What is Life
What are three exclusive characteristics of living things?
Respond to stimuli, contain hereditary material, reproduce, maintain homeostasis, have 1 or more cells, metabolize, possibly others.
Besides lipids, what biomolecules make up the other main part of cell membranes, and what do they do?
Proteins. They are involved in transport across the membrane.
What are the four phases of mitosis in order?
Prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase.
What are two major differences between bacteria and viruses?
Bacteria are prokaryotic cells; viruses are not cells at all. Bacteria can reproduce on their own; viruses hijack cellular machinery of a host cell in order to reproduce.
What is a limitation of quadrat sampling?
If the individuals are moving or unevenly distributed, the method will give an inaccurate result.
What is adhesion?
The attraction between molecules of different substances.
What are the three different parts of aerobic respiration?
Glycolysis, the Krebs/Citric Acid cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation.
What is a simple definition of cancer?
Unregulated cell division.
What is the difference between evolution and natural selection?
Natural selection is a mechanism of evolution whereby a population becomes better adapted to its environment.
What are two limitations of the mark-and-recapture method?
The individuals must mix well and not have a high turnover rate (birth/death/immigration/emigration).
What are three functions of lipids in organisms?
Long-term energy storage, used in cell membranes, insulation.
Which organelles perform cellular respiration and which perform photosynthesis?
Mitochondria and chloroplasts.
What is the relationship between cell division and mitosis?
Mitosis leads to cell division. Cell division happens at the end of mitosis.
What are the "five fingers" of evolution (the five mechanisms)?
Small population size, non-random mating, mutation, gene flow, and natural selection.
What are the five levels of hierarchical organization in ecology in order from smallest to largest?
Organism, population, community, ecosystem, biome.
What type of biomolecule are sugars and what elements do they contain?
Carbohydrates. Carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.
Why is anaerobic respiration less effective than aerobic respiration? Mention different parts of respiration.
Glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation do not happen in anaerobic respiration but they are responsible for producing the majority of ATP in aerobic respiration.
What are transcription and translation and where does each occur in the cell?
Transcription is copying a gene from DNA onto a strand of mRNA in the nucleus. Translation is making a protein using the information on an mRNA strand, which happens in the cytosol.
What is gene flow?
When an individual moves from one population into another and then reproduces, introducing new genetic variation into the population.
What, generally speaking, will cause a population to stop growing when it reaches its carrying capacity?
Limiting factors
What makes the deep-sea hydrothermal vent fauna so unique and interesting to scientists?
They constitute an ecosystem and food chain based on chemical energy from hydrothermal vents rather than sunlight. Also, there is extremely high pressure.
What do vaculoes do in cells, and how are they different in animal versus plant cells?
Vacuoles are storage containers for cells. They can store many different things in animal cells and remain small. In plant cells, however, they are large and contain lots of water (central vacuole).
If blonde hair is recessive and brown hair is dominant, could two blonde parents have a brown-haired child? Why or why not? Assume hair color is a single gene trait.
No, because both parents would have to be homozygous for the blonde allele, so all their children would only be able to receive that allele from each parent and would, therefore, end up blonde.
What are two characteristics of bacteria which let them evolve very quickly?
They reproduce very quickly and can do horizontal gene transfer.
What is the difference between a habitat and a niche?
A habitat is where an organism lives (location); a niche is a way of life/what it does to survive.