Biol 120; Fall 2015 Exam 1 Review Sheet Page 1 of 6
This is a review of concepts covered in lecture and lab that you should know for the 1 st exam. If you are able to answer all of these questions and understand the concepts herein, you should do well on the exam. The exam will consist of primarily (~60%) multiple choice questions, with some short answer questions (worth 2-8 pts each). Generally, study your lecture notes and handouts, as well as notes and handouts from Lab 3. Get help from the lecture outlines posted at biosbcc.net/maupin and from websites referenced in notes and posted as links.
Week 1: Intro and Classification of Life
1. What is Natural History ? What are some examples of disciplines included within natural history?
2. What is a Naturalist ?
3. Be familiar with the meanings of the following levels of Biology:
Biosphere, Ecosystem, Community, Population, Organism
4. Who was Carolus Linnaeus? What were his two major contributions to the field of taxonomy?
What is taxonomy ?
5. Know the levels of the Hierarchical System of Classification. Know their progression from broadest (most inclusive) to most specific. For example, is Class a broader level of classification than Order?
6. What is meant by the term taxon , or taxa (its plural)?
7. Understand how the binomial (scientific) naming system works. What is the proper format for writing scientific names?
8. Why are scientific names used by scientists? (I listed three reasons). Why are they often more useful than common names?
9. According to the Biological Species Concept, how do we define a species?
10. Since Linnaeus’s time, the field of taxonomy has been revolutionized by the knowledge that all organisms share a common ancestry, and some groups of organisms are more closely related, evolutionarily speaking, than others. With this in mind, what is the goal of modern taxonomy ?
Week 1 and some of Week 2: Ecology
1. Be familiar with these terms and concepts: a. Ecology b. Environment c. Biotic factors d. Abiotic factors e. Population f. Community g. Ecosystem h. Biosphere i. Competitive Exclusion Principle

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2. What are intraspecific interactions ? Understand the meaning of competition and collaboration
3. What are interspecific interactions ?
Be familiar with the meaning of the following types of interspecific interactions: a. Competition b. Cooperation c. Inhibition d. Predation e. Herbivory f. Symbiosis (or Symbiotic Relationship)
4. What is a niche ? Can two species occupy the same niche?
5. Using either MacArthur’s warblers or Balanus and Chthamalus barnacles as an example (or another example, if you know of one), explain the Competitive Exclusion Principle .
6. Know and be able to describe the four types of adaptations to predation that we covered in class.
7. What is a keystone species ?
8. Be able to distinguish between the three types of Symbiotic Relationships: Parasitism,
Commensalism, and Mutualism.
9. Know that energy flows through ecosystems, whereas chemicals cycle within an ecosystem.
Understand that chemicals cycle through both abiotic and biotic components of ecosystems.
10. Study your Trophic levels/Food webs handout and notes to be familiar with the following terms:
Primary producers, Autotrophs, Consumers, Primary consumers, Secondary consumers,
Tertiery consumers, Heterotrophs, Herbivores, Carnivores, Omnivores, Decomposers
If given a description of an organism’s feeding mode, you should be able to classify it as a producer, consumer, carnivore, etc.
11. In nature, do trophic relationships more closely resemble a food chain or a food web?
12. Is energy transfer from the sun up through various trophic levels efficient? Per unit of farming area, can humans get more energy from eating plants or from consumption of meat products? Why ?
13. Understand how chemical cycling relates to the carbon cycle. What are some abiotic and biotic sources of carbon? How are the processes of photosynthesis, cellular respiration, decomposition, and burning of fossil fuels related to the carbon cycle? What effect does each of these have on atmospheric CO
2
levels?

Biol 120; Fall 2015 Exam 1 Review Sheet Page 3 of 6
Week 2 and parts of Week 3: Geology
1. Be able to distinguish among the four layers of Earth in a multiple choice question (If given some features of a layer, you should know which one it is.)
2. On which of Earth’s layers do we live?
3. What is the lithosphere ? The asthenosphere ?
4. Explain Plate Tectonics .
5. Why do the plates of the earth’s crust move (what is the force behind this movement)? Be able to explain this force.
6. What are the three main types of boundaries that can occur where plates move against each other?
7. What features form at convergent boundaries? What features form at divergent boundaries?
In understanding this question, you should understand the significance of oceanic ridges/rises, rift valleys, subduction zones, and seafloor spreading (spreading centers).
8. With respect to convergence of plates, what is meant by buckling and subduction ? At what types of plate boundaries does each of these occur?
9. Know the three types of rock found on the Earth’s crust, as well as the features of these rocks given in lecture.
10. Study the rock cycle we drew in class to understand how igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks are formed. How are sediments formed? Which rocks can erode to form sediments? How is magma formed? You should know this cycle .
11. What does the Principle of Superposition state?
10. What does the Principle of Horizontality state?
11. Know that the following forces upset horizontal layering, and know the meaning of these:
- Folding
- Faulting
- Erosion
12. What is an anticline ? What is a syncline ? Be able to identify these in a picture.
13. What is a horizontal (strike-slip) fault? What is a vertical fault ?
14. What is the difference between a normal fault and a reverse fault ? Which is due to compression, and which to expansive forces? Be able to identify normal and reverse faults if shown a picture/drawing.
Week 2: Santa Barbara Geology (note: questions for this section of the exam will come from lecture, the work we did with Lab 3, and your handouts).
1. In what province of California does Santa Barbara lie?

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2. In what direction do the Transverse Ranges run?
3. In what direction does the Santa Barbara coastline face (looking toward ocean)?
4. What is the name of the mountains that lie just north of Santa Barbara (the ones that you see as you look across downtown from campus)?
5. Who is Thomas Dibblee, Jr., and what was his major contribution to studies of local Santa
Barbara natural history?
6. How is sedimentary rock formed (see also notes from Geology lecture)?
7. Describe the differences between shales and sandstones. What are they made of? Under what conditions do they form? How do they erode? How do they feel to the touch?
8. If shown a picture of the Santa Ynez mountains, what types of formations (shales or sandstones) are more likely to have vegetation growing on them?
9. What are the two major faults that border Santa Barbara’s downtown area?
10. With respect to the rock formations in the Santa Barbara area, you should know the following: a. Which sandstone formation is seen as the exposed rounded outcrops at the peaks of the
Santa Ynez mountains? b. Which formation is terrestrial in origin, and appears red due to the presence of iron
12. What is alluvium ? What is fanglomerate ?
Note: You will not be asked any questions regarding the Geologic time scale or specific conditions under which the nine local formations formed.
Week 3: Evolution & Natural Selection
For help with these concepts, also see your Evolution and Natural Selection handout.
1. What is Evolution? What is the difference between microevolution and macroevolution ? oxides? c. Which formation forms the cliff at Arroyo Burro Beach, and is likely to contain oil and petroleum deposits? d. Which formation is very crumbly shale with marine fossils that can be found along the cliffs at the southeastern edge of SBCC campus?
11. Provided with the names, you should be able to put the 9 local sedimentary formations in order from oldest to youngest.
2. Who was Charles Darwin, what was his most famous publication, and when was it published?
What was his major contribution to biology?
3. In what ways did Charles Lyell and Thomas Malthus influence Charles Darwin’s thoughts regarding evolution and natural selection?
4. What were the two primary components of Darwin’s theory of evolution?

Biol 120; Fall 2015 Exam 1 Review Sheet Page 5 of 6
5. What is Natural Selection and how does it work? KNOW and understand Darwin’s three main observations and two inferences that he made based on these observations.
6. Know that Natural Selection is not goal-oriented, and is not a creative process. What does this mean?
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Thought Question: Why can’t natural selection lead to “perfect” organisms?
7. With respect to Sexual Selection, know and understand what intrasexual competition and intersexual choice mean.
8. What is sexual dimorphism ?
9. Study your Cricket Evolution assignment, and be familiar with the ways in which this population of crickets has evolved. What kind of genetic diversity does it have? How does the environment shape the selection for different types of traits (e.g., normal vs. silent wings)?
Week 4: Biodiversity; Bacteria and Protists
See also Biodiversity handout and tree of evolution of life drawn on board during lecture.
1. From lecture, approximately how many species have been named so far? What estimate did I give you of total (named and unnamed) species diversity? Note: other estimates can range from 2 million to 100 million.
2. According to numbers of named species, what is the most diverse group of organisms?
3. How would you distinguish among organisms in the groups Bacteria, Protoctista (Protista),
Plantae, Fungi and Animalia? If given a description of an organism, you should be able to say which of these groups it is in.
4. Know the meaning of the following words: prokaryote, eukaryote , autotroph, photosynthesis, chemosynthesis, heterotroph
5. Know the major characteristics of Bacteria (from handout and lecture).
6. What are Archaea (or Archaebacteria)? Where on earth would you find these? How do they get energy?
7. What trophic level(s) do Bacteria fit into?
8. Explain four ecological roles that bacteria play. Know the roles covered in lecture.
9. How do bacteria reproduce?
10. What are the major characteristics of the Kingdom Protoctista?
11. Most protists are unicellular, but not all. Give an example of a multicellular protist.
12. In what trophic level(s) can protists be found?
13. Be able to name and describe three types of movement commonly used by protists: use of cilia , flagella , and pseudopodia

Biol 120; Fall 2015 Exam 1 Review Sheet Page 6 of 6
14. What are Dinoflagellates? Describe three phenomena having to do with the ocean waters or animals in the ocean that are due to Dinoflagellates.
15. What are plankton ? What are phytoplankton ? What are zooplankton ?
16. What is filter feeding ? Give two examples of organisms that are filter feeders.
17. What conditions are necessary for phytoplankton blooms to occur? Using this concept, explain why gray whales migrate to arctic waters for the summer months.
18. Regarding algae (from Lab 4) : a. In what kingdom are algae placed? b. Be able to recognize the names of the three algae phyla we covered, and know their characteristics. c. Know that all algae are photosynthetic – Do all algae contain chlorophyll?