Professor Boardman's Bioblog

Zion National Park

2012-01-03T14:46:00.000-08:00

There are few species that were or are more endangered than the California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus). When they were taken in from the wild as part of a captive breeding program in the 1980s there were only 22 birds left alive. They were bred in captivity and then released back into the wild beginning in 1992. Today there are 369 birds alive with 191 in the wild as of March of 2011. They are now found in Arizona, California, Baja, and Utah. I was lucky enough two of these birds when hiking the Angels Landing Trail in Zion National Park.

Condors are huge birds. They have a 9 foot wingspan and weigh up to 25 lbs. They can fly 100 miles a day in search of food, and glide at speeds up to 50 miles per hour. They are scavengers and eat dead deer, cattle and other large animals. This is one of the reasons they became endangered. As they ate the carcasses of hunted animals they ingested lead ammunition used to kill the animal by hunters. Many developed lead poisoning. The bird in the picture above, number 99 had to be captured recently and treated for lead poisoning before being re-released.

I took these photos with a 300mm telephoto lens. It is very important not to approach any wild animal too closely. It just is not a good thing for wild animals to get too used to humans. Condors are curious birds, and that has also caused them problems as they visit areas like campsites humans have purposely harmed them.

The Angels Landing Trail is a very steep trail and very narrow in places with long drop offs as one climbs up the cliff sides. Just the kind of area condors like to use for nesting.

Can you see the people in this photo? They are below the last part of the trail, but where is the trail?

Here it is

The last one half of a mile is up this trail and has a 500 foot elevation gain.

The view from the top makes all the work worthwhile, and seeing the condors was a huge added bonus.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T15:33:00.000-08:00

Wolf tracks in the snow, Yellowstone National Park

Tiniest tetrapod found in New Guinea

2011-12-16T00:57:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-04T13:30:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-04T13:20:00.000-08:00

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?

Incredible Visibility Today!

2011-11-27T19:50:00.000-08:00

I take my Botany and Bio 200 students a little way up into the hills above Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary in Modjeska Canyon, but today I walked up to an elevation 3,800 feet on the Harding Truck Trail, and could see Catalina Island, San Clemente Island, and San Nicholas. I could also see islands south of San Clemente. What a great day for a hike.

Octopus explores land on way to a different tide pool

2011-11-26T11:57:00.000-08:00

Octopuses are most likely the most intelligent invertebrate animal, and notoriously hard to keep in aquarium tanks. With their soft bodies they can squeeze through openings as small as their hardest part, which is their modified radula (called a beak) with which they feed.

This video shows how dexterous they can be on land.

Hagfish: Primitive Chordates

2011-11-25T09:50:00.000-08:00

Last week in lab we looked at hagfish as an example of a primitive chordate.

New Scientist has an article with a great photo of the hagfish and a video of them repelling other fish. Another common name for the hagfish is "slime eel". Watch what happens when fish come up and bite the hagfish.

Zoologger: Slime killer hagfish feasts in rotten flesh - life - 27 October 2011 - New Scientist

Bio 120 Evolution and Population Ecology Review

2011-11-25T08:46:00.001-08:00

Evolution Review

1. How do biologists define evolution?

2. What is a population?

3. What islands were important to Charles Darwin's thinking on evolution?

4. Biogeography is how living things are distributed around the world. How was Darwin surprised by the the biogeography he observed on his trip around the world?

5. While fossils support the theory of evolution, we can't rely on the fossil record ever being complete. Why?

6. How does the existence of fossils support the theory of evolution?

7. How did LaMarck explain inheritance?

8. What was the hypothesis of catastrophism?

9. While the theory of evolution does not indicate humans came from chimps, it does indicate a _________________________ between chimps and humans.

10. Upon what observations did Darwin base his theory of evolution by natural selection?

11. How can speciation happen?

12. What mechanisms drive evolution?

Population Ecology and Interactions

1. Define resource partitioning and give an example of it.

2. How is a parasite different from a parasitoid?

3. How is a parasite different from a predator?

4. How are density dependent limiting factors different from density independent limiting factors? Give examples of each.

5. Coevolution happens also between parasites and their hosts. Why is this not surprising?

6. Define and give examples of the following: Mutualism, Commensalism, social parasite.

7. What are common strategies predators use to capture prey, and common defenses found in prey?

8. Draw a food web that could occur in your backyard or here at Cerritos. Include all the trophic levels we discussed in class.

9. Why are there fewer members of the upper trophic levels as compared with primary consumers or the producers?

10. What is carrying capacity?

Weeding and planting wildflower seeds on campus

2011-11-19T16:42:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my Bio 200 students for helping to weed and then plant wildflower seeds Friday afternoon after class. Watch for new growth and blooms early in the next semester.

Beautiful Sunrise Thursday Morning

2011-11-13T12:37:00.000-08:00

I took this about 6:15 AM or so on my morning walk before work.

A murmuration

2011-11-09T20:09:00.000-08:00

Review for Exam 3 Bio 120

2011-10-22T21:58:00.001-07:00

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?

2011-10-17T21:15:00.000-07:00

JTNP snake class

2011-10-15T17:52:00.000-07:00

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.

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

2011-10-06T20:32:00.000-07:00

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!

DNA, Mitosis and Meiosis Review Quetions

2011-09-29T09:04:00.000-07:00

DNA Review Questions

1. Describe the structure of the DNA molecule

2. If the sequence of bases on one stand of the molecule is AAC TGC CCG, what is the sequence on the complementary strand?

3. During DNA replication, what enzyme breaks the hydrogen bonds between the base pairs, and what enzyme matches up nucleotides to the existing ones on the parent strand of DNA?

4. Why is this type of replication called Semi Conservative?

5. How is RNA different from DNA?

6. The production of messenger RNA from DNA is called ________, and this happens in the __________ of the cell.

7. The parts of the mRNA molecules which are edited out before RNA reaches the cytoplasm are called __________

8. mRNA gets a cap and a tail prior to being read by the ribosome. What is the function of the cap and tail?

9. If the DNA strand being copied had this sequence: ACT GGC ATA CTA what would the sequence of the mRNA be?

10. The function of transfer RNA is ?

11. What is the name of the enzyme that produces RNA from DNA?

12. If the sequence of DNA is the same in your body cells, why are all cells not the same?

13. The DNA in you, an earthworm, and a fungus is the same. So why are you a human and not an earthworm?

14. What is an anti-codon and where is it found?

15. The protein synthesis process that occurs at the ribosome is called _____________

16. What is a stop codon, and what happens when one is read in the ribosome?

Genetic Engineering

1. What are restriction enzymes?
2. What kind of cells have restriction enzymes, and what is the purpose of these enzymes in the cell?
3. What is a plasmid?
4. How are plasmids used in genetic engineering?
5. Why does human DNA work in a bacterial cell?
6. What is gene therapy?
7. How are small fragments of DNA separated during the DNA fingerprinting process?
8. What benefits are there to inserting a human gene into a bacterium? What possible problems could arise from genetically engineered organisms being released into the wild?

Mitosis and Meiosis Review

1. If a cell has 8 chromosomes and does mitosis, how many cells will be made, and how many chromosomes will each cell have?

2. If a cell has 8 chromosomes and does meiosis to make sperm cells, how many cells will be made, and how many chromosomes will each cell have?

3. Mitosis creates cells which are ________, while meiosis makes cells which are _____.

4. What are homologous chromosomes?

5. What are sister chromatids?

6. What is crossing over, and during which process, (mitosis or meiosis) does it occur?

7. Why is crossing over important?

8. During __________ of mitosis sister chromatids separate.

9. During _________ of meiosis homologous pairs of chromosomes separate, but during ____________ of meiosis sister chromatids separate.

10. In meiosis, typically four sperm cells are made, but meiosis only makes one large egg cell. Why?

Joshua Tree National Park

2011-09-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I took a class on the insects and other arthropods of the Morongo Basin. Much of the class was held at Joshua Tree National Park, but we also visited the Morongo Preserve and the Coachella Valley Preserve.

Along the trail to Barker Dam we came across fresh bighorn sheep scat and tracks, but where are the sheep?

There they are, way up on the rocks high above the dam. We ended up seeing two ewes and a ram .

These acorns are the fruit of the scrub oak trees we saw along the trail.

If the acorns are the fruit then what is this?

This is a gall. Small insects, usually small wasps lay an egg on the tree, and inject chemicals as well that cause the plant to create a gall. The gall provides a house for the larval insect and some food as the larva develops.

This is a gall on a creosote shrub. Many plants make galls in response to insects laying eggs on their stems or leaves.

These dark lines along the stems often appear on more mature creosote shrubs. They are made by a type of scale insect. Native Americans would scrape the sticky secretion and use it as a glue.

This beautiful wasp (Scolia dubia) was getting nectar from the flowers.
This is a Mormon metal mark butterfly on a California buckwheat which is the food plant for its larva .

Dragonflies often land on shiny car parts. Why? Maybe they see the silver shiny surfaces as looking like water.

Bio 120 Questions for Review- Exam 1 Chapters 1-5

2011-09-08T15:21:00.001-07:00

Here are some review questions for you. Some may be similar to the daily review questions, but all will help you while you prepare for the exam.

Chapters 1 and 2
1.How is a hypothesis different from a theory?
2.What are five characteristics of living things?
3. What is a hydrogen bond, and why are these bonds important to life?
4. Oxygen has 8 electrons, with 6 in the outermost energy level. Will this atom react?
5. How are ions formed?
6. A solution with a pH of 5 is how many times more acidic than a solution with a pH of 7?
7. What determines if an atom with react with another?
8. How are polar and non polar covalent bonds different?
9. How is the polar nature of water related to:
a. its high boiling point
b. surface tension
c. the solid form being less dense than the liquid form

Chapter 3
1. What are the building blocks of carbohydrates?
2. What is the difference between a saturated and unsaturated fatty acid?
3. Why is the shape of an enzyme important to the function of the enzyme?
4. At what level of complexity do proteins usually become functional?
5. What makes up a nucleotide?
6. What bond forms between amino acids as they react to form proteins?
7. How is the function of carbohydrates different in plants and animals?
8. Which of the macromolecules we discussed stores energy in the most efficient way?
9. What is the most common steroid in the body?

Chapter 4
1. How are the mitochondria and chloroplasts similar?
2. Why do we think the mitochondria was once an independent organism?
3. Describe the plasma membrane. Include how a lipid membrane functions in a watery environment.
4. What role do the proteins in the plasma membrane play?
5. How are prokaryotic cells different from eukaryotics cells?
6.What can cyanobacteria do that the bacteria living in your mouth do not do?
7.How are archeae different from the bacteria living on your skin?
8.Describe briefly what organelles would be involved in making a protein and exporting it from the cell.
9.Give an example of two cell organelles working together to accomplish a task.
10.What organelle is found on the ER?
11.What is the function of lysosomes?
12.Where is the nucleolus, and what is its function?
13.What are the functions of the Golgi bodies?

Chapter 5

1. A plant cell in a hypertonic solution will under go _____________
2. An animal cell in a hypotonic solution may undergo _____________
3. A cell must maintain an imbalance of sodium ions on either side of the membrane for it to function. What process would it most likely use of the ones we discussed in class?
4. How is active transport different from diffusion and osmosis?
5. How is dialysis different from osmosis?
6. What affect would a hypertonic solution have on a cell?
7. In a hypotonic solution water would move ________ a cell.
8. If a .9% salt solution is isotonic to a red blood cell, a 2% salt solution would be _____.

Pre Med Conference at UC Davis Oct. 8 and 9

2011-08-31T14:04:00.000-07:00

Some of you may be interested in pursuing a medical career. This is a great inexpensive conference to attend that will help you in pursuing this path. There are buses leaving from local colleges and universities, free housing options, and meal plans. The registration is between $40-45.00 if you sign up soon. Get more information here

Malaria and Algae

2011-08-31T11:57:00.000-07:00

NPR had a story this morning about an organelle found in the malaria parasite that is now believed to have come from algae. Bio 120 students are learning about malaria in lab this week along with algae, so this story comes along at just the right time. Bio 200 students, we will be discussing malaria on Friday, so take a listen to the story here

Planning to Transfer to a Four Year School?

2011-08-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

Everyone at the college wants you to be able to successfully transfer to the school of your choice. If you are planning to attend a four year school next fall, then you will need to apply this fall. Our transfer center can help you! Check out their website here

There are workshops to help you, and there are counselors available to advise you who specialize in transfer students. They are very happy to help and answer questions for you. If you think you can't transfer due to financial reasons, academic reasons, you need to check with the counselors! They can help.

Tentacles at the Aquarium of the Pacific

2011-08-10T20:30:00.000-07:00

All of these photographs are of animals from Phylum Cnidaria. They all can capture prey using stinging cells that paralyze the prey. However most also are algae farmers. Algae live in the animal's cells and to photosynthesis to make carbohydrates. Some coral animals get 90% of their food this way and die without their algae partners.

Some review questions for final- summer 2011

2011-08-04T08:57:00.001-07:00

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
C. Coniferous forests

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. To what kind of environmental stresses are the plants and animals in the chaparral adapted?

8. How is a deciduous forest different from a coniferous forest, other than the types of trees found in each?

Population Ecology and Interactions

1. Define resource partitioning and give an example of it.

2. How is a parasite different from a parasitoid?

3. How is a parasite different from a predator?

4. How are density dependent limiting factors different from density independent limiting factors? Give examples of each.

5. Coevolution happens also between parasites and their hosts. Why is this not surprising?

6. Define and give examples of the following: Mutualism, Commensalism, social parasite.

7. What are common strategies predators use to capture prey, and common defenses found in prey?

8. Draw a food web that could occur in your backyard or here at Cerritos. Include all the trophic levels we discussed in class.

9. Why are there fewer members of the upper trophic levels as compared with primary consumers or the producers?

10. What is carrying capacity?

Genetics

1. How is a genotype different from a phenotype?
2. What name is given to each of the following genotypes: TT Tt tt
3. Which of Mendel's laws discusses the separation of alleles in meiosis?
4. Which of his laws would describe the behavior of human chromosome 2 and 13 during meiosis?
5. In peas, tall is dominant over short. If two plants tall heterozygous plants were crossed, what proportion of the offspring would you expect to be short?
6. In one breed of chickens feather color is black, blue-gray, or white. How is feather color inherited and why do you think so?
7. If mom has 0 blood, and dad has AB blood, what proportion of the children will have B blood?

Plant Review Questions

2011-07-27T13:21:00.001-07:00

Review for lecture exam 2

2011-07-26T11:17:00.001-07:00

DNA, Mitosis and Meiosis Review Quetions

2011-07-13T10:12:00.001-07:00

Summer 2011 review exam 1

2011-07-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

Here are some review questions for you. Some may be similar to the daily review questions, but all will help you while you prepare for the exam.

1. A cell must maintain an imbalance of sodium ions on either side of the membrane for it to function. What process would it most likely use of the ones we discussed in class?
2. How are polar and non polar covalent bonds different?
3. What is a hydrogen bond, and why are these bonds important to life?
4. Oxygen has 8 electrons, with 6 in the outermost energy leve. Will this atom react?
5. How are ions formed?
6. A solution with a pH of 5 is how many times more acidic than a solution with a pH of 7?
7. What determines if an atom with react with another?
8. A plant cell in a hypertonic solution will under go _____________
9. An animal cell in a hypotonic solution may undergo _____________
10. A Paramecium can survive in fresh water without bursting. Why?
11. How are the mitochondria and chloroplasts similar?
12. Why do we think the mitochondria was once an independent organism?
13. Describe the plasma membrane. Include how a lipid membrane functions in a watery environment.
14. What role do the proteins in the plasma membrane play?
15. How is active transport different from diffusion and osmosis?
16. How is dialysis different from osmosis?
17. What affect would a hypertonic solution have on a cell?
18.How is a hypothesis different from a theory?
19.What are five characteristics of living things?
20.How are prokaryotic cells different from eukaryotics cells?
21.What can cyanobacteria do that the bacteria living in your mouth do not do?
22.How are archeae different from the bacteria living on your skin?
23.Describe briefly what organelles would be involved in making a protein and exporting it from the cell.
24.Give an example of two cell organelles working together to accomplish a task.
25.What organelle is found on the ER?
26.What is the function of lysosomes?
27.Where is the nucleolus, and what is its function?
28.What are the functions of the Golgi bodies?

Chapter 3
1. What are the building blocks of carbohydrates?
2. What is the difference between a saturated and unsaturated fatty acid?
3. Why is the shape of an enzyme important to the function of the enzyme?
4. At what level of complexity do proteins usually become functional?
5. What makes up a nucleotide?
6. What bond forms between amino acids as they react to form proteins?
7. How is the function of carbohydrates different in plants and animals?
8. Which of the macromolecules we discussed stores energy in the most efficient way?
9. What is the most common steroid in the body?

Green Sea Turtles

2011-06-07T23:54:00.001-07:00

I've just come back from Maui where I had the chance to snorkel with and photograph green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas). They are called green turtles because a layer of fat just under their shell is green.
They nest on sandy beaches and may feed miles and miles away from the nesting areas. These turtles are endangered in part due to loss of their nesting areas to coastal development. Turtles are also caught in fishing nets and drowned. While they can hold their breath for long periods of time, as reptiles they do need to breathe air.
These turtles as adults eat algae and sea grasses. Adult turtles are preyed upon in Hawaii most commonly by the tiger sharks. I did see a turtle with what looked like teeth marks on the back of its shell.
After feeding the turtles often found a place under rocks or coral to rest.

Botany Review for the final exam

2011-05-10T14:50:00.000-07:00

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

1. What occurs during glycolysis?

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. 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?

Plant Growth

1. Growth toward the light is called a positive ________
2. What are some common environmental cues to which plants respond?
3. Which hormome is involved in plants dropping leaves and ripening of fruit?
4. Which hormone can cause "foolish seedling disease"?
5. What function do the cytokinins play in plant development?
6. What is apical dominance and what hormone causes this?
7. Shoots grow up, and roots tend to grow down even in the dark. What kind of tropism is at work here?

Genetics
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. 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?

5. 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?

6. Describe Mendel's law of independent assortment.

7. Allele pairs are found on ___________________ chromosomes.

8. In peas, tall plants (T) are dominant to short plants (t), and yellow seeds(Y) are dominant to green (y) seeds. Two plants heterozygous for both traits are crossed. What proportion should be tall plants with green seeds?

9. In one species of plant The flowers can be blue or red. When two blue flowering plants are crossed, the offspring are always blue. When a red and blue flowering plant are crossed, sometimes all red are produced, and other times both red and blue flowering plants are produced. When two red flowering plants are crossed, sometimes the offspring are all red, and other times both red flower and blue flowering plants are made. Which color is dominant?

Botany Review Questions for the 3rd Exam

2011-03-31T11:48:00.000-07:00

Evolution:

1. How do biologists define evolution?

2. What is a population?

3. What islands were important to Charles Darwin's thinking on evolution?

4. Biogeography is how living things are distributed around the world. How was Darwin surprised by the the biogeography he observed on his trip around the world?

5. While fossils support the theory of evolution, we can't rely on the fossil record ever being complete. Why?

6. How does the existence of fossils support the theory of evolution?

7. How did LaMarck explain inheritance?

8. What was the hypothesis of catastrophism?

9. While the theory of evolution does not indicate humans came from chimps, it does indicate a _________________________ between chimps and humans.

10. Upon what observations did Darwin base his theory of evolution by natural selection?

11. What is adaptive radiation, and give an example of adaptive radiation in plants.

12. How has evidence from molecular biology supported the theory of evolution?

13. What is sympatric speciation, and how is it different from allopatric speciation?

Fungi Questions

1. How are fungi classified?

2. What role do fungi play typically in their habitat?

3. How are fungi different from plants?

4. How do fungi feed?

5. What does heterokaryotic mean?

6. How do fungi spread out in their habitat?

7. The body of a fungus is a thread like structure called a ____

8. A mass of the answer in question 7 is call a ____

9. A lichen is made of a ____ and a ____. What is the ecological role of lichens?

Land Plants, Mosses and Ferns

1. Liverworts and mosses both have a dominant ________ generation

2. What are three ways plants are adapted to life on land?

3. What organisms are believed to be the ancestors of land plants?

4. Sporophytes do what kind of cell division to make spores?

5. Are gametophytes are haploid or diploid?

6. Why are most mosses small?

7. What do ferns have that is missing in mosses and liverworts?

8. Why are horsetails also called scouring rushes?

9. The dominannt generation in the ferns is the ____ generation

10. Under the leaves one can find ____ in ferns

Gymnosperms

1. What advancement is seen in the gymnosperms compared to the ferns?

2. How are Gingkos and cycads different from conifers?

3. What is in a male cone? What is in a female cone?

4. How are confirs adapted to cold dry climates?

5. What does it mean if a plant is monecious?

6. Ephedra belongs to what division of plants?

7. What is the male gametophyte in the conifers?

Angiosperms

1. What is the function of these parts of the flower?
petals
sepals
anther
ovary
stigma
style

2. Other than the flower, what other advantage do the flowering plants have over the gymnosperms?

3. What is the function of fruit?

4. How is an imperfect flower different from a perfect flower? How is a complete flower different from an incomplete flower?

Wildflower hotline up and running

2011-03-03T22:29:00.000-08:00

The Theodore Payne Foundation's weekly postings of where, and which wildflowers are blooming is up and running. Click here to go to the hotline webpage.

I am hopeful this will be a good year for a wildflower bloom.

Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve 2010

Sand Verbena and Desert Sunflower, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park 2010

Datura, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, 2010

DNA and Mitosis Meiosis, Plant Anatomy and Morphology reveiw questions

2011-02-22T15:12:00.001-08:00

Mitosis and Meiosis Review

1. If a cell has 8 chromosomes and does mitosis, how many cells will be made, and how many chromosomes will each cell have?

2. If a cell has 8 chromosomes and does meiosis to make sperm cells, how many cells will be made, and how many chromosomes will each cell have?

3. Mitosis creates cells which are ________, while meiosis makes cells which are _____.

4. What are homologous chromosomes?

5. What are sister chromatids?

6. What is crossing over, and during which process, (mitosis or meiosis) does it occur?

7. Why is crossing over important?

8. During __________ of mitosis sister chromatids separate.

9. During _________ of meiosis homologous pairs of chromosomes separate, but during ____________ of meiosis sister chromatids separate.

10. In meiosis, typically four sperm cells are made, but meiosis only makes one large egg cell. Why?

DNA Review Questions

1. Describe the structure of the DNA molecule

2. If the sequence of bases on one stand of the molecule is AAC TGC CCG, what is the sequence on the complemetary strand?

3. During DNA replication, what enzyme breaks the hydrogen bonds between the base pairs, and what enzyme matches up nucleotides to the existing ones on the parent strand of DNA?

4. Why is this type of replication called Semi Conservative?

5. How is RNA different from DNA?

6. The production of messenger RNA from DNA is called ________, and this happens in the __________ of the cell.

7. The parts of the mRNA molecules which are edited out before RNA reaches the cytoplasm are called __________

8. mRNA gets a cap and a tail prior to being read by the ribosome. What is the function of the cap and tail?

9. If the DNA strand being copied had this sequence: ACT GGC ATA CTA what would the sequence of the mRNA be?

10. The function of transfer RNA is ?

11. What is the name of the enzyme that produces RNA from DNA?

12. If the sequence of DNA is the same in your body cells, why are all cells not the same?

13. The DNA in you, an earthworm, and a fungus is the same. So why are you a human and not an earthworm?

14. What is an anti-codon and where is it found?

15. The protein synthesis process that occurs at the ribosome is called _____________

16. What is a stop codon?

Plant Anatomy:

1. Pick one of the ground tissues we discussed such as parenchyma or sclerenchyma, and explain how its structure and function are related.

2. What are the two types of vascular tissue in plants, and what is the function of each?

3. How is the anatomy of a monocot root, or stem or leaf different from that of a dicot?

4. What is the role of the epidermis? In woody plants the epidermis is replaced by the _______ ?

5.What are the regions called in plants where mitosis occurs to make the plant taller?

6. What is the name of the openings in the epidermis and what is the function of these openings?

7. In a dicot leaf, why is the lower layer of mesophyll more open than the upper layer?

8. What part of the root actually absorbs the water?

9. What is the difference between spring and summer wood?

10. How are compound and simple leaves different?

11. What is the function of the following stem modifications: tuber, bulb, corm, rhizome, stolon, tendril

12. What are five modifications of stems or leaves that might be found in a plant adapted to hot dry conditions?

13. Why are some plant's leaves modified to trap insects?

14. What is the role of the endodermis in the root?

15. What is the function of the pericycle?

Botany review exam 1

2011-02-01T15:50:00.000-08:00

Here are a host of review questions for you to prepare for the first exam
1. What are the building blocks of carbohydrates?
2. What is the difference between a saturated and unsaturated fatty acid?
3. Why is the shape of an enzyme important to the function of the enzyme?
4. What are the major functions of carbohydrates in plant cells?
5. Which of the macromolecules we discussed stores energy in the most efficient way?
6. What are the building blocks or subunits of proteins?
7. What kind of fatty acids are usually made in plant cells?

Here's some more questions for you to answer !

1. How are polar and non polar covalent bonds different?
2. What is a hydrogen bond, and why are these bonds important to life?
3. Oxygen has 8 electrons, with 6 in the outermost energy leve. Will this atom react?
4. How are ions formed?
5. A solution with a pH of 5 is how many times more acidic than a solution with a pH of 7?
6. What determines if an atom with react with another?

Plant Cells, and how substances get into and out of cells
1. How are the mitochondria and chloroplasts similar?
2. Why do we think the mitochondria and chloroplasts were once independent organisms?
3. Describe the plasma membrane. Include how a lipid membrane functions in a watery environment.
4. What role do the proteins in the plasma membrane play?
5. How is dialysis different from osmosis?
6. What affect would a 10% salt solution have on a plant cell?
7. Describe how a protein would get out of a plant cell.
8. What are the channels from one cell to another called?
9. How do plants use the central water vacuole?
10. are prokaryotic cells different from eukaryotics cells?
11.What can cyanobacteria do that the bacteria living in your mouth do not do?
12.What organelle is found on the ER?
13.Where is the nucleolus?
14What are the functions of the Golgi bodies?

Bison in winter

2011-01-12T23:34:00.000-08:00

Bison move to the lower elevations of the park in the winter to feed. They use their huge heads to shovel the snow and ice out of the way, and feed on dead grasses.

If the winter is very harsh they will continue to move to lower elevations which take them out of the park where they are hunted, or rounded up and killed because they have been exposed to a disease called brucellosis. This bacterial disease causes bison and cattle to abort calves, and can be transmitted if an animal eats grass near where another has given birth. Local ranchers are concerned that the bison could spread the disease to their cattle. Ironic since cattle gave the disease to bison in the first place.

Wolves

2011-01-11T00:13:00.001-08:00

These wolf tracks were in the snow by the side of the road that traverses the Lamar Valley. This is the only road open to cars in the park during the winter. Down the road to the east we came across the male wolf below at a kill made the night before.
90% of the time when wolves are present so are ravens. Ravens can't open the body of an elk or other large mammal by themselves, but the wolves can. Ravens have been seen playing with wolf pups as they emerge from their dens in the spring. Ravens also play with adult wolves as well as the pups. Wolves don't kill ravens, but they will kill other birds and animals that approach their kills.
There is a hypothesis that ravens may even lead wolves to weak prey as they fly back and forth from the prey to the wolf pack they may be guiding wolves to specific animals the ravens have picked out as being slow, weak or ill.

More Yellowstone in Winter

2011-01-02T20:02:00.001-08:00

There is alot more snow in the Lamar Valley this winter than last. All this snow makes it more difficult for the animals to more around, and some like wolves, bison and coyotes learn using the road makes traveling easier when they want to move along the valley.

This coyote was headed up a hillside near the road, and broke through the icy crust on the snow.

This coyote headed toward the road. I saw it in my side view mirror, so I stopped the car and waited.

It continued up the road right past the car.

This mule deer had been killed either by a mountain lion or wolves. When I saw it magpies, ravens and this coyote were scavenging the remains. Wolf kills end up feeding lots of other animals.

Winter in Yellowstone

2011-01-02T18:19:00.000-08:00

The red fox in the foreground was hunting mice and other rodents in the snow, and did not notice the coyotes approaching it. Like wolves will kill coyotes, coyotes will kill foxes.

Once it did see the coyotes, the fox took off running toward the road with the coyotes in pursuit.

The coyotes became distracted by their own rodent hunting when they reached the area where the fox had been hunting, and the fox was able to evade them. This fox is a color variation on typical foxes and is referred to as a "black morph."

This is the typical color of the red fox. We had four days of "three dog days" in Yellowstone during which we saw wolves, coyotes and foxes.

NASA scientist discovers new life form

2010-12-02T13:36:00.000-08:00

GFAJ-1
Remember how I always say all life on Earth makes DNA the same way? That life builds DNA with a backbone of sugar and phosphate? Well, not anymore. Nasa Scientist Felisa Wolfe Simon and her team of researchers have discovered a bacterium that does not build its DNA with phosphate, but uses Arsenic instead!!

The organism was discovered in Mono Lake here in California. This bacteria, called GFAJ-1 can eat arsenic, but so can a few other bacteria. What makes this bacteria so unusual is that it makes its DNA from it!

Arsenic is very toxic to most of us, but this single celled organism has found a way to make DNA, RNA, proteins and even its cell membranes from it.

To read the press release from NASA click here

Bio 120 review for the final

2010-12-02T12:59:00.000-08:00

Population Ecology and Interactions

1. Define resource partitioning and give an example of it.

2. How is a parasite different from a parasitoid?

3. How is a parasite different from a predator?

4. How are density dependent limiting factors different from density independent limiting factors? Give examples of each.

5. Coevolution happens also between parasites and their hosts. Why is this not surprising?

6. Define and give examples of the following: Mutualism, Commensalism, social parasite.

7. What are common strategies predators use to capture prey, and common defenses found in prey?

8. Draw a food web that could occur in your backyard or here at Cerritos. Include all the trophic levels we discussed in class.

9. Why are there fewer members of the upper trophic levels as compared with primary consumers or the producers?

10. What is carrying capacity?

Genetics

1. How is a genotype different from a phenotype?
2. What name is given to each of the following genotypes: TT Tt tt
3. Which of Mendel's laws discusses the separation of alleles in meiosis?
4. Which of his laws would describe the behavior of human chromosome 2 and 13 during meiosis?
5. In peas, tall is dominant over short. If two plants tall heterozygous plants were crossed, what proportion of the offspring would you expect to be short?
6. In one breed of chickens feather color is black, blue-gray, or white. How is feather color inherited and why do you think so?
7. If mom has 0 blood, and dad has AB blood, what proportion of the children will have B blood?

Bio 120 Review for the third exam:

2010-11-12T10:57:00.001-08:00

Plant Review Questions for Exam 2

2010-10-14T10:54:00.001-07:00

Review questions Bio 120 exam 2

2010-10-14T10:52:00.001-07:00

Mitosis and Meiosis Review

1. If a cell has 8 chromosomes and does mitosis, how many cells will be made, and how many chromosomes will each cell have?

2. If a cell has 8 chromosomes and does meiosis to make sperm cells, how many cells will be made, and how many chromosomes will each cell have?

3. Mitosis creates cells which are ________, while meiosis makes cells which are _____.

4. What are homologous chromosomes?

5. What are sister chromatids?

6. What is crossing over, and during which process, (mitosis or meiosis) does it occur?

7. Why is crossing over important?

8. During __________ of mitosis sister chromatids separate.

9. During _________ of meiosis homologous pairs of chromosomes separate, but during ____________ of meiosis sister chromatids separate.

10. In meiosis, typically four sperm cells are made, but meiosis only makes one large egg cell. Why?

DNA Review Questions

1. Describe the structure of the DNA molecule

2. If the sequence of bases on one stand of the molecule is AAC TGC CCG, what is the sequence on the complemetary strand?

3. During DNA replication, what enzyme breaks the hydrogen bonds between the base pairs, and what enzyme matches up nucleotides to the existing ones on the parent strand of DNA?

4. Why is this type of replication called Semi Conservative?

5. How is RNA different from DNA?

6. The production of messenger RNA from DNA is called ________, and this happens in the __________ of the cell.

7. The parts of the mRNA molecules which are edited out before RNA reaches the cytoplasm are called __________

8. mRNA gets a cap and a tail prior to being read by the ribosome. What is the function of the cap and tail?

9. If the DNA strand being copied had this sequence: ACT GGC ATA CTA what would the sequence of the mRNA be?

10. The function of transfer RNA is ?

11. What is the name of the enzyme that produces RNA from DNA?

12. If the sequence of DNA is the same in your body cells, why are all cells not the same?

13. The DNA in you, an earthworm, and a fungus is the same. So why are you a human and not an earthworm?

14. What is an anti-codon and where is it found?

15. The protein synthesis process that occurs at the ribosome is called _____________

16. What is a stop codon?

Genetic Engineering

1. What are restriction enzymes?
2. What kind of cells have restriction enzymes, and what is the purpose of these enzymes in the cell?
3. What is a plasmid?
4. How are plasmids used in genetic engineering?
5. Why does human DNA work in a bacterial cell?
6. What is gene therapy?

Global warming and the tropics

2010-10-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

We have all heard in the news about the stresses global warming and the associated climate changes are causing organisms in the north. The polar bear has become some what of a poster child for the impacts of global warming in the north. However,researchers are now reporting on the impacts even small changes in the tropics can have on animals there.

The tropics teem with insects which are ectotherms. These animals vary their metabolic rate with their environment. As the environment warms, their metabolism rises, and they need to eat more. The most current estimate I know of places the number of insect species in the tropics at about 3.7 million. This is a huge reduction from the previously held estimate of 30 million. The real number would be somewhere in between the two I suspect.

In any case, there are millions of insects that are being affected by warming. Why does this matter? Insects are key to life in the tropics. They play all kinds of important roles. They are a rich source of food for other animals, they are pollinators of the flowering plants that dominate the tropics, and some keep the population numbers of other species in check.

As warming causes their body temperatures to rise, their metabolic rates rise and they have to eat more, or reduce their activity to conserve the food they have.

To see a Science Digest article about this topic click here.

Review questions Bio 120 exam 1

2010-09-09T10:52:00.000-07:00

1. A cell must maintain an imbalance of sodium ions on either side of the membrane for it to function. What process would it most likely use of the ones we discussed in class?
2. How are polar and non polar covalent bonds different?
3. What is a hydrogen bond, and why are these bonds important to life?
4. Oxygen has 8 electrons, with 6 in the outermost energy level. Will this atom react?
5. How are ions formed?
6. A solution with a pH of 5 is how many times more acidic than a solution with a pH of 7?
7. What determines if an atom with react with another?
8. A plant cell in a hypertonic solution will under go _____________
9. An animal cell in a hypotonic solution may undergo _____________
10. A Paramecium can survive in fresh water without bursting. Why?
11. How are the mitochondria and chloroplasts similar?
12. Why do we think the mitochondria was once an independent organism?
13. Describe the plasma membrane. Include how a lipid membrane functions in a watery environment.
14. What role do the proteins in the plasma membrane play?
15. How is active transport different from diffusion and osmosis, and facilitated diffusion?
16. How is dialysis different from osmosis?
17. What affect would a hypertonic solution have on a cell?
18.How is a hypothesis different from a theory?
19.What are five characteristics of living things?
20.How are prokaryotic cells different from eukaryotics cells?
21.What can cyanobacteria do that the bacteria living in your mouth do not do?
22.How are archea different from the bacteria living on your skin?
23.Describe briefly what organelles would be involved in making a protein and exporting it from the cell.
24.Give an example of two cell organelles working together to accomplish a task.
25.What organelle is found on the ER?
26.What is the function of lysosomes?
27.Where is the nucleolus, and what is its function?
28.What are the functions of the Golgi bodies?

Chapter 3
1. What are the building blocks of carbohydrates?
2. What is the difference between a saturated and unsaturated fatty acid?
3. Why is the shape of an enzyme important to the function of the enzyme?
4. At what level of complexity do proteins usually become functional?
5. What makes up a nucleotide?
6. What bond forms between amino acids as they react to form proteins?
7. How is the function of carbohydrates different in plants and animals?
8. What is the name of the carbohydrate human cells use to store glucose?
9. Which of the macromolecules we discussed stores energy in the most efficient way?
10. What is the most common steroid in the body?

Tell your Calif. State Senator to Support AB 1998

2010-08-27T21:08:00.000-07:00

This bill will ban the use of plastic bags by grocery stores and other retailers.

2010-08-07T21:36:00.000-07:00

Review for the Bio 120 Summer Session Final Exam

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
C. Coniferous forests

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. To what kind of environmental stresses are the plants and animals in the chaparral adapted?

8. How is a deciduous forest different from a coniferous forest, other than the types of trees found in each?

1. Define resource partitioning and give an example of it.

2. How is a parasite different from a parasitoid?

3. How is a parasite different from a predator?

4. How are density dependent limiting factors different from density independent limiting factors? Give examples of each.

5. Coevolution happens also between parasites and their hosts. Why is this not surprising?

6. Define and give examples of the following: Mutualism, Commensalism, social parasite.

7. What are common strategies predators use to capture prey, and common defenses found in prey?

8. Draw a food web that could occur in your backyard or here at Cerritos. Include all the trophic levels we discussed in class.

9. Why are there fewer members of the upper trophic levels as compared with primary consumers or the producers?

10. What is carrying capacity?

9. Why don't grasslands become forests?

10. What is the one thing all deserts have in common?

10. Upon what observations did Darwin base his theory of evolution by natural selection?

11. What must occur for a new species to evolve?

12. What isolating mechanisms help maintain a species as a distinct group?

13. Describe how allopatric speciation could happen.

14. What is usually involved in sympatric speciation?

15. How is stabilizing selection different from directional selection?

16. Is their a plan to evolution?

17. What mechanisms of evolution can lead to less genetic diversity in a population?

18. What is a gene pool?

19. Who was Alfred Wallace and why is he an important figure in the history of the theory of evolution?

20. What is the source of all new genes in a population?

21. What mechanism of evolution keeps separate populations from being isolated?

Genetics

1. How is a phenotype different from a genotype?

2. How is the law of segregation different from the law of independent assortment?

3. What is an allele?

4. If a pair of alleles are the same we call this genotype _____, and if the alleles are different the genotype is called _____.

5. PKU is a recessive disorder. If "dad" has PKU , and "mom" is homozygous dominant, what is the chance a child will have PKU?

6. In four o'clock flowers, the petal color is either red, pink, or white. How do you think flower color is inherited and why?

7. Hemophilia is an X-linked disorder. If mom carries the gene, and dad is normal, what is the chance the couple's daughter will be a carrier? What is the chance the daughter will have hemophilia?

What is the chance their son will have hemophilia?

8. Mom has O blood, and Dad has AB. They have a child with B blood. Is this possible?

9. There are three alleles present in the population for blood type. This is called _____________

10. A gene that is only expressed if it is in the homozygous condition must be a ______ gene.

I1. In a certain species of flower there are two petal colors, blue or red. If two blue flowered plants are crossed, the offspring are always blue. If two red plants are crossed, sometimes only red flowering plants are produced, while other times both red and blue flowering plants are produced. If a red plant and blue plant are crossed, sometimes the offspring are all red, while other times both red and blue offspring are produced. Which color is dominant?

Bio 120 review for second exam: Summer 2010

2010-07-27T10:56:00.000-07:00

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?

More 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

Evolution:

1. How do biologists define evolution?

2. What is a population?

3. What islands were important to Charles Darwin's thinking on evolution?

4. Biogeography is how living things are distributed around the world. How was Darwin surprised by the the biogeography he observed on his trip around the world?

5. While fossils support the theory of evolution, we can't rely on the fossil record ever being complete. Why?

6. How does the existence of fossils support the theory of evolution?

7. How did LaMarck explain inheritance?

8. What was the hypothesis of catastrophism?

9. While the theory of evolution does not indicate humans came from chimps, it does indicate a _________________________ between chimps and humans.

10. Upon what observations did Darwin base his theory of evolution by natural selection?

11. What is adaptive radiation, and give an example of adaptive radiation in plants.

12. How has evidence from molecular biology supported the theory of evolution?

13. What is sympatric speciation, and how is it different from allopatric speciation?

Botany 120 Biome and genetics review

2010-05-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

Genetics

1. How is a phenotype different from a genotype?

2. How is the law of segregation different from the law

of independent assortment?

3. What is an allele?

4. If a pair of alleles are the same we call this

genotype _____,and if the alleles are different

the genotype is called _____.

5. In four o'clock flowers, the petal color is either red,

pink, or white. How do you think flower color

is inherited and why?

6. A gene that is only expressed if it is in the homozygous

condition must be a ______ gene.

7. In a certain species of flower there are two petal colors,

blue or red.If two blue flowered plants are crossed,

the offspring are always blue.If two red plants are crossed,

sometimes only red flowering plants are produced, while

other times both red and blue flowering plants are

produced. If a red plant and blue plant are crossed,

sometimes the offspring are all red, while other

times both red and blue offspring

are produced. Which color is dominant?

8. A plant that breeds true for tall is crossed with one that

breeds true for short. All of the offspring in the F-1 are tall.

The F-1 generation is allowed to self-fertilize, and the

F-2 are 3/4 tall and 1/4 short.

a. which allele is dominant, the one for tallness or shortness?

b. what is the genotype of an F-1 individual?

c. what are the genotypes of the parental generation?

9. In peas, purple flowers (P) are dominant to white flowers (p),

and yellow seeds are dominant (Y) to green(y). If two plants

heterozygous for both traits are crossed, what proportion

of the offspring will have purple flowers and

produce green seeds?

10. Which of the following are homozygous

genotypes?

a. AABb

b. aabb

c. AaBb

d. aaBB

e. Aabb

Biomes

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 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?

5. In what biomes does fire play an important role, and

what is this role?

6. To what kind of environmental stresses are the plants

in the chaparral adapted?

7. How is a deciduous forest different from a coniferous

forest, other than the types of trees found in each?

8. Why don't grasslands become forests?

9. What is the one thing all deserts have in common?

Genetics and Evolution Review Bio 120

2010-05-11T19:17:00.001-07:00

1. How do biologists define evolution?

2. What is a population?

3. What islands were important to Charles Darwin's thinking on evolution?

4. Biogeography is how living things are distributed around the world. How was Darwin surprised by the the biogeography he observed on his trip around the world?

5. While fossils support the theory of evolution, we can't rely on the fossil record ever being complete. Why?

6. How does the existence of fossils support the theory of evolution?

7. How did LaMarck explain inheritance?

8. What was the hypothesis of catastrophism?

9. While the theory of evolution does not indicate humans came from chimps, it does indicate a _________________________ between chimps and humans.

10. Upon what observations did Darwin base his theory of evolution by natural selection?

11. What must occur for a new species to evolve?

12. What isolating mechanisms help maintain a species as a distinct group?

13. Describe how allopatric speciation could happen.

14. What is usually involved in sympatric speciation?

15. How is stabilizing selection different from directional selection?

16. Is their a plan to evolution?

17. What mechanisms of evolution can lead to less genetic diversity in a population?

18. What is a gene pool?

19. Who was Alfred Wallace and why is he an important figure in the history of the theory of evolution?

20. What is the source of all new genes in a population?

21. What mechanism of evolution keeps separate populations from being isolated?

Genetics

1. How is a phenotype different from a genotype?

2. How is the law of segregation different from the law of independent assortment?

3. What is an allele?

4. If a pair of alleles are the same we call this genotype _____, and if the alleles are different the genotype is called _____.

5. PKU is a recessive disorder. If "dad" has PKU , and "mom" is homozygous dominant, what is the chance a child will have PKU?

6. In four o'clock flowers, the petal color is either red, pink, or white. How do you think flower color is inherited and why?

7. Hemophilia is an X-linked disorder. If mom carries the gene, and dad is normal, what is the chance the couple's daughter will be a carrier? What is the chance the daughter will have hemophilia?

What is the chance their son will have hemophilia?

8. Mom has O blood, and Dad has AB. They have a child with B blood. Is this possible?

9. There are three alleles present in the population for blood type. This is called _____________

10. A gene that is only expressed if it is in the homozygous condition must be a ______ gene.

Nesting season in the desert

2010-05-04T20:58:00.000-07:00

I was out at Joshua Tree National Monument, and the Morongo Valley Preserve this weekend. Lot's of nesting birds around including these:

Young red-tailed hawk looks down at a visitor.

Stretching the wings, and building up the flight muscles. This hawk won't leave the nest until it is as big as its parents.

Great-horned owl chick still in its fluffy down feathers.

Botany review photosynthesis and cell respiration

2010-05-04T16:34:00.001-07:00

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?

Spring in the Mojave Desert

2010-04-16T15:31:00.000-07:00

This diminutive plant has a wonderful flower. This is Lilac Sunbonnet Langloisia setosissima. The whole plant is about 2 inches tall. Check out the blue pollen.

Climbing milkweed, Sarcostemma cyanchoidies, is an important host plant for the larvae of butterflies. Notice the tendrils it uses to cling to other plants for support.

Desert Five Spot. Eremalche rotundifloria. How about that? A scientific name that is very logical. Rotundifloria, round flower. These flowers look like little domes until just before they wilt, then they open up to show off their spots.

Hey, that's no flower! This rattle snake was snoozing in the shade of a creosote shrub until we rudely walked by and disturbed it.

One of the best things about camping is seeing the sunrise.

The clouds were beautiful on Saturday.

A rainbow cloud

Review for exam 4 Bio 120

2010-04-16T15:28:00.001-07:00

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
C. Coniferous forests

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. To what kind of environmental stresses are the plants and animals in the chaparral adapted?

8. How is a deciduous forest different from a coniferous forest, other than the types of trees found in each?

1. Define resource partitioning and give an example of it.

2. How is a parasite different from a parasitoid?

3. How is a parasite different from a predator?

4. How are density dependent limiting factors different from density independent limiting factors? Give examples of each.

5. Coevolution happens also between parasites and their hosts. Why is this not surprising?

6. Define and give examples of the following: Mutualism, Commensalism, social parasite.

7. What are common strategies predators use to capture prey, and common defenses found in prey?

8. Draw a food web that could occur in your backyard or here at Cerritos. Include all the trophic levels we discussed in class.

9. Why are there fewer members of the upper trophic levels as compared with primary consumers or the producers?

10. What is carrying capacity?

9. Why don't grasslands become forests?

10. What is the one thing all deserts have in common?
Labels: Biomes

Botany Review Questions Exam 3

2010-04-08T07:48:00.000-07:00

Evolution:

1. How do biologists define evolution?

2. What is a population?

3. What islands were important to Charles Darwin's thinking on evolution?

4. Biogeography is how living things are distributed around the world. How was Darwin surprised by the the biogeography he observed on his trip around the world?

5. While fossils support the theory of evolution, we can't rely on the fossil record ever being complete. Why?

6. How does the existence of fossils support the theory of evolution?

7. How did LaMarck explain inheritance?

8. What was the hypothesis of catastrophism?

9. While the theory of evolution does not indicate humans came from chimps, it does indicate a _________________________ between chimps and humans.

10. Upon what observations did Darwin base his theory of evolution by natural selection?

11. What is adaptive radiation, and give an example of adaptive radiation in plants.

12. How has evidence from molecular biology supported the theory of evolution?

13. What is sympatric speciation, and how is it different from allopatric speciation?

Bacteria

1. What is the name of the bacteria that do photosynthesis,and what can they do in addition to photosynthesis?

2. In what major way are bacterial cells different from plant cells?

3. Describe how bacterial cells can reproduce.

4. What is in the cell walls of bacteria?

5. What is a capsule used for?

6. What are the three basic shapes of bacteria?

7. What roles do bacteria play in the ecosystem where they are found?

8. How are Archea different from bacteria?

9. Some bacteria live in the roots of plants. What are they doing there?

10. What is a plasmid?

Fungi Questions

1. How are fungi classified?

2. What role do fungi play typically in their habitat?

3. How are fungi different from plants?

4. How do fungi feed?

5. What does heterokaryotic mean?

6. How do fungi spread out in their habitat?

7. The body of a fungus is a thread like structure called a ____

8. A mass of the answer in question 7 is call a ____

9. A lichen is made of a ____ and a ____. What is the ecological role of lichens?

Land Plants, Mosses and Ferns

1. Liverworts and mosses both have a dominant ________ generation

2. What are three ways plants are adapted to life on land?

3. What organisms are believed to be the ancestors of land plants?

4. Sporophytes do what kind of cell division to make spores?

5. Are gametophytes are haploid or diploid?

6. Why are most mosses small?

7. What do ferns have that is missing in mosses and liverworts?

8. Why are horsetails also called scouring rushes?

9. The dominannt generation in the ferns is the ____ generation

10. Under the leaves one can find ____ in ferns

Gymnosperms

1. What advancement is seen in the gymnosperms compared to the ferns?

2. How are Gingkos and cycads different from conifers?

3. What is in a male cone? What is in a female cone?

4. How are confirs adapted to cold dry climates?

5. What does it mean if a plant is monecious?

6. Ephedra belongs to what division of plants?

7. What is the male gametophyte in the conifers?

Angiosperms

1. What is the function of these parts of the flower?
petals
sepals
anther
ovary
stigma
style

2. Other than the flower, what other advantage do the flowering plants have over the gymnosperms?

3. What is the function of fruit?

4. How is an imperfect flower different from a perfect flower? How is a complete flower different from an incomplete flower?

Carrizo Plain National Monument

2010-04-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

The Carrizo Plain is in a remote area of Southern California between the I-5 and San Luis Obispo. It is what California may have been like hundreds of years ago. It is an open expanse of grasslands with gentle rolling hills. It is quiet. Wind and birds are all one hears along with an occasional drone of bees pollinating the flowers at this time of year. There are no gas stations, or stores nearby. The campground has no water, and you pack out what you bring in. Go there.

Owl's clover

Great horned owl in nest. The campground where we stayed had some of the only trees in the area. Consequently there were a host of bird species in the area.

Moonrise over the Temblor Hills

Red-tailed hawk being harassed by a red-winged black bird

The campground shortly after dawn

Wild Hyacinth

In the hills behind the campground

Miles of fiddleneck and Phacelia gave the floor of the plain an orange and purple glow

California poppy

Stork's bill and goldfields paint the fields and hillsides

Bio 120 Review Exam 3

2010-03-25T09:24:00.001-07:00

The Antelope Valley

2010-03-21T20:22:00.000-07:00

The California Poppy Reserve had some blooms, but the most of the hillsides were not in bloom yet. However, after driving around on the roads around the reserve, we saw carpets of goldfields, poppies, but very few lupine.

We saw thousands of poppies, but only one yellow one.

Goldfields and Poppies

The sepals of the poppy flower cover the bud, then fall off as the bloom opens

I noticed this poppy was opening up, and as I was taking photos of it...

...the sepal popped right off.

Where to see wildflowers in Southern California

2010-03-19T06:34:00.000-07:00

Desert Dandelion and Phacelia, Mojave National Preserve

Here's a list of some of my favorite places, however, there are many more areas to explore!

Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve

Peak bloom is usually late March, you can see California poppies, goldfields, owl’s clover and others.

Anza Borrego State Park

Desert lilies, sand verbena, desert primroses and more

Bloom is happening right now!

Carrizo Plain National Monument

Amazing fields of flowers in a very remote area. Lots of dirt roads.

Death Valley National Park

The peak bloom should be late this month into mid April

Yucca buds, Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park

It was snowing in Joshua Tree two weeks ago. According to the ranger I talked to, peak bloom in park expected late March to Mid April.

Mojave National Preserve

Desert lilies, evening primrose, desert dandelions, Phacelia, sand verbena and more!

The Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve

Amazing! Over 8,000 acres of oak savanna, chaparral, and grasslands

39400 Clinton Keith Road is located at the southern end of the Santa Ana Mountains in southwest Riverside County, near the city of Murrieta, 92562. I just love this place!

Wildflower “ Hotlines”

Desert Wildflower Hotline

Theodore Payne Foundation

Link to other Wildflower info sites. This link will give you dozens of places to visit to see the flowers.

Click here to go to a page full of places to see wildflowers

Recommended desert wildflower books:

Mojave Desert Wildflowers by Pam Mac Kay. (2003)

Features lots of information about how the plants were used by Native Americans. Full color photos, great descriptions of plants, and interesting comments about them.

Wildflowers of the Colorado Desert by Jon Mark Stewart (1993)

The Colorado Desert is a part of the Sonoran Desert that extends into California. It includes the Anza-Borrego area as well as parts of Joshua Tree National Park

Stealing electrons from single celled algae to generate electric power

2010-03-17T06:57:00.000-07:00

Chlamydomonas, a single celled algae

New Scientist has a report on its webpage about scientists who inserted tiny gold electrodes into single celled algae called Chlamydomonas, to syphon off some high energy electrons created during photosynthesis. The electrons were then used to generate electricity.

The process was less efficient at generation of electricity that a solar cell, and would be hard to do on a large scale, but the researchers involved believe they can make the process more efficient in the future.

You can read the whole article here

The Santa Rosa Plateau and Chocolate Lilies

2010-03-14T21:25:00.001-07:00

I love the Santa Rosa Plateau. There are miles of trails, vernal pools, amazing wildflowers in the spring, and peace and quiet. All this only a few miles from the I-15. The Plateau is over 8,000 acres of what Southern California used to be like. It was saved from a huge housing development in the early 1990's by a local group of citizens and the Nature Conservancy, and is now part of the Riverside County Park system.

Chocolate Lilies were scattered in the grasses along the trails

Red-Tailed hawks were riding the thermals in the late morning

This Red-Shouldered Hawk was doing an aerial display, swooping up and down over the trees.

Ground pinks were along the trail near the large vernal pool.

Wild Hyacinth

Anza-Borrego State Park is in bloom!

2010-03-13T21:20:00.000-08:00

The wildflower season in Southern California is underway. Anza Borrego State Park has blooms of these wonderful evening primrose, and desert verbena. The primroses bloom in the evening, and are pollinated by a large moth. The blooms then fade the next day.

Desert sunflower and sand verbena

Datura blossom opening. All parts of the Datura plant are poisonous.

Phacelia and chicory

Barrel cactus blossom with a pollinator

Another group of desert primrose

Barrel cactus blooms

Desert lily and sand verbena

Lupine

Joshua Tree National Park should be blooming in late March to mid-April. However, I hear chocolate lilies are in bloom at the Santa Rosa Plateau. Guess where I am headed tomorrow morning!

Identical Twin Murder Case

2010-03-02T09:17:00.001-08:00

I have mentioned in class that identical twins have the same sequence of DNA in their cells. So if you have an identical twin it is important that he or she stays out of trouble, so that you do not become a suspect. However, until now, I had not heard of a case in which a twin was arrested for a crime the other twin allegedly committed. This case is a horrible murder case in which the suspect killed a woman for her car. You can read about it here

Bio 120 review for the second exam

2010-02-27T23:16:00.001-08:00

Genetic Engineering

1. What are restriction enzymes?
2. What kind of cells have restriction enzymes, and what is the purpose of these enzymes in the cell?
3. What is a plasmid?
4. How are plasmids used in genetic engineering?
5. Why does human DNA work in a bacterial cell?
6. What is gene therapy?

Mitosis and Meiosis Review

1. If a cell has 8 chromosomes and does mitosis, how many cells will be made, and how many chromosomes will each cell have?

2. If a cell has 8 chromosomes and does meiosis to make sperm cells, how many cells will be made, and how many chromosomes will each cell have?

3. Mitosis creates cells which are ________, while meiosis makes cells which are _____.

4. What are homologous chromosomes?

5. What are sister chromatids?

6. What is crossing over, and during which process, (mitosis or meiosis) does it occur?

7. Why is crossing over important?

8. During __________ of mitosis sister chromatids separate.

9. During _________ of meiosis homologous pairs of chromosomes separate, but during ____________ of meiosis sister chromatids separate.

10. In meiosis, typically four sperm cells are made, but meiosis only makes one large egg cell. Why?

DNA Review Questions

1. Describe the structure of the DNA molecule

2. If the sequence of bases on one stand of the molecule is AAC TGC CCG, what is the sequence on the complemetary strand?

3. During DNA replication, what enzyme breaks the hydrogen bonds between the base pairs, and what enzyme matches up nucleotides to the existing ones on the parent strand of DNA?

4. Why is this type of replication called Semi Conservative?

5. How is RNA different from DNA?

6. The production of messenger RNA from DNA is called ________, and this happens in the __________ of the cell.

7. The parts of the mRNA molecules which are edited out before RNA reaches the cytoplasm are called __________

8. mRNA gets a cap and a tail prior to being read by the ribosome. What is the function of the cap and tail?

9. If the DNA strand being copied had this sequence: ACT GGC ATA CTA what would the sequence of the mRNA be?

10. The function of transfer RNA is ?

11. What is the name of the enzyme that produces RNA from DNA?

12. If the sequence of DNA is the same in your body cells, why are all cells not the same?

13. The DNA in you, an earthworm, and a fungus is the same. So why are you a human and not an earthworm?

14. What is an anti-codon and where is it found?

15. The protein synthesis process that occurs at the ribosome is called _____________

16. What is a stop codon?

Botany Review for the Second Exam

2010-02-25T20:09:00.001-08:00

DNA
1. Describe the structure of the DNA molecule

2. If the sequence of bases on one stand of the molecule is AAC TGC CCG, what is the sequence on the complementary strand?

3. During DNA replication, what enzyme breaks the hydrogen bonds between the base pairs, and what enzyme matches up nucleotides to the existing ones on the parent strand of DNA?

4. Why is this type of replication called Semi Conservative?

5. How is RNA different from DNA?

6. The production of messenger RNA from DNA is called ________, and this happens in the __________ of the cell.

7. The parts of the mRNA molecules which are edited out before RNA reaches the cytoplasm are called __________

8. mRNA gets a cap and a tail prior to being read by the ribosome. What is the function of the cap and tail?

9. If the DNA strand being copied had this sequence: ACT GGC ATA CTA what would the sequence of the mRNA be?

10. The function of transfer RNA is ?

11. What is the name of the enzyme that produces RNA from DNA?

12. What is an anti-codon and where is it found?

15. The protein synthesis process that occurs at the ribosome is called _____________

16. What is a stop codon?

Mitosis and Meiosis

1. If a cell has 8 chromosomes and does mitosis, how many cells will be made, and how many chromosomes will each cell have?

2. If a cell has 8 chromosomes and does meiosis to make microspore cells, how many cells will be made, and how many chromosomes will each cell have?

3. Mitosis creates cells which are ________, while meiosis makes cells which are _____.

4. What are homologous chromosomes?

5. What are sister chromatids?

6. What is crossing over, and during which process, (mitosis or meiosis) does it occur?

Plant Anatomy:

1. Pick one of the ground tissues we discussed such as parenchyma or sclerenchyma, and explain how its structure and function are related.

2. What are the two types of vascular tissue in plants, and what is the function of each?

3. How is the anatomy of a monocot root, or stem or leaf different from that of a dicot?

4. What is the role of the epidermis? In woody plants the epidermis is replaced by the _______ ?

5.What are the regions called in plants where mitosis occurs to make the plant taller?

6. What is the name of the openings in the epidermis and what is the function of these openings?

7. In a dicot leaf, why is the lower layer of mesophyll more open than the upper layer?

8. What part of the root actually absorbs the water?

9. What is the difference between spring and summer wood?

10. How are compound and simple leaves different?

11. What is the function of the following stem modifications: tuber, bulb, corm, rhizome, stolon, tendril

12. What are five modifications of stems or leaves that might be found in a plant adapted to hot dry conditions?

13. Why are some plant's leaves modified to trap insects?

14. What is the role of the endodermis in the root?

15. What is the function of the pericycle?

Bolsa Chica Stewards Volunteers Plant over 300 plants on the Bolsa Chica Mesa

2010-02-20T16:34:00.001-08:00

The Tree of Life Nursery could not deliver the plants out onto the mesa for us since the ground was so wet from all the rains, so we carried the plants out by hand or in wagons and wheelbarrows. The Bolsa Chica Stewards had wonderful weather this morning as we planted, and pulled weeds away from plants put in during the last couple of months. There was a big turn out from Cerritos College students. This was the first month we were able to use the walk-bridge instead of walking on Warner Ave. This made a huge difference in safety for our volunteers.

Tinkering with Ribosomes and Protein Production

2010-02-19T22:10:00.000-08:00

National Public Radio had a story this week about making new kinds of proteins by altering the way the ribosomes read the DNA code. As you know, ribosomes understand mRNA in groups of three bases called codons. Listen to this short report about scientists who have discovered how to get ribosomes to recognize codons made of four bases.

El Nino and Southern California

2010-02-06T19:26:00.000-08:00

The unusual amount of stormy weather we've been having is being caused by a condition called El Nino. El Nino is caused by a change in ocean currents. Warm ocean water is moving further north than usual. This has impacts on weather, and impacts on plants and animals.

NOAA, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration defines El Nino this way, "El Niño is a disruption of the ocean-atmosphere system in the Tropical Pacific having important consequences for weather and climate around the globe."

NOAA predicts this El Nino will extend into the Spring in the US. That means we may see more storms which is great for native plants and we will probably have a good wildflower season in our deserts.
Primrose, Baja California

However, if El Nino persists, and warmer ocean temperatures stay with us through the spring and summer, there could be serious consequences for endangered wildlife.
The brown pelican was just removed from the endangered species list. The population has recovered, but pelicans in Washington State and Oregon are starving right now because the storms keep them from feeding, and their food is moving deeper into the oceans to escape the warmer water temperatures.

The California least tern is an endangered species that nests at Bolsa Chica, and beaches in Southern California. It feeds small fish such as anchovies to its chicks. In El Nino years fewer eggs are laid because the tern's food moves deeper, or north to cooler waters.

El Nino also affects the wildlife off the coast of Ecuador along the Galapagos Islands. During the 97-98 El Nino large numbers of Galapagos penguins died as did the marine iguanas. The marine iguanas eat algae and when the water warms, the algae dies.

Marine iguanas feed on algae, and during times of food shortages can actually re-absorb their own bones to stay alive.

Summer Bio 120 review for first exam

2010-02-04T13:33:00.000-08:00

Here are some review questions for you. Some may be similar to the daily review questions, but all will help you while you prepare for the exam.

1. A cell must maintain an imbalance of sodium ions on either side of the membrane for it to function. What process would it most likely use of the ones we discussed in class?
2. How are polar and non polar covalent bonds different?
3. What is a hydrogen bond, and why are these bonds important to life?
4. Oxygen has 8 electrons, with 6 in the outermost energy leve. Will this atom react?
5. How are ions formed?
6. A solution with a pH of 5 is how many times more acidic than a solution with a pH of 7?
7. What determines if an atom with react with another?
8. A plant cell in a hypertonic solution will under go _____________
9. An animal cell in a hypotonic solution may undergo _____________
10. A Paramecium can survive in fresh water without bursting. Why?
11. How are the mitochondria and chloroplasts similar?
12. Why do we think the mitochondria was once an independent organism?
13. Describe the plasma membrane. Include how a lipid membrane functions in a watery environment.
14. What role do the proteins in the plasma membrane play?
15. How is active transport different from diffusion and osmosis, and faciliated diffusion?
16. How is dialysis different from osmosis?
17. What affect would a hypertonic solution have on a cell?
18.How is a hypothesis different from a theory?
19.What are five characteristics of living things?
20.How are prokaryotic cells different from eukaryotics cells?
21.What can cyanobacteria do that the bacteria living in your mouth do not do?
22.How are archeae different from the bacteria living on your skin?
23.Describe briefly what organelles would be involved in making a protein and exporting it from the cell.
24.Give an example of two cell organelles working together to accomplish a task.
25.What organelle is found on the ER?
26.What is the function of lysosomes?
27.Where is the nucleolus, and what is its function?
28.What are the functions of the Golgi bodies?

Chapter 3
1. What are the building blocks of carbohydrates?
2. What is the difference between a saturated and unsaturated fatty acid?
3. Why is the shape of an enzyme important to the function of the enzyme?
4. At what level of complexity do proteins usually become functional?
5. What makes up a nucleotide?
6. What bond forms between amino acids as they react to form proteins?
7. How is the function of carbohydrates different in plants and animals?
8. Which of the macromolecules we discussed stores energy in the most efficient way?
9. What is the most common steroid in the body?

Just a few more questions for Botany

2010-01-28T16:18:00.000-08:00

While there are many edible plants, humans consume only a few. What are the three most common plants in the diet, and where does each come from?

What characterizes a plant?

Between 1952 and 1992, twenty percent of all tropical and semi-tropical plants species became extinct. Why should this concern us?

What is photosynthesis?

What is a primary producer?

What elements should be part of a valid experimental design?

Botany Review Questions

2010-01-28T15:15:00.000-08:00

A photosynthetic animal?

2010-01-20T20:41:00.000-08:00

We have been discussing in class differences between plant and animal cells, and that one important difference between the two is that animals do not have chloroplasts. Well, that's true of most animals anyhow.

This beautiful green leafy organism is actually a sea slug. The sea slug Elysia chlorotica consumes chloroplasts when it eats the algae Vaucheria litorea. The slug feeds on the algae, but the chloroplasts are retained in the cells of the gut. The gut in this sea slug is highly branched and the chloroplasts give it the green color. The chloroplasts in the tissue of the animal's gut continue to function in the animals without an algal cell being present. The slug lives about 10 months and can survive off the food made by the chloroplasts.

The green color also provides great camouflage. While the animal has to eat an algae to get the chloroplasts, it is intriguing that the chloroplasts can continue to function without any algal cells present as genes in the nucleus of the algae are needed for photosynthesis to occur. So where are the genes to support photosynthesis? In the nucleus of the sea slug cells! The slug gets the genes from the algae, it does not have them until the animal feeds on the algae.

Interested in looking into this gene transfer further? Click here to read a paper by Mary E. Rumpho et al. on horizontal gene transfer between the algae and the slug.

Yellowstone Animals in Winter

2010-01-15T07:44:00.000-08:00

Winter is a very hard time for the herbivores of Yellowstone. The grasses the grazing animals depend upon are dry, dormant and less nutritious than during the rest of the year. The other problem is that they may be buried under many inches, if not feet, of snow. So food is less available, and the weather is very cold,requiring the animals that stay active in the winter to turn their fat reserves into heat to stay warm.

This bison calf has a snowy nose because it has been pushing snow out of the way to find food. Bison do migrate to lower elevations in the winter, and also leave the park. This causes problems for them as they are hunted, and rounded up and often sent to slaughter since local ranchers are concerned they may transmit a disease called brucellosis to cattle. The irony of the situation is that the cattle gave the disease to the bison in the first place.

Bison, however, are well adapted for the cold Yellowstone winters. During the winter their coat of coarse hair can be as much as two inches thick. This provides excellent insulation against the cold.

The snow does not accumulate in such deep layers around the hot springs and other thermal features so the bison there do not have to move as much snow around as the ones who winter well away from the hot springs. There are dangers, however, of life around the hot springs. Bison are huge, heavy animals. They can weigh 2,000 pounds and sometimes as they walk around the thermal features they break through the thin crust of soil and fall into the hot springs and die.

I photographed this bighorn sheep ram in one of the lower elevation areas of the park. Migration to lower elevations where there is less snow is a solution to the problem of winter adopted by many of the herbivores in the park.

I was very surprised to see this squirrel active early in January. Most of the squirrels hibernate during the winter, but this one was not at all sleepy it seems. It scampered across the trail in front of me, ran up into this tree, paused for a few seconds and then was on to another tree.

These cow elk form large herds with their calves and younger elk. Here they are watching the landscape from a high point to better detect their main predator, wolves.

As winter takes its toll on elk, bison, deer and other animals in Yellowstone animals such as this coyote will benefit from feeding on the carcasses of winter killed animals. They also feed on mice and voles, animals that stay active under an insulating blanket of snow.

I was surprised by the number of birds I saw during my winter trip. Many of the ducks, and this beautiful trumpeter swan, forage in the Firehole River. Water flowing from geysers, and hot springs into the river keeps it flowing year round which provides habitat for a host of birds.

Winter in Yellowstone

2010-01-06T07:50:00.000-08:00

I just got back from Yellowstone National Park. I took a class on wolves in winter though the Yellowstone Association and spent 3 days looking for and watching wolves. We saw at least 4 or 5 different packs of wolves. Most of the time we needed binoculars or spotting scopes to observe the wolves, but we did see one wolf that was on a hillside about 100 or so yards away. The wolf howled for 15 minutes or so before moving out of sight.

Elk are the primary prey of the wolves, and we saw large herds of cows and calves. The bull elk separate themselves from the cows and form bachelor herds. If it looks cold in this photo, it was. It was below zero when I took the photo.

Coyotes are killed by wolves, but they are often found not far from wolves while hunting for rodents. Mice and voles remain active through the winter under the snow. The snow forms an insulating blanket, and protects them from the wind. It also makes it hard for the coyotes to find them except by sound.

In the winter the hot springs create a lot of mist. The mist then condenses on the trees, coating them in an icy blanket.

The water from the thermal features in the park carve channels in the snow, creating beautiful patterns as the hot water flows away from the springs and geysers.

evolution review

2009-12-10T09:19:00.001-08:00

Review for 4th exam

2009-11-18T22:11:00.000-08:00

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?

Population Ecology and Interactions

1. Define resource partitioning and give an example of it.

2. How is a parasite different from a parasitoid?

3. How is a parasite different from a predator?

4. How are density dependent limiting factors different from density independent limiting factors? Give examples of each.

5. Define and give examples of the following: Mutualism, Commensalism, social parasite.

6. What are common strategies predators use to capture prey, and common defenses found in prey?

7. Draw a food web that could occur in your backyard or here at Cerritos. Include all the trophic levels we discussed in class.

8. Why are there fewer members of the upper trophic levels as compared with primary consumers or the producers?

9. What is carrying capacity?

Global Warming, Ozone loss, acid rain

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

2. What are some consequences of global warming?

3. What gases contribute to acid deposition?

4. What are the sources of the gases in question 3?

5. How has the problem of acid rain been reduced in the US?

6. What are the consequences of acid deposition?

7. What causes the seasonal loss of ozone in the antarctic?

8. Where is the ozone layer and why is it important?

9. What has been done to solve the problem of ozone loss?

2009-10-29T06:45:00.000-07:00

340 Native Plants in the Ground and Watered Today!

2009-10-17T15:15:00.001-07:00

Thanks to everyone who came out today!

We planted over 340 native plants including bladder pod, coastal sagebrush, buckwheat, and black sage today. We also saw some wildlife up close...

This gopher snake may have been the owner of the snake skin we found while working. We also saw lizards, and ground squirrels. The weather was really pleasant for working. It turned out to be cool, not as hot as I had thought it would be! Later in the morning a think layer of fog rolled in as well.

Mitosis and Meiosis Review

2009-10-01T18:49:00.000-07:00

1. If a cell has 8 chromosomes and does mitosis, how many cells will be made, and how many chromosomes will each cell have?

2. If a cell has 8 chromosomes and does meiosis to make sperm cells, how many cells will be made, and how many chromosomes will each cell have?

3. Mitosis creates cells which are ________, while meiosis makes cells which are _____.

4. What are homologous chromosomes?

5. What are sister chromatids?

6. What is crossing over, and during which process, (mitosis or meiosis) does it occur?

DNA Review

2009-10-01T18:48:00.001-07:00

Here are some review questions about DNA from the lecture today.

1. Describe the structure of the DNA molecule

2. If the sequence of bases on one stand of the molecule is AAC TGC CCG, what is the sequence on the complemetary strand?

3. During DNA replication, what enzyme breaks the hydrogen bonds between the base pairs, and what enzyme matches up nucleotides to the existing ones on the parent strand of DNA?

4. Why is this type of replication called Semi Conservative?

5. How is RNA different from DNA?

6. The production of messenger RNA from DNA is called ________, and this happens in the __________ of the cell.

7. The parts of the mRNA molecules which are edited out before RNA reaches the cytoplasm are called __________

8. mRNA gets a cap and a tail prior to being read by the ribosome. What is the function of the cap and tail?

9. If the DNA strand being copied had this sequence: ACT GGC ATA CTA what would the sequence of the mRNA be?

10. The function of transfer RNA is ?

11. What is the name of the enzyme that produces RNA from DNA?

12. If the sequence of DNA is the same in your body cells, why are all cells not the same?

13. The DNA in you, an earthworm, and a fungus is the same. So why are you a human and not an earthworm?

14. What is an anti-codon and where is it found?

15. The protein synthesis process that occurs at the ribosome is called _____________

16. What is a stop codon?

Let's Rap About Genes ( and DNA while we are at it)

2009-09-23T18:56:00.000-07:00

Coastal Clean Up Day at Bolsa Chica

2009-09-19T14:24:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all who came out today to water and weed out non-native plants. There were so many people we were done in record time!

Review for 1st Exam Bio 120

2009-09-03T16:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,
These questions appear elsewhere on the blog, but I have brought them up in a current post so they are easy to find.

1. A cell must maintain an imbalance of sodium ions on either side of the membrane for it to function. What process would it most likely use of the ones we discussed in class?
2. How are polar and non polar covalent bonds different?
3. What is a hydrogen bond, and why are these bonds important to life?
4. Oxygen has 8 electrons, with 6 in the outermost energy leve. Will this atom react?
5. How are ions formed?
6. A solution with a pH of 5 is how many times more acidic than a solution with a pH of 7?
7. What determines if an atom with react with another?
8. A plant cell in a hypertonic solution will under go _____________
9. An animal cell in a hypotonic solution may undergo _____________
10. A Paramecium can survive in fresh water without bursting. Why?
11. How are the mitochondria and chloroplasts similar?
12. Why do we think the mitochondria was once an independent organism?
13. Describe the plasma membrane. Include how a lipid membrane functions in a watery environment.
14. What role do the proteins in the plasma membrane play?
15. How is active transport different from diffusion and osmosis, and faciliated diffusion?
16. How is dialysis different from osmosis?
17. What affect would a hypertonic solution have on a cell?
18.How is a hypothesis different from a theory?
19.What are five characteristics of living things?
20.How are prokaryotic cells different from eukaryotics cells?
21.What can cyanobacteria do that the bacteria living in your mouth do not do?
22.How are archebacteria different from the bacteria living on your skin?
23.Describe briefly what organelles would be involved in making a protein and exporting it from the cell.
24.Give an example of two cell organelles working together to accomplish a task.
25.What organelle is found on the ER?
26.What is the function of lysosomes?
27.Where is the nucleolus, and what is its function?
28.What are the functions of the Golgi bodies?

Chapter 3
1. What are the building blocks of carbohydrates?
2. What is the difference between a saturated and unsaturated fatty acid?
3. Why is the shape of an enzyme important to the function of the enzyme?
4. At what level of complexity do proteins usually become functional?
5. What makes up a nucleotide?
6. What bond forms between amino acids as they react to form proteins?
7. How is the function of carbohydrates different in plants and animals?
8. What is the name of the carbohydrate human cells use to store glucose?
9. Which of the macromolecules we discussed stores energy in the most efficient way?
10. What is the most common steroid in the body?

New type of Malaria vaccine in the works

2009-08-16T08:49:00.000-07:00

Researchers from Johns Hopkins, Walter Reed, and the Institute of Primate Research in Kenya are developing an innovative vaccine against malaria. Malaria is a disease caused by a parasite (Genus Plasmodium) that invades the liver and red blood cells. The disease kills about one million people world wide each year and there are over 245 million people infected world wide.

The parasite spends part of its life cycle in humans, and part of its life in mosquitoes, and is spread from human to human via a mosquito bite from the female Anopheles mosquito.

Rather than preventing the transmission of the parasite from mosquito to humans, this vaccine prevents the transmission from human back to the mosquito. The vaccine won't help someone who is already infected, but could stop the spread of the disease through a community if the parasite can't get from infected humans back into the mosquito.

The researchers used genetically modified bacteria to make proteins found on the parasite during different stages of its sexual development, and then injected those into mice. The mice made antibodies against these proteins. The binding of the antibodies to the proteins on the parasite, stopped the parasite from reproducing.

After the mice received a booster shot transmission was reduced from mice to mosquitos by 98%.

You can read the entire article here

One of my weaknesses

2009-05-30T18:54:00.000-07:00

I just love Cnidarians-the entire Phylum. I saw this video on PZ Meyer's Pharyngula blog and had to share this with you. It was shot at the fabulous Monterey Bay Aquarium by Eugenia Loli-Queru

Drifters of the deep from Eugenia Loli-Queru on Vimeo.

Polar Bears and Global Warming

2009-05-11T10:21:00.000-07:00

Want to hear a polar bear breathing? Take a listen here.

National Public Radio had a story this morning about the polar bear monitoring that scientists with the US Fish and Wildlife Service are conducting. Take a listen to hear about the trouble these giant bears are having as the sea ice they depend on melts during the summer.

The H1N1 ( Swine flu) virus

2009-05-02T22:01:00.000-07:00

The H1N1 virus. Photo from the CDC

Want to know about the flu?

2009-04-29T21:37:00.000-07:00

Want to know how flu gets named, its ecology, how it evolves, or is trasmitted?
Check the fluwiki here.

Swine flu cases continue to rise

2009-04-29T21:22:00.000-07:00

The CDC now reports 91 confirmed cases of swine flu in the US including 14 in California. Most likely, cases will continue to rise over the next few days and weeks.

The World Health Organization has raised raise the current level of influenza pandemic alert from phase 4 to phase 5 which means the organization thinks a pandemic is imminent. You can take a look at the WHO's definitions of the different levels here

Remember, frequent hand washing and the use of hand sanitizers will help reduce your chances of getting sick.

Swine flu update

2009-04-28T19:24:00.000-07:00

The CDC is now reporting 64 cases of the swine flu in the US.

Here are recommendations from the CDC's website

What You Can Do to Stay Healthy

There are everyday actions people can take to stay healthy.

Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.

Try to avoid close contact with sick people.

Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people.
If you get sick, CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

Swine flu update

2009-04-27T19:32:00.001-07:00

Here are the most recent numbers of laboratory confirmed cases of swine flu in the US as reported on the CDCs website

California 7 cases
Kansas 2 cases
New York City 28 cases
Ohio 1 case
Texas 2 cases
TOTAL COUNT 40 cases

Swine flu

2009-04-26T17:12:00.000-07:00

Why is this influenza virus called the swine flu? Its called swine flu because one of the proteins on the surface of the virus is most similar to those found on viruses that affect pigs. However this one is infecting people, not pigs. You can not get this flu from eating pork. It is spread from one person to another. The symptoms include high fever, aches, coughing and congestion.

There are anti-viral drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza that can combat this virus, and they are most effective if you start treatment early. So if you develop symptoms you need to get treated as soon as possible, and avoid contact with other people.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), twenty cases have been reported in the US including people from California, New York, and Ohio. Only one person was sick enough to be hospitalized. Canada has also recently reported a case. No one in the US has died of the disease as of yet, but over 80 people in Mexico have died.

One of the best ways to avoid infection is to frequently wash your hands. If you are sick, don't go to work, or come to school!

You have also probably heard the word "pandemic" in the news reports about this virus. The word pandemic comes from the Greek words for "all people", and is a disease that spreads across a large area, or even the world.

There are alot of blogs, and news organizations covering this right now. Here are a few links you can check for more information.

Here is the CDC's website on swine flu. It will be updated at least once a day.

Tara Smith is a Professor of Epidemiology and blogs about causes and evolution of diseases on her blog Aetiology

The editors of Effect Measure are public health scientists.

National Parks

2009-04-24T23:29:00.000-07:00

PBS is broadcasting a new series this fall about our National Parks. Where have you been?

Surprise , Surprise , Surprise

2009-04-23T23:45:00.000-07:00

The New York Times is reporting that a group called the Global Climate Coalition, an industry group that spent millions of dollars advertising that global warming was not was not "well understood", ignored their own scientists. Why? Because the scientists told them the truth-what they didn't want to hear. So while this group,which was made up of oil,coal,and car companies, was involved in advertisement and lobbying to convince folks their emissions were not to blame for global warming, their scientists were telling them just the opposite.

Here's a quote from the article taken from an internal report written by their scientists:
“The scientific basis for the Greenhouse Effect and the potential impact of human emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2 on climate is well established and cannot be denied,” the experts wrote in an internal report compiled for the coalition in 1995.

At the same time the group was sponsoring advertisements that stated "the role of greenhouse gases in climate change was not well understood." Riiiight....

This reminds me of the executives of the tobacco industry claiming they didn't know nicotine was addictive....

Take a look at the article here

New Discovery in Seal Evolution

2009-04-22T21:39:00.000-07:00

photo by Alex Tirabasso/Canadian Museum of Natural History

A newly describe fossil from the arctic sheds new light on seal evolution. The fossilized remains of Pujilla darwini indicate the animal walked on land,and had webbed feet, but not flippers. The early seal is estimated to be 23 million years old, and is the oldest fossil found yet of seal ancestors.

The species name honors Charles Darwin who predicted that marine mammals would be found to have evolved from land animals. It also appears that this early seal ancestor lived in fresh water, which is something Darwin had also predicted.

Read more about this discovery here

The Bolsa Chica Project- Video 3

2009-04-21T18:48:00.001-07:00

Earth Day at Bolsa Chica

2009-04-21T18:33:00.000-07:00

April 18th was a great day for community involvement, and a great day at Bolsa Chica.
Jim Sugra has done yet another great video about Bolsa Chica. Take a look. Are you in the video?

Earth Day Celebration at Bolsa Chica

2009-04-18T19:56:00.000-07:00

Wow! We had over 300 volunteers out at Bolsa Chica today to help plant native plants, and participate in a beach clean up.

Thanks so much to everyone who helped at Bolsa Chica this planting season. Believe it or not, we put in 1,000 native plants today alone! It was a warm sunny day, just beautiful!

Smithsonian Institute National Museum of Natural History Washington D.C.

2009-04-14T22:08:00.000-07:00

Spring break usually finds me camping somewhere in southern Utah, miles away from any large city. Not this year however, I took my grand-daughter to Washington D.C. Washington besides the obvious political attractions has the Smithsonian Museums. My favorite ( surprise, surprise) is the museum of Natural History, (although the Air and Space Museum is really cool too.)

Wow! What a Museum! T-Rex! These dinosaurs were big animals! Although I have read recently a hypothesis that suggests they were more scavengers than hunters. The hypothesis is they were big and scary looking to frighten the actual hunters away from the kills, so T-Rex could eat the kills of the other animals in peace.

ooohhhh... from a big dinosaur to a little one.... Archaeopteryx is a transitional form between reptiles and birds. Do birds have bones in their tails? Nope. Do they have teeth in jaws? Nope. Do they have claws on their wings? Nope. (Well one species still does, but only as chicks>) So they why is this fossil a bird? Look at the impression of the feathers. Birds have feathers. This fossil also has a "wishbone" just like chickens and turkeys.

This lovely fossil is of an Ammonite. Ammonites are related to modern day Mollusks like the nautilus, squid and octopus. They were a very diverse group of animals during the Cretaceous Period 144-65 million years ago. They are about 10,000 different species that have been identified.

So what's this lumpy looking fossil? It's one of the first trees! This is a fossil of a plant called Eospermatopteris. These trees grew to a height of about 40 feet. This early tree is about 345 million years old.

This tree is about 100 years old. The cherry trees near the Jefferson Memorial were in full bloom, and just beautiful when we first arrived. It rained a couple days later and the trees lost a lot of their blossoms.

Cherry trees near the Washington Monument

Trees in full bloom around the tidal basin

Review Exam 3

2009-03-25T07:07:00.001-07:00

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 setop 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 cholorplast do the light dependent reactions happen?

More 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