History of Scientific Thought (Exam 1)
History of Life (Exam 2)
Diversity of Life (Exam 3)
Ecology and Biomes (Exam 4)
Behavior and Biodiversity (Exam5)
100
Name a definition of science.
The sum of human behaviors when we control our environment
Body of theoretical knowledge
Set of procedures to understand nature
As an epistemology
Content
Procedural – anything precise and objective
100
What are the pattern and process components of cell theory?
Pattern – all living things are made of cells
Process – cells come from preexisting cells
100
What are the pattern and process of germ theory?
Pattern – certain diseases are infectious
Process – these diseases are caused by the transmission and growth of certain bacteria and viruses
100
What biome has high temperature with very low variation, along with high precipitation with high variation?
Tropical rain forest
100
What are the two types of mimicry? Give an example of each. What type of defense is mimicry?
Müllerian – looks harmful, is harmful. Poison dart frogs are brightly colored to warn predators they’re toxic
Batesian – looks harmful, isn’t. Milk snakes look like coral snakes, but milk snakes are harmless.
Mimicry is a constitutive defense.
200
Why was Greek knowledge not pursued in Christian monasteries?
Greeks were polytheistic and pagan, went against Christian beliefs
Place more emphasis on theology than science
200
What is the difference between homoplasy and homology? Give an example of each.
Homoplasy – similar function, not common ancestor (convergent evolution) (sharks and dolphins)
Homology – derived trait from a common ancestor (hands and flippers)
200
What are lophotrochozoans and ecdysozoans? Categorize them based on the way they grow and give an example.
Lophotrochozoans – grow continuously (rotifer, platyhelminthes, annelida, molluska)
Ecdysozoans – grow by shedding external skeletons and expanding bodies (nematodes and arthropods)
200
What are the three types of wetlands? What are the water movement/nutrient availability/oxygen levels and plant life like in each?
Bogs—stagnant and acidic, low oxygen, few plants
Marshes—lots of nutrients and oxygen, nonwoody plants, steady water flow
Swamp—lots of nutrients and oxygen, trees and shrubs, steady water flow
200
What are facilitation, tolerance, and inhibition and how do they relate to succession?
Facilitation – presence of early arriving species makes conditions favorable for species that come later
Tolerance – presence of early arriving species doesn’t affect species that come later
Inhibition – presence of early arriving species prevents (inhibits) species that come later from being established
300
What are the deductive and inductive methods?
Deductive – Aristotelian, like geometrical proofs
Inductive—scientific method (used during Sci. Revolution)
300
Describe the different types of selection.
Directional - average phenotype changes in one direction
Stabilizing - no change in average value of train, genetic variation reduced (favors average phenotype)
Disruptive - eliminates phenotypes at average and favors more extremes
300
What do mycorrhizal fungi do? What is the benefit to the plant and to the fungi? What is the difference between EMF and AMF?
Mycorrhizal fungi help plants grow better. It is a symbiotic relationship where the plant gets P and N, and the fungi gets C and sugars.
EMF – goes around the roots and in between
AMF – penetrates cells in the roots
300
How do honeybees communicate about the direction and distance of food sources?
Direction of the waggle dance indicates location relative to the sun
Length of the straight run is proportional to the distance of the food source
300
What is species richness? What is evenness? How do these relate to the term species diversity?
Species richness – count of how many species present in a community
Evenness – how much of each species is present (abundance)
Diversity – combination of richness and evenness
400
How did Lamarck's ideas differ from Darwin's?
Lamarck –no extinction, species change into new species, organisms change during their lifetime and pass those traits to offspring
Darwin—evolution by natural selection, organisms with more advantageous traits survive and reproduce
400
What are the pattern and process components of the theory of chemical evolution?
Pattern – simple carbon-containing compounds changed into complex ones
Process—the energy for this came from sunlight and hot water
400
What are primary and secondary endosymbiosis? Where did mitochondria and chloroplasts come from?
Primary endosymbiosis occurs when a bacterial cell took up residence inside another cell (mitochondria)
Secondary endosymbiosis occurs when an organism engulfs a photosynthetic eukaryotic cell and retains its chloroplasts as intracellular symbiotes
Mitochondria came from alpha-protobacteria
Chloroplasts came from cyanobacteria.
400
There are a few types of altruism. What is kin selection and how is it different than reciprocal altruism?
In kin selection, Individuals that are kin to each other are more likely to be altruistic
In reciprocal altruism, individuals are altruistic either in response to a previous behavior by the recipient, or in hopes of a future behavior from them
400
What is the Clements-Gleason dichotomy of biological communities? Describe the experiment used to determine which was correct, and explain the results.
Clements – communities are predictable, same species will appear
Gleason – communities are random, dependent on history and chance
Experiment had 12 ponds, sanitized to remove all species and waited to see what would develop. Both hypotheses were partially correct (though we lean towards Gleason).
Had about 10 of the exact same species in every pond, but every pond had unique species.
500
What were some important changes writing caused?
Replaces societal memory for storing knowledge
Allowed for comparison of knowledge claims
Intellectually revolutionary – fostered criticism and skepticism
Could distinguish truth from myth
Criteria established for determining truth
Rules of reasoning followed, which led to philosophical and scientific inquiry
500
List and explain the four mechanisms that can shift allele frequencies in a population
Gene flow – occurs when individuals leave one population, join another, and breed, allele frequencies may change because arriving individuals bring new alleles
Genetic drift – causes allele frequencies to change randomly (may cause alleles to decrease fitness)
Natural selection – increases the frequencies of certain alleles
Mutation – modifies allele frequencies by continually introducing new alleles
500
How did plants adapt to surviving in dry conditions? Explain what these adaptations do.
Stomata – can close off pores so reduce water loss
Cuticle – waxy coating, prevents drying
Lignin – woody stuff, provides support
Vascular tissue (tracheids and vessel elements) – transport water and nutrients
Roots – absorb nutrients and water
Leaves – absorption of sunlight
500
Explain the experiment with the Anolis lizards. What were the results? What was the second experiment with cutting dewlaps?
Females exposed to spring-like conditions began producing eggs, females in the field (in winter) did not. Females exposed to breeding males started producing eggs much earlier than females with non-breeding males or other females. Two types of stimulus were necessary to produce hormonal changes (spring-like conditions, and presence of breeding males)
In the second experiment, they cut male dewlaps and found females responded to them like they did to castrated males
500
What is biomagnification? How does it relate to the pyramid of productivity?
An increase in concentration of particular molecules that may occur as those molecules are passed up a food chain.
Animals higher up the food chain have to consume more animals lower on the foodchain and therefore consume more toxins (trophic cascade)
M
e
n
u