Review Concepts for Exam I, Biology 160
Introduction to Biology
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Be able to name at least five of the eight properties of living things we discussed in class.
Be sure to cite these properties with enough detail and specifics to make them unique to
only living things. Note that we went much farther than the book on these properties.
Be able to list all the various levels of biological complexity, from the atomic level
through the biosphere, in the correct order.
Explain what emergent properties are and how these properties are linked to the level of
structure and organization of a biological system
Name the largest taxons or groupings used in classification and specifically name the
three different groups. Be able to briefly describe what is contained within each group.
Explain how variation of a trait in a population and reproduction of survivors leads to a
change in the composition of a population over several generations.
Explain what is meant by “descent with modification”
Name the four steps of the scientific method (in order) and describe what occurs in each
step
Demonstrate how to write a hypothesis linking variables together that is predictive and
testable.
Identify what elements make for a good hypothesis.
Identify the importance of multiple trials and control experiments in the scientific method
Identify the independent and dependent variables in a hypothesis or scientific study and
which one is set or actually measuring during experimentation
Explain what a null hypothesis is and why it is important in a scientific study.
Differentiate between a theory and a hypothesis, and the weight and validity of a theory
among scientists.
Identify how scientists are both cooperative and competitive in advancing the frontiers of
our scientific knowledge.
Indicate the relative importance of communication between scientists and the role
communication plays in the scientific world.
Interpret the data from a scientific experiment and evaluate the hypotheses in light of this
data.
Identify the single most important lab safety rule.
Communities, Ecosystems, and Human Impact
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Describe the difference between a community and a population
Identify what aspects of a community are studied in ecology
Name at least five abiotic factors that affect the living realm in a community
Trace the route that carbon takes from the atmosphere to the living realm and back again
Explain why a pyramid of energy or biomass, showing a food chain, gets smaller toward
the top.
Identify the amount of energy passed between tropic (feeding) levels in a food chain and
how much is lost.
Identify the trophic level or position held by an organism in a food chain using the terms
primary, secondary, etc. and producer or consumer.
Describe how a food web is different from a food chain.
Review Concepts for Exam I , Bio 160 Stavney pg. 1
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Explain how an organism can occupy two different trophic levels, such as being a
secondary consumer and a tertiary consumer.
Communities, Ecosystems, and Human Impact, continued
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Identify the difference between the symbiotic relationships known as mutualism,
commensalism, and parasitism, and give an example of organisms for each type.
Explain what mycorrhizae are and the importance they have on plant growth and health
Describe the differences between primary and secondary succession and define what
ecological succession means.
Differentiate between a climax and pioneer community and give examples of plants that
would be found in each.
Trace the progression of a lake community from clear and pristine to filled-in swamp by
explaining the process of eutrophication.
Identify what the City of Lakewood is doing to reduce eutrophication in Lake Waughop,
and why this methodology works.
Name two plant nutrients, found in fertilizer and human waste, that cause eutrophication
Explain the effects of eutrophication on other organisms in a lake or stream and how this
effect occurs.
Identify how human communities prevent eutrophication of nearby watercourses with
raw sewage.
Explain what biomagnification (bioamplification) is and how it tends to kill off
organisms at the top of a food chain.
Identify the causes of acid rain and where in the USA it is most significant (why?).
Identify the results of acid rain.
Explain the environmental results of the release of refrigerants like CFCs
(chlorofluorocarbon) in the atmosphere.
Explain how the atmospheric damage produced by CFC release poses a danger to living
things.
Identify the gas that creates the “greenhouse effect” and how this gas alters global
climate.
Identify the single most important human-made producer of carbon dioxide on the planet.
Identify at least three renewable energy sources.
Explain what biodiversity is.
Explain how the stability of a community is affected by the level of biodiversity.
Identify two alien species in the Puget Sound Area and how these species alter
biodiversity and the stability of a community.
Identify the “three Rs” of environmentally-wise behavior regarding the production of
waste (garbage). In which order should they be followed? Why?
Define the term “precycling”.
Identify several types of “environmentally sensitive transportation” that you could use to
get to school, and explain why these types fit this definition.
Define what it means to “eat lower on the food chain”.
Identify the energy savings and food volume benefits from eating lower on the food
chain, and explain why these changes come about.
Define what it means to be a “sustainable practice”.
Define the term “environmental stewardship” and name and example of how and
individual can live by this concept.
Identify at least three significant abiotic factors in the lake community versus the lakeside
community.
Review Concepts for Exam I , Bio 160 Stavney pg. 2
Population Dynamics
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Identify the aspects of a population that are studied by demographers (population
ecologists).
Define the term “patterns of dispersal” and name three different types
Define the term growth rate and give the mathematic units used in expressing it.
Explain the mathematical relationship between the birth rate, death rate, and growth rate.
Define logistic population growth and describe how a graph of individuals vs. time would
look for this type of growth.
Define exponential population growth and describe how a graph of individuals vs. time
would look for this type of growth.
Define the term carrying capacity and state the units of this value.
Name two ways (biotic or abiotic causes) that the carrying capacity of fish in Lake
Waughop increase or decrease.
Differentiate between density dependent and density-independent mortality factors and
name three examples for each type.
Explain the relationship in population levels between a predator like a lynx and its prey,
such as the snowshoe hare. How do these populations change over time and in what
sequence?
Define the term “competitive exclusion” and explain why conditions must prevail for a
species to be excluded.
Define resource partitioning and how several species can avoid competitive exclusion.
Differentiate between the habitat and the niche of an organism in a community.
Describe the type of growth in the global population of humans over the last 1000 years.
Cite at least four reasons why the human population has grown in this way.
Describe an age structure diagram of a population and what it shows.
Differentiate between an increasing (growing), stable, or decreasing age-structure
diagram for a population at a given moment in time.
Explain the attempts to control population in China and the social consequences this has
had.
Differentiate between an opportunistic (prodigal) life history strategy and an equilibrium
(prudent) life history strategy.
Name at least three significant features of the prodigal vs. prudent life history strategy
with respect to age of maturity, frequency of reproduction, number of offspring, level of
parental care, lifespan length, and age of greatest mortality.
Biomes
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Differentiate between a community and a biome.
Identify the fundamental cause of different climate patterns on earth.
Define a “Hadley Cell” and what it is made up of.
Define the Coriolis Force and how it affects the winds moving over the Earth.
Name the two major variables that define any particular biome.
Describe one or two unique features of the tropical rainforest (such as dominant
vegetation) and some organisms that live there. Where is it located around the globe?
Describe one or two unique features of the savanna (tropical grassland) and some
organisms that live there. Where is it located around the globe?
Describe one or two unique features of a hot desert (such as dominant vegetation) and
some organisms that live there. Where is it located around the globe?
Review Concepts for Exam I , Bio 160 Stavney pg. 3
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Describe one or two unique features of the chaparral (such as dominant vegetation) and
some organisms that live there. Where is it located around the globe?
Describe one or two unique features of the temperate grassland (such as dominant
vegetation) and some organisms that live there. Where is it located around the globe?
What are three different names for a tropical grassland, such as what we call it in the
USA?
Describe one or two unique features of the tropical rainforest (such as dominant
vegetation) and some organisms that live there. Where is it located around the globe?
Describe one or two unique features of the temperate deciduous forest (such as dominant
vegetation) and some organisms that live there. Where is it located around the globe?
Describe one or two unique features of the northern coniferous forest and taiga (such as
dominant vegetation) and some organisms that live there. Where is it located around the
globe?
Describe one or two unique features of the tundra (such as dominant vegetation) and
some organisms that live there. Where is it located around the globe?
Describe one or two unique features of the marine and aquatic provinces (such the
significant differences in light, pressure, temperature, and dissolved oxygen levels) and
some organisms that live there. Where is it located around the globe?
Explain how traveling up a mountainside is like traveling towards the poles of the earth.
How Populations Evolve (Evolution and Natural Selection)
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Identify the contributions of Jean Baptiste Lamarck and Charles Lyell in defining how
populations change over time.
Define the “Theory of Acquired Characteristics” put forth by Lamarck and why it was
proven wrong.
Describe how fossil evidence, biogeography, comparative anatomy, and molecular
studies of DNA support the notion that organisms today are connected by ancestry.
Define the term “artificial selection” and given an example of this process.
Define the terms “overproduction”, “individual variation”, “competition”, and
“differential reproductive success” in terms of natural selection theory.
Explain in detail how an incompletely taken course of antibiotics results in more resistant
populations of bacteria in your body. Use terms such as variation and reproduction in
your answer.
Name one source of genetic variation in a population.
Define the term “gene pool”.
Name four ways that the gene pool of a population can change over just a few
generations (microevolution).
Differentiate between the bottleneck and Founder effects and name the type evolutionary
mechanisms these two effects fall under.
Define gene flow.
Name the three types of natural selection and identify the resulting distribution graph of a
population that undergoes each of these three types.
Explain why certain prey colors became more dominant in subsequent generations during
the Predator-Prey lab.
Review Concepts for Exam I , Bio 160 Stavney pg. 4
How New Species Arise
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Differentiate between macroevolution and microevolution. What level of change is
associated with each type?
Define the term “species” according to the biological species concept.
Identify one or two problems in applying this concept when trying to differentiate
between two species.
Define the term “reproductive barriers” as it applies to speciation.
Name at least one pre-zygotic (pre-fertilization) barrier that can arise between members
of two subpopulations.
Name at least one post-zygotic (post-fertilization) barrier that can arise between members
of two subpopulations.
Differentiate between allopatric and sympatric mechanisms of speciation.
Define the term “punctuated equilibrium” and what it means regarding the rate of
evolution.
Define the term “evolutionary novelty” and give an example of one in animals or plants.
Explain how the landmasses of the Earth have changed location, and where they were
about 200 million years ago.
Define the term “extinction” and describe how often this occurs to a species.
List the hierarchy of taxons (groupings) in order from the Domain to the Species level.
Extract the relevant information from a list of taxonomic names and write, in proper
format, the scientific name of a species.
Differentiate between two structures that are homologous or just analogous. What is
implied if two structures are homologous?
Identify at least one major change in classification that was made in the last 50 years as a
result of molecular (DNA) comparisons between large groups of organisms.
Review Concepts for Exam I , Bio 160 Stavney pg. 5