Biology Mid-Term ExamStudy Guide

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Biology Mid-Term ExamStudy Guide

Directions:1. Complete and review this study guide2. Organize and review your notes3. Review Chapters 1-64. Review old study guides, tests, and quizzes5. Ask questions!

Unit 1: The Science of BiologyChapter 1

Essential Questions:

1. How is science different from other ways of understanding our world?

2. How do biologists study living things?3. How do scientists distinguish living things from non-living things?

Key Terms: Homeostasis Metabolism Growth Development Stimulus response Cell Species Reproduction Adaptation

Evolution Biology Science Data Experiment Observation Scientific

method Independent

variable

Dependent variable

Control group Experimental

group Hypothesis Theory Law

1. What are the 8 characteristics of living things? Identify and explain each one.

2. Put these terms in order from most simple to most complex: cell, organ, tissue, organism, organ system

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Biology Mid-Term ExamStudy Guide

3. Why are cells considered to be the basic unit of living things?

4. What is homeostasis? Explain and provide an example.

5. Explain the difference between growth and development. Provide an example of each.

6. Explain the difference between an adaptation and evolution. Provide examples.

7. What are the steps of the Scientific Method? Identify and explain each step.

8. What is the purpose of science? What types of things do scientists study, and how do they study them?

9. Define each of the experimental components listed below: Independent variable: Dependent variable: Experimental group: Control group:

10. You want to test the effects of different amounts of light on the growth of bean plants. Describe HOW you would perform this experiment. State your hypothesis, identify your independent variable, dependent variable(s), control group, and experimental group(s).

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Biology Mid-Term ExamStudy Guide

Unit 2: EcologyChapters 2-5

Essential Questions:

%6%. 1. What are ecosystems and how do they work?

%6%. 2. How do living things interact with each other and with their environment?

%6%. 3. How do ecosystems differ throughout the world?

%6%. 4. How do populations in ecosystems change over time? 5. What impact do humans have on ecosystems?

Key Terms: abiotic biotic population community ecosystem biosphere biome ecology habitat niche predation competition symbiosis mutualism commensalism parasitism autotroph heterotroph producer consumer

(primary, secondary, etc.)

decomposer food chain food web herbivore omnivore carnivore detritivore trophic level 10% rule biogeochemical

cycle (C, N, P, S, H2O)

denitrification nitrogen fixation limiting factor density-

independent factor

succession (primary & secondary

climax community

lichen pioneer species tundra taiga (boreal

forest) desert grassland temperate

deciduous forest tropical

rainforest estuary density-

dependent factor

exponential growth

age structure

11. What is the difference between abiotic and biotic factors? Provide 5 examples of each.

ABIOTIC BIOTIC

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Biology Mid-Term ExamStudy Guide

12. Put these terms in order from smallest to largest: community, population, ecosystem, organism, biosphere

13. What is the difference between a habitat and a niche? Give examples of what is included in an organism’s habitat and what is included in an organism’s niche.

14. What is competition? Why is competition important to an ecosystem?

15. What is predation? Give an example of a predator species and a prey species.

16. What is SYMBIOSIS? What are the three types? Give the definition and an example of each.

17. What is the difference between an autotroph and a heterotroph? Define and give an example of each.

18. Using a the sun, a grasshopper, a snake, a plant, and a mouse, build a food chain. Make sure you label each with all of the terms to describe its trophic level (producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, herbivore, omnivore, carnivore, etc.) Below each organism, show how much energy they receive.

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Biology Mid-Term ExamStudy Guide

19. What is the 10% rule? Why is it important to ecosystems?

20. Review the 5 Biogeochemical (Nutrient) Cycles we discussed in class: Water, Phosphorus, Sulfur, Carbon, Nitrogen. Study the chart we completed.

21. What is the difference between primary and secondary succession?

22. What is a pioneer species? Define and give one example.

23. In the process of succession, what is a climax community?

24. List the Earth’s major terrestrial and aquatic biomes. Be sure you know the basic characteristics of each of the biomes in the chart.

25. How is exponential growth different from logistic growth? What is carrying capacity? What types of factors determine carrying capacity?

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Biology Mid-Term ExamStudy Guide

26. Describe how human populations have changed over time. What has caused human populations to grow throughout history?

27. What is age structure? Why is it important to understand the age structure of a population? Sketch age structure diagrams to represent rapid growth, slow growth, and decreasing population.

Unit 3: The Chemistry of LifeChapter 6

Essential Questions:

1. What are the basic building blocks of all living things?

2. How do the particles that make up a living thing interact?

3. What causes the particles inside of a living thing to react and change?4. Why are living things made mostly of water and carbon?

Key Terms: Atom Element Compound Molecule Ion Isotope Covalent bond Ionic bond Hydrogen bond Proton Neutron Electron Chemical

change Physical change Activation

energy

Catalyst Enzyme Polar molecule Capillary action Surface tension Cohesion Adhesion Reactant Product pH acid base neutral polymer monomer organic inorganic

macromolecule protein amino acid substrate carbohydrate glucose monosaccharide disaccharide polysaccharide isomer lipid fatty acid nucleic acid nucleotide active site optimum range denature

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Biology Mid-Term ExamStudy Guide

28. What is the basic structure of an atom? Draw a diagram of a carbon atom, and label the protons, neutrons, and electrons. Indicate the charge of each of these particles.

29. What is an element? How are elements different from compounds?

30. What is an isotope? What is an ion? How are isotopes and ions different from regular atoms?

31. What is a covalent bond? What is an ionic bond? Why do atoms form chemical bonds?

32. What is a physical change? Give an example. What is a chemical change? Give an example.

33. Write an example of a chemical equation, and label the reactants and

products in your equation.

34. Draw a diagram of a water molecule. Label the oxygen and hydrogen atoms, and indicate which end of the molecule is positive, and which end of the molecule is negative.

35. Why is water a polar molecule?

36. What type of bonds form in between water molecules? Are these bonds strong or weak?

37. As you know from your lab, water has many unique properties that are caused by its hydrogen bonds. For each of the properties listed below, explain what it is and why water has this characteristic:

High heat of vaporization Cohesion Adhesion Capillary action

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Biology Mid-Term ExamStudy Guide

Surface tension Universal Solvent pH

38. What number on the pH scale correspond to an acid? Base? Neutral? Give one example of an acidic substance, a basic substance, and a neutral substance.

39. What is the difference between organic molecules and inorganic molecules? Why is carbon uniquely able to form so many different types of chemical bonds?

40. What is a polymer (macromolcule)? What is a monomer?

41. For each of the organic macromolecules listed below, identify its monomer, describe its function(s) in living things, and give 2-3 examples:

Carbohydrates Lipids Proteins Nucleic Acids

42. What are enzymes? Why are enzymes so important? Describe (in detail) how an enzyme breaks down a substrate to form a product.

43. The enzyme peroxidase (also known as catalase) breaks down toxic molecules in cells, converting them into harmless products (see below). Describe how this reaction occurs. What are the reactants? What are the products? How does peroxidase break down the substrate molecules? What happens if the enzyme is not in its optimum pH or temperature range?

2 H2O2 2H2O + O2

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