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Chapter 24 AP Objectives

 

Chapter 24    Origin of Species
Objectives
What Is a Species?
1. Distinguish between anagenesis and cladogenesis.
2. Define Ernst Mayr’s biological species concept.
3. Distinguish between prezygotic and postzygotic isolating mechanisms.
4. Describe five prezygotic isolating mechanisms and give an example of each.
5. Explain a possible cause for reduced hybrid viability.
6. Explain how hybrid breakdown maintains separate species even if fertilization occurs.
7. Describe some limitations of the biological species concept.
8. Define and distinguish among the following: ecological species concept, paleontological species concept, phylogenetic species concept, and morphological species concept.
Modes of Speciation
9. Distinguish between allopatric and sympatric speciation.
10. Explain the allopatric speciation model and describe the mechanisms that may lead to divergence of isolated gene pools.
11. Describe examples of adaptive radiation in the Galápagos and Hawaiian archipelagoes.
12. Explain how reproductive barriers evolve. Describe an example of the evolution of a prezygotic barrier and the evolution of a postzygotic barrier.
13. Define sympatric speciation and explain how polyploidy can cause reproductive isolation.
14. Distinguish between an autopolyploid and an allopolyploid species and describe examples of each.
15. Describe how cichlid fishes may have speciated in sympatry in Lake Victoria.
Adaptive Radiation
16. Define adaptive radiation and describe the circumstances under which adaptive radiation may occur.
17. Describe the two gene loci implicated in speciation in Mimulus.
From Speciation to Macroevolution
18. Explain in general terms how a complex structure can evolve by natural selection.
19. Define exaptation and illustrate this concept with an example.
20. Explain how slight genetic divergences may lead to major morphological differences between species.
21. Explain how the evolution of changes in temporal and spatial developmental dynamics can result in evolutionary novelties.
22. Define evo-devo, heterochrony, allometric growth, and paedomorphosis.
23. Explain why extracting a single evolutionary progression from a fossil record can be misleading.
24. Define and illustrate the concept of species selection.
25. Explain why evolutionary change is not goal-directed.
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Chapter 37 AP Objectives

 

Chapter 37     Nutrition in Plants
Objectives
Nutritional Requirements of Plants
1. Describe the ecological role of plants in transforming inorganic molecules into organic compounds.
2. Define the term essential nutrient.
3. Explain how hydroponic culture is used to determine which minerals are essential nutrients.
4. Distinguish between macronutrient and micronutrient.
5. Name the nine macronutrients required by plants.
6. List the eight micronutrients required by plants and explain why plants need only minute quantities of these elements.
7. Explain how a nutrient’s role and mobility determine the symptoms of a mineral deficiency.
The Role of Soil in Plant Nutrition
8. Define soil texture and soil composition.
9. Explain how soil is formed.
10. Name the components of topsoil.
11. Describe the composition of loams and explain why they are the most fertile soils.
12. Explain how humus contributes to the texture and composition of soils.
13. Explain why plants cannot extract all of the water in soil.
14. Explain how the presence of clay in soil helps prevent the leaching of mineral cations.
15. Define cation exchange, explain why it is necessary for plant nutrition, and describe how plants can stimulate the process.
16. Explain why soil management is necessary in agricultural systems but not in natural ecosystems such as forests and grasslands. Describe an example of human mismanagement of soil.
17. List the three mineral elements that are most commonly deficient in agricultural soils.
18. Explain how soil pH determines the effectiveness of fertilizers and a plant’s ability to absorb specific mineral nutrients.
19. Describe problems resulting from farm irrigation in arid regions.
20. Describe actions that can reduce loss of topsoil due to erosion.
21. Explain how phytoremediation can help detoxify polluted soil.
The Special Case of Nitrogen as a Plant Nutrient
22. Define nitrogen fixation and write an overall equation representing the conversion of gaseous nitrogen to ammonia.
23. Explain the importance of nitrogen-fixing bacteria to life on Earth.
24. Summarize the ecological role of each of the following groups of bacteria.
a. ammonifying bacteria
b. denitrifying bacteria
c. nitrogen-fixing bacteria
d. nitrifying bacteria
25. Explain why improving the protein yield of crops is a major goal of agricultural research.
Nutritional Adaptations: Symbiosis of Plants and Soil Microbes
26. Describe the development of a root nodule in a legume.
27. Explain how a legume protects its nitrogen-fixing bacteria from free oxygen, and explain why this protection is necessary.
28. Describe the basis for crop rotation.
29. Explain why a symbiosis between a legume and its nitrogen-fixing bacteria is considered to be mutualistic.
30. Explain why a symbiosis between a plant and a mycorrhizal fungus is considered to be mutualistic.
31. Distinguish between ectomycorrhizae and endomycorrhizae.
Nutritional Adaptations: Parasitism and Predation by Plants
32. Name one modification for nutrition in each of the following groups of plants:
a. epiphytes
b. parasitic plants
c. carnivorous plants
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Chapter 25 AP Objectives

 

Chapter 25    Tracing Phylogeny
Objectives
Phylogenies are Based on Common Ancestries
1. Distinguish between phylogeny and systematics.
2. Describe the process of sedimentation and the formation of fossils. Explain which portions of organisms are most likely to fossilize.
3. Explain why it is crucial to distinguish between homology and analogy before selecting characters to use in the reconstruction of phylogeny.
4. Explain why bird and bat wings are homologous as vertebrate forelimbs but analogous as wings.
5. Define molecular systematics. Explain some of the problems that systematists may face in carrying out molecular comparisons of nucleic acids.
Phylogenetic Systematics: Connecting Classification
with Evolutionary History
6. Explain the following characteristics of the Linnaean system of classification:
a. binomial nomenclature
b. hierarchical classification
7. List the major taxonomic categories from most to least inclusive.
8. Define a clade. Distinguish between a monophyletic clade and paraphyletic and polyphyletic groupings of species.
9. Distinguish between shared primitive characters and shared derived characters.
10. Explain how shared derived characters can be used to construct a phylogenetic diagram.
11. Explain how outgroup comparison can be used to distinguish between shared primitive characters and shared derived characters.
12. Define an ingroup.
13. Distinguish between a phylogram and an ultrameric tree.
14. Discuss how systematists use the principles of maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood in reconstructing phylogenies.
15. Explain why any phylogenetic diagram represents a hypothesis about evolutionary relationships among organisms.
16. Distinguish between orthologous and paralogous genes. Explain how gene duplication has led to families of paralogous genes.
17. Explain how molecular clocks are used to determine the approximate time of key evolutionary events. Explain how molecular clocks are calibrated in actual time.
18. Describe some of the limitations of molecular clocks.
19. Explain the neutral theory of evolutionary change.
20. Explain how scientists determined the approximate time when HIV-1 M first infected humans.
21. Describe the evidence that suggests there is a universal tree of life.
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Chapter 38 AP Objectives

Chapter 38     Plant reproduction and Development
Objectives
Sexual Reproduction
1. In general terms, explain how the basic plant life cycle with alternation of generations is modified in angiosperms.
2. List four floral parts in order from outside to inside a flower.
3. From a diagram of an idealized flower, correctly label the following structures and describe the function of each structure:
a. sepals
b. petals
c. stamen (filament and anther)
d. carpel (style, ovary, ovule, and stigma)
4. Distinguish between:
a. complete and incomplete flowers
b. bisexual and unisexual flowers
c. monoecious and dioecious plant species
5. Explain by which generation, structure, and process spores are produced.
6. Explain by which generation, structure, and process gametes are produced.
7. Name the structures that represent the male and female gametophytes of flowering plants.
8. Describe the development of an embryo sac and explain the fate of each of its cells.
9. Explain how pollen can be transferred between flowers.
10. Distinguish between pollination and fertilization.
11. Describe mechanisms that prevent self-pollination.
12. Outline the process of double fertilization. Explain the adaptive advantage of double fertilization in angiosperms.
13. Explain how fertilization in animals is similar to that in plants.
14. Describe the fate of the ovule and ovary after double fertilization. Note where major nutrients are stored as the embryo develops.
15. Describe the development and function of the endosperm. Distinguish between liquid endosperm and solid endosperm.
16. Describe the development of a plant embryo from the first mitotic division to the embryonic plant with rudimentary organs.
17. From a diagram, identify the following structures of a seed and state a function for each:
a. seed coat
b. proembryo
c. suspensor
d. hypocotyls
e. radicle
f. epicotyl
g. plumule
h. endosperm
i. cotyledons
j. shoot apex
18. Explain how a monocot and dicot seed differ.
19. Explain how fruit forms and ripens.
20. Distinguish among simple, aggregate, and multiple fruit. Give an example of each type of fruit.
21. Explain how selective breeding by humans has changed fruits.
22. Explain how seed dormancy can be advantageous to a plant. Describe some conditions for breaking dormancy.
23. Describe the process of germination in a garden bean.
Asexual Reproduction
24. Describe the natural mechanisms of vegetative reproduction in plants, including fragmentation and apomixis.
25. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of reproducing sexually and asexually.
26. Explain various methods that horticulturalists use to propagate plants from cuttings.
27. Explain how the technique of plant tissue culture can be used to clone and genetically engineer plants.
28. Describe the process of protoplast fusion and its potential agricultural impact.
Plant Biotechnology
29. Compare traditional plant-breeding techniques and genetic engineering, noting similarities and differences.
30. Describe two transgenic crops.
31. Describe some of the biological arguments for and against genetically modified crops.
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Chapter 13 Meiosis Objectives

 

 

Chapter 13 Meiosis & Sexual Life Cycles
Objectives
The Basis of Heredity

1.  Explain in general terms how traits are transmitted from parents to offspring.

2.  Distinguish between asexual and sexual reproduction.

The Role of Meiosis in Sexual Life Cycles

3.  Distinguish between the following pairs of terms:

a. somatic cell and gamete

b. autosome and sex chromosome

4.  Explain how haploid and diploid cells differ from each other. State which cells in the human body are diploid and which are haploid.

5.  Explain why fertilization and meiosis must alternate in all sexual life cycles.

6.  Distinguish among the three life-cycle patterns characteristic of eukaryotes, and name one organism that displays each pattern.

7.  List the phases of meiosis I and meiosis II and describe the events characteristic of each phase.

8.  Recognize the phases of meiosis from diagrams or micrographs.

9.  Describe the process of synapsis during prophase I and explain how genetic recombination occurs.

10. Describe three events that occur during meiosis I but not during mitosis.

Origins of Genetic Variation

11. Explain how independent assortment, crossing over, and random fertilization contribute to genetic variation in sexually reproducing organisms.

12.       Explain why heritable variation is crucial to Darwin ’s theory of evolution by natural selection

 
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