AP Biology 2012-2013
Milwaukee High School of the Arts
Dear Students and Parents,
Welcome to the AP Biology! The upcoming school year will be filled with joy
and elation, but tempered with hard work and dedication. As you enter into
preparations for the demands of this Advanced Placement class, my hopes are that you will begin working on
three things:
1. Keep your mind sharp for the fall.
2. Get you used to the vocabulary used in Biology.
3. Get you a head start on studying the key concepts and players in the world of Biology.
The following schedule will help to keep you on track for a great start in the fall:
Due Date
Tues June 12, 2012
Assigned Task
Sign Up for materials with Mr. Butters in room 315.
Fri June 15, 2012
1. Visit the AP Biology blog: APbiologyMHSA.wordpress.com
Read the post, “How to Blog Safely”
2. To get ready to use the AP Biology blog, you must sign up for “just a username” at
WordPress: http://en. Wordpress.com/signup
Be sure NOT to use your full name: Use only your first name and last initial.
3. You must them send Mr. Butters (buttersclass@gmail.com) the e-mail address and
username that you used to sign up for WordPress, so he can sign you up as a
Contributor.
4. Once you are added, you will receive a confirmation e-mail that “You’re added to this
blog” which means that you have become a Contributor to the AP Biology blog.
Fri June 22, 2012
Submit a letter of introduction to Mr. Butters at buttersclass@gmail.com (Assignment 1)
The details will be sent to you by e-mail.
Respond to Chapter 1 Homework questions blog (Assignment 2)
Fri July 6, 2012
Fri July 13, 2012
Read and Respond to the article “Scientific Mythconceptions” (Assignment 3)
Mr. Butters will send you information about the article via e-mail.
Fri July 20, 2012
Respond to Chapter 2 Homework questions blog (Assignment 4)
Fri July 27, 2012
Respond to Chapter 3 Homework questions blog (Assignment 5)
Fri Aug 3, 2012
Respond to Chapter 50 Homework questions blog (Assignment 6)
Fri Aug 10, 2012
Respond to Chapter 52 Homework questions blog (Assignment 7)
Fri Aug 17, 2012
Respond to Chapter 53 Homework questions blog (Assignment 8)
Fri Aug 24, 2012
Respond to Chapter 54 Homework questions blog (Assignment 9)
Answer the following questions using your text book. Your answers may be written or typed. Respond to the
assigned blog post by the due date listed on the calendar. This material will be tested in the first week of school.
Ch 1
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
What are emergent properties and how does their study differ from reductionism?
What are the parts of the cell theory and what are the physical differences between the two cell types?
Explain the relationship between structure and function in organisms.
Describe the two regulatory mechanisms involved in maintaining dynamic balance in living things.
How does evolutionary theory unify the great diversity of life?
a.
What is evolution?
b.
What were the fundamental observations made by Darwin?
c.
How is life classified?
d.
How does natural selection provide a plausible mechanism for species change?
What are the steps in the scientific method?
What are the ten unifying themes of biology, describe each in your own words.
Ch 2
8.
9.
10.
Elements and atomic structure:
a.
What two main characteristics does all matter have in common?
b.
What are the three subatomic particles and where is each located?
c.
What does the atomic weight of an atom tell you about the atom?
d.
How do isotopes differ from one another?
Electrons and bonding:
a.
How is the number of valence electrons determined?
b.
Why do covalent bonds occur?
c.
How do polar covalent molecules differ from nonpolar covalent molecules?
d.
Why do ionic bonds occur?
e.
Why do hydrogen bonds and Van der Waal Interactions occur?
Why will a reaction hit chemical equilibrium?
Ch 3
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
What role do cohesion and adhesion play in the life of a plant?
How do calories of energy and joules of energy influence the kinetic energy of a material?
Does water have a low or high specific heat? How does this fact influence life on Earth?
Why does ice float? What is the benefit of ice floating?
Explain how evaporative cooling helps to change an organism’s body temperature?
You mix a pitcher of cool-aide. What is the solute and solvent in this instance?
What is molarity? How many grams of acetic acid (C2H4O2) would you use to make 7 L of a 0.25 M aqueous solution of acetic acid? [Note: Carbon weighs 12 daltons, hydrogen
weighs 1 dalton, and oxygen weighs 16 daltons.]
Solution pH
a.
What determines the pH of a solution?
b.
How do bases differ from acids?
c.
Why is carbonic acid a weak acid?
d.
How many times greater is the [H+] in vinegar than the concentration in black coffee?
e.
How do buffers work and why are they important?
Ch 50
19.
20.
What determines the distribution and abundance of organisms?
a.
How does behavior affect distribution?
b.
How do biotic factors affect distribution?
c.
What abiotic factors?
What is meant by vertical stratification of aquatic biomes? What are the zones of the marine environment?
Ch 52
21.
22.
23.
24.
Describe the characteristics of a population. Include information about density and dispersion patterns.
Explain causes of growth and decline in a population.
a.
Use the concept of survivorship curves to explain the different strategies used to ensure the species will continue.
b.
How does semelparity differ from iteroparity?
c.
How does the exponential growth model differ from the logistical growth model; which is more accurate and why?
What factors will limit a population’s size?
a.
What roll does density play?
b.
What is negative feedback and what part does it play in population size?
c.
How do biotic and abiotic factors determine population size?
d.
What causes boom and bust cycles?
How does human population growth differ from other organisms?
a.
What can age structures tell us?
b.
What trend characterizes a nation that is in demographic transition?
c.
Explain the concept of an ecological footprint.
Ch 53
25.
26.
27.
28.
What is a community?
a.
Contrast the two views of community structure.
b.
How do the rivet and redundancy models differ?
c.
How can a community appear to have very little diversity even through it has a large number of species?
What interspecific interactions connect the different parts of a community?
a.
What roll do niches and resource partitioning play in a community?
b.
How do predator adaptations and prey defenses interact? Explain the major defensive mechanisms.
How do food chains differ from food webs?
a.
Why can’t food chains continue to rise indefinitely?
b.
What is biomass and how are the trophic levels affected by it?
c.
Describe the two models used to describe the controls for community nutrition.
d.
What are the trophic levels for a human eating a cheese sandwich?
Describe the levels of succession that take place after a community is disturbed?
a.
What organisms appear first?
b.
What types of disturbances can take place in an ecosystem?
Ch 54
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
Explain the purpose and conclusions of the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest study.
Why is the transfer of energy in ecosystems referred to as energy flow, not energy cycling?
Describe the main abiotic reservoir for carbon?
What would most likely happen to an ecosystem if all the detritivores suddenly stopped “working?”
How can clear-cutting a forest (removing all the trees) damage the water quality of nearby lakes?
Explain why the quantities of mineral nutrients in soils of tropical rain forests are relatively low.
Explain the importance of decomposition rates in the rate of chemical cycling.