Lab Notebook Structure

Terminology

Gametophyte

Haploid (n) stage.

Sporophytes

Diploid (2n) stage.

Phloem "Flow-em"

Alive, transports sugars.

Xylem

Dead, transports water/minerals.

Pneumatophores Air Roots

Roots that extend above the soil for gas exchange.

Final Exam Questions

• What is a community in a biological context?
  • All organisms of different species living close enough for potential interaction
• Why do owls produce pellets?
  • They cannot pass whole bones and claws safely through their digestive tract
• What does owl pellet analysis reveal about owls?
  • What the owl has fed on and prey diversity
• According to the principle discussed in this lab, what happens to diversity as you move toward the equator?
  • Diversity increases
• What is the relationship between diversity and stability in an ecosystem?
  • Increased diversity = increased stability
• Barn owls swallow small birds and rodents whole, and their pellets generally contain complete skeletons.
  • True
• Owls have teeth for grinding bones like predatory mammals such as wolves.
  • False
• Owl pellets are not useful to scientists.
  • False
• If a predator depends on only one prey type, a decline in that prey will not affect the predator significantly.
  • False
• Alaskan owls feed almost exclusively on lemmings, making them vulnerable to lemming population crashes.
  • True
• What are organisms called that can remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and bind it to organic molecules?
  • Autotrophs
• Which process do plants use to convert CO₂ to glucose using light energy?
  • Photosynthesis
• What color is bromothymol blue at acidic pH (indicating high CO₂)?
  • Yellow
• Which metabolic process do heterotrophs use to break down organic carbon and produce CO₂?
  • Aerobic respiration
• What happens when CO₂ dissolves in water?
  • It forms carbonic acid and lowers pH
• Photoautotrophs are the primary producers of organic carbon in most ecosystems.
  • True
• Decomposers such as fungi and bacteria play an important role in converting organic carbon back to CO₂.
  • True
• Plants only perform photosynthesis and never release CO₂.
  • False
• Atmospheric CO₂ levels have increased more than 40% since preindustrial times (1700s).
  • True
• Greenhouse gases like CO₂ trap heat by blocking infrared radiation from escaping to space.
  • True
• Vertebrates belong to which phylum?
  • Chordata
• Which characteristic distinguishes vertebrates from other chordates?
  • Nerve fibers enclosed in a protective column of bone (spinal cord)
• What type of body cavity do vertebrates have?
  • True coelom
• How many chambers does the mammalian heart have?
  • Four
• Which term describes the direction toward the back of the body?
  • Dorsal
• All vertebrates, including pigs, are triploblastic deuterostomes with bilateral symmetry
  • True
• Mammals are characterized by mammary glands, the ability to give birth to live young, and endothermic temperature regulation.
  • True
• Vertebrates have a closed circulatory system with a centralized pump (heart) that improves circulation.
  • True
• The diaphragm is part of the digestive system.
  • False
• Mammals and birds have a four-chambered heart and separate circulatory circuits for the lungs versus the rest of the body.
  • True
• What distinguishes animals from other multicellular organisms?
  • They are heterotrophs without cell walls
• What are the specialized cells in sponges that engulf food particles from water?
  • Collar cells (choanocytes)
• Which phylum includes jellies, corals, and sea anemones?
  • Cnidaria
• What type of body cavity do nematodes (roundworms) have?
  • Pseudocoelomate
• What structure in mollusks contains backward-curved teeth used for scraping up food?
  • Radula
• Sponges are sessile filter feeders that draw water through pores into a central cavity called the spongocoel.
  • True
• Flatworms (Platyhelminthes) are acoelomate and lack both circulatory and respiratory systems.
  • True
• Cnidarians have specialized stinging cells called cnidocytes that contain nematocysts.
  • True
• Arthropods have a hard exoskeleton made of chitin and paired, jointed appendages.
  • True
• Crustaceans are the only group of arthropods with two pairs of antennae.
  • True
• What is the primary mode of nutrition in fungi?
  • Absorptive heterotrophy
• What are the tubular filaments that make up the body of most multicellular fungi called?
  • Hyphae
• Which fungal phylum includes the common black bread mold Rhizopus?
  • Zygomycota
• What structure in Ascomycetes is the sac-like structure where sexual spores (ascospores) are produced?
  • Ascus
• What is the fruiting body of a Basidiomycete (like a mushroom) called?
  • Basidiocarp
• Fungal cell walls are usually made of chitin, the same polysaccharide found in insect exoskeletons.
  • True
• Hyphae that lack septa (cross-walls) are termed coenocytic and are multinucleate.
  • True
• Lichens are mutualistic associations between a fungus and a photosynthetic alga or cyanobacterium.
  • True
• Fungi store food in the form of starch, similar to plants.
  • False
• Mycorrhizae are symbiotic associations between fungi and plant roots that help plants extract minerals from soil.
  • True
• What are organisms called that can manufacture their own food using photosynthesis?
  • Photoautotrophs
• What are the two main types of chlorophyll found in plants?
  • Chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b
• What is the Rf value in paper chromatography?
  • The ratio of the distance a substance moves to the distance the solvent front travels
• In paper chromatography with a nonpolar solvent, which type of substance moves fastest?
  • Least polar substances
• What is the function of accessory pigments like carotenoids?
  • They absorb different wavelengths than chlorophyll and pass energy to chlorophyll
• Photosynthesis occurs in membrane-bound structures called chloroplasts.
  • True
• Molecules that absorb energy in the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum are called pigments.
  • True
• In paper chromatography, polar substances are more attracted to the polar chromatography paper and move slower.
  • True
• The solvent used in the lab (90% petroleum ether) is a polar solvent.
  • False
• Photosynthesis is divided into light-dependent reactions and light-independent reactions (Calvin cycle).
  • True
• What are the four layers of a tropical rainforest from top to bottom?
  • Emergent, canopy, understory, forest floor
• Which group of plants are seedless vascular plants that reproduce by means of spores?
  • Ferns
• What are epiphytes?
  • Plants that grow on other plants without harming them
• What are pneumatophores?
  • Modified roots that extend above water/soil for gas exchange
• In cycads, what feature indicates that water is required for fertilization?
  • Their sperm are flagellated
• The Missouri Botanical Garden is the oldest botanical garden in the United States, founded in 1859.
  • True
• Tropical rain forests form a belt around the equatorial regions and are the most diverse terrestrial regions on Earth.
  • True
• Cycads are angiosperms that are closely related to palms.
  • False
• Cactus spines are modified leaves that help reduce water loss.
  • True
• Fern spores are formed in structures called sporangia, usually found clustered on the underside of leaves.
  • True
• What does the term 'angiosperm' literally mean?
  • Enclosed seed
• Which venation pattern is characteristic of eudicots?
  • Net venation
• Which type of root system is primarily found in eudicots?
  • Taproot system
• What structures control gas exchange in leaves by opening and closing?
  • Guard cells
• What term describes a flower that has both male (stamens) and female (carpels) reproductive parts?
  • Perfect flower
• Monocots typically have parallel leaf venation while eudicots have net venation.
  • True
• Xylem cells are alive at functional maturity and transport sugars throughout the plant
  • False
• The cuticle is a waxy coating on leaf epidermis that helps prevent excess water loss.
  • True
• An aggregate fruit (like a strawberry) develops from the ovary of a single flower.
  • False
• Parenchyma cells are the primary site of photosynthesis in leaves and can store starch.
  • True
• What characteristic distinguishes algae from land plants?
  • Algae lack true vascular tissues
• Which algal group is commonly known as 'seaweeds' and can grow up to 100 meters in length?
  • Phaeophytes (brown algae)
• In bryophytes (mosses), which generation is dominant?
  • Gametophyte
• What structure in ferns contains clusters of sporangia on the underside of fronds?
  • Sori
• What does the term 'gymnosperm' literally mean?
  • Naked seed
• All algae have chlorophyll a plus either chlorophyll b, c, or d.
  • True
• In ferns, the sporophyte generation is dominant, unlike in mosses.
  • True
• Red algae (Rhodophytes) have flagellated stages in their life cycles.
  • False
• Pine trees can be distinguished from other conifers because their needles occur in bundles on dwarf branches.
  • True
• Both mosses and ferns require water for fertilization because they have flagellated sperm.
  • True
• Which domain do microbial eukaryotes belong to?
  • Eukarya
• What structure distinguishes eukaryotic cells from prokaryotic cells?
  • Nuclear envelope enclosing DNA
• The traditional division of kingdom Protista into Protozoa and Algae was based on:
  • Nutritional type
• Which group of protozoa moves using pseudopodia?
  • Amoebae
• What term describes organisms that engulf their food by phagocytosis?
  • Holozoic
• Kingdom Protista is a monophyletic group (includes an ancestral species and all its descendants).
  • False
• Ciliates have cells with two nuclei and contractile vacuoles.
  • True
• Mixotrophic organisms can switch between autotrophic and heterotrophic metabolism.
  • True
• All protozoa are free-living organisms and none are parasitic.
  • False
• Absorptive heterotrophs digest their food extracellularly by secreting digestive enzymes.
  • True
• The pGLO plasmid contains a gene for beta-lactamase. What is the function of this enzyme?
  • It cleaves ampicillin, providing antibiotic resistance
• From which organism was the GFP gene originally obtained?
  • Aequorea victoria jellyfish
• Why are bacteria treated with calcium chloride and heat-shocked during transformation?
  • To enhance plasmid uptake into cells
• A gene promoter initiates transcription. Which promoter type is attached to the beta-lactamase gene on the pGLO plasmid?
  • A promoter that is always on
• Why don't bacteria on the LB/amp +DNA plate glow under UV light?
  • The arabinose inducer is not present
• In this experiment, arabinose acts as an inducer that turns on the GFP gene.
  • True
• All bacteria in the +DNA tube will successfully take up the pGLO plasmid.
  • False
• E. coli naturally takes up free plasmid DNA from its environment without any treatment.
  • False
• The pGLO DNA solution will glow green under UV light before being transformed into bacteria.
  • False
• Bacteria that take up the pGLO plasmid can grow on plates containing ampicillin.
  • True