Bio
105 Study Guide for Final Exam on December 21, 2011
This study guide covers material since exam 3. The three previous study guides provide coverage for material from the remainder of the semester. The final exam will consist approximately ˝ of material since exam 3 and ˝ material from the entire course.
What are stem cells?
Where do stem cells used for research come from?
What are embryonic stem cells?
Why is stem cell research controversial?
Why is there so much interest in the potential use of stem cells?
What misconceptions about stem cells are common?
What types of cloning are there?
Describe the main types of cloning.
Who is Dolly the sheep?
Relate genetic engineering to cloning.
What controversies or ethical questions exist regarding cloning?
Describe the conditions thought to be present in the earth’s early atmosphere.
What substances were found in the primordial seas?
Describe the results of experiments that attempted to mimic early conditions on earth. What organic molecules can be produced under such laboratory settings?
Describe the thought about how the transition from molecules to organisms might have occurred.
What are protocells?
Describe how organisms might have developed the ability to reproduce.
Describe changes that are thought to have taken place in the ability of organisms to harvest energy from different sources.
Explain how prokaryotic cells may have been incorporated into larger cells to form eukaryotic cells.
Explain how chemoautotrophs and their production of oxygen fundamentally changed the gaseous composition of the atmosphere and the major evolutionary changes that resulted.
Explain how evolution is important in most disciplines of biology.
How did people explain why there were so many different living things on earth before Darwin came up with an alternative explanation?
What were some of the ways that accepted concepts of the order of nature were challenged by other scientific evidence before Darwin’s theory?
Where did Darwin come up with most of the data that shaped his formulation of his theory?
What were four of Darwin’s major observations? Explain each.
What were three of Darwin’s major deductions?
Describe each, including natural selection.
List and describe evidence gathered since Darwin that supports his theory of evolution.
What are homologous and analogous structures?
How has information gathered through the study of biological chemistry added to the theory of evolution?
What is speciation?
What is required for speciation to occur?
What are allopatric, sympatric and parapatric speciation?
Describe adaptive radiation in Hawaiian honeycreepers and in Galapagos finches.
What is convergent evolution?
What is divergent evolution?
What is co-evolution?
Describe the relationship between natural selection and genotypes and phenotypes.
Explain the importance of genetic variation in a population as it applies to evolution.
What factors usually lead to extinction of a species?
Describe the series of events that led to extinction of the dodo.
What are mass extinctions and what is thought to have caused them?
Explain why it is important or useful to classify organisms.
What is binomial nomenclature?
Who was Linnaeus?
Describe the hierarchical classification system used now (Kingdom, phylum, class etc.)
What is taxonomy?
What is phylogeny?
How did Darwin’s theory of evolution change the way in which organisms were classified?
How did acceptance of the theory of evolution influence shift the emphasis of classification from taxonomy to systematics?
What are the three domains used in classification of living things?
What are the five main kingdoms of living things?
What are the main characteristics of bacteria?
What are the main characteristics of protists?
What are the main characteristics of fungi?
What are the main characteristics of plants?
What are the main characteristics of animals?
On what basis are animals divided into major groups?
Describe the different body types found in animals based on tissues, symmetry, and body cavity.
What are radial and bilateral symmetry?
What are acoelomates, pseudocoelomates and coelomates?
What are protostomes and deuterostomes?
What is the importance of a body cavity in animals?
What is biodiversity?
What are four reasons why it is important to preserve biodiversity?
What are four current major threats to biodiversity (and extinctions)?
Give an example of each threat.