Alien Invasion

 

Alien Invasion

Help! Aliens have landed on Earth from another planet. Before scientists can release the aliens, they want to identify and classify them. Use the dichotomous key on the next page to identify these creatures.

 

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.

 

   A Key to Alien Creatures:

 

1. a. The creature has a large wide head…………………………………….go to 2
b. The creature has a small narrow head……………………………….go to 11
2. a. It has 3 eyes ……………………………………………………………………………..go to 3
b. It has 2 eyes …………………………………………………………………………….go to 7
3. a. There is a star in the middle of its chest………………………….go to 4
b. There is no star in the middle of its chest ………………………go to 6
4. a. The creature has hair spikes ………………………………………..Broadus hairus
b. The creature has no hair spikes…………………………………………..go to 5
5. a. The bottom of the creature is arch-shaped ……………Broadus archus
b. The bottom of the creature is M-shaped ……………….Broadus emmus
6. a. The creature has an arch-shaped bottom ……………….Broadus plainus
b. The creature has an M-shaped bottom……………………Broadus tritops
7. a. The creature has hairy spikes ……………………………………………go to 8
b. The creature has no spikes…………………………………………………go to 10
8. a. There is a star in the middle of its body ………………..Broadus hairystarus
b. The is no star in the middle of its body ………………………..go to 9
9. a. The creature has an arch shaped bottom ……………….Broadus hairyemmus
b. The creature has an M shaped bottom ……………………Broadus kiferus
10. a. The body is symmetrical ………………………………………………Broadus walter
b. The body is not symmetrical……………………………………….Broadus anderson
11. a. The creature has no antennae ……………………………………….go to 12
b. The creature has antennae …………………………………………….go to 14
12. a. There are spikes on the face ………………………………….Narrowus wolfus
b. There are no spikes on the face ………………………………….go to 13
13. a. The creature has no spike anywhere ……………………Narrowus blankus
b. There are spikes on the right leg ………………………..Narrowus starboardus
14. a. The creature has 2 eyes…………………………………………………go to 15
b. The creature has 1 eye……………………………………………Narrowus cyclops
15. a. The creature has a mouth……………………………………………..go to 16
b. The creature has no mouth…………………………………………..go to 17
16. a. There are spikes on the left leg ………………………..Narrowus portus
b. There are no spikes at all ………………………………….Narrowus plainus
17. a. The creature has spikes ………………………………………………go to 18
b. The creature has no spikes ……………………………..Narrowus georginia
18. a. There are spikes on the head …………………………………..go to 19
b. There are spikes on the right leg……………………..Narrowus montanian
19. a. There are spikes covering the face ……………….Narrowus beardus
b. There are spikes only on the outside edge of head ……Narrowus fuzzus

 


Return to Earth

Worksheet Specialist Characteristics

SPECIALIST’S DATA SHEET

Using the table below list the characteristics that are used to help describe and classify each of your specialization areas. Be sure to explain in as much detail as possible what traits and characteristics are used to identify and classify the specific organism or kingdom that you have become a specialist.

 

 

  #1:  (Example – Monera Characteristics)
#2: ( Example – Protista Characteristics)
 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

BACK

Alien Taxonomy Project

 

Alien Taxonomy

 

In the year 2525:

Humans, after hundreds of years of constant effort, have successfully polluted all bodies of water on Earth. As a result, almost all previously known species of plants, animals, and other life forms have become extinct. Through natural selection, genetic engineering, and selective breeding programs, a portion of the Earth has been successfully repopulated. The following organisms are all that remain:

  1. Photosynthetic humanoids with green chlorophyll-containing hair (autotrophs)
  2. Chemosynthetic dolphin-like organisms who derive their energy for food production from the contaminants in the water (autotrophs)
  3. Aquatic humanoids who work on the dolphin’s aquaculture farms (heterotrophic)
  4. Aqua wheat, a heterotrophic crop grown by the dolphins that feeds on bacteria
  5. Legless, photosynthetic humanoid space travelers with arm-like tentacles that visit the Earth every 6 weeks
  6. Anaerobic humanoids designed for space living, but when on Earth for space training, they must wear deoxygenated space suits (heterotrophs)
  7. Cockroach-like organisms that feed on humanoid and dolphin excrement (Decomposers)
  8. Heterotrophic giant squids that feed on humanoids & dolphins
  9. Green-skinned, photosynthetic rats
  10. Parasitic mosquitoes that feed on humanoids

Your Assignment:

As an alien taxonomist, it is your responsibility to classify these existing organisms.

  1. Create Latin-sounding Genus and species names for each organism. Remember that the species name should reflect a characteristic of the organism.
  2. Create a taxonomic scheme for each organism including a kingdom, phylum, and the genus and species name you created. Use only two kingdoms that you create. Be sure to also include the number of the organism with the scheme
  3. Illustrate your interpretation of each organism’s appearance including all the characteristics given to you.  All illustrations should be numbered and colored on a single sheet of unlined paper.
  4. Prepare a dichotomous key using the scientific names for these organisms so that your fellow aliens can also identify them when they come to Earth for summer vacations. 
  5. Make a cover sheet with your name, date, and period and paper clip your sheets together.

 

CLICK HERE FOR PRINTABLE COPY OF ACTIVITY & WORKSHEET

BACK

 

AP Lecture Guide 01 – Themes in the Study of Life

 

AP Biology: CHAPTER 1
 

 

THEMES IN THE STUDY OF LIFE

 

1. Why do Biology courses build their content around themes and major concepts?

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

2. List each major theme and briefly describe.

a. ________________________________________________________________________

b. ________________________________________________________________________

c. ________________________________________________________________________

d. ________________________________________________________________________

e. ________________________________________________________________________

f. ________________________________________________________________________

g. ________________________________________________________________________

h. ________________________________________________________________________

i. ________________________________________________________________________

j. ________________________________________________________________________

3. What is the primary model for regulation?

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

4. List and give an example of the three domains.

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

5. How does biology account for the unity and diversity of life?

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

6. What is meant by the statement that science is a process?

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Genetic Problems Solutions Campbell Ch14

 

Genetics Problems Campbell
1. A man with hemophilia (a recessive , sex-linked condition has a daughter of normal phenotype. She marries a man who is normal for the trait. What is the probability that a daughter of this mating will be a hemophiliac? A son? If the couple has four sons, what is the probability that all four will be born with hemophilia?

Solution

 

2. Pseudohypertropic muscular dystrophy is a disorder that causes gradual deterioration of the muscles. It is seen only in boys born to apparently normal parents and usually results in death in the early teens. (a) Is pseudohypertrophic muscular dystrophy caused by a dominant or recessive allele? (b) Is its inheritance sex-linked or autosomal? (c) How do you know? Explain why this disorder is always seen in boys and never girls.

Solution

3. Red-green color blindness is caused by a sex-linked recessive allele. A color-blind man marries a woman with normal vision whose father was color-blind. (a) What is the probability that they will have a color-blind daughter? (b) What is the probability that their first son will be color-blind? (Note: the two questions are worded a bit differently.)

Solution

4. A wild-type fruit fly (heterozygous for gray body color and normal wings was mated with a black fly with vestigial wings. The offspring had the following phenotypic distribution: wild type, 778; black-vestigial, 785; black-normal, 158; gray-vestigial, 162. What is the recombination frequency between these genes for body color and wing type.

Solution

5. In another cross, a wild-type fruit fly (heterozygous for gray body color and red eyes) was mated with a black fruit fly with purple eyes. The offspring were as follows: wild-type, 721; black-purple, 751; gray-purple, 49; black-red, 45. (a) What is the recombination frequency between these genes for body color and eye color? (b) Following up on this problem and problem 4, what fruit flies (genotypes and phenotypes) would you mate to determine the sequence of the body color, wing shape, and eye color genes on the chromosomes?

Solution

6. A space probe discovers a planet inhabited by creatures who reproduce with the same hereditary patterns as those in humans. Three phenotypic characters are height (T = tall, t = dwarf), hearing appendages (A = antennae, a = no antennae), and nose morphology (S = upturned snout, s = downturned snout). Since the creatures were not “intelligent” Earth scientists were able to do some controlled breeding experiments, using various heterozygotes in testcrosses. For a tall heterozygote with antennae, the offspring were tall-antennae, 46; dwarf-antennae 7; dwarf-no antennae 42; tall-no antennae 5. For a heterozygote with antennae and an upturned snout, the offspring were antennae-upturned snout 47; antennae-downturned snout, 2; no antennae-downturned snout, 48: no antennae-upturned snout 3. Calculate the recombination frequencies for both experiments.

Solution

7. Using the information from problem 6, a further testcross was done using a heterozygote for height and nose morphology. The offspring were tall-upturned nose, 40; dwarf-upturned nose, 9; dwarf-downturned nose, 42; tall-downturned nose, 9. Calculate the recombination frequency from these data; then use your answer from problem 6 to determine the correct sequence of the three linked genes.

Solution

8. Imagine that a geneticist has identified two disorders that appear to be caused by the same chromosomal defect and are affected by genomic imprinting: blindness and numbness of the limbs. A blind woman (whose mother suffered from numbness) has four children, two of whom, a son and daughter, have inherited the chromosomal defect. If this defect works like Prader-Willi and Angelman syndromes, what disorders do this son and daughter display? What disorders would be seen in their sons and daughters?

Solution

9. What pattern of inheritance would lead a geneticist to suspect that an inherited disorder of cell metabolism is due to a defective mitochondrial gene?

Solution

10. An aneuploid person is obviously female, but her cells have two Barr bodies. what is the probable complement of sex chromosomes in this individual?

Solution

11. Determine the sequence of genes along a chromosome based on the following recombination frequencies: A-B, 8 map units; A-C, 28 map units; A-D, 25 map units; B-C , 20 map units; B-D, 33 map units.

Solution

12. About 5% of individuals with Downs syndrome are the result of chromosomal translocation. In most of these cases, one copy of chromosome 21 becomes attached to chromosome 14. How does this translocation lead to children with Down syndrome?

Solution

13. Assume genes A and B are linked and are 50 map units apart. An individual heterozygous at both loci is crossed with an individual who is homozygous recessive at both loci. (a) What percentage of the offspring will show phenotypes resulting from crossovers? (b) If you did not know genes A and B were linked, how would you interpret the results of this cross?

Solution

14. In Drosophila, the gene for white eyes and the gene that produces “hairy” wings have both been mapped to the same chromosome and have a crossover frequency of 1.5%. A geneticist doing some crosses involving these two mutant characteristics noticed that in a particular stock of flies, these two genes assorted independently; that is they behaved as though they were on different chromosomes. What explanation can you offer for this observation?

Solution

 

BACK