1. AP Biology Midterm Review
Ecology
Be able to describe the main characteristics & major organisms in each terrestrial biomes
Know & be able to explain the different zones found in marine habitats
Be able to compare all freshwater communities
Know the difference in Batesian&Mullerian mimicry & examples of each type of mimicry
Be able to explain differences between innate & learned behaviors
Be able to give examples of density-dependent & density-independent factors affecting
population growth
Know how water, carbon, phosphorus, & nitrogen are each recycled in nature
Know differences & similarities among parasitism, commensalism, & mutualism & examples of
each
Be able to explain biodiversity hot spots
Be able to discuss agricultures effect on nitrogen recycling
Be able to discuss major threats to biodiversity
Know the effects deforestation is having on nutrient recycling
Know the effects of eutrophication on freshwater ecosystems
Chemistry of Life
Basic Chemistry
What characterizes a prokaryotic cell?
Why do experiments need a control?
Why do scientists use the scientific method to study environmental problems?
List the hierarchy of organization for living things & for classification.
Why is evolution the "biological theme that ties together all the others"?
If neon has an atomic number of 10, how many valence electrons does it have & what does this
tell you about this element?
List properties of all life forms.
In which kingdom would you find the E. coli bacterium?
What must be done before a hypothesis is proven to be true?
What composes all living things?
How do isotopes differ from each other?
If an element has its valence electron shell filled, what is true about its reactivity?
How are molecules formed?
How are ionic bonds formed?
How do polar covalent bonds form?
What type of weak bond exists between water molecules?
What type of bond forms from unequal sharing of electrons between atoms?
How does carbon-12 differ from carbon-14?
What type of bond forms between 2 atoms that are equally electronegative?
What determines the reactive properties of an atom?
The sum of protons & neutrons in an atom?
Determine the number of valence electrons for carbon & hydrogen.

2. Determine the number of neutrons for sulfur.
How can you tell if an atom has the same valence as carbon?
What happens to ionic bonds in water?
Name 2 isotopes of hydrogen.
Sketch the electron configuration of oxygen & neon.
When reactions continue with no effect on the concentration of reactants & products, what is this
called?
When do Van der Waal interactions occur?
What would be the pH for acids, bases, neutral solutions?
What type of bond occurs when the partial negative charge of one water molecule is attracted to
the partial positive charge of another water molecule?
What property of water is probably the most important for the functioning of organisms at the
molecular level?
In which type of solutions would there be a greater concentration of hydroxyl ions --- acids or
bases?
In which type of solutions would there be a greater concentration of hydrogen ions --- acids or
bases?
What is the difference in hydrogen ion concentration between a solution with a pH of 3 and a
solution with a pH of 5?
Explain how the formation of ice during cold weather helps to temper the transition to winter.
Be able to explain how to make a 1 Molar solution of glucose.
Water and Macromolecules
Which end of the water molecule is electronegative?
What determines the cohesiveness of water?
If a compound contains hydroxyl groups, is it water soluble?
What type of isomers have variations in their arrangement around a double bond?
How do glucose & fructose differ?
What type of bonds do carbon atoms form?
Be able to recognize these functional groups --- carbonyl, sulfhydryl, methyl, phosphate, amino,
carboxyl, & hydroxyl.
What functional group is found in alcohols like glycerol?
Which monomer makes the macromolecule it forms an organic acid?
Draw the structural isomers for butane.
What lipid makes up biological membranes?
How are alpha helix proteins stabilized?
What chemical reaction is used to synthesize macromolecules like polypeptides & starch?
Sketch a fatty acid.
What is the basic structure of a steroid?
Is polymerization anabolism or catabolism?
Show how a dipeptide is formed.
What causes the tertiary structure of proteins?
What are the 2 forms at the secondary level of protein structure? How do they differ?
What reaction must occur to break a peptide bond?
Which macromolecule yields the greatest amount of energy?

3. Cells
How do bacterial cells differ from animal cells?
Cells that make proteins would have a large number of ________?
How do phospholipids in the cell membrane move?
What chemical in animal cell membranes maintains their fluid nature?
Facilitated diffusion & active transport both require what molecules in cell membranes?
Name the 3 stages of cell signaling.
What organelle converts light energy into chemical energy?
What type of scope is needed to study the internal structure of a cell?
Describe the signal-transduction pathway in animals.
Is diffusion active or passive transport?
How can you determine if a cell is in an isotonic solution?
What organelle makes lipids?
What is the function of these cell structures --- mitochondrion, chloroplast, ribosome, lysosome,
cell wall, & chromosomes?
How does CO2 move into a cell?
Name the parts of the cytoskeleton.
What cell organelles have two membranes?
What is active transport?
How does potassium move into & out of a cell?
Name all structures in a cell responsible for movement.
In what organisms is cell signaling less important?
Describe paracrine signaling.
What is the function of tyrosine-kinase receptors?
At what point are chromatids attached to each other?
What is the function of glycolipids & glycoproteins in animal cell membranes?
How does telophase of mitosis differ in plant & animal cells?
When the signal molecule changes the protein receptor, what process begins?
What is membrane potential?
What effect would calcium deficiency have on a plant?
Besides the nucleus, where else can DNA be found in a cell?
Do plant cells have mitochondria? Why or why not?
Which proteins in the cell membrane function in active transport?
Why would bacterial cells not be capable of phagocytosis?
Why are eukaryotic cells larger than prokaryotic cells?
Through what type of junctions do ions travel between cells?
How do receptor proteins in a membrane act like enzymes?
By what process do large solids move into a cell?
Does the movement of oxygen & carbon dioxide across cell membranes require energy?
How is synaptic signaling different than hormone signaling?

4. Cell Energies
Free Energy and Enzymes
What changes occur in H, S, and G when a protein forms from amino acids?
What form of energy is the most random?
How does an enzyme catalyze a reaction?
Explain the 2nd law of thermodynamics.
Is a chemical reaction with a positive G endergonic or exergonic?
List the properties of enzymes.
Why is ATP an important metabolic molecule?
Describe the change in free energy at equilibrium.
Increasing substrate concentration has what effect on competitive inhibition?
What is the first law of thermodynamics?
When energy is transformed, what is the effect on entropy in the system?
If products have less free energy than reactants, is the reaction endergonic or exergonic?
What is catabolism?
How is energy obtained from ATP to energize cellular processes?
If the concentration of reactants is decreased, what effect will this have on the rate of the
reaction/
What type of pathways are coupled with anabolic pathways to supply ATP to cells?
Explain enzyme cooperativity& allosteric sites.
Explain the induced fit explanation for enzymes & substrates.
What is free energy?
Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration
Describe the interior of chloroplasts & mitochondria.
Describe CO2 fixation & the Calvin cycle in CAM plants.
Photorespiration decrease the efficiency of photosynthesis because it removes what from the
Calvin cycle?
What is synthesize across thylakoid membranes?
Why can C4 plants better at photosynthesis without photorespiration?
What pigments can absorb light energy?
Proton gradient are responsible for producing what energy molecules?
Give 2 examples of products of the Calvin cycle that are used in the light reactions?
What 2 main energy molecules are products of the light reactions?
Is glucose required for the Calvin cycle? Explain.
If a pigment appears red to your eyes, what color of light is not being absorbed?
The chemiosomotic process in chloroplasts occurs when what type of gradient is established?
In what tissue does carbon fixation occur in C4 plants before being transferred to bundle-sheath
cells?
Photosystem II uses which chlorophyll a molecule?
What gas is required and which gas is not required for photosynthesis to occur?
What is the primary energy source for plants? for animals?
Where in the chloroplast does the Calvin cycle occur?

5. What type of plants fix CO2 into organic acids during the day?
When does the Calvin cycle in most plants occur?
Which color of light is least effective in driving photosynthesis?
Cyclic electron flow in chloroplasts produces what energy molecule?
Where does the ETS in plants occur?
In terms of energy how are photosynthesis & cellular respiration related?
In what 2 membranes in plant cells is ATP synthetase found?
Is oxygen released in the light or dark reactions of photosynthesis?
Does photophosphorylation occur in Photosystem II?
In which photosystem is water split?
Which process does not give a net gain in ATP ---glycolysis, aerobic respiration, or fermentation?
Which would release more energy from glucose --- combustion or cellular respiration?
Is ATP a product of lactate fermentation?
Are water and CO2 end products of glycolysis?
Which has more energy ---NAD or NADH?
Oxidative phosphorylation occurs across ___________in a cell.
which has more energy --- glucose at the start of glycolysis or the 2 pyruvate molecules at the end
of glycolysis?
Molecular oxygen supplies the oxygen atoms during oxidative phosphorylation to form what?
What is chemiosmosis?
Lactate is a byproduct of fermentation in what type of animal cells?
The ETS helps a cell generate what energy molecule?
Will glycolysis occur if oxygen is present? Is oxygen needed for the process?
The difference in H+ concentration of either side of the mitochondrial membrane drives the
synthesis of what molecule?
Where in a cell will the enzymes needed for glycolysis be found?
During substrate-phosphorylation, how many ATP molecules are made each cycle?
What gas accepts electrons at the end of the ETS?
Substrate-level phosphorylation during fermentation generates what molecule?
The end products of glycolysis are ATP, NADH, and what carbon molecule?
What 2 electron acceptor molecules in the Krebs cycle convert their energy to ATP in the ETS?
In chemiosmotic phosphorylation what is the direct energy source that drives the conversion of
ADP + free P into ATP?
The glycolysis of glucose by a yeast cell nets how many ATP's?
How is a proton gradient established in the mitochondria?
How many O2 molecules are produced from the complete oxidation of glucose?
What type of animal tissue has a high ATP requirement?
Heredity
Mitosis and Meiosis
What occurs during prophase of mitosis?
What is a karyotype?
What cellular structure helps form the cleavage furrow in animal cells?

6. What will be true of cells that undergo mitosis but not cytokinesis?
If the spindle can not form, at what stage will mitosis no longer proceed?
How do genetic differences in clones occur?
How can you determine if a karyotype is from a male or female?
If a cell has 92 chromosomes at the start of mitosis, how many will be in the daughter cells?
When do tetrads from in a cell?
What type of cells do not reproduce more cells by mitosis & cytokinesis?
If a body cell had 24 chromosomes, how many chromosomes would be in the gamete?
What will happens to the chromosomes in a cell that passes the restriction checkpoint?
How do daughter & parent cells compare with each other?
How does a sexual life cycle increase genetic variation?
Mendel and Heredity
Be able to determine the probability of getting a number by rolling a pair of dice.
Be able to work monohybrid crosses for complete and incomplete dominance and show
genotypes, phenotypes, and ratios.
Be able to work dihybrid crosses and determine genotypes, phenotypes, and ratios.
Be able to explain and give examples of codominance, epitasis, polygenic inheritance, sex-linked
inheritance….
Be able to work genetics problems in which carriers of alleles are involved.
Be able to work a problem on colorblindness.
Be able to list and explain Mendel’s laws of heredity.
Be able to discuss Morgan, Sutton, and Sturtevant’s contributions to the understanding of
chromosomal inheritance.
Be able to define linkage and explain how it interferes with independent assortment.
Be able to predict the probability of a genotype occurring for a cross involving 4 traits. (Rule of
Multiplication)
Be able to name and describe a genetic defect caused by nondisjunction of sex chromosomes.
DNA and Replication
How are DNA & RNA different?
What structural feature allows DNA to replicate itself?
What does it mean if the 2 strands of DNA are complementary?
Describe a nucleotide.
Name the purines &pyrimidines
Be able to describe & explain the experiments of the following scientists:
Frederick Griffith
Erwin Chargraff
Alfred Hershey
Martha Chase
Watson & Crick
Meselson& Stahl
Beadle & Tatum
“Dolly” experiment

7. Know how DNA replicates including steps & the enzymes involved, energy required, nucleotides,
leading & lagging strands, proofreading
Be able to describe the ultrastructure of each component of the DNA & RNA molecules