BIOLOGY
Answer each question to the best of your ability. Be clear and concise. Spelling and grammar count. Type into this file and retain the questions. Include a page break following each response. Use Ariel 14 font. Include at least one image for each response and use it to clarify your response. Images supplement but do not replace words. Do NOT use contractions! The more detailed your response, the better your grade. Each answer MUST be two pages in length.
I. Charles Darwin proposed that changes in species are brought about from changes in nature, or that nature selects traits that are of benefit to the organism. List and explain the four main ideas of Darwin. Provide an example of each of the ideas. What is fitness? What is an adaptation? How is sexual selection different from natural selection?
II. The two groups of prokaryotes are similar in basic structure but are genetically and ecologically unique. What are the preferred habitats of the Archaea? Identify a major difference in the cell wall of Archaea compared to Bacteria? For the latter, how is the structure of the cell walls of gram-positive and gram-negative cells different? What are the two types of autotrophy among the prokaryotes? Identify and describe three common human diseases that are caused by bacteria.
III. Describe, in detail and with evidence, the Endosymbiotic Cell Theory. What is the genetic, structural, and behavioral evidence that supports the theory? What is Glaucocystis and what evidence do they present to the Endosymbiotic Theory?
IV. The evolution of plants is a story of becoming less dependent upon water and adaptations to mechanisms of transporting gametes and embryos outside of an aquatic environment. Using the four major groups of plants, chart the development of the features that allowed these plants to become less dependent upon water.
| Type | Characteristics/Adaptations |
| Bryophytes or Moss | |
| Pterophytes or Ferns | |
| Gymnosperms or cone- bearing plants | |
| Angiosperms or flowering plants |
V. Plants have no pumps, yet they can move fluids 10s of meters through their vascular tissues. What forces combine to create a standing column of water in the xylem vessels? What forces combine to move the fluids from the roots to the leaves? Please be sure to include the details of transpiration and all cellular active and passive transport mechanisms. What forces combine to move glucose solutions from the leaves to the rest of the plant (= translocation)?
