Merry Christmas

Wolf tracks in the snow, Yellowstone National Park

Tiniest tetrapod found in New Guinea

National Geographic has a story on their website about the discovery of two species of frogs that are smaller than M and Ms.

Amphibians world wide have been in a steep decline lately so it is exciting to hear of a new discovery.

Smallest Frogs Found—Each Tinier Than an M&M

Biome and Climate Change Review

Biome Review

1. What are two important factors in determining what type of Biome one will find in a given area?

2. What causes the seasons here in North America?

3. What are three strategies plants have developed to survive in the cold dry,and sometimes dark conditions of the Tundra?

4. What kind of adaptations have animals developed to survive in:

A. The tundra

B. The deserts

5. What is a rain shadow, and how does it account for different plant communities occurring at the same latitude, but on opposites sides of a mountain range?

6. In what biomes does fire play an important role, and what is this role?

7. How are coniferous forests different from deciduous forests?

Climate Change

1. What types of gases trap heat in the atmosphere?

2. What are the sources of these gases?

3. What are some consequences of global warming?

Genetics Review

Hello Biology Students.

Here are some review questions (and practice questions) for our last topic of this short summer session.

1. Which of Mendel's laws addresses homologous chromosomes separating from each other during meiosis?

2. What word (or phrase) describes each of the following genotypes? TT Tt tt

3. What is the difference between genotype and phenotype?

4. Two normal parents have a child with a recessive disorder. What are the genotypes of each parent?

5. Dad has AB blood, and mom has O blood. What are the possible blood types of their children?

6. In pea plants purple flower color (P) is dominant to white (p). If a plant heterozygous for purple flowers is crossed with a plant with white flowers, what proportion of the offspring will have white flowers?

7. Colorblindness is an X linked recessive trait. Susan carries the gene for colorblindness, and her husband is not colorblind. What is the chance they will have a colorblind son? What is the chance they will have a daughter who is colorblind?

8. In one species of flowering plants there is some diversity in flower color. Some plants have blue flowers, some have red, and others have purple flowers. What type of inheritance do you suspect controls this trait, and why?

9. Huntington's Disease is caused by a dominant allele (H). Mark's mother is heterozygous for the allele, but his father has no evidence of the disease in his family. What is the chance that Mark has the allele for Huntington's Disease?

10. The disease sickle cell anemia is caused by a recessive allele. Two parents who are heterozygous for the allele have a child. What is the chance this child has the disease?

11. What does Mendel's law of independent assortment describe?