Bio 1500 FINAL: Learning Objectives Exam
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Identify dragonflies as ancient insects (which, what, why) - Answer✔o Carboniferous period
(325 million years ago)
o Among first insects to fly
o meganeura
Identify huge body size as outstanding characteristic of animals (including dragonflies) in the
carboniferous - Answer✔o Dragonflies had 8 ft. wingspan
o Weight - 150 g today = 1 g
Rank the importance of team-working skills, content knowledge, communication skills, learning
skills...for employers and graduate school administration - Answer✔o Teamwork -->
communication OR learning --> content knowledge
Develop more than on hypotheses why dragonflies were so big - Answer✔o Why were they so
big and so much smaller now?
o The high oxygen levels during the Carboniferous allowed insects to get so big
o The absence of aerial predators during the Carboniferous allowed insects to get so big
o **due to changes in atmosphere and climate**
Memorize the major milestones in the early story on Earth (up to 500 mya) - Answer✔o First
animals...590 mya
o First dinosaurs...230 mya
o First birds...150 mya
o Genus Homo...2 mya
Identify interesting and 'unusual events' in the history of Earth - Answer✔o Universe
formed/big bang...13.7 bya
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o Earth formed...4.6 bya
o Oldest evidence of life...3.8 bya
o Cyanobacteria...2.5 bya
o Eukaryotes (cell organelles)...2.0 bya
o "Snowball" ice ages ...760-600 mya
Recall environmental characteristics of Carboniferous time - Answer✔o Forests without trees,
cool climate, primitive plants, swamps
Interpret the data considered by Clapham and Karr with respect to the hypotheses developed
above - Answer✔o Atmospheric pO2, temperature, and evolution of flying predators
o Temperature affects body size because metabolic O2, food, growing season, and foraging
time are affected
o Maneuverability affects predation
Describe and interpret figure 1 of Clapham and Karr - Answer✔o Relationship between wing
length and atmospheric pressure and age (mya)
o Decrease from 300-250 mya
Formulate a hypothesis about the factors that allowed insects to be so big, based on the
findings of Clapham and Karr - Answer✔o pO2 and temperature allowed insects to get so big
Categorize different energy forms as 'kinetic' or 'potential' - Answer✔o Kinetic: energy of
motion
EX: heat, light, electricity
o Potential: store energy
EX: chemical
Apply the 1st law of thermodynamics - Answer✔o Energy can never be created nor destroyed,
but can be converted/change form
Compare visible light energy with the rest of the electromagnetic spectrum: how is it similar,
what makes it special to us? - Answer✔wavelength increases from L to R, but frequency
decreases
Describe the potential outcomes of light striking an object - Answer✔1. Reflected
2. Transmitted
3. Absorbed
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Identify the wavelengths (i.e. colors) of light by chlorophyll - Answer✔o Absorbs violet, blue,
and red light
o Reflects green (the color we perceive)
Describe diffusion from the point of view of individual molecules and all molecules - Answer✔o
Diffusion: passive movement of molecules
o driven by thermal ('Brownian') movement of molecules
o each molecule is RANDOM
Explain your observations of reddish light coming from chlorophyll when lit with bright white
light. Include a description of fluorescence into your explanation - Answer✔o Fluorescence: a
substance ABSORBS light energy and then RE-EMITS it at a different wavelength
o Red light energy = long wavelength
o Energy of a photon is absorbed by a molecule and 'excites' an electron into a higher-energy
state
o The electron quickly drops to its ground state, releasing energy as light
Recall the basic function, inputs, and outputs of light dependent and light independent
reactions of photosynthesis. Explain why O2 is a by-product of photosynthesis. - Answer✔2
steps of photosynthesis:
1. Light reactions
- ATP (adenine tri-phosphate) is synthesized and is used to transport energy around cells
2. Light independent reactions
- The ATP and NADPH are used to build carbohydrates from CO2 and water (known as the
Calvin Cycle)
- NADPH is generated (another energy-carrier molecule)
- Water is split apart in the process, releasing O2 as a byproduct
Describe the chemical and energetic changes that occur as ADP cycles to ATP and back again to
ADP - Answer✔- if a reaction requires energy: ATP --> ADP
- if a reaction releases energy: ADP --> ATP
Recall the processes that lead to the Great Oxygenation Revolution. How did the Earth look
before and after this event? - Answer✔o BEFORE: no leafy plants, no animals, no insects;
bacteria = anaerobic; oceans
o **Cyanobacteria changed things**
o AFTER: free O2 produced; increase in photosynthesis
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