, when life first evolved, and what forms of life existed in each eon.
9. Describe the mass extinctions of the Permian and Cretaceous periods. Discuss a hypothesis that accounts for each of these mass extinctions.
The Major Lineages of Life
10. Describe how chemiosmotic ATP production may have arisen.
11. Describe the timing and significance of the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis.
12. Explain the endosymbiotic theory for the evolution of the eukaryotic cell. Describe the evidence that supports this theory.
13. Explain how genetic annealing may have led to modern eukaryotic genomes.
14. Describe the timing of key events in the evolution of the first eukaryotes and later multicellular eukaryotes.
15. Explain how the snowball-Earth hypothesis explains why multicellular eukaryotes were so limited in size, diversity, and distribution until the late Proterozoic.
16. Describe the key evolutionary adaptations that arose as life colonized land.
17. Explain how continental drift explains Australia’s unique flora and fauna.
18. Explain why R. H. Whittaker’s five-kingdom system has been replaced by a new system with three domains.
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Chapter 14 – Mendel Objectives

 

 

Chapter 14   Mendel & the Gene Idea
Objectives
Gregor Mendel’s Discoveries
1. Explain how Mendel’s particulate mechanism differed from the blending theory of inheritance.
2. Define the following terms: true-breeding, hybridization, monohybrid cross, P generation, F1 generation, and F2 generation.
3. List and explain the four components of Mendel’s hypothesis that led him to deduce the law of segregation.
4. Use a Punnett square to predict the results of a monohybrid cross, stating the phenotypic and genotypic ratios of the F2 generation.
5. Distinguish between the following pairs of terms: dominant and recessive; heterozygous and homozygous; genotype and phenotype.
6. Explain how a testcross can be used to determine if an individual with the dominant phenotype is homozygous or heterozygous.
7. Use a Punnett square to predict the results of a dihybrid cross and state the phenotypic and genotypic ratios of the F2 generation.
8. State Mendel’s law of independent assortment and describe how this law can be explained by the behavior of chromosomes during meiosis.
9. Use the rule of multiplication to calculate the probability that a particular F2 individual will be homozygous recessive or dominant.
10. Given a Mendelian cross, use the rule of addition to calculate the probability that a particular F2 individual will be heterozygous.
11. Use the laws of probability to predict, from a trihybrid cross between two individuals that are heterozygous for all three traits, what expected proportion of the offspring would be:
a. homozygous dominant for the three traits
b. heterozygous for all three traits
c. homozygous recessive for two specific traits and heterozygous for the third
12. Explain why it is important that Mendel used large sample sizes in his studies.
Extending Mendelian Genetics
13. Give an example of incomplete dominance and explain why it does not support the blending theory of inheritance.
14. Explain how phenotypic expression of the heterozygote differs with complete dominance, incomplete dominance, and codominance.
15. Explain why Tay-Sachs disease is considered recessive at the organismal level but codominant at the molecular level.
16. Explain why genetic dominance does not mean that a dominant allele subdues a recessive allele. Illustrate your explanation with the use of round versus wrinkled pea seed shape.
17. Explain why dominant alleles are not necessarily more common in a population. Illustrate your explanation with an example.
18. Describe the inheritance of the ABO blood system and explain why the IA and IB alleles are said to be codominant.
19. Define and give examples of pleiotropy and epistasis.
20. Describe a simple model for polygenic inheritance and explain why most polygenic characters are described in quantitative terms.
21. Describe how environmental conditions can influence the phenotypic expression of a character. Explain what is meant by “a norm of reaction.”
22. Distinguish between the specific and broad interpretations of the terms phenotype and genotype.
Mendelian Inheritance in Humans
23. Explain why studies of human inheritance are not as easily conducted as Mendel’s work with his peas.
24. Given a simple family pedigree, deduce the genotypes for some of the family members.
25. Explain how a lethal recessive allele can be maintained in a population.
26. Describe the inheritance and expression of cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs disease, and sickle-cell disease.
27. Explain why lethal dominant genes are much rarer than lethal recessive genes.
28. Give an example of a late-acting lethal dominant gene in humans and explain how it can escape elimination by natural selection.
29. Define and give examples of multifactorial disorders in humans.
30. Explain how carrier recognition, fetal testing, and newborn screening can be used in genetic screening and counseling.

 
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