Mrs. Echezabal: Honors Biology Final Exam Study Guide
Completion
Complete each statement.
1. The name given to the idea that life could arise from nonliving matter is called
_________________________.
2. The scientist named ____________________ finally settled the argument over whether or not life could arise
from nonliving matter.
3. The science that seeks to understand the living world is called ____________________.
4. The chemical reactions through which an organism builds up or breaks down materials as it carries out its life
processes is called ____________________.
5. A revised version of the original ____________________ system is called the SI, an abbreviation for the
International Systems of Units.
6. A specimen less than 0.2 micrometers must be completely dried out before being studied using a(an)
____________________ microscope.
7. The ____________________ microscope is generally used in high school laboratories.
8. The subatomic particles that make up atoms are protons, neutrons, and ____________________.
9. Because they have the same number of protons and electrons, all isotopes of an element have the same
____________________ properties.
10. Water’s ____________________ allows it to dissolve compounds such as table salt (NaCl).
11. The stomach produces a(an) ____________________ to help digest food.
12. The elements or compounds produced by a chemical reaction are known as ____________________.
13. The name of an enzyme usually ends in ____________________.
14. The use of radio tags, satellites, and microscopes are all techniques employed in the basic ecological research
method of ____________________.
Figure 3-1
15. Of the organisms represented in Figure 3-1, the organisms in the oceans with the smallest total biomass are
most likely the ____________________.
16. Living organisms require nitrogen to make ____________________, which are used to build proteins.
Figure 4-1
17. As shown in Figure 4-1, the climate zone that receives the most direct sunlight throughout the year lies
between ____________________ and ____________________ latitudes.
18. An aquatic environment’s water ____________________ refers to the amount of dissolved salts, nutrients,
and oxygen in the water.
19. Photosynthesis is limited to the well-lit upper layer of the ocean, which scientists refer to as the
____________________ zone.
20. Eukaryotes contain specialized structures that perform important cellular functions. These structures are
called ____________________.
Figure 7-3
21. RNA and other molecules leave the nucleus through the structure labeled ____________________ in Figure
7-3.
22. Unlike smooth endoplasmic reticulum, rough endoplasmic reticulum has ____________________ attached to
it.
23. Molecules tend to move from an area where they are more concentrated to an area where they are less
concentrated. This process is called ____________________.
24. The cells in a multicellular organism have specific jobs. This is called cell _________________________.
25. The levels of organization in a multicellular organism are ____________________, tissues,
____________________, and organ systems.
26. Organisms, such as hawks and leopards, that obtain energy from the foods they consume are called
____________________.
27. Ingenhousz found that plants produce bubbles only in the presence of ____________________.
28. Thylakoids are arranged in stacks known as ____________________.
Figure 8-3
29. Photosystems I and II are found in the structure labeled ____________________ in Figure 8-3.
30. In many plants, the rate of photosynthesis ____________________ when the weather becomes very cold.
31. If two pairs of electrons move down the electron transport chain, they will provide enough energy to produce
about ____________________ ATP molecules.
32. Before a normal cell becomes too large to carry out normal activities, it will usually divide to form two
____________________ cells.
33. The number of sister chromatids in a human body cell that is entering cell division is
____________________.
Figure 10-3
34. The structure labeled A in Figure 10-3 is called the _________________________.
35. If a normal cell is touched on all sides by other cells and is injected with cyclin from a dividing cell, it
probably will ____________________.
36. Proteins that regulate the cell cycle based on events inside the cell are called ____________________
regulators.
37. If you flip a coin five times and it comes up heads each time, the probability that it will come up heads the
next time is ____________________.
38. If pea plants that are homozygous for round, yellow seeds (RRYY) were crossed with pea plants that are
heterozygous for round, yellow seeds (RrYy), the expected phenotype(s) of the offspring would be
_________________________.
39. An organism’s gametes have ____________________ the number of chromosomes found in the organism’s
body cells.
Figure 12-3
40. In Figure 12-3, A, B, and C are three types of ____________________.
41. During transcription, the _________________________ between base pairs are broken.
42. The order of nitrogenous bases in DNA determines the order of ____________________ in proteins.
43. A mutation in a series of genes called ____________________ can change the organs that develop in specific
parts of an embryo.
44. James Hutton thought that rocks from the sea floor could be pushed up very high to form
____________________.
45. According to Lamarck, evolution resulted from the inheritance of ____________________ traits.
46. According to Lamarck’s theory of the inheritance of _________________________, the long legs of certain
shore birds could be acquired by frequent wading in water rather than through inheritance.
47. When a population’s birthrate exceeds its death rate, the size of the population ____________________.
48. Certain animal structures that have different functions in different species and develop from the same clump
of embryonic cells are called ____________________ structures.
49. According to Darwin’s theory of evolution, all species on Earth are united by _________________________.
50. A polygenic trait can have many possible genotypes and ____________________.
51. When the phenotypes of polygenic traits are represented by a bell curve, the ____________________ of
individuals close together on the curve is not very different.
52. In genetic drift, ____________________, not natural selection, plays a primary role in determining the
number of descendants an organism has.
53. For new species to evolve, populations must be ____________________ isolated from each other.
54. If two populations have been reproductively isolated and can no longer breed and produce fertile offspring,
the process of _________________________ has occurred.
55. In a particular environment, populations that are very different from each other are less likely to
____________________ with each other for resources.
56. When scientists use a(an) _________________________ for an organism, they can be certain they are all
discussing the same organism.
57. In taxonomy, different classes of organisms might be grouped into a ____________________, which is the
next (larger) category.
58. In traditional classification, some similarities that were used to group organisms were based on
_________________________ instead of a shared evolutionary history.
59. The knoblike root nodules of soybean plants are the sites of ____________________.
60. In a lysogenic infection, the viral DNA that is embedded in a host cell’s DNA is called a(an)
____________________.
61. The phylum of animallike protists often referred to as _________________________ have a name that
reflects the fact that they use flagella for movement.
62. The sporozoan Plasmodium, carried from host to host by mosquitoes, causes ____________________, a very
serious infectious disease.
63. Close examination of a colony of individuals of the phylum Acrasiomycota would reveal that they retain their
____________________, unlike organisms of the phylum Myxomycota.
64. ____________________ reproduction takes place when cells or hyphae break off a fungus and begin to grow.
65. A zygomycete is a thick-walled zygote formed by a ____________________.
Figure 21-3
66. In the ____________________ stage of ascomycetes, shown in Figure 21-3, cells contain two nuclei.
67. A very large secondary mycelium may be produced by older _________________________.
68. A serious fungal disease of ____________________ needs two different plants to complete its life cycle.
Figure 21-2
69. The cyanobacterium or algal layer of the ____________________ shown in Figure 21-2 performs
photosynthesis.
70. If you planted a bryophyte in a dry environment, it would lose water by the process of
____________________.
71. Water moves from cell to cell in the rhizoids of a moss by the process of ____________________.
72. Most seeds can survive extreme heat for long periods because they have a(an) ____________________.
73. Farmers must plant wheat each year because wheat is a(an) ____________________.
74. The ____________________ of an herbaceous perennial do not die over winter.
75. Root hairs take in water from the soil through the process of ____________________.
76. Stomata open into the _________________________ layer of a leaf.
77. In angiosperms, capillary action raises water to a higher level in ____________________ tissue.
78. Many lightweight seeds are dispersed by wind or ____________________.
79. A seed that is dispersed a far distance away from the parent plant may be more successful because it faces less
____________________.
80. Extreme environmental conditions such as heat and cold may affect the timing of ____________________,
ending seed dormancy.
Figure 24-2
81. In the strawberry plant shown in Figure 24-2, new plants are growing on structures called
_________________________.
Figure 24-3
82. Figure 24-3 shows that, from 1970 to 2000, the annual yield of corn in the United States fluctuated up and
down. The overall trend, however, is that corn yield has ____________________.
83. Animals that do not have backbones are called ____________________.
84. Large animals have a(an) ____________________ system to move materials around in their bodies.
85. The internal space of a cnidarian is called a(an) ______________________________.
86. In a jellyfish, the ____________________ stage reproduces asexually.
87. The simplest animals to have three embryonic germ layers, bilateral symmetry, and cephalization are the soft,
flattened worms called ____________________.
88. Many free-living roundworms are ____________________, which are animals that eat other animals.
89. A filter-feeding annelid fans water through tubelike burrows and catches food particles in a
____________________ bag.
90. Sandworms and bloodworms are members of the class of marine annelids called ____________________.
91. In arthropods, ganglia are located along a ventral _________________________.
92. A typical primitive arthropod had many identical ____________________, each with a pair of appendages.
93. One example of ____________________ evolution is provided by penguins and seals, both of which hunt in
the ocean and have streamlined bodies and flipperlike appendages.
94. In environments in which temperatures are high and fairly constant most of the time, ____________________
is a more energy-efficient method of controlling body temperature.
95. A(an) ____________________ is an animal whose body temperature is controlled mainly by the transfer of
heat between its body and its surroundings.
96. In the lungs of a(an) ____________________, gas-exchange surfaces are always in contact with air that
contains much oxygen.
97. In a frog, the heart chamber that contains blood with the highest concentration of oxygen is the
____________________.
98. If an animal has a four-chambered heart, it has a(an) ____________________-loop circulatory system.
99. Aquatic amphibians and most fishes excrete nitrogenous wastes in the form of ____________________.
100. A bird cannot fly with a badly damaged ____________________, because this part of the brain controls a
bird’s sense of balance and movement.
Short Answer
101. What is a hypothesis?
102. Using proper equipment is necessary when testing hypotheses. How were the flasks Pasteur used in testing
the hypothesis of spontaneous generation essential to his success?
103. What is the difference between a theory and a hypothesis?
104. How do light microscopes differ from electron microscopes?
105. Why are atoms considered neutral?
106. What is a molecule?
107. What are the four groups of organic compounds found in living things?
108. Distinguish between RNA and DNA.
109. Interpret the general chemical equation, X + Y  XY, in words.
110. What does the energy come from that enables you to breathe and think?
111. Name two essential roles that enzymes play in cells.
112. What and where is the biosphere?
113. Explain the ecological significance of interdependence.
114. Compare and contrast photosynthetic producers with chemosynthetic producers.
115. Describe the flow of energy among the following members of an ecosystem: decomposers, autotrophs,
heterotrophs, and the sun.
Figure 3-2
116. Describe the flow of energy to the owl in Figure 3-2 if the tree provides 1500 calories of energy to the insects.
117. What is the most likely explanation for why Figure 3-2 shows only one organism at its base? In what way
would an energy diagram be different?
118. Explain how the biogeochemical cycling of oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen are important to living
systems.
119. What events typically contribute to an algal bloom in a lake or ocean?
120. What are greenhouse gases?
Figure 4-1
121. Using Figure 4-1, describe a climate you might find at 10°N latitude.
122. Using Figure 4-1, explain why average temperatures decrease with increasing distance from the equator.
123. List three biotic and three abiotic factors that determine the survival of a rabbit in a temperate forest.
124. Explain why plants do not participate in the succession of a whale-fall community as they do in landecosystem succession.
125. Deserts vary greatly depending on elevation and latitude. What characteristic do all deserts share?
126. What criteria are used for determining ocean zones?
127. Based on the cell theory, can you assume that all cells reproduce? Why or why not?
128. What does the cell theory say?
129. List two jobs of the cytoskeleton.
Figure 7-1
130. Identify each of the cell structures indicated in Figure 7-1. Use these terms: nucleus, mitochondrion,
ribosome, cell membrane, smooth endoplasmic reticulum, rough endoplasmic reticulum, nucleolus, Golgi
apparatus, cytoplasm.
131. Define diffusion.
132. What would happen to an animal cell with an internal salt concentration of 0.8% if it were placed in a salt
solution with a concentration of 20%? Why?
133. A hypertonic salt solution has a higher concentration of solutes than a blood cell. Explain what happens when
a blood cell is placed in a hypertonic salt solution.
134. How do heterotrophs obtain energy? List four organisms that are heterotrophs.
135. Write the overall equation for photosynthesis in both symbols and words.
136. Why are six carbon dioxide molecules required to make one glucose molecule?
137. A student exposed two plants to only red light and two plants to only green light. Which plants should grow
better? Why?
Figure 8-3
138. Identify the structure shown in Figure 8-3 and describe its function.
139. Photosystems I and II are both located in the thylakoid membrane. What advantage does their proximity
provide?
140. What is the role of hydrogen ions in the conversion of ADP to ATP?
141. What does the Calvin cycle do?
142. Describe the relationship between the light-dependent and the light-independent reactions.
143. List two factors that affect the rate of photosynthesis.
144. List the three main stages of cellular respiration in order. Where does each stage take place in the cell?
145. Describe glycolysis in terms of energy input, energy output, and net gain of ATP.
146. Give two examples of fermentation.
147. What are the two types of fermentation? How do their products differ?
148. What are the energy totals produced by one molecule of pyruvic acid entering the Krebs cycle?
149. Why is the Krebs cycle also known as the citric acid cycle?
150. What role does oxygen play in the electron transport chain?
151. What roles does oxygen play in photosynthesis and in cellular respiration?
152. How might you test the effects of cell size on the extent of diffusion?
153. Many injuries to the skin heal completely, whereas injuries to the spinal cord, which is made up
mainly of nerve cells, may result in paralysis. What characteristic of the two types of cells in these
body parts accounts for this difference?
154. Identify a factor that can stop cells from growing.
155. The level of cyclins in a cell increases during the M phase of the cell cycle. What might happen to a cell if no
cyclins were present during the M phase?
156. Name two factors that help regulate the timing of the cell cycle.
157. How do cancer cells differ from normal cells?
158. Cells grown in a petri dish tend to divide until they form a thin layer covering the bottom of the dish. How
would you expect cancer cells to behave in this situation?
159. A scientist suspects that a given cell is cancerous even though it has not yet formed a tumor. How might the
scientist test the cell to see if it is cancerous?
160. What attributes of the garden pea plant made it an excellent organism for Gregor Mendel’s genetic studies?
RrYy
RY
Ry
rY
ry
RY
RRYY
RRYy
RrYY
RrYy
Ry
RRYy
RRyy
RrYy
Rryy
RrYy
rY
RrYY
RrYy
rrYY
rrYy
ry
RrYy
Rryy
rrYy
rryy
Seed Shape
R – round
r – wrinkled
Seed Color
Y – yellow
y – green
Figure 11-2
161. What is the phenotype ratio of the offspring in the Punnett square shown in Figure 11-2?
162. What is a linkage group?
163. What does a gene map show?
164. What are the three main parts of an RNA nucleotide?
165. What is a mutation?
166. What might be the effect of a mutation in the promoter sequence of a gene?
167. What evidence did Charles Darwin collect in addition to specimens of organisms alive during his time?
168. What did observations of the tortoises of the Galápagos lead Charles Darwin to hypothesize about these
animals’ ancestry?
169. What was Jean-Baptiste Lamarck’s overall belief about the way organisms changed over time?
Figure 15-1
170. How could vestigial structures like the whale pelvis and femur shown in Figure 15-1 contribute to the theory
of evolution?
171. Are the members of a population necessarily the same species? Explain.
172. What are the two main sources of genetic variation? Which of them is more common?
173. Why might genetic drift occur if a small number of individuals colonize a new habitat?
174. How does the size of a population affect the likelihood that its genetic cross will produce the ratio of alleles
predicted by the laws of probability?
175. Why might a geographic barrier such as a large river cause the formation of a new species of small rodents
but not a new species of birds?
176. What are three mechanisms for reproductive isolation? Which mechanism isolates two populations of similar
frogs with different mating calls?
177. How does the work of Peter and Rosemary Grant in the Galápagos relate to the work of Charles Darwin?
178. How many terms make up the scientific name of a species? How is that name distinguished in print from the
common name of a species?
179. What is evolutionary classification? How does it differ from traditional biological classification?
Figure 18-1
180. Which system of grouping in Figure 18-1, A or B, provides information about the evolution of the three
animals? What is the name of the diagram used to show that information?
181. What characteristic did biologists use to reclassify some organisms from the plant or animal kingdom to the
kingdom Protista?
182. What characteristic is used to place an organism in the domain Eukarya?
183. Name the two kingdoms of bacteria. List one way that these two groups differ from each other.
184. What would happen to other organisms if bacteria did not recycle nutrients?
185. What is a pathogen?
186. What are five foods that have been made using bacteria?
187. How does the use of an antibiotic differ from the use of a disinfectant?
188. What is a virus? Describe the basic structure of a virus.
189. In the six-kingdom system of classification, protists compose a single kingdom. Describe an alternate view of
this classification.
190. Explain the importance of the animallike protist Trichonympha to the termites in which it grows.
191. What is the function of chlorophyll and accessory pigments in algae?
192. How does the arrangement of DNA in dinoflagellates differ from that of all other eukaryotes?
193. What is phytoplankton?
194. What are two human uses of algae?
195. How are funguslike protists similar to fungi?
196. Why are the two mating types of fungi not referred to as male and female?
197. What three functions do rhizoids serve in fungi?
198. In bread mold, how do zygospores differ from the spores produced on aerial hyphae?
199. Which fungal phylum contains organisms too small to be seen with the naked eye, and what are they?
Figure 21-3
200. In the ascomycete fruiting body shown in Figure 21-3, how many nuclei are found in each cell of the hyphae,
and what separates each cell of the hyphae?
201. Name two commercial uses of yeast.
202. How does Cordyceps affect the insects it infects?
203. How do lichens encourage soil formation on barren rock?
204. Why are the roots, stems, and leaves of ferns and their relatives considered to be true?
205. What is a pollen grain?
206. What does the term living fossil mean?
Figure 23-3
207. In Figure 23-3, what is structure C, and what tissues is it made up of?
208. How is the function of a stem similar to that of a root?
209. Contrast the arrangement of vascular bundles in monocot stems and dicot stems.
210. According to the pressure-flow hypothesis, how does water from xylem cause sugars to flow through phloem?
211. In the pressure-flow hypothesis, what does the term sink refer to?
212. What is the function of a pollination drop?
213. What is the typical method of pollen dispersal for gymnosperms? For angiosperms?
214. How can you tell by looking at a fruit how the seeds it contains are dispersed?
215. Name two environmental factors that can end a seed’s dormancy.
216. What role does water play in the germination of a seed?
217. How might a horticulturist make exact copies of a plant?
218. If you were planning to graft two plants, what aspect of their growing conditions should you consider, and
why?
Figure 24-3
219. According to Figure 24-3, what happened to overall yield of corn in the United States from 1970 to 2000?
220. How did the advent of agriculture influence human migration patterns?
221. What two fundamental characteristics distinguish animals from plants?
222. Why don’t small aquatic animals need a circulatory system?
223. What is an advantage to having sense organs and nerve cells concentrated at the anterior end of the body?
224. Why are sponges classified as animals?
225. How are coral reefs formed?
226. What role do freshwater snails play in the life cycle of the blood fluke Schistosoma?
227. Describe the tube-within-a-tube body plan of roundworms.
228. What role does diffusion play in the lives of roundworms and flatworms?
229. How can washing vegetables before you eat them help prevent the severe malnutrition associated with ascarid
worms?
230. What structures enable leeches to cling to their hosts?
231. In what ways do earthworms improve soil quality?
232. What are the four parts of the body plan of most mollusks?
233. How do most aquatic mollusks breathe?
234. What is a feature of land slugs and nudibranchs that sets them apart from other gastropods?
235. How can checks of bivalves warn public health officials of health problems related to water purity?
236. List three features that are present in the body plan of arthropods.
237. Suppose an arthropod lacked the skin glands that normally are responsible for digesting the inner part of the
skeleton. How would this defect affect the arthropod’s ability to grow?
238. Suppose you observed an arthropod whose body was divided into a cephalothorax and an abdomen. To which
of the three major groups of arthropods could this specimen belong?
239. How are mites and ticks harmful to humans?
240. Name two ways in which insects are beneficial to humans.
241. Identify four features common to all chordates.
242. The oxygen concentration on one side of a gill membrane (side A) is 0.05 percent. The oxygen concentration
on the other side of the gill membrane (side B) is 0.5 percent. In which direction will oxygen molecules
move?
243. Some species of fish that live in the Arctic Ocean will die if the water temperature exceeds 10°C. This
temperature is called the lethal temperature for that species. How would the lethal temperature of a related
species of fish that lives in tropical waters compare to the lethal temperature of the Arctic species?
244. Why is it advantageous for birds to use feathers instead of body fat as a primary means of insulation?
245. Animals A and B are terrestrial vertebrates of the same size. One is an ectotherm, and the other is an
endotherm. The resting metabolic rate of animal A is five times that of animal B. Using this information, state
which animal is the ectotherm and briefly explain your decision.
246. Why is it illogical to say that the simple organ systems of a tunicate must be inferior to the organ systems of a
mammal?
247. Describe the basic pathways of the two loops in a double-loop circulatory system.
248. List two functions of vertebrate kidneys.
249. Describe the functions of the optic lobes and olfactory bulbs in a vertebrate brain.
250. Contrast movement in larval and adult tunicates.