Biology:
Review for Final Exam: Spring 2015
You will be allowed an 8 x 11 sheet of paper to put your notes on. Your notes sheet must be handwritten though. If it is not handwritten you will not be allowed to use it. I will be checking these before the final exam and you will be turning them in when you are finished with your exam. The areas below are main concepts you should know and understand for the final. Be able to apply these to situations or scenarios, not just memorize text or lecture definitions.
FYI: A few recommendations for studying:
1. Look over the notes from class and the corresponding notes you took on the same material from reading the text.
2. Each chapter section has “key questions”. Can you answer them for the chapters/sections we have covered?
3. At the end of each chapter are not one, but two tests you can utilize to both review the material and become better acquainted
with the style of questions you’ll be seeing on the exam.
4. Look over the objectives sheet for each of the units we’ve covered this semester. Questions will directly cover these objectives.
5. Study with a friend (not just socialize) and quiz each other. You may find that you have different understandings of learning
objectives and a thoughtful discussion of the objectives can lead to a deeper understanding of the material for both of you.
6. Use flashcards to review vocabulary on the objectives sheets. Then play games with the flashcards. Can you draw several at
random and then connect the dots? Can you decide which is least like the others (and explain why)? Can you pull a group of
four or five and separate them into two groups? Make a Venn diagram with the cards you pull?
Chapters covered on final: 3-6, 8, 9, 11, 14, 16, 17, 19, 20, 35
Mendelian Genetics
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Describe Mendel’s work with pea plants. Was he more a scientist or mathematician? Explain. What was his contribution to the study of inheritance.
 Describe Mendel’s laws and their importance.

Describe the stages in Meiosis and be able to identify each stage.
 Connect the stages and events in meiosis with Mendel’s laws of Segregation and Independent Assortment.
 What is crossing over? Why is it important? How often does it occur?

What are the results in mistakes of meiosis? What is non-disjunction?

What is the difference between Mitosis and Meiosis?
 Describe the difference between phenotype and genotype.

Describe the difference between homozygous and heterozygous. Also know the other words for the terms.

What is a Punnett Square? What does a Punnett Square show?
 What is a dihybrid cross? Be able to use FOIL to complete a dihybrid cross.
 Describe codominance and incomplete dominance. Be able to complete crosses using these exceptions to dominance.

What are multiple alleles? Give examples. Be able to do a cross with alleles (such as with the ABO blood system in humans).
 Describe the differences between autosomes and sex chromosomes. How many of each in a diploid cell? A haploid cell?
 Why do we say we have 23 pairs of chromosomes in each cell instead of just saying each cell has 46 chromosomes?

What is a sex-linked trait? Be able to solve crosses involving sex linked traits.
 What are pedigrees and how are they used to determine genetic conditions in families?

Be able to interpret a pedigree. Review the symbols in a pedigree (male, female, affected, carrier)

What is a carrier?
Natural Selection & Evolution
 What two observations did Darwin make on his voyages that helped him develop his theory of natural selection?

What are homologous structures? Do they suggest common ancestry? Why or why not?

What are analogous structures? Do they suggest common ancestry? Why or why not?
 What are vestigial structures? Where do they come from (why do we have them)?
 What molecules are studied when we look at biochemical evidences for evolution?
 What can biochemical evidence tell us about how related species are to each other?

How does comparative embryology provide evidence that evolution occurs?

How did the discovery of Hox genes lend support to Darwin’s concept of common descent?
 What can embryology tell us about how recently different species diverged?
 What is a fossil? Name three different types of fossils.
 What evidence do fossils provide to support evolution?

 What is the law of superposition? What is faunal succession?

What is an index fossil? What can it tell us about the relative ages of two rock strata?

Define evolution.
 What is Hardy-Weinberg equation? Why do biologists use it?
 What are the five factors that exist in nature which cause allele frequencies to change? Describe each.
 Compare & contrast the theories about evolution put forth by Lamarck and Darwin.

Using the words “use” and “disuse”, explain Lamarck’s theory.

How might Lamarck explain how the elephant got its trunk?

What are the four parts of Darwin’s theory?
 Name three examples of how organisms struggle to survive.
 What is over-reproduction? Why do organisms do this?

Give an example of a variation that you might see in a bird and one that you might see in a plant.

How would Darwin explain how the elephant got its trunk?
 What is isolation? How does it contribute to speciation (making species)?
 What do we know now is the basis for the traits that Darwin observed? In other words, how do we get our physical traits?
 Explain how the theory of natural selection was supported by the origami bird lab.

Explain how natural selection acts on the phenotype rather than the genotype.

Know the three general types of selection: stabilizing, directional, and disruptive. Be able to explain how each may or may not lead to speciation. Think back to Happy Bunny Meadow to help jog your memory if needed.
 What are some sources of variation within a population?

What are the different bodies of evidence to support the Theory of Evolution?

What is the difference between “ancestor” and “relative”, as applied to evolution?
 What is a species?
 An individual organism cannot evolve. Why not? Explain.
 What is the smallest unit of life that can evolve? Explain.

What is extinction?

What are the two leading causes of extinction of species?
Bacteria and Viruses:
 Describe what a virus is and what it looks like (structure, shapes, etc…).
 Is a virus alive? Why or why not?

What is a retrovirus? Give an example.

Describe the lytic cycle. When does it end?
 Describe the lysogenic phase? What is the result?
 What are bacteria? How are they different from viruses?

How do bacteria reproduce?
 In what ways are bacteria used? Give examples.

How can bacteria affect other organisms (both good and bad)?
Ecology:
 What is considered part of the biosphere?

Define and give examples of biotic and abiotic factors.
 Describe how energy flows in an ecosystem.
 What are producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, and tertiary consumers.
 What are autotrophs and heterotrophs? Give examples.

What is ecological hierarchy?

What factors determine ecological hierarchy?

What is a habitat? What is a niche?
 Can two of the same occupy the same niche and the same time? Explain why or why not.
 Describe the 3 examples of symbiosis.

What is predation? Competition?

Describe the water cycle using the six steps.

Describe the carbon cycle. Identify how plants and animals get carbon and release carbon.
 Describe the nitrogen cycle. Identify where nitrogen fixation, denitrification, and assimilation occur.
 Describe the difference between primary succession and secondary succession. Give examples.

What are limiting factors? Give examples.

What is a climax community?
 What are pioneer species? What stage of succession would you expect to find these in?

 Define biome.

What are the terrestrial biomes? Describe the key biotic and abiotic characteristics of each.

What is a population?
 What 3 factors determine how population grows?
 What is the difference between exponential and logistic growth?
 How do you calculate the change in population size? Be able to calculate this (see Population Parameters worksheet and lecture notes for examples).
 Why can’t natural populations continue to exponentially grow for too long?
 What is carrying capacity? What determines carrying capacity?
 What factors control population growth?

What is the difference between density dependent and density independent factors?

What is demography?
 Describe how the meaning of the term “biodiversity” might apply to: a. your neighborhood b. a local park c. Mt. Hood National Forest d. the Cascade Mountain Range.
 What does the term “extinction” mean? Explain.
 List and describe several key factors in the loss of biodiversity today.

What is an “invasive” or ‘exotic’ species and what impact can it have on an ecosystem? Name some local examples.

What was the “domino effect” of reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone National Park? How did a small group of wolves improve the health of the Yellowstone River?
 What is the difference between preserving a species and preserving a habitat? Explain.