AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
AP Biology
Summer Assignment
2015-16
Your First AP Biology Assignment
To be completed before the end of the current school year (06/12/2015)
Send an email message to phs_apbio@yahoo.com AND to rboylan@pennsburysd.org.
Email provides a convenient way for teacher and student to communicate and exchange
files when needed. This will be especially helpful during the school year, but may also
come in handy during the summer months. BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR NAME IN THE
BODY OF THE EMAIL.
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
AP Biology Summer Assignment
General Course/Curricular Description
AP Biology is a full-year course designed to be the equivalent of a two-semester college
introductory biology sequence usually taken by biology majors during their first year. Biology is
defined as the science of life but, biology is a multidisciplinary science drawing on concepts
from chemistry, physics, earth science, statistics and mathematics. AP students use concepts
from each of these disciplines during their study of biology. AP Biology is designed to provide
highly motivated students with a strong background in the core principles of modern biology.
Topics include basic biochemistry, cell structure and function, energy transformation, cell
division, classical genetics, molecular genetics and structure and function of the nervous and
immune systems of animals, and ecology. The depth and breadth of coverage reflects that
expected in a typical college freshman biology sequence and is more than adequate to prepare
students for the AP Biology Exam.
What Will Be Your Approach To Learning Biology?
We (Mr. Boylan & Mr. Cooper) begin with the assumption that you are motivated to learn
biology. The responsibility to do that belongs to you. We are here to help you do that. Learning
requires the active construction of knowledge on your part. You cannot absorb knowledge
passively from experience, nor can we transfer it from our heads to yours. You must construct
meaning for yourself by interpreting new experiences in light of what you already know and also
by connecting new concepts to what you already know. While a certain amount of information
must be retained in your memory in order to be successful in the class, memorizing information
alone is not sufficient. In all likelihood, if you approach this class as just a lot of words to be
memorized for the test and then forgotten, you will not be as successful as you could be. Your
goal should be to understand biology and learn to think about the world using concepts from
biology. This requires that you work with the ideas in ways that enable you to organize or
transform the information to make it your own. One way to do that is with concept mapping.
These summer assignments will introduce you to concept mapping, an important learning tool
that you may choose to use during the school year, and also introduce you to a few important
themes in biology.
What Will You Do For These Summer Assignments?
Four assignments must be submitted, one (your email address) before the end of this school
year (worth 5 points) and the remaining three assignments (one concept map, one book
review, and one question set and essay on the origin of life) on or before the first day of class
in September. For the first summer assignment you will read about the origin of life, answer
some questions based on a reading of the textbook, and write an essay. Submit a paper copy of
the essay on September 3rd and a copy must also be submitted through Turnitin.com. The
question set and essay are worth 15 points. Instructions for submitting the paper to Turnitin.com
will be provided on September 3rd. Second, you will choose a summer reading book (see pp. 17
- 23) to read and write a review. Submit a paper copy of the book review on September 3rd
and a copy must also be submitted through Turnitin.com. Instructions for submitting the paper to
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
Turnitin.com will be provided on September 3rd. The book review is worth 60 points (see rubric
on p. 24). The third assignment is to understand concept mapping (see pp. 25 – 29) and how
to make concept maps. You will do this by reading, “Study Skill: Concept Mapping” (pp. 30 33) and “Concept Mapping for Meaningful Learning” (pp. 34 - 43). Then construct one concept
map using the list of terms provided in this packet (see pp. 29 for the list). The concept map
must be submitted on or before the first day of school (September 3rd). The concept map is worth
25 points (See rubric on p. 27). If you have any questions about these assignments during the
summer, send an email to either (Mr. Cooper at phs_apbio@yahoo.com or Mr. Boylan at
rboylan@pennsbury.k12.pa.us.
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
The Origin of Life Assignment
Directions: In this subsection of your A.P. Biology Summer Assignment, you’ll complete three
activities that will introduce you to possible scenarios about the onset of the greatest emergent
property of all… Life.
PART 1: ENGAGEMENT - What is life?
Prior to 1944, this age-old question was more likely to lead one to
philosophical speculation than to scientific reasoning. Many
philosophical speculations about the nature of life tend to be lumped
into the category of ideas known as vitalism, the belief that, "living
organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities
because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by
different principles than are inanimate things” (Bechtel &
Richardson, 1998, p. 639)1. In 1944 the Austrian physicist Erwin
Schrödinger published a small book entitled What is Life?: The
Physical Aspect of the Living Cell that provided a foundation for
scientists to begin providing a scientific answer to the question.
Schrödinger’s book, one of the most influential texts of the twentieth
century, inspired the generation of biologists who developed the
science of molecular genetics. Among those who read and were
influenced by the book were James Watson, Francis Crick, and
Maurice Wilkins, the discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule.
1. How do you think Schrödinger, a physicist, answered the question “What is Life?”
2. How would you answer the question? Imagine you are
Project Leader of the Mars Science Laboratory, the
NASA mission that sent the rover Curiosity to Mars.
What tools would you equip Curiosity with? What would
you look for to distinguish non-living from potentially
living things on Mars?
1
Bechtel, W., & Richardson, R. C. (1998). Vitalism. In E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (pp. 639 – 643).
London: Routledge.
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
3. Why do we need a definition of life?
PART 2: ELABORATION - Questions
When we begin exploring A.P. Biology together as a class, we’ll be completing activities and a laboratory
experiment based on this “Origin of Life” summer assignment. Attention to detail when completing Part
2 will prove beneficial for your participation in these class activities and discussions. Various concepts
from this assignment may show up on your first Unit Exam for A.P. Biology as well.
Directions: Read the attached text sections, watch the two videos, and explore the web pages,
then answer the questions.

Read: Concept 4.1 Organic chemistry is the study of carbon compounds, pp 58 – 59

Read: Overview: Lost Worlds, p. 507

Read: Concept 25.1 Conditions on early Earth made the origin of life possible, pp. 507 – 510

Watch: NOVA ScienceNow: Revealing the Origins of Life 10 Minutes
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/origins-life.html)

Watch: Biointeractive video ‘Enzyme that are Not Proteins’ 19 minutes
(http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/enzymes-are-not-proteins-discovery-ribozymes)

Explore: website, Exploring Life’s Origin
(http://exploringorigins.org/index.html)

Explore: website, Miller’s Experiment
(http://www.ucsd.tv/miller-urey/)
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
Pages 58-59: 4.1 Organic chemistry is the study of carbon compounds
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
Pages 507 – 510: Overview: Lost Worlds & 25.1 Conditions on early Earth made the origin of life possible
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
Name ____________________________________________ Date ____________________________
Questions:
1. It is sometimes said that the scientific method involves making hypotheses about natural processes or
events, then testing those hypotheses by doing experiments. If this is the case, how is it possible that
scientists can conduct origin of life research? Can we ever really know what happened in the past?
2. How long have there been organisms living on Earth? What evidence do we have to back up any claim
along this line? (In addition to the text, check out ‘A Timeline of Life’s Evolution’ on Exploring Life’s
Origin web page.)
3. In the NOVA ScienceNow video, John Szostak describes the two basics of life. What are they and why is
each necessary?
4. There are many different models of how life may have begun by natural processes. Your text provides
descriptions of four main stages in the origin of life from nonliving matter by natural processes any model
must address. What are the stages?
Stage
Description
1
2
3
4
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
5. In your chart above, the first stage is the synthesis of organic molecules. Consider the early planet, probably
thick with water vapor, methane, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide. What gas was missing from this early
mix? Why?
6. In the 1920s, Russian chemist A. I. Oparin and British biologist J. B. S. Haldane independently proposed a
model for the origin of life by natural processes. What was their model?
7. In 1953 at the University of Chicago, Stanly Miller and Harold Urey tested the Oparin- Haldane hypothesis
with this apparatus. (It is shown in Chapter 4, Figure 4.2 in your text.) Explain the elements of this experiment,
using arrows to indicate what occurs in various parts of the apparatus. (See also the ‘Miller-Urey
Experiment’ web page.)
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
8. What did Miller & Urey collect in the sample for chemical analysis? What was concluded from the results
of this experiment?
9. Do contemporary scientists agree with the assumptions about the composition of the early atmosphere made
by Oparin and Haldane? If not, how should we interpret the results of the Miller-Urey experiment?
10. Given that monomers could form abiotically, explain how polymers might form abiotically. (In addition to
the text see the Exploring Life’s Origin web page.) [Polymers (poly = many; mer = parts) are long
molecules consisting of many similar or identical monomers linked together by covalent bonds. Think box
cars in a train.]
11. What are protobionts (protocells)? What properties of life do they demonstrate? Why is the formation of
protobionts such an important step in the origin of life? (In addition to the text see the Exploring Life’s
Origin web page.)
12. Explain the role that clays are thought to have played in the formation of protobiont vesicles. (In addition to
the text see the Exploring Life’s Origin web page.)
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
13. In the early 1980s Sidney Altman and Thomas Cech independently discovered ribozymes. What are
ribozymes? (In addition to the text see the Exploring Life’s Origin web page.)
14. What structural features allow RNA to act as a catalyst? (See the Biointeractive video ‘Enzyme that are
Not Proteins’ and the Exploring Life’s Origin web page.)
15. What techniques did Thomas Cech use to demonstrate that there was no protein enzyme involved in splicing
the RNA he found in Tetrahymena, and that the self-splicing RNA could act as a catalyst splicing out its
own intron? (See the Biointeractive video ‘Enzyme that are Not Proteins’) [Introns are noncoding,
intervening sequences within a primary RNA transcript. They are removed during processing.]
16. The existence of ribozymes was quickly recognized as a possible solution to a major stumbling block for
those thinking about the origin of life. Scientists had long wondered which came first, DNA or protein.
Many proteins are enzymes, and some of those enzymes serve to replicate the DNA. However, in order to
make the proteins that replicate the DNA, the DNA would already have to be present. So which came first?
(It’s a chicken and egg problem.) How does the existence of RNA molecules with the ability to selfreplicate solve this dilemma? (See also the Biointeractive video ‘Enzyme that are Not Proteins’)
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
17. In 1986, Walter Gilbert proposed the term “RNA World” for an early stage in the origin of life where RNA
preceded both DNA and protein. Explain the evidence for an early “RNA world.” (In addition to the text,
see the web page ‘Exploring Life’s Origin’.)
18. The RNA World Model of the origin of life has faced some difficulties. For one, the abiotic synthesis of
ribonucleotide monomers under early Earth conditions seemed very unlikely. What did John Sutherland’s
group at The University of Manchester find that makes the RNA World Model of the origin of life more
plausible? (See the ScienceNow Video)
PART 3: WRITTEN RESPONSE – What’s your opinion?
Metabolism or RNA: Which came first?
Read the Scientific American article, A Simpler Origin for Life by Robert Shapiro (June 2007), then read the
Scientific American article, Life on Earth by Alonso Ricardo and Jack W. Szostak (September 2009). These
articles can be found on Mr. Boylan’s web page.
Reference these articles (you may include anything you’ve learned in Parts 1 and 2) and write a one – two page
essay arguing your opinion of which you believe came first, metabolism or RNA. If you are not completely
sold, reference what you believe are strong points and weak spots in each argument. Type your essay and
submit it on or before September 3rd. Instructions for submitting your essay through Turnitin will be provided
on the first day of class.
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
The Book Review Assignment
In this assignment, you will read a book of your choice and write a book review. The book you
review must be chosen from a list of 13 possible books you will find following these
instructions. The list is organized by “Big Ideas,” so the book you choose will definitely relate to
the idea under which it is listed. However, since the “Big Ideas” are just that, BIG IDEAS, they
have broad applicability across virtually all topics in biology. In addition to explaining what your
chosen book has to say about the primary idea, your review must also discuss how another of the
three remaining “Big Ideas” plays a role in the topic of the book. After reading your chosen
book, write a 500- to 1000-word review. The book review will be worth 60 points. A rubric is on
page 16. The review should be typed and include the following:
 Description of the central message of the book/author’s intent.
 A summary of the book’s contents and how it relates to two of the “Big Ideas” of biology
that will focus our study of biology when school begins in September. What does the
book have to say about those ideas? The “Big Ideas” are listed below:
o Big Idea 1: The process of evolution drives the diversity and unity of life
o Big Idea 2: Biological systems utilize free energy and molecular building blocks
to grow, to reproduce and to maintain dynamic homeostasis.
o Big Idea 3: Living systems store, retrieve, transmit and respond to information
essential to life processes.
o Big Idea 4: Biological systems interact, and these systems and their interactions
possess complex properties.
 Critique the book. What did you like and/or dislike about the book? See the rubric for
details.
List of Summer Reading Books (choose one)
Big Idea 1: The process of evolution drives the diversity and
unity of life.




Evolution is a change in the genetic makeup of a population over time, with natural
selection its major driving mechanism.
In addition to the process of natural selection, naturally occurring catastrophic and
human induced events as well as random environmental changes can result in alteration
in the gene pools of populations.
Scientific evidence supports the idea that both speciation and extinction have
occurred throughout Earth’s history and that life continues to evolve within a changing
environment, thus explaining the diversity of life.
The process of evolution explains the diversity and unity of life, but an explanation about
the origin of life is less clear.
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
1. The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time, by Jonathan Wiener, 1995,
ISBN-13 9780679733379
Rosemary and Peter Grant and those assisting them have spent twenty years on Daphne Major, an island in the
Galapagos studying natural selection. They have observed about twenty generations of finches -- continuously.
Jonathan Weiner follows these scientists as they watch Darwin's finches and come up with a new understanding of
life itself.
Reason book was chosen: The author offers a great explanation of the process of natural selection, the main
mechanism of evolution, and describes the most detailed natural experiment documenting the power of natural
selection to shape species.
Available at Bucks County Free Library.
2. At the Water’s Edge: Fish with Fingers, Whales with Legs, and How Life Came Ashore
but then Went Back to Sea, by Carl Zimmer, 1999, ISBN-13: 9780684856230
Darwin's idea of natural selection was the key to solving generation-to-generation evolution — microevolution —
but it could only point us toward a complete explanation, still to come, of the engines of macroevolution, the
transformation of body shapes across millions of years. Now, drawing on the latest fossil discoveries and
breakthrough scientific analysis, Carl Zimmer reveals how macroevolution works. Escorting us along the trail of
discovery up to the current dramatic research in paleontology, ecology, genetics, and embryology, Zimmer shows
how scientists today are unveiling the secrets of life that biologists struggled with two centuries ago.
Reason book was chosen: The book describes evidence for one of the major evolutionary transitions, the
colonization of the land by the earliest tetrapod ancestors. The book illustrates how scientists investigate
unobservable events that occurred in the Earth’s distant past by finding and analyzing the traces those events left
behind in the rock record and in the DNA of living organisms. Zimmer is one of the best science writers working
today.
Available at Bucks County Free Library.
3. T-rex and the Crater of Doom, by Walter Alvarez, 1998, ISBN-13: 9780691131030
Sixty-five million years ago, a comet or asteroid larger than Mt. Everest slammed into the Earth, causing an
explosion equivalent to the detonation of a hundred million hydrogen bombs. Vaporized impactor and debris from
the impact site were blasted out through the atmosphere, falling back to Earth all around the globe. Terrible
environmental disasters ensued, including a giant tsunami, continent-scale wildfires, darkness, and cold, followed
by sweltering greenhouse heat. When conditions returned to normal, half the genera of plants and animals on Earth
had perished. This horrific story is now widely accepted as the solution to a great scientific murder mystery what
caused the extinction of the dinosaurs? In T. rex and the Crater of Doom, the story of the scientific detective work
that went into solving the mystery is told by geologist Walter Alvarez, one of the four Berkeley scientists who
discovered the first evidence for the giant impact.
Reason book was chosen: The book describes how scientists use traces left behind by past events to scientifically
investigate the history of life. It’s forensic science, but in this case the murder took place over a much longer time
frame than the cases on CSI, and the time that has elapsed since the murder is even longer than the cases solved on
Cold Case. While reading this book, you should also consider the significance of extinction to evolution.
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
4. Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body, by Neil
Shubin, 2008, ISBN-13: 978-0307277459
Why do we look the way we do? Neil Shubin, the paleontologist and professor of anatomy who co-discovered
Tiktaalik, the “fish with hands,” tells the story of our bodies as you've never heard it before. By examining fossils
and DNA, he shows us that our hands actually resemble fish fins, our heads are organized like long-extinct jawless
fish, and major parts of our genomes look and function like those of worms and bacteria. Your Inner Fish makes us
look at ourselves and our world in an illuminating new light. This is science writing at its finest—enlightening,
accessible and told with irresistible enthusiasm.
Reason book was chosen: The book describes the evidence for evolution found in the oddities and imperfections
found in all living things, including humans. William Paley famously compared organisms to designed artifacts like
a watch. But his analogy fails in many respects. In the words of the molecular biologist Francois Jacob, evolution is
a “tinkerer,” not a grand designer. The adaptations we find in living things result from modifying (‘tinkering with’)
existing structures, not designing new ones from scratch. This results in oddities and imperfections in the ‘design’
of living things that record the pathway through history by which the adaptations evolved. This is evidence for
evolution.
Big Idea 2: Biological systems utilize free energy and
molecular building blocks to grow, to reproduce and to
maintain dynamic homeostasis.





Living systems require free energy and matter to maintain order, grow and reproduce.
Autotrophic cells capture free energy through photosynthesis and chemosynthesis.
Photosynthesis traps free energy present in sunlight that, in turn, is used to produce
carbohydrates from carbon dioxide. Chemosynthesis captures energy present in inorganic
chemicals. Cellular respiration and fermentation harvest free energy from sugars to
produce free energy carriers, including ATP. The free energy available in sugars drives
metabolic pathways in cells. Photosynthesis and respiration are interdependent processes.
Cells and organisms must exchange matter with the environment.
Membranes allow cells to create and maintain internal environments that differ from
external environments.
Organisms also have feedback mechanisms that maintain dynamic homeostasis by
allowing them to respond to changes in their internal and external environments.
5. Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life, 2006, by Nick Lane, ISBN13: 9780199205646
Dr. Nick Lane (University College, London) has written his second book about the cellular organelles referred to
as the ‘powerhouses of cells’—the mitochondria. If it weren't for mitochondria, scientists argue, we'd all still be
single-celled bacteria. Indeed, these tiny structures inside our cells are important beyond imagining. Without
mitochondria, we would have no cell suicide, no sculpting of embryonic shape, no sexes, no menopause, no aging.
Reason book was chosen: Energy is essential for maintaining homeostasis in living things. Mitochondria are
known as the ‘powerhouses of the cell’. Virtually all eukaryotic cells get most of their usable energy in the form of
ATP molecules generated by mitochondria.
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
6. Invention of Air: A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution, and the Birth of America, 2009,
by Steven Johnson, ISBN-13: 9781594484018
This is not strictly a biology book, rather it is multidisciplinary with some interesting biological threads running
through it. It is the story of Joseph Priestley—scientist and theologian, protégé of Benjamin Franklin, friend of
Thomas Jefferson—an eighteenth-century radical thinker who played pivotal roles in the invention of ecosystem
science, the discovery of oxygen, the founding of the Unitarian Church, and the intellectual development of the
United States. And it is a story that only Steven Johnson, acclaimed juggler of disciplines and provocative ideas,
can do justice to.
Reason book was chosen: If you choose to read this book, be sure to think about the importance of energy flow in
the evolution of complex systems. Energy flow was also important to the evolution of more complex eukaryotic
cells from their prokaryotic ancestors.
7. Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, 2006, by Michael Pollan, ISBN13: 9781594200823
What should we have for dinner?" To one degree or another, this simple question assails any creature faced with a
wide choice of things to eat. Anthropologists call it the omnivore's dilemma. Choosing from among the countless
potential foods nature offers, humans have had to learn what is safe, and what isn't—which mushrooms should be
avoided, for example, and which berries we can enjoy. Today, as America confronts what can only be described as
a national eating disorder, the omnivore's dilemma has returned with an atavistic vengeance. The cornucopia of the
modern American supermarket and fast-food outlet has thrown us back on a bewildering landscape where we once
again have to worry about which of those tasty-looking morsels might kill us. At the same time we're realizing that
our food choices also have profound implications for the health of our environment. The Omnivore's Dilemma is
bestselling author Michael Pollan's brilliant and eye-opening exploration of these little-known but vitally important
dimensions of eating in America.
Reason book was chosen: All organisms require a constant flow of energy through their cells in order to maintain
their existence. This requirement has consequences not just for the health and welfare of the human species, but for
many other species as well. Human activities, including the activity of providing people with food, has a significant
impact on the environment. As a result, this book can be related to several of the four big ideas.
Big Idea 3: Living systems store, retrieve, transmit and
respond to information essential to life processes.


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
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
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Genetic information provides for continuity of life and, in most cases, this information
is passed from parent to offspring via DNA.
In eukaryotic organisms, heritable information is packaged into chromosomes that are
passed to daughter cells.
Mendel was able to describe a model of inheritance of traits, and his work represents an
application of mathematical reasoning to a biological problem.
The expression of genetic material controls cell products, and these products determine
the metabolism and nature of the cell.
Genetic information is a repository of instructions necessary for the survival, growth
and reproduction of the organism.
Genetic variation is almost always advantageous for the long-term survival and evolution
of a species.
To function in a biological system, cells communicate with other cells and respond
to the external environment.
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
8. The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA, by
James Watson, 2001, ISBN-13: 9780743216302
By identifying the structure of DNA, the molecule of life, Francis Crick and James Watson revolutionized
biochemistry and won themselves a Nobel Prize. At the time, Watson was only twenty-four, a young scientist
hungry to make his mark. His uncompromisingly honest account of the heady days of their thrilling sprint against
other world-class researchers to solve one of science's greatest mysteries gives a dazzlingly clear picture of a
world of brilliant scientists with great gifts, very human ambitions, and bitter rivalries. With humility unspoiled by
false modesty, Watson relates his and Crick's desperate efforts to beat Linus Pauling to the Holy Grail of life
sciences, the identification of the basic building block of life.
Reason book was chosen: The reader of this book will have a much better grasp of how a molecule like DNA can
store hereditary information. The book also illustrates the importance to scientific research of the process of
modeling.
Available at Bucks County Free Library.
9. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters, by Matt Ridley, 2006, ISBN-13:
9780060894085
The human genome, the complete set of genes housed in twenty-three pairs of chromosomes, is nothing less than
an autobiography of our species. Spelled out in a billion three-letter words using the four-letter alphabet of DNA,
the genome has been edited, abridged, altered and added to as it has been handed down, generation to generation,
over more than three billion years.
Reason book was chosen: In a little over one hundred years geneticists have uncovered the basic mechanisms of
heredity and achieved a very important milestone by sequencing the entire human genome. Journalist Ridley’s
Genome provides an account of some of the information scientists have found in the human genome.
Available at Bucks County Free Library.
10. One Renegade Cell: The Quest for the Origin of Cancer, by Robert Weinberg, 1999,
ISBN-13: 9780465072767
An examination into cancers origins and how the cells grow and spread...sheds light on the different treatments
available and discoveries in recent years that can lead to an eventual cure. One Renegade Cell: How Cancer Begins
is part primer, part history and part meditation. It succeeds on all counts. Even readers who recoil from science as
though a lead curtain has fallen in their minds, will find Mr. Weinberg's book engaging.
Reason book was chosen: Cancer is one of the major causes of death in developed countries. Cancer research has
resulted in major advances in the understanding of basic cellular processes. One of the basic cellular processes that
plays an important role in cancer is cell communication. The author of this book was the first person to discover an
oncogene (cancer gene).
11. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot, 2010, ISBN-13:
9781400052172
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who
worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most
important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though
she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh
more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings.
Reason book was chosen: HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer,
viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene
mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.
21
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
Big Idea 4: Biological systems interact, and these systems
and their interactions possess complex properties.




All biological systems are composed of parts that interact with each other. These
interactions result in characteristics not found in the individual parts alone. In other
words, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
Biological systems are organized hierarchically
o At the molecular level, the subcomponents of a biological polymer determine the
properties of that polymer.
o At the cellular level, organelles interact with each other as part of a coordinated
system that keeps the cell alive, growing and reproducing.
o Interactions and coordination between organs and organ systems determine
essential biological activities for the organism as a whole.
o At the population level, as environmental conditions change, community structure
changes both physically and biologically.
o The study of ecosystems seeks to understand the manner in which species are
distributed in nature and how they are influenced by their abiotic and biotic
interactions, e.g., species interactions.
Interactions, including competition and cooperation, play important roles in the activities
of biological systems. Interactions between molecules affect their structure and function.
Variations in components within biological systems provide a greater flexibility to
respond to changes in its environment.
12. Tree: A Life Story, by David Suzuki and Wayne Grady, 2004, ISBN-13: 9781553651260
In Tree: A Life Story, authors David Suzuki and Wayne Grady extend that celebration in a "biography" of this
extraordinary — and extraordinarily important — organism. A story that spans a millennium and includes a cast of
millions but focuses on a single tree, a Douglas fir, Tree describes in poetic detail the organism's modest origins
that begin with a dramatic burst of millions of microscopic grains of pollen. The authors recount the amazing
characteristics of the species, how they reproduce and how they receive from and offer nourishment to generations
of other plants and animals.
Reason book was chosen: Using a tree as an example, this book illustrates the web of interactions that every
organisms is involved in during its lifetime.
13. Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software, by Steven
Johnson, 2000, ISBN-13: 9780684868769
Steven Johnson, acclaimed as a "cultural critic with a poet's heart" (The Village Voice), takes readers on an eyeopening journey through emergence theory and its applications. Explaining why the whole is sometimes smarter
than the sum of its parts, Johnson presents surprising examples of feedback, self-organization, and adaptive
learning. How does a lively neighborhood evolve out of a disconnected group of shopkeepers, bartenders, and real
estate developers? How does a media event take on a life of its own? How will new software programs create an
intelligent World Wide Web?
Reason book was chosen: This book explains how complex systems display emergent properties as a result of
the interactions among their component parts.
22
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
Pennsbury High School
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
14. Conversations with Neil’s Brain by William Calvin and George A. Ojemann, 1995,
ISBN-13: 978-0201483376
In a series of stories before, after, and even during neurosurgery, an epileptic patient, Neil; his surgeon, George
Ojemann; and neuroscientist William Calvin work together to remove a portion of Neil’s temporal lobe. If they do
it right, they will have a good chance of putting an end to Neil’s seizures. If they slice too far to the left or right,
they will wipe out essential parts of Neil’s memory, or his ability to follow a joke to the punch line, or maybe his
ability to recognize his wife’s face. In essence, they can erase or alter parts of Neil. Conversations with Neil’s
Brain takes us inside the operating room and allows us to be part of this eerie process of discovery, using it to
provide a unique window on human consciousness and the nature of human identity. The mapping of Neil’s brain
brings to life as never before the astounding specificity by which the brain operates, making clear why language,
memory, and decision making are so complex, and why the cures for such ailments as learning disabilities, mental
disorders, Alzheimer’s, and strokes continue to elude the world’s best medical efforts. In the context of this
unique surgical drama, Conversations with Neil’s Brain unfolds as an intensely compelling read.
Reason book was chosen: Neuroscience is one of the fields on the cutting edge of the life sciences. This book
touches on concepts from all of the Big Ideas in the AP Biology curriculum. This book is also available online at
http://williamcalvin.com/bk7/bk7.htm.
15. Through a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe, by Jane Goodall,
2010, ISBN-13: 9780547336954
Through a Window is the dramatic saga of thirty years in the life of an intimately intertwined community—one
that reads like a novel, but is one of the most important scientific works ever published. The community is
Gombe, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, where the principal residents are chimpanzees and one extraordinary
woman who is their student, protector, and historian.
Reason book was chosen: This book provides the reader with insights into the roles of communication,
cooperation and competition in the survival of a social species.
16. How Brains Think: Evolving Intelligence, Then and Now, by William Calvin, 1997,
ISBN-13: 978-0465072781
If you’re good at finding the one right answer to life’s multiple-choice questions, you’re ‘smart.’ But
“intelligence” is what you need when contemplating the leftovers in the refrigerator, trying to figure out what
might go with them; or if you’re trying to speak a sentence that you’ve never spoken before. As Jean Piaget said,
intelligence is what you use when you don’t know what to do, when all the standard answers are inadequate. This
book tries to fathom how our inner life evolves from one topic to another, as we create and reject alternatives.
Ever since Darwin, we’ve known that elegant things can emerge (indeed, self-organize) from ‘simpler’
beginnings. And, says theoretical neurophysiologist William H. Calvin, the bootstrapping of new ideas works
much like the immune response or the evolution of a new animal species—except that the brain can turn the
Darwinian crank a lot faster, on the time scale of thought and action. Drawing on anthropology, evolutionary
biology, linguistics, and the neurosciences, Calvin also considers how a more intelligent brain developed using
slow biological improvements over the last few million years. Long ago, evolving jack-of-all trades versatility
was encouraged by abrupt climate changes. Now, evolving intelligence uses a nonbiological track: augmenting
human intelligence and building intelligent machines.
Reason book was chosen: Neuroscience is one of the fields on the cutting edge of the life sciences. This book
touches on concepts from all of the Big Ideas in the AP Biology curriculum.
23
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2015-16
3 Points
BookHigh
Review
Pennsbury
School
Rubric
Introduction _______
Big Idea (Theme) #1:
Summary
_______
Big Idea (Theme) #2:
Summary
_______
Opinion / Critique
_______
Organization _______
(Due on or before September 3, 2015)
2 Points
Mr. Boylan
and Mr. Cooper
1 Points
0 Points
Proficient
Apprentice
Novice
Book review intro is mildly
interesting.
Book review intro lacks
interest.
No attempt was made to catch
the reader's attention.
Summary consists of a
thorough discussion of a
major biological theme
discussed in the book (see page
7 for a list of the themes).
Discussion reflects student’s indepth understanding of the
theme.
Summary consists of a
adequate discussion of a
major biological theme
discussed in the book (see page
7 for a list of the themes).
Discussion reflects student’s
sufficient understanding of the
theme.
Summary consists of a limited
discussion of a major biological
theme discussed in the book
(see page 7 for a list of the
themes). Discussion reflects
little understanding of the
theme.
No discussion of a major
biological theme.
Summary consists of a
thorough discussion of a
major biological theme
discussed in the book (see page
7 for a list of the themes).
Discussion reflects student’s indepth understanding of the
theme.
Summary consists of a
adequate discussion of a
major biological theme
discussed in the book (see page
7 for a list of the themes).
Discussion reflects student’s
sufficient understanding of the
theme.
Summary consists of a limited
discussion of a major biological
theme discussed in the book
(see page 7 for a list of the
themes). Discussion reflects
little understanding of the
theme.
No discussion of a major
biological theme.
Reviewer offers his or her
opinion on all of the following
aspects the book. Reviewer
reacts to the author’s aims or
intent, how well it is written
and the overall success or
failure of the book.
Reviewer offers his or her
opinion on some of the book’s
aspects. Reviewer also writes a
recommendation to readers.
Reviewer offers his or her
opinion on very little of the
book’s aspects. Reviewer also
writes a recommendation to
readers.
Reviewer merely provides a
summary and offers no opinion
of the book or commentary on
its relevance to biology.
Structure of the review flows
and is easily read because of
logical organization and smooth
transitions from paragraph to
paragraph. There is a clear
introduction, body and
conclusion.
Structure of the paper flows
and is easily read, but 1 or 2
transitions may be faulty or
missing. There is some illogical
order in sequence of topics.
There is a clear introduction,
body and conclusion.
Structure of the paper does not
follow a logical order. The
writing or ideas may “jump”
around; it is not cohesive.
There is not a clear introduction
or conclusion.
Structure of the paper does not
follow a logical order. There are
no transitional phrases that
make it easy to read the
paper…or… review is just a
copying of the original book.
Distinguished
Intro is very interesting and
hooks the reader with the first
few sentences; includes the
title, author, and the author’s
purpose for writing the book.
24
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
Pennsbury High School
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
The Concept Mapping Assignment
Constructing Good Concept Maps
Your ultimate goal in AP Biology should be to understand the concepts and be able to retrieve,
and apply them in the future. Understanding concepts, remembering them, and using them in
your future academic pursuits, requires that you move them into your long-term memory.
Furthermore, the concepts must be stored in your memory in a way that makes ‘links’ between
the new concepts and concepts already stored in your memory. This requires doing something
active with the information to organize it and thereby organize your brain to recall it. Concept
mapping is one way to accomplish this. Here’s how you make a concept map.
1. Prepare a focus question – questions that require explanation, rather than simple description
or classification, usually lead to better concept maps. However, the simple example shown
below involves classification.
2. Identify the key concepts– usually 15 to 20 concepts that apply to this domain will suffice.
3. Produce a rank-ordered list – Organize the concepts from the most general, most inclusive
concept to the most specific, least general concept.
4. Construct a preliminary concept map – This can be done on a sheet of paper, by writing
the terms on Post-its®, or by using CmapTools (see page 7). Use as many of the words from
your list as possible.
5. Revise the concept map – A concept map is never finished. After a preliminary map is
constructed, it is always necessary to revise the map. Other concepts can be added. Good
maps usually result from three to many revisions. Final maps must be on paper, neatly
constructed and legible.
Here’s an example of a simple concept map, one that might be generated by an elementary
school student.
Given the focus question: “What is an organism?” the student identifies the following key
concepts from their textbook:
Animal
Organism
Plant
Next the student produces a rank-ordered list (i.e., Broadest to most specific)
Organism (Broadest concept)
Animal, Plant (Both more specific than organism, but about equal in generality)
Finally, the student constructs a preliminary concept map, including linking words, a cross
link, and examples. Since this is such a simple example, no revision is possible.
25
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
Pennsbury High School
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
Organism
(Concept)
Plants
(Concept)
Ex: Grass
(Example)
Could be
(link)
Eat
(Cross link)
Animals
(Concept)
Ex: Cow
(Example)
Scores on concept maps will be based on the following five criteria:
Scoring Criteria for Concept Maps
1. Terms (Concepts). Are all of the assigned terms used and a minimum of five additional,
related terms added?
2. Propositions (links). Is the meaning relationship indicated between each pair of concepts
by a connecting line and linking word(s)? Is the relationship valid?
3. Hierarchy. Does the map show hierarchy? Is each subordinate concept more specific and
less general than the concept drawn above it (in the context of the material being mapped)?
4. Cross links. Does the map show meaningful connections between one segment of the
concept hierarchy and another segment? Is the relationship shown significant and valid?
5. Examples. Are specific events or objects that are valid instances of those designated by the
concept label included?
A scoring rubric is provided on the next page.
26
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
Pennsbury High School
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
Concept Map Rubric
Maximum Possible Score = 25
Concepts
Propositions
(Terms)
(Correct Links)
All ten terms are used, plus
additional, related terms are
incorporated into the map.
~15 – 20 terms used
All propositions (links)
correct.
4
All ten terms used.
3
Map correctly organized as a
hierarchy of concepts.
Broader concepts at top to
more specific at the bottom.
Two (2) points per cross link.
3
Maximum of 6 pts.
Examples
One (1) point per example.
Maximum of 5 pts.
Some evidence of
hierarchical organization.
Some errors
3
Few propositions (links)
correct.
2
Five or fewer terms used.
Cross Links
4
Most propositions (links)
correct.
Most of the ten terms used.
Hierarchy X 2
2
Little or no evidence of
hierarchical organization.
2
1
No propositions (links)
correct.
1
1
Score Summary
Concepts (4 possible points)
__________
Propositions (Links), (4 possible points)
__________
Hierarchy (6 possible points)
__________
Cross Links (6 possible points)
__________
Examples (5 possible points)
__________
================================================
Total (25 possible points)
__________
27
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
Pennsbury High School
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
Here’s the map constructed by our elementary student. Let’s apply the rubric to this map.
Organisms
(Concept)
Plants
(Concept)
Ex: Grass
(Example)
Could be
(link)
Animals
(Concept)
Eat
(Cross link)
Ex: Cow
(Example)
The student used all of the terms provided, but no additional terms
There are two links: Organism → Plant, and Organism → Animal
(The concepts are linked by ‘could be’ forming two valid propositions)
The map is hierarchical (Plants and Animals are subsumed under Organism)
There is one valid cross link between Animals and Plants
Two correct examples are provided
3 points
4 points
6 points
2 points
2 points
________
Total = 17 points
28
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
Pennsbury High School
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
The Concept Map
Biodiversity: A Matter of Species Survival (see pp. 44 – 46 for an essay and web pages on
biodiversity)
Focus Question: What is biodiversity and why is it important?
Concepts:
Animals
Archaea
Bacteria
Eukarya
Extinction
Fungi
Plants
Protoctists (Protists)
Species
Interactions
Correctly using all ten of these concepts in your map will earn you a 3 on the rubric. You must find at least five
(5) additional key scientific terms in the essay, or elsewhere, and include them correctly in your map to earn the
maximum score of 4.
The concept map you turn in on the first day of school (September 3rd) can be hand-written on paper, but they
should be neatly constructed and legible. If you feel comfortable using a computer, your maps can be
constructed on CmapTools (http://cmap.ihmc.us/conceptmap.html).
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
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Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
30
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
Pennsbury High School
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
31
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
Pennsbury High School
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
32
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
Pennsbury High School
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
33
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
Pennsbury High School
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
34
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
Pennsbury High School
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
35
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
Pennsbury High School
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
36
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
Pennsbury High School
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
37
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
Pennsbury High School
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
38
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
Pennsbury High School
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
39
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
Pennsbury High School
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
40
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
Pennsbury High School
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
41
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
Pennsbury High School
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
42
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
Pennsbury High School
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
43
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
Pennsbury High School
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
Essay #1
Biodiversity: A Matter of Species Survival
We humans are in the habit of considering ourselves above nature or apart from it. We like to
think of ourselves as special—if not the chosen species, the most accomplished one, whose
brains, or tool-making ability, or ability to make arches, or opposable thumbs, or erect stance,
speech, or self-consciousness, make us superior to every other life form. Humans seem
determined to find or declare something—anything—with which to prove ourselves the most
highly evolved species on Earth.
This haughty attitude is part of our self-confidence as a species; it has served us well. As it can
be healthy for an individual to believe strongly in his or her own self-worth, so
anthropocentrism2 can promote the survival of a social species. The Bible says that plants and
animals were created for the benefit and use of man; by ten thousand years ago people already
were in the habit of growing plants in agriculture, using animals for clothing, meat, and moving.
Today people are more aware that through our activities we are producing the extinction of many
species. But the widespread belief in our specialness, anthropocentrism, has remained. The
difference is that now, instead of thinking that our specialness countenances us to use other
organisms as we see fit, we believe it is our duty to be in charge of, to manage, to engineer the
make-up of life on Earth, to be planetary stewards. Instead of thinking living beings are God’s
gift to us, we now act as if we were the lords of the Earth. We still think we are special.
There is a thin line between self-confidence and megalomania. And this thin line moves: the
anthropocentrism, the species self-centeredness that was once a survival trait has now become a
burden to our survival. Homo sapiens began as an obscure African primate, but has now evolved,
like a mammalian weed, into over 5 billion people inhabiting all land masses on the planet. Such
wild success transforms ecological relationships. Long before plants and animals ever evolved,
photosynthetic cyanobacteria mutated to use water as a source of hydrogen in photosynthesis.
This innovation was as important for the cyanobacteria as technological intelligence was for
humans. It helped the bacteria spread across land surfaces and through waterways all over the
planet. But, as with Staphylococcus, a microbe normally found on the skin that can get out of
control and cause us infection, wild ecological success may have serious consequences. The
cyanobacteria that used water as a source of hydrogen produced oxygen as their waste, giving
Earth for the first time an oxygen-rich atmosphere. This oxygen was similar to the pollution
produced by our cars and factories. Indeed, although eventually it was successfully disposed of
by many respiring organisms, oxygen killed most of the bacteria that produced it. Cyanobacteria
caused world-wide pollution that pushed other gene-trading bacteria underground, out of the way
of this pollution.
Organisms struggle but they also work together to survive. The human body contains so many
normal bacteria, fungi, and other microbes that if all our cells were zapped away, our silhouette
2
The belief that human beings are the central or most significant species on the planet (in the sense that they are
considered to have a moral status or value higher than that of other animals), or the assessment of reality through an
exclusively human perspective.
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
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Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
would still shimmer, a living ghost made of these subvisible organisms. Some of these microbes
are benign, other, such as the bacteria in our gut that aid in the metabolic production of vitamin
B12, are positively helpful. Biochemical and genetic studies have proved beyond a reasonable
doubt the thesis that nucleated cells comprising animal tissues are the result, evolutionarily, of
symbiosis—the living together of diverse types of bacteria. Different bacteria that formed
alliances, billions of years ago, are at the core of our being. No ecosystem of one single species
can persist; biodiversity is a prerequisite to survival.
As went the past, so goes the future. To live on a planet we have crowded with our toxins and
ourselves requires that we forgo the selfishness that served us so well in our phase of settling
throughout the Earth. Approximately thirty million species now c0-inhabit the Earth. We are one.
Yet because of poaching, clearing land for monocrop agriculture, razing the rainforest for cattle
and cars, and other activities typical of technological humanity, animal, plant and microbial
species of little direct interest to urban people become extinct daily. Indeed, the paleontologists
have warned that the present rate of species extinction at the hands of humanity is the greatest
since the Cretaceous Era when not only the dinosaurs but many marine microbes, land plants,
and other species disappeared forever. Species today suffer extinction before they can even be
named, recorded, and described in the scientific literature!
Biodiversity is the word used to discuss the richness of different life forms living together. All
animals, plants, fungi, and protoctists on the planet have descended from biodiverse aggregates,
from bacteria inhabiting the cytoplasm of other different bacteria. Biodiverse bacterial
aggregates first formed new cells, protoctist cells, from which all animals, plants, and fungi later
evolved. A recent taxonomic grouping of the bewildering diversity of 30 million living species
into the three domains and four kingdoms is depicted at the end of this essay.
There is strength numbers, in the pioneering stage when members of a newly evolved species
rapidly spread into, as yet, unexploited environments. But to survive after the period of spread
requires reconciliation and integration in new environments. No organism is an island. The
elements making up life—carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur—are
limited on Earth and must be efficiently recycled. No single organism, or even single population
of organisms, can recycle the elements on which it depends. Certain collections of bacteria,
living together in organized communities (such as microbial mats) are metabolically diverse
enough to provide for themselves. But all so-called “higher” organisms (and our view of
ourselves as the highest is just another form of that old self-aggrandizement) depend on the gasexchanging, sewage-transforming, pollution-dispersing skills of the microbial world: the
bacteria, protoctists, and fungi. Wherever there is a living human or a tiger or even a dung beetle
there is an entire supporting biosphere. The biosphere—the system of Earth life—is by definition
biodiverse enough to be self-maintained. Yet, although bacteria, like those forming mat
communities, cam accomplish total recycling of the elements listed above by themselves,
recycling occurs more quickly and thoroughly when more complex organisms such as large
seaweeds and fish are present in the ecosystem.
Certain natural settings rich in vegetation and animal life often induce in us a sublime feeling of
serenity and beauty. The green environment, uncrowded with other humans, whether cloud forest
or savannah, sea coast or mountain valley, awakens something deep inside us. This feeling is
probably no accident. “Biophilia” is the name scientists have given to our natural attraction
45
AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
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Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
toward other life forms—toward nonhuman nature. Whatever our anthropocentric delusions of
grandeur, people were never self-sufficient. We are the children of tropical forests, of the brightcolored fruit and sweet-smelling flowers that attracted and fed our primate ancestors. We are the
children not only of our own primate ancestors but of their biodiverse environments, rich in
fauna and flora, fungi, and other microbiota. When our ancestors turned to hunting and eating
meat to live, they depended not only on animals such as cervids (venison). Bovines (buffalo hide,
milk, cheese) and gallinaceous birds (chicken, turkey) but on the grasses (corn, wheat, rice) and
other seed plants in the soil of their underlying environments, all teeming with life.
We should protect Earth’s biodiversity not only because rainforests may harbor the medicines or
wonder hormones of tomorrow. A far deeper rationale is the one confirmed by the inner feeling
of natural awe that over comes us upon visiting a biodiverse scene: the interliving of distinct
species is not just some duty in our charge as self-appointed stewards of Earth, it is the birthright
of those organisms that, beyond their initial wild phase of growth, continue to survive.
Web Sites that may help with understanding biodiversity
E. O Wilson, My Wish: Build the Encyclopedia of Life TED Talk
What is Biodiversity? The National Wildlife Federation
All in the Family PBS Evolution Web Site
History of Life Through Time UC Museum of Paleontology
Discovering the Tree of Life Video Yale Peabody Museum
Encyclopedia of Life
Tree of Life Web Project
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
Pennsbury High School
Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
Domain Archaea
Prokaryotic cell organization (single, circular
chromosome with no histones, some genes
contain introns), archaebacterial ribosomes with
16S rRNA, ether-linked lipids, diverse metabolic
modes (methanogenic, thermacidophilic, and
halophilic)
Halobacteria sp.
Domain Bacteria
Escherichia coli
Domain Eukarya—Consists of four Kingdoms:
Protista, Plantae, Fungi, Animalia

Prokaryotic cell organization (single, circular
chromosome with no histones, no genes contain
introns), eubacterial ribosomes with 16S rRNA,
non-ether-linked lipids, cell wall composed of
peptidoglycan, diverse metabolic modes
(photoautotrophs, photoheterotrophs,
chemoautotrophs, and chemoheterotrophs)
Nucleated cell organization with chromatin
(histones, nucleosomes, nuclear pore complexes,
genes contain introns), large ribosomes, mitotic
karyokinesis, actin-based cytokinesis,
microtubule-based intracellular motility
Kingdom Protista
Very diverse group microorganisms and their
larger descendants, mostly unicellular, though
some are colonial or multicellular, diverse
metabolically (photoautotrophic,
chemoheterotrophic)

Kingdom Plantae
Multicellular, gametophytes develop from haploid
spores, fertilization produces sporophyte embryos
that are retained in maternal tissue, cell walls
made of cellulose, photoautotrophic

Kingdom Fungi
Multicellular, haploid or dikaryotic, cell wall
composed of chitin, chemoheterotrophic and
saprophytic

Kingdom Animalia
Multicellular, diploids develop from zygote into
blastula embryos, no cell walls,
chemoheterotrophic, ingest food (phagotrophic)
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AP Biology – Summer Assignments 2014-15 (Due on or before September 3, 2014)
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Mr. Boylan and Mr. Cooper
48