Download ap biology summer assignment 2017

AP BIOLOGY Summer Assignment
Mrs. Isengard-Westside High School
This guide is used to review Atoms & Molecules, and Ecology. These are two units that are covered in your
prerequisite Biology and Chemistry courses. Please use:
Online sources: Bozeman Science, Crash Course, Khan Academy, Quizlet
Biology Campbell Workbook Summaries & Textbooks,
Please email me at [email protected] if you have difficulty.
You may use your textbook and any online resources (please cite any you use) to answer the following
questions.
This assignment will be due the first day of school and the information will appear in a test that month.
FIRST STEP: Please be sure to register for AP Biology Google
Classroom (www.classroom.google.com)
You’ll register with the following invite code -
9wiwe3
Name-_______________________________
Summer Assignment
1) “Life” is easy to recognize but difficult to define. The dictionary defines life as “the state or quality that
distinguishes living beings or organisms from dead ones and from inorganic matter, characterized
chiefly by metabolism, growth, and the ability to reproduce and respond to stimuli.” Biology textbooks
usually elaborate slightly; for example, according to a popular text, living things:
a. Are highly organized compared to natural inanimate objects.
b. Display homeostasis, maintaining a relatively constant internal environment.
c. Reproduce themselves.
d. Grow and develop from simple beginnings.
e. Take energy and matter from the environment and transform it.
f. Respond to stimuli.
g. Show adaptation to their environment.
Score yourself, a car, and a cactus with respect to these characteristics. Is there any grey area? In the context of
what you just did, why could defining life be an elusive business?
2) In 1944, at the beginning of the book, What is Life, the great physicist Erwin Schrödinger (of cat fame)
asked the following question: “How can the events in time and space which take place within the spatial
boundary of a living organism be accounted for by physics and chemistry?” What would be your
answer today? Do you think there are peculiar properties of living systems that disobey the laws of
physics and chemistry? Explain your answer.
3) It seems to be human nature to try and group living things into categories. These groupings have helped
philosophers and naturalists better understand the living world around them. A taxon is the name given
to any specific level of organization in our current classification system. Identify the taxonomic levels
that biologists most frequently use. How are they organized? Can taxonomic systems be used to show
phylogeny (aka evolutionary relationships) of organisms?
4) Chapter 1 includes heredity (i.e. DNA and genes) as well as evolution. Discuss the connection between
heredity and evolution?
5) What is meant by the term “descent with modification?”
6) Science is often described to work by a set of steps or by a specific method. Why is this not necessarily
true?
7) What is the difference between a hypothesis and a theory?
8) What is the arrangement of protons, neutrons and, electrons in an atom? Describe this verbally then
diagrammatically.
9) A carbon atom contains six protons and six neutrons.
a. Without looking at a periodic table what is carbons atomic number and atomic weight? How did
you know this?
b. How many electrons does it have? How many valence electrons does it have? How did you
know this?
c. How many additional electrons must it add to fill its outermost shell? How does this affect
carbon’s chemical behavior?
d. Carbon with an atomic weight of 14 is radioactive. How does it differ in structure from
nonradioactive carbon? How does this difference affect its chemical behavior?
10) Sketch the electron shell configuration of a sodium atom. According to the octet rule, what would be the
simplest way for a sodium atom to achieve electron stability?
11) Many elements have isotopes, which are rare variants of the element with additional neutrons in the
nucleus. Deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen that has one neutron. Does the neutron change the
chemical reactivity of deuterium, compared with normal hydrogen? Explain why or why not.
12) The concepts of chemical bonding and electronegativity allow us to predict whether a molecule will be
polar or nonpolar, and how it will interact with water. Typically, a difference in electronegativity
greater than 0.5 will result in polarity. For each of the bonds below indicate:
a) Whether the bond is polar or nonpolar
b) If polar which end is + end
c) How a molecule with the bond will interact with water (hydrophilic or hydrophobic).
N-H
C-H
C=O
C-N
O-H
C-C
H-H
O-P
13) Compare electron behavior in ionic, covalent, and hydrogen bonds. Which is strongest, and why?
14) What is the difference between a covalent and a non-covalent bond?
15) Hydrogen bonds and van der Waals attractions are important in the interactions between molecules in
biology.
a. Describe the differences and similarities between van der Waals attractions and hydrogen bonds.
b. Which of the two types of interactions would form (1) between two hydrogens bound to carbon
atoms, (2) between a nitrogen atom and a hydrogen bound to a carbon atom, and (3) between a
nitrogen atom and a hydrogen bound to an oxygen atom?
16) How do variations in electronegativity result in the unequal sharing of electrons in polar molecules?
17) Consider the molecule carbon dioxide. Are the bonds between the C and the O atoms ionic or covalent?
Is this molecule hydrophobic or hydrophilic? Explain your answers.
18) Here is the structure of the molecule glycine:
a) Is this molecule hydrophilic or hydrophobic? Explain.
b) Draw two glycine molecues and show how they can be linked by dehydration synthesis.
19) What is the difference between a solute and a solvent?
20) What is meant by the terms osmosis and diffusion? Are they the same thing? How are they related to
the concepts or hypertonic, isotonic, and hypotonic?
21) Transpiration is the name given to how water travels up a plant, from its roots to its leaves. Discuss how
this happens in the context of waters special properties.
22) The organic chemistry of living cells is said to be special for two reasons: it occurs in an aqueous
environment and it accomplishes some very complex reactions. But do you suppose it’s really all that
much different from the organic chemistry carried out in the top laboratories in the world? Why or why
not?
23) What is pH? What does the pH scale represent? How do you calculate pH?
24) Why is pH important to the functioning of biological systems?
25) How are two monomers linked together? Broken down?
26) Draw the chemical structure of a disaccharide formed by two glucose monosaccharides.
27) Examine the glucose molecule shown in your textbook. Identify the functional groups on the molecule.
28) What are the structural differences between alpha-glucose and beta-glucose? How does this difference
affect the structure of a string of alpha-glucose molecules in comparison to a string of beta- glucose
molecules? Explain why this happens.
29) Some sugars have other functional groups in addition to those typically present. Draw the structure of
the amino sugar glucosamine, which has an amino group bonded at carbon #2 of glucose. Would this
molecule be more or less polar than glucose? Explain why.
30) The molecular formula for glucose is C6H12O6. What would be the molecular formula for a
polysaccharide made by linking ten glucose molecules together by dehydration reactions?
31) What is the difference between fats and oils?
32) Why are phospholipids amphipathic, and how does this result in a lipid bilayer membrane?
33) If fatty acids are carefully put onto the surface of water, they will form a single molecular layer. If the
mixture is then shaken vigorously, the fatty acids will form round structures called micelles. Why does
this happen? Explain.
34) List the key differences between DNA and RNA and between purines and pyrimidines.
35) How can DNA molecules be so diverse when they appear to be structurally similar?
36) What attributes of an amino acid’s R group would make it hydrophobic? Hydrophilic?
37) Sketch the bonding of two amino acids, glycine and leucine, by a peptide linkage. Now add a third
amino acid, alanine, in the position it would have if added within a biological system. What is the
directionality of this process? Does it grow from the N-terminus out or the C-terminus out?
The following questions have some notes with it. Please read through it.
38) What was the first 1° structure of a protein to be determined, and how was it done?
A similar technique based on the overlapping segments is also used to sequence DNA nucleotides which
is called “Chromosome Walking”.
The structure of a protein is so important that changing just one amino acid in a chain of over 100 can
cause a deadly disease.
2° Structure: In many cases you will see a helix or b pleated sheets. Your textbook doesn’t put the b in
front of the pleated sheets, but many references do. The a and b are just there because the helix structure was
discovered first.
39) Which is a stronger structure, an a helix or b pleated sheets. Explain your answer.
Disulfide bridges do not just form spontaneously. Note that there is a H attached to the S in Cysteine.
Thus a group of enzymes known as Protein Disulfide Isomerases (PDI’s) must catalyze the reaction by
removing the H’s in order for the S-S covalent bonds to form. Disulfide bridges can occur in both 3° and 4°
structures. The process is still unknown and it is under investigation because it is very hard to study.
4° Structure: Please note that just because the most commonly used example is hemoglobin with 4
subunits (2 a and 2 b chains), the 4° structure IS NOT the way that 4 polypeptide chains are put together.
According to a reader for the AP exam essays, that was a commonly misused example in the 2001 exam Essay
#4 part (a).
40) What is denaturation, and how can it occur? You must be able to explain not just the what’s (i.e. temp),
but the how’s (how does temperature effect the structure).
41) Detergents disrupt hydrophobic interactions by coating hydrophobic molecules with a molecule that has
a hydrophilic surface. When hemoglobin is treated with a detergent, the four polypeptide chains
separate and become random coils. Explain these observations.
42) The amino acid lysine is at the active site of an enzyme. Normally the enzyme is active at pH 7. At pH
5, the enzyme is inactive. Explain these observations.
43) Biological systems contain “supermolecular complexes,” which are composed of individual molecules
of RNA and protein that fit together noncovalently. These complexes can be split apart with detergents
that disrupt hydrophobic interactions. Based on your knowledge, fill in the table at the right to indicate
which of the observations are characteristic of RNA, which are characteristics of proteins, and which are
characteristics of both. Explain your answers.
Observation
Protein
RNA
Has three-dimensional
structure
Monomers connected by N-C
bonds
3D structure destroyed by heat
Contains sulfur atoms
Contains phosphorus atoms
44) Fill out the following chart:
Primarily used for
Carbohydrate
Examples include
Bonds made to form
polymers
Lipid
Protein
Nucleic Acid
ECOLOGY
1. List the 5 levels of ecological study and give examples of the focus of inquiry at each level:
2. Give an example of a purposefully introduced species and an accidentally introduced species that have
become pests in North America:
3. Mountains affect local climate. Describe their influence in the following three areas:
a. solar radiation:
b. temperature:
c. rainfall:
4. Indicate with a + or – whether the following are relatively high or low in oxygen level, nutrient content
and productivity.
Biome
Oxygen level Nutrient content Productivity
Oligotrophic lake
Eutrophic lake
Headwater of stream
Turbid river
Estuary
5.
6.
7.
8.
Define ecology:
What methods are used to answer ecological questions?
What are biomes?
What accounts for the similarities in life forms found in the same type of biome in geographically
separated areas?
9. Many animals breed in the spring and early summer. What is a probable proximate cause of this
behavior? Probable ultimate cause?
10. What is the sign stimulus for attack behavior in male stickleback fish?
11. Give an example of a FAP in a human infant and the sign stimulus that elicits it.
12. Explain how Zack’s study of whelk-eating crow supports the optimal foraging theory.
13. Indicate the type of learning illustrated by the following examples:
a. Ewes will adopt and nurse a lamb shortly after they five birth to their own lamb but will butt and
reject a lamb introduced a day or two later.
b. A dog, whose early “accidents” were cleaned up with paper towels accompanied with harsh
discipline, hides under the bed any time a paper towel is used in the house.
c. Ducklings eventually ignore a cardboard silhouette of a hawk that is repeatedly flown over them.
d. Kittens stalk and pounce on each other, biting and kicking as they roll around together.
e. In Pavlov’s experiments, the ringing of a bell caused a dog to salivate.
14. Sow bugs are placed in experimental chambers that are either humid or dry and have both light and dark
areas. In the humid chamber, the sow bugs move into the dark area and stop moving. In the dry
chamber, they move into the dark area and continue to move about in that area. Explain these
experimental results.
15. Why are many interactions between members of the same species agonistic?
16. What mechanisms reduce violent encounters between members of the same social group?
17. Explain the basis for the distinction between male competition and female choice in courtship behavior.
18. Natural selection has resulted in exclusive male and parental care being much more frequent in species
with external fertilization, where the male’s genetic contribution to the offspring is more certain.
Explain how such behavior could evolve.
19. Why is most communication among mammals olfactory and auditory, whereas communication among
birds is visual and auditory?
20. According to kin selection, would an individual be more likely to exhibit altruistic behavior toward a
parent, a sibling, or a first cousin? Explain your answer in terms of r in Hamilton’s rule.
21. How does the nature vs. nurture controversy apply to behavior?
22. How does this concept of Darwinian fitness apply to behavior?
23. In a mark-recapture study, an ecologist traps, marks and releases 25 voles in a small wooded area. A
week later she resets her traps and captures 30 voles, 10 of which were marked. What is her estimate of
the population of voles in the area?
24. Identify the types of survivorship curves shown below and give examples of groups that exhibit each
curve.
25. Mortality, number of offspring per reproduction, and prenatal investment are usually interrelated. On
the following graphs, sketch the relationship you would predict between the variables.
26. Label the exponential and logistic growth curves, and show the equation associated with each curve.
What is K for the population show with curve b?
27. List some density-dependent factors that may limit population growth.
28. List some abiotic factors that may cause population fluctuations.
29. Species composition and distribution in most plant communities appear to be individualistic. What may
explain the occasional occurrence of sharp delineations in species composition between communities?
30. Name the following 2 types of mimicry:
a. Harmless species resembling a poisonous or distasteful species:
b. Mutual imitation by two or more distasteful species:
31. Name and give examples of the interspecific interactions symbolized in the table:
Interactions
+/+
+/0
+/-
-/-
Examples
32. Experimental data from tree hole communities showed that food chains were longest when food supply
at the producer level was greatest. Which hypothesis about what limits food chain length do these
results support?
33. Many freshwater lake communities appear to be organized along the top-down model. What actions
might ecologists take if they wanted to use biomanipulation to control excessive algae blooms in a lake
with four trophic levels (algae, zooplankton, primary predator fish, and top predator fish)?
34. Describe the effects of the alder stage of succession on soil pH and fertility.
35. List some ecosystems with high rates of production.
36. List some ecosystems with low rates of production.
37. The open ocean has low net primary production yet contributes the greatest percentage of earth’s net
primary production. Explain.
38. Antarctic seas are often more productive than most tropical seas, even though they are colder and
receive lower light intensity. Explain.
39. Why is production efficiency higher for fishes than for birds and mammals?
40. Assuming a 10% trophic efficiency (transfer of energy to the next tropic level), approximately what
proportion of the chemical energy produced in photosynthesis makes it to a tertiary consumer?
41. In which natural ecosystem do nutrients cycle the fastest? Why?
42. In which natural ecosystem to nutrients cycle the slowest? Why?
43. What is the effect of loss of vegetation on nutrient cycling?
44. List some of the potential consequences of global warming:
45. Two processes that emerge at the ecosystem level of organization are energy flow and chemical
cycling. Develop a concept map that explains, compares, and contrasts these 2 processes.
46. Describe four or five human intrusions in ecosystem dynamics that have detrimental effects.
47. Give an example of how each of the following causes of the biodiversity crisis has reduced population
numbers or caused extinctions.
a.
habitat destruction
b. introduced species
c.
overexploitation
d. disruption of food chains
48. Is the effective population size usually larger or smaller than the actual number of individuals in the
population? Explain.
49. Explain the basic premise of the small population approach. What conservation strategy is
recommended for preserving small populations?
50. Describe the declining-population approach to the conservation of endangered species.
51. What are some potential benefits of corridors? How may they be harmful?
52. What factors would favor the creation of larger, extensive preserves? What factors favor smaller,
unconnected preserves?
53. What are the major threats to biodiversity, listed in order of importance?
54. How does the loss of biodiversity threaten human welfare?
55. What do edges and movement corridors have to do with habitat fragmentation?