AP BIOLOGY REVIEW PLAN FOR THE MIDTERM EXAM
EXAM FORMAT:
60 Multiple choices – 60 points
1 Essay question – 20 points
3 Short answer/problem questions – 18 points
20 Extra credit multiple choices – 10 points
TOPICS TO REVIEW:
CHAPTER 22 – DARWINIAN EVOLUTION
 The predecessors of Darwin (Linnaeus, Lamarck, Malthus, Lyell, Wallace)
 Evolution by natural selection as Darwin saw it
 Evidence of natural selection
 Examples of natural selection
 Mechanisms of evolution
CHAPTER 23 – THE EVOLUTION OF POPULATIONS
 Microevolution vs. macroevolution
 The Hardy-Weinberg Principle – must be able to solve problems with it
 5 conditions that needs to remain constant for H-W. equilibrium
 Evolution caused by mutations, sexual selection, natural selection, genetic drift
and gene flow
 Mechanisms of natural selection (stabilizing, disruptive and directional selection)
 Processes that preserve variation in the population
CHAPTER 24 – THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES
 Definition of biological species
 Speciation
 Speciation by reproductive isolation (prezygotic and postzygotic barriers and their
subtypes)
 Allopatric and sympatric speciation
 Polyploidy
 Gradualism and punctuated equilibrium
CHAPTER 25 – THE HISTORY OF LIFE ON EARTH
 Times for formation of the earth, first life on earth, first eukaryotic cells.
 Conditions of the early atmosphere
 Oparin-Haldane and Miller-Urey
 Protobionts
 RNA world
 The fossil record and dating fossils
 Endosymbiotic theory and the formation of eukaryotes
 Rise and fall of dominant groups (continental drift, mass extinctions, adaptive
radiations)
 Importance of hox genes
CHAPTER 26 – PHYLOGENY AND THE TREE OF LIFE
 Phylogenetic trees
 Cladograms
 Evidence of building phylogenetic trees
o Homologous structures
adaptive radiation
o Analogous structures
convergent evolution
o Molecular clocks
o Comparative molecular biology
o Fossils
 Domains of life and their characteristics
 Kingdoms of life and their characteristics
CHAPTER 50 – INTRODUCTION TO ECOLOGY
 levels of organization in ecology (population, community, ecosystem, biosphere)
 Abiotic factors
 Aquatic biomes
 Terrestrial biomes
CHAPTER 51 – ANIMAL BEHAVIOR
 Types of behavior
 Fixed action patterns
 Kinesis and taxis
 Circadian and yearly rhythms in animal behavior and internal clocks (migration,
sleep patterns, hibernation)
 Compass mechanisms
 The effects of the environment on animal behavior
 Ways for animals to communicate
CHAPTER 52 – POPULATION ECOLOGY
 Ways to grow a population
 Population structure is described by density, dispersion and demography
 Exponential and logistic growth models
 K- and r-selection
 Density dependent and density independent population regulation
CHAPTER 53 – COMMUNITY ECOLOGY
 Community interactions and adaptations
o Intraspecific
o Interspecific interactions (competition, predation, herbivory, disease and
symbiosis – parasitism, mutualism, commensalisms)
 Niche (fundamental and realized)
 The competitive exclusion principle
 Coevolution
 Species diversity (species richness + relative abundance)
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Food webs and food chains
Dominant species
Keystone species
Foundation species
Ecological succession (primary and secondary)
CHAPTER 54 – ECOSYSTEMS AND GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
 Energy flows through the ecosystem while matter is recycled
 Trophic levels and the energy flow
 Gross and net primary production
 Limiting factors of primary production in aquatic ecosystems
 Eutrophication
 Limiting factors of primary production in terrestrial ecosystems
 Evapotranspiration
 Secondary production
 Trophic efficiency (pyramids of numbers, production and biomass)
 Biogeochemical cycles (include the water cycle, carbon cycle, phosphorous cycle
and the nitrogen cycle)
 Human disruption to the nutrient cycles (cultural eutrophication, acid
precipitation, biological magnification, greenhouse effect, global warming, ozone
depletion, loss of biodiversity)
CHAPTER 2 – THE CHEMICAL CONTEXT OF LIFE
 Matter, element, compound
 everything on atomic structure, molecules, chemical bonds
 Isotopes, using radioactive isotopes
 polarity
 writing and balancing chemical equations
CHAPTER 3 – WATER AND THE FITNESS OF THE ENVIRONMENT
 Chemical structure and bonding of water – relate these to the physical properties
of water and to its biological function
 Characteristics of water and their function in living organisms
 acids, bases and buffers, pH
 Acid precipitation
CHAPTER 4 – CARBON AND THE MOLECULAR DIVERSITY OF LIFE
 Characteristics of carbon
 Isomers (structural, geometric, optical)
CHAPTER 5 – THE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF MACROMOLECULES
 Polymers, monomers, macromolecules
 Condensation and dehydration synthesis
 The structure and function of carbohydrates
 The structure and function of proteins (including the four levels)
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The structure and function of lipids
The structure and function of nucleic acids
CHAPTER 8 – AN INTRODUCTION TO METABOLISM
 Metabolic pathways and enzymes
 Forms of energy
 The first and second laws of thermodynamics
 Definition of free energy
 ATP
 Enzyme structure and function
 Environmental conditions that influence enzyme function (temperature, pH,
coenzymes
 Enzyme regulation (inhibitors, allosteric inhibitors and activators, cooperativity,
feedback inhibition)
CHAPTER 40 – PRINCIPLES OF ANIMAL FORM AND FUNCTION
 Levels of organization
 Animal tissues (epithelial, connective, muscular and nervous) (their structure and
function)
 Animal organ systems (just list them)
 Homeostasis
 Positive and negative feedback mechanisms
 Thermoregulation in animals (ectotherms and endotherms)
CHAPTER 41 – ANIMAL NUTRITION
 Animal feeding types
 Homeostatic process of glucose regulation
 Essential nutrients
 The main stages of food processing (ingestion, digestion, absorption, elimination)
 Digestion in sponges, cnidaria, round worms, earthworms, insects, and birds)
 Parts of the human digestive system, their structure and function
 Digestive enzymes, their place of production and their specific actions
 Adaptations to various diets
CHAPTER 6 – EUKARYOTIC CELL STRUCTURE
 Cell size and surface to volume ratio
 The nucleus
 Ribosomes
 The endomembrane system (Endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, Lysosomes
and peroxisomes, vesicles and vacuoles)
 Mitochondria and chloroplasts
 Peroxisomes
 Extracellular matrix
CHAPTER 27 AND 18.3 – PROKARYOTES
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Prokaryotic cell structure and function
Gram staining
Metabolic adaptations
Prokaryotes role in the nitrogen cycle
Prokaryotic genetics – chromosome structure, reproduction, recombination
Types of recombination (transduction, transformation and conjugation) and
transposons
CHAPTER 7:
 The structure of the cell membrane
 Active transport (Diffusion, osmosis and facilitated diffusion)
 The cell’s behavior in hypotonic, hypertonic and isotonic solutions
 Active transport (sodium-potassium pump and other ion pumps, cotransport)
 Bulk transport (endocytosis and its types, exocytosis, receptor-mediated
endocytosis)
CHAPTER 44 – OSMOREGULATION AND EXCRETION
 Osmoregulation types (osmoconformers and osmoregulators)
 Types of osmoregulators in various environments
 Forms of nitrogenous wastes, their benefits and disadvantages
 Key functions of the excretory system (filtration, reabsorption, secretion,
excretion)
 Survey of animal excretory systems (protonephridia, metanephridia, Malphigian
tubules, kidneys)
 Anatomy of the mammalian excretory system
 Kidney anatomy
 The anatomy and physiology of the nephron
 From blood to filtrate
 Regulation of kidney function (ADH only)
CALCULATIONS:
 Hardy-Weinberg principle
 Mean, median and mode of a set of data
 Standard deviation
 Graphing skills
 Surface area and volume relationship