Honors Biology – Midterm Exam 2015-2016
Midterm Review Questions
Disclaimer: This is by no means a comprehensive review and SHOULD NOT be used as a
standalone review guide. Students should reference their notebook (notes, labs,
homework assignments, quizzes) as well as their textbook for a more thorough review.
SCIENTIFIC METHOD/CHARACTERISTICS OF LIVING THINGS
1. List the steps of the scientific method and give a general description of each step.
2. Differentiate between a control and a variable.
a. Independent, dependent, controlled variable, control group, and experimental group
3. What is a controlled experiment and what are the main components?
a. Data graphing and analysis
ECOLOGY
4. Differentiate between a population, community, and ecosystem.
5. Identify biotic and abiotic factors
6. Explain the limiting factors within a population
7. Map the transfer of energy from one tropic level to another
8. Identify the characteristics of primary or secondary succession
9. Determine if a population is developing or developed by looking at population density
graphs.
CHEMISTRY/BIOCHEMISTRY
10. Organic compounds must, by definition, contain which element?
11. What are the four biological compounds in living things, monomer, important biological
functions and characteristic of compounds? What is an indicator?
12. What are enzymes and why are they important in living things?
13. What conditions might alter the function of an enzyme?
CELL STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION/CELLULAR TRANSPORT
14. List the three components of cell theory.
15. Differentiate the three parts of cellular respiration
a. Glycolysis
b. Krebs Cycle
c. Electron Transport Chain
16. Identify, describe the functions, and state if found in plant cell, animal cell or both of the
following organelles: mitochondria, chloroplast, ribosomes, nucleus, nucleolus, vacuole, cell
wall, cell membrane, centrioles, lysosomes
17. What are the main components of the cell membrane?
18. Draw and label the polar and nonpolar parts of a phospholipid. How do phospholipids face
each other in the cell membrane?
19. Differentiate between passive and active transport.
20. Which of the following are examples of passive transport? Which are examples of active
transport? Diffusion, facilitated diffusion, endocytosis, exocytosis, osmosis.
21. Compare and contrast diffusion, facilitated diffusion, and osmosis.
22. What happens to cells placed in hypertonic solutions? What happens to cells in hypotonic
solutions? What happens to cells placed in isotonic solutions?
23. Differentiate between endocytosis and exocytosis.
24. Define diffusion.
25. If a red blood cell (~70% water) is placed in pure distilled water, what will happen to the cell
and what type of solution is the cell submerged?
26. What is meant by “semi-permeable” membrane?
27. Describe the following terms: active transport, endocytosis, exocytosis, facilitated diffusion,
and osmosis. Also – state whether they are passive or active forms of transport.
28. What is meant by “equilibrium”?
Bacteria/ Viruses
29. Explain the difference between bacteria & viruses.
30. List examples of bacteria and viruses.
31. Explain why antibiotics are used to treat bacteria but not viruses.
BiologyMidtermReview
Scientific Method
Using the scenario below answer questions 1-9.
Kari has been doing research on a new chemical to help tomato plants grow and produce bigger,
healthier tomatoes. Kari hypothesized that the new chemical would increase plant growth producing
larger tomatoes. She needed to set up an experiment to test the new organic fertilizer. Kari set up her
experiment in a greenhouse with the same species of tomato plant in 5 small flats. She kept all
conditions the same such as humidity, temperature, soil, amount of water, etc. Listed below is how she
administered the fertilizer and the data she collected after six months.
Plant trays
Amount of fertilizer per day
Growth of plant
Color of plant
1
4 mL
2 inches
Green
2
6 mL
5 inches
Green
3
8 mL
6 inches
Greenish-Yellow
4
10 mL
9 inches
Yellow
5
0 mL
3 inches
Green
Identify the following:
1. Control group(s)? Group 5 (no fertilizer)
2. Experimental group(s)? Groups #1-4 (amount of fertilizer varies)
3. Controlled variable(s)? same species of tomato plant, humidity, temperature, soil, amount of water
4. Independent variable? Amount of fertilizer
5. Dependent variable? Growth of plant
6. Why did Kari only test one variable in this experiment? To ensure that the amount of fertilizer is what was
related to plant growth as opposed to some other variable. She kept her variables controlled.
7. What was the purpose of the control(s) group in this experiment? To measure the growth of a plant without
fertilizer as a reference of typical plant growth.
10. Create a graph below to show the data collected:
Height in inches
Amount of Fertilizer in mL
Biochemistry
1. Fill in the chart on organic compounds.
Basic unit
Carbohydrates
Proteins
Lipids
Nucleic Acids
Monosaccharide
Amino acid
Fatty acids
Nucleotides
Stores energy
Provides structural
support
Provides energy and
composes cell
membrane
Genetic info
Starch
Enzyme
Fat
DNA
(monomer)
Major Function(s)
Examples
Sugar
2. Explain the function of enzymes. Draw and label an enzyme and substrate.
Enzymes help to speed up chemical reactions
3. Describe two factors that may
denature an enzyme.
Temperature and pH
4. List the characteristics of life:
Made up of one or more cells
Displays organization
Grows & develops
Ability to reproduce
Responds to stimuli
Requires and obtains energy
Maintains homeostasis
Adaptations that evolve over time
Ecology
1. Define the term ecosystem:
A biological community and all the nonliving factors that affect it.
2. Define the term community:
A group of interacting populations that live in the same geographic area at the same time.
3. Explain how a community is different from a population. Provide an example of each.
A community involves all of the living organisms in the same geographic area, whereas a population involved just one group
of organisms of the same species. Example: a school of fish is a population, and the pond (fish, plants, snails, other
species of fish) is the community.
4. What are the 3 main types of symbiosis and describe each:
Parasitism – One benefits, one is harmed
Mutualism – Both benefit
Commensalisms – One benefits, one does not benefit nor is harmed.
5. Explain how a community is different from a population. Provide an example of each.
(repeat of question #3 above)
6. How much energy is passed from one trophic level to the next?
10%
7.
What is the difference between a biotic factor and an abiotic factor? Provide examples of each.
Biotic factors are living factors such as, trees, animals, plants. Abiotic factors are non-living factors such as, water,
sunlight, temperature.
8. Describe primary succession and explain how it is different from secondary succession.
Primary succession is the development of a biological community over time from a lifeless area that was incapable of
sustaining life. (No soil present)
Secondary succession is the development of a biological community over time from a previously colonized
environment. (Soil still present)
9.
What is a pioneer community? Given an example.
The first colonizers of a biological community like, moss and low growing plants.
10. Does the graph above represent a developed or undeveloped country? How can you tell?
The population density graph represents a developing country. You can tell based on the pyramid shape – a wide base
and a narrow top. The wide base indicates a high birth rate. A developing country does not have all the resources
necessary (i.e medical care, sanitation, clean & accessible water, etc) to sustain the population of births, so many
people are dying at younger ages – this results in the pyramid shape. Less than half of the population is living into
their 30’s.
11. What are some conditions you’d expect to see in this country?
War, limited access to medical care, poor irrigation.
Cell Structure
1. There are 3 components of the cell theory.
a. All organisms are composed of one or more cells.
b. The cell is the basic unit of life.
c. All cells come from pre-existing cells.
2. Fill in the table below:
Process
Anaerobic/Aerobic
# ATPs Produces
Molecules/Gases Produced
Glycolysis
Anaerobic
2
Pyruvic Acid
Krebs Cycle
Aerobic
2
CO2 and FADH, NADH
Electron Transport Chain
Aerobic
34
O 2, H 2O
3. Listed below are the functions of the organelles. Identify the organelle.
cell wall
nucleus
chloroplast
nuclear membrane
flagella
cilia
microtubules
lysosomes
mitochondria
ribosome
chromatin
cell membrane
nucleolus
cytoplasm
microfilaments
golgi apparatus
vacuole
cytoskeleton
endoplasmic reticulum
a. thin protein fibers that provide support in cell cytoskeleton
b. short projections involved in movement cilia
c. longer projections involved in movement flagella
d. hollow protein fibers that make up cytoskeleton microtubules
e. solid protein fibers that make up cytoskeleton microfilaments
f. jelly-like material that surrounds organelles cytoplasm
g. digest excess cell parts and invading pathogens lysosome
h. where protein synthesis occurs ribosome
i. makes energy for cell mitochondria
j. flattened (edit!) membrane sacs that transport materials golgi apparatus
k. receives processed materials, packages and distributes endoplasmic reticulum
l. stores materials and removes excess fluid vacuole
m. control center that contains DNA nucleus
n. membrane that controls what goes in and out of nucleus nuclear membrane
o. tangled DNA chromatin
p. membrane that controls what goes in and out of cell cell membrane
q. site of photosynthesis chloroplast
r. produces ribosomes endoplasmic reticulum
s. thick, inflexible membrane that provides support for plant cells cell wal
Cell Transport
1. Cell transport is the movement of materials in and out of the cell through the cell membrane.
There are 2 types – Passive and Active Transport. Identify as active or passive.
a. osmosis and diffusion are examples passive
b. requires energy active
c. does not require energy passive
d. endocytosis and exocytosis are examples active
2. osmosis is the movement of water from an area of high to low concentration.
3. diffusion is the movement of particles from an area of high to low concentration.
4. facilitated diffusion uses protein channels to help move material across the membrane.
5. exocytosis is the movement of materials outside the cell.
6. endocytosis is the movement of materials inside the cell.
7. What does the selective permeability mean? Only certain substances can cross the cell membrane. Large,
charged ions cannot cross the cell membrane easily.
8. The plasma membrane is made of 2 layers. It contains fluid and phospholipids.
Draw a phospholipid and label parts.
9. There are 3 types of solutions – isotonic, hypertonic and hypotonic. Identify the solutions.
a. concentration of solute outside and inside the cell are equal isotonic
b. concentration of solute is higher outside than inside the cell hypertonic
c. concentration of solute is higher inside than outside the cell hypotonic
d. water moves out of cell hypertonic (cell shrinks)
e. water moves in the cell hypotonic (cell expands)
f. no movement of water isotonic (edit: there is movement, but movement is equal in both direction)
Bacteria/ Viruses
1. Which of the following causes AIDS?
a. prion
b. HIV
c. bacteriophage
d. viroid
2. Viruses are not considered living because
a. they have no nucleic acids.
b. they do not metabolize.
c. they grow but cannot reproduce.
d. their cytoplasm doesn’t contain
organelles.
3. In the space provided, write B for bacteria or V if the characteristic describes viruses.
B
a living, unicellular organism
B
have ribosomes
B
reproduce by binary fission
B
have a cell wall
B
are treated by antibiotics
V
requires a host cell
4. What properties of life does a virus lack?
Viruses cannot reproduce on their own, but instead must use a host cell.
5. In the space provided, write the letter of the description that best matches the term or phrase.
B
capsid
a. a protein with an attached carbohydrate molecule
D
envelope
b. the protein coat of a virus
A
glycoprotein
C
bacteriophage
c. a virus that infects bacteria
d. a membrane that surrounds the capsid of some viruses
6. Use the terms from the list below to fill in the blanks in the following passage.
bacteriophage
envelope
capsid
pathogen
Any agent that causes disease is called a(n) pathogen. Viruses cause damage when they
reproduce inside cells many times. When the viruses break out, the cell is destroyed.
The protein coat, or capsid of a virus may contain RNA or DNA, but not both. Many viruses have a(n)
envelope, which surrounds the capsid and helps the virus enter cells. Viruses that infect bacteria are
called bacteriophage.