Saturday, October 22, 2011

Review for Exam 3 Bio 120

Review Questions about Plants:
1. Compare and contrast the movement of water and food in plants. Include in your answer what kinds of tissues and processes are involved in both.

2. Xylem is functional when dead at maturity while phloem is functional only when alive. Why?

3. In phloem, what is the role of the companion cell?

4. What is the difference between xylem in flowering plants and the xylem found in gymnosperms?

5. What is cohesion of water, and how is this different from adhesion?

6. What part of the root absorbs water?

7. What is the function of the anther in the flower?

8. Which of the following is where one would find ovules?
A. in an anther
B. in the ovary
C. in the stigma
D. in the style

9. Ovules are
A. eggs
B. spores that will become pollen
C. spores that will become eggs
D. immature seeds
E. pollen grains

10. In double fertilization the first sperm fertilizes the egg and the second
A. dies
B. is only used if the first sperm cell dies
C. fertilizes another egg
D. fertilizes a haploid endosperm mother cell to make diploid endosperm
E. fertilizes a diploid ( n+n) endosperm mother cell to make triploid endosperm

11. What is the function of fruit?

12. Microspores become
A. the embryo sac
B. the mature male gametophyte
C. pollen grains
D. all of the above
E. only B and C above



Here's some questions to make those brain cells churn out the ATP!

1. What are the differences between aerobic and anaerobic respiration, and which is more efficient?

2. What are NAD+ and FAD used for?

3. What are the three steps in aerobic respiration, and where does each occur?

4. During which step of cellular respiration is the most ATP made?

5. During aerobic respiration, how many ATPs are made from one molecule of glucose in most cells?

6. What is the role of oxygen in aerobic respiration?

7. Describe how the ATP is made during chemiosmosis

8. What is produced by your muscle cells if there is not enough oxygen available at the end of glycolysis for aerobic respiration to continue?

9. Yeasts do a kind of anaerobic respiration called ____________, and produce ___________ and _________ along with 2 ATP

10. What are the important end products of the Citric Acid Cycle, and what happens to each of these products?



Here are the photosynthesis questions for review:

1. Which colors of light are most strongly absorbed by chlorophyll?
2. How is oxygen released during photosynthesis?
3. Why is water needed in photosynthesis?
4. What are the products of the light dependent reactions?
5. What is made in the light independent reactions?
6. What is the role of RUBP in photosynthesis?
7. What kind of plants use PEP and what advantage does it give them?
8. How are CAM plants different from others in the way they do photosynthesis?
9. What kind of organisms can do photosynthesis?
10. Where inside the chloroplast do the light dependent reactions happen?

Monday, October 17, 2011

Saturday, October 15, 2011

JTNP snake class

Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia)

Last weekend I went out to Joshua Tree National Park for a class on snakes and venom. We did see a speckled rattlesnake in the hills above one of the campgrounds, and the instructor brought some snakes as well.

Speckled Rattlesnake. His eyes are milky looking because he is getting ready to shed his skin. The heads of vipers like rattlesnakes are triangular in shape to accommodate their venom glands. This is one way to tell if the snake you are looking at is a rattlesnake or not.


Of course the other way is to look at the tail...


This is a sidewinder rattlesnake. Notice the little "horns" above the eyes. These probably serve to shade the eyes from the sun and may offer protection as the animal moves through sand as well. Vipers like the rattlesnakes bite their prey, then usually let it go. They can track the movement of their prey, and then can catch up to it once it is dead and safe to eat. Vipers have pits that allow them to sense heat from their prey, and visualize prey based on the heat given off from the body. You can see the pits on the head of this snake below the eye.

After the class I went into the park to photograph the landscape. Lucky for me the moon was up and just about full.


Thursday, October 6, 2011

Bolsa Chica Wins!! Coastal Commission denies permit for 111 houses


Today the California Coastal Commission denied the Coastal Development Permit (CDP) that would have allowed Shea Homes to put 111 houses on the Upper Bolsa Chica Wetlands. This denial means that if the Shea Company wants to build houses on this site they have to go back to the drawing boards.

Thanks so much to all the Bolsa Chica Land Trust members, friends and supporters who showed up at the hearing. Your presence made a difference for our beloved Bolsa Chica!!

In denying the CDP for this project, commissioners mentioned that this land was part of a larger ecosystem, something the Land Trust has argued since this project was first proposed about 10 years ago. Other commissioners mentioned the lack of enforcement regarding the unpermitted fill on the property. This is another issue the Land Trust has raised for years.This fill, the BCLT believes, covered then existing wetlands.

When I was on the City Council in 2002 this project came before us, and one of the representatives of the Shea Company asked me why I thought this land was part of Bolsa Chica. They have not gotten this from the beginning, but today the California Coastal Commission did get it. The proposed project on this land violates the Coastal Act, plain and simple.

It is a very happy day for all of us who value all of Bolsa Chica!