Unit 1
What 2 body systems are most important to help carry nutrients throughout your body after you have eaten them?
Digestive system - to break down the food
Circulatory system - to carry the nutrients around your body
What does biotic mean? What does abiotic mean? Provide at least 1 example of each.
Biotic - Living, once living, dormant, or made from a living thing. Ex - Cactus, seed, giraffe, tuna.
Abiotic - Was never alive. Ex - Rock, water, soil.
What would happen if all of the plants in an ecosystem died? What would happen to the other trophic levels?
Each trophic level would also die, as producers are the only means of bringing new energy into the food web.
How does matter cycle in an ecosystem - does it increase, decrease, or stay the same?
How does energy move in an ecosystem - does it increase, decrease, or stay the same?
Matter recycles - amount stays the same.
Energy moves in one direction, up a food chain. It decreases as it goes up.
What is the difference between exponential and logistic growth? What shape does each look like on a graph?
Exponential - Individuals can reproduce at a constant rate because of unlimited resources. Graph looks like a J
Logistic - When growth slows or stops following exponential growth. Graph looks like an S
Is childbirth an example of positive or negative feedback? Why?
Also, are most feedback loops in the human body positive or negative?Positive - Pushing/adding until completion.
Most are negative feedback loops.What are the 8 levels of organization? List them in order of smallest to largest.
Atom, Molecule, Organelle, Cell, Tissue, Organ, Organ System, Organism
What % of energy moves up to each level of the ecosystem? (Think, what number do you divide by each time you move up a step on a food chain?)
If green plants have 100% of the suns energy available to them, what % do frogs have available to them in this food chain? Plants -> Grasshoppers -> Frogs -> Snakes
10%. Divide by 10.
1% - Take 100% and divide it by 10 two times as you are moving up two levels on the food chain.
What are the two processes that release carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere? What is the one and only process that takes carbon out of the atmosphere?
Animal / Plant Respiration and Burning Fossil Fuels
Photosynthesis
What is the difference between primary and secondary succession? Which would happen faster, primary or secondary?
Primary Succession - Occurs on newly formed land and exposed surfaces Ex. bare rock, after volcanic lava flow.
Secondary Succession - Occurs when an ecosystem is disrupted by natural disasters or human actions.
During secondary succession, such as after a forest fire, because there is still soil left after the disturbance. Life can grow back quicker on soil than on rock.
What does homeostasis mean? What feedback loop maintains homeostasis?
The maintenance of a constant internal environment in response to changes in conditions in the internal and external environment (such as temperature).
Negative feedback loops maintain homeostasis.When skin or a blood vessel is torn, and it needs to be repaired, is this process positive or negative feedback? Why?
Positive - Platelets adhere to the damaged site and release chemicals, which attract more platelets, which release more chemicals, and so on, until the area is healed.
What would your body need to do as you exercised for 2 minutes straight? What body system would be used? How would you keep your muscles going? What process would your body be using to support the muscles?
Your circulatory system would need to get oxygen to your muscles to support them - having oxygen available means the ability to conduct cell respiration to create ATP for more energy.
If more carbon dioxide is available to a plant, what will happen to its rate of photosynthesis? How could you measure a plants rate of photosynthesis (think about an aquatic plant underwater)?
Its rate of photosynthesis will increase.
Count the number of oxygen bubbles produced by the plant.
What is an invasive species? How do invasive species threaten biodiversity?
An organism that is not indigenous, or native, to a particular area. Invasive species can cause great economic and environmental harm to the new area.
Invasive species compete with native species for resources. They also harm property, the economy, and native plants and animals in the region.
Is blood sugar an example of positive or negative feedback? Why?
What does the pancreas do in this feedback loop?
Negative feedback - Maintaining normal blood sugar level after it spikes up from eating food.
Pancreas produces insulin which lowers our blood sugar by dispersing glucose to organs.
Is thermoregulation (temperature) an example of positive or negative feedback? Why?
How does the excretory system respond when the body is too hot?
How does the circulatory system respond when the body is too hot?
Negative - Returning body temperature back to normal after rising too high or falling too low.
Excretory - Sweat glands are activated - sweat.
Circulatory - Blood vessels widen - more heat is lost to the environment.
What is ATP used for? What do you have left over when you break an ATP molecule?
For energy to fuel living processes. To release energy from ATP, a phosphate is broken off, leaving you with 1 Phosphate and ADP (the remaining molecule).
Describe one of the pathways that carbon could take in the carbon cycle. It starts in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, but then where does it go?
Atmosphere as CO2 -> Photosynthesis to become glucose -> Respiration to become CO2 -> Returns to the atmosphere and repeats
What is mutualism? What is parasitism? What is commensalism? Try to think of at least 1 example for each as well.
Mutualism - Both species are benefiting. Ex - Bees and flowers.
Parasitism - One species is benefiting, the other is being harmed. Ex - A mosquito sucking the blood of a deer.
Commensalism - One species if benefiting, the other is unaffected. Ex - Sharks and remora fish.
How does gas exchange work? Describe what gas you breathe in, where it goes, and what part of the body it is transferred to. Also describe what gas you breathe out, and how you get it out.
When air enters the alveoli, oxygen dissolves in the moisture on their inner surface and then diffuses across thin capillary walls into the blood.
Oxygen diffuses in this direction because the oxygen concentration is greater in the air within the alveoli than it is in the blood within the capillaries.
Meanwhile carbon dioxide diffuses from blood into the alveoli because its concentration is greater in the blood than it is in the air in the alveoli.
What are the four different macromolecules? What elements do each of them contain? What is the building block for each macromolecule?
Carbohydrates - Monosaccharides - Carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen
Lipids - Fatty acid chain and glycerol groups - Carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen
Proteins - Amino acids - Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen
Nucleic Acids - Nucleotides - Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus
What is the difference between aerobic and anaerobic? What is the difference between cellular respiration and fermentation?
Aerobic - Uses oxygen
Anaerobic - Does not use oxygen
Cellular respiration uses glucose and oxygen to create ATP for energy.
Fermentation uses glucose to make ATP for energy in the absence of oxygen (no oxygen).
What is the equation for photosynthesis? What is the equation for cellular respiration?
Sunlight + 6CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) + 6H2O (Water) -> C6H12O6 (Glucose) + 6O2 (Oxygen)
C6H12O6 (Glucose) + 6O2 (Oxygen) -> 6H2O (Water) + 6CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) + ATP (Energy)
Why is there a specific focus on limiting Carbon Dioxide (CO2) over other greenhouse gases? What are three consequences of climate change if we do not limit these gases?
CO2 stays in the atmosphere far longer than other greenhouse gases, and we produce a lot of it.
Rising sea levels, melting polar ice caps, more acidic oceans, more extreme weather and storms, decreased biodiversity, etc.