This document contains review notes on various topics in biology, including: 1) The scientific method, with explanations of independent and dependent variables, positive and negative exponents, and relative size using exponents. 2) Biomolecules like carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, and proteins, with quick facts about each. 3) Cell structure and function, comparing prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. 4) Homeostasis and how various body systems work together to maintain balance. 5) Genetics concepts like meiosis, mitosis, Punnett squares, pedigrees, and genetic applications like gene splicing and gel electrophoresis.

1. Benchmark 4 Review Notes
Honors Biology

2. Scientific Method Review
• Using microscopes:
Total magnification =
eyepiece X objective
lens
Example: 40X
magnification = 10X
eyepiece times 4X
lens

3. Scientific Method Review
(con’t.)
Independent Variable: Dependent Variable:
• Always graphed on • Always graphed on
the X-axis the Y-axis
• What “I” set up in • What I measure as
an experiment the experiment
progresses

4. Scientific Method (con’t.)
• Positive Exponents: • Negative Exponents
Positive exponents add Negative exponents
zeros to the end of a add zeroes to the
number, making the FRONT of a number,
number larger than making the number
10 smaller than 1
Example: 102 = 100 Example: 10-2 =
0.01

5. Scientific Method Review
(con’t.)
• Relative Size Using Example:
Exponents: A certain protist is
5.4 X 10-8 mm in size.
A certain bacterium is
Size differences =
6.1 X10-11 in size.
absolute values
Which organism is
larger,
and roughly how many
times larger?

6. Biomolecules Review
Organic Molecules:
Inorganic Molecules:
• Contain carbon (C)
in their structure
• DO NOT contain
carbon (C) in their
• Examples include structure
nucleic acids,
proteins, lipids,
• Examples include
carbohydrates, and
minerals and water
vitamins

7. Quick Facts: Carbohydrates
• Quick source of • The mitochondria
breaks glucose in to
energy ATP during cellular
respiration
• Built from
monosaccharides • Because glucose is
soluble in polar water
• Glucose, made molecules, it is moved
from our digestive
during system to cells via the
photosynthesis, is a circulatory system
carbohydrate

8. Quick Facts: Lipids
• Used in animals and
humans to store energy • Waxes waterproof
long-term feathers and leaves.
This prevents plant
cells from bursting due
• Phospholipids are a to over absorption of
component of the cell water during osmosis
membrane for all on very rainy days
prokaryotes and
eukaryotes • Building blocks: Fatty
Acids

9. Quick Facts: Nucleic Acids
• RNA bases:
A—U
• Built from nucleotides G—C
• Two types: DNA and • DNA is double-stranded
RNA and held in the nucleus
of eukaryotes
• DNA bases:
A—T • RNA is single-stranded
C—G

10. Quick Facts: Proteins
• Enzymes, catalysts of
chemical reactions,
are one type of
• Assembled by linking protein
amino acids at the
ribosomes • Enzymes typically end
in –ase. Each type of
• Physical result of enzyme has its own
gene reading and optimum temperature
assembly (DNA— and pH range in
which it works best.
mRNA—protein)

11. Quick Facts: Vitamins and Minerals
• Important Vitamins • Important Minerals
C – Wound healing Calcium – strong
D – strong bones and bones
teeth Potassium – Muscle
K – Muscle regulation regulation
Iron – Oxygen
transport in blood
via the circulatory
system

12. Cell Structure and Function
• Eukaryotes
• Prokaryotes
DO have a TRUE nucleus
Have NO nucleus or nuclear surrounded by a nuclear
membrane membrane
Possess cell membranes, Have many complex
DNA, ribosomes, organelles to help perform
cytoplasm and a cell wall complex functions for
like structure called a multicellular life
capsule
Examples: Plant and animal
Example: Bacteria cells

13. Producers: Sources of Energy
• Autotrophs (producers) perform both cellular respiration
and photosynthesis
• Plants use their chloroplasts to photosynthesize
• Chemosynthesis: Performed by archaebacteria to create
glucose and oxygen from carbon dioxide and inorganic
compounds
• Equation for photosynthesis:
Sunlight + carbon dioxide + water  glucose (sugar)
+ oxygen

14. Harnessing Sources of Energy
• Heterotrophs must consume glucose
because they cannot make it within their
bodies
• Cellular respiration refines glucose in to ATP for
cellular functions in heterotrophs and autotrophs
• Cellular Respiration Equation:
Glucose + Oxygen  ATP + Carbon Dioxide + Water
(Happens in the mitochondria)

15. Homeostasis
Many processes we studied this year help maintain body
balance
• KIDNEYS and the EXCRETORY SYSTEM help
remove wastes created in the cells
• OSMOSIS and DIFFUSION regulate the
movement of important nutrients and water into
the cells
• MITOCHONDRIA create the needed ATP for
cellular functions and muscle firing

16. Homeostasis: Systems in Tandem
Many body systems work together to keep
balance in the body
Circulatory and Respiratory Systems:
Exchange of oxygen and carbon
dioxide as cellular respiration occurs
Nervous and Muscular: Work
together for muscle movement and
firing at the proper time. Maintain
heartbeat, breathing, and voluntary
muscle movement

17. Active and Passive Transport
PASSIVE TRANSPORT
ACTIVE TRANSPORT does not require ATP
requires ATP • Substance move from
• Substances move from high concentration to
low concentration to low concentration (with
high concentration the gradient)
(against the gradient)
• Ex: Osmosis and
• Ex: sodium potassium diffusion
pump/ion pumps

18. Asexual Reproduction
• Creates clones
• Major types:
• Vegetative – used by plants
• Binary Fission – used by bacteria
• Budding – Used by sponges and
hydra
• Fragmentation – used by starfish

19. MITOSIS
• Makes diploid (2N) cells
from a diploid cell (2N)
• Creates genetically
identical cells
• Used in our bodies for
growth, repair, and
healing

20. • Makes haploid (N)
MEIOSIS cells for sexual
reproduction
• Creates genetically
unique egg and
sperm cells
(gametes)
• Cells created are
used in fertilization
to make a zygote
• Occurs in plants and
animals to make
reproductive cells

21. Application Questions
• One species of Amazonian frog has 124
chromosomes in each cell. How many
chromosomes are in its egg cells?
• A bacterial cell in the Amazon reproduces
by binary fission. The bacterium contains
20 chromosomes. How many are in its
offspring?

22. Genetics: Major Vocabulary
• Homozygous dominant: DD
• Homozygous recessive: dd
• Heterozygous: Dd
• Genotype: Genetic makeup of an organism – use
Punnett Squares to predict for offspring
• Phenotype: Physical characteristics of an organism
– Pedigrees always mark phenotypes for a given
family

23. Genetics: Two Major Types of
Punnett Squares
Autosomal Sex-Linked
Inherited the same way Inherited differently
in males and females by gender

24. Pedigrees: Visual analysis of trait
inheritance in a family
• Shaded individuals have the phenotype (“are
affected”) – is this a dominant or recessive
disorder?

25. Genetic Applications
• Gene splicing: • Gel electrophoresis:
Used to create insulin and Used to compare band
other medicines for patterns in DNA of
humans. Inserts a organisms.
human gene into
bacterial cells so they can Can be used to determine
quickly produce a protein paternity, solve crimes,
and determine common
evolutionary ancestry

26. Natural Selection
• Adaptations: Any features
in a species that help
them survive and/or
reproduce offspring in
their environment
• The development of
adaptations in a species
over time is called
EVOLUTION

27. Determining Relatedness
• Many modern species share common ancestors. Modern
species evolved differently due to their different habitats.
Embryo similarities, DNA comparison, vestigial structures, and
homologous structures are analyzed to look for common
ancestors.
• Homologous structures: Structures that look the
same between species
• Vestigial structures: Structures that exist within an
organism but serve no purpose
(Ex: appendix in humans)

28. Ecology
Food webs show
energy transfer in
an ecosystem
List the
PRODUCERS
HERBIVORES
OMINVORES
CARNIVORES

29. Thinking about relationships. . .
A decrease in
the tree
population
would most
immediately
decrease
available
energy for
which
organisms?

30. Ecology: Basic Vocabulary
• Trophic Level: Feeding level in a food chain
• Abiotic Factor: Nonliving factor that affects an
ecosystem (temperature, water, soil. . .)
• Biotic Factor: Living factor that affects an
ecosystem (lion population, trees, berries. . .)
• Population: One species living in the same place
at the same time

31. Human Impacts on the Environment
• Combustion: Heightened levels of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere is caused by burning
fossil fuels
• Eutrophication: Fertilizer runoff causes
heightened levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in
bodies of water. This depletes oxygen levels in
the water.