Extra Facts

 

          In order to prepare for the AP Biology exam, it is very important to practice multiple choice questions. The more you make mistakes the more prepared you become. That is because every time you make a mistake, you learn a new fact by writing it down. The following are facts derived from mistakes students usually make while solving the practice exams:

 

 UNIT 1: CHEMISTRY OF LIFE

·        Glucose has a great number of isomers.

·        Specific gravity of water=1

·        Glycerol is part of a lipid

·        When a 4-ring structure is shown it is not necessarily a steroid. It is a steroid when functional groups are bonded to the 4-ring structure.

Useful formulas:

1. Concentration (M) = n moles of substance / V of solution (L)
2. Specific heat (Q)= mass x concentration x change in temperature

 

UNIT 2: THE CELL

• Proteins in the cell membrane don’t act as binding site for phospholipids giving the membrane a rigid structure.
• NAD is a coenzyme
• Rate of glycolysis is stimulated by concentration of ADP
• Reduction of NADP+ requires the co-operation of both photosystems 1&2.
• Plant cells lack centrioles (lily root tip cells)
• DNA in mitochondria codes for the manufacture of structural proteins.
• Cell center is the same meaning as centrosome
• Phosphorylation of glucose is coupled to hydrolysis of ATP
• Yeasts perform only anaerobic respiration
• Cilia and flagella's microtubules are 9D+2
• ATP cant be formed from cAMP
• Carbon is the most abundant element in the protoplasm
• The light with the shortest wavelength absorbed in photosynthesis is Blue
• Extracellular space is consisted of 95% water.

Useful formulas:

Water potential = solute potential + pressure potential

Solute potential= -iRCT

I: ionization constant R: pressure constant= 0.0831 C: molar conc.           T: 273 + degrees in Celsius

 

 

 

UNIT 3: THE GENE

·        Sickle- cell anemia is an example of co dominance

·        Tay Sachs, Fabry's, Niemann-Pick, and Gaucher's disease are all lipid-storage disorders

·        Synapsis refers to the pairing between homologous chromosomes

·        GTP contains three phosphates and is used to provide nitrogen bases to a replicating DNA. GMP contains only one phosphate group

·        Sickle-cell anemia is caused by a change in one amino acid of the beta chains of hemoglobin

·        Lysine is an amino acid

·        Whenever a gene can be expressed in 2 diff. species then the 2 species have similar transcription and translation ways

·         

·        If something affects

à Transcription: it is a regulatory gene

è    Translation: it is a ribosome

è    Enzyme activity: competitive, noncompetitive inhibitor

 

UNIT 4: PLANTS

·        When a twig is completely cut off and a liquid is seen it is from the phloem

·        When is a twig is cut but still attached and fluid is seen it is from the xylem

·        The oldest xylem loses its function

·        The pericycle does not differentiate

·        Carotenoid pigments during high light intensity prevent destruction of chlorophyll a

·        Photosynthesis occurs mainly in the palisade parenchyma

·        Double fertilization takes place in angiosperms only in gymnosperms single fertilization occurs

·        Gibberellins terminates seed dormancy

·        Deciduous leaves: leaves that can fall off

·        The stomata is some plants that live in hot climate is hidden to prevent dehydration

·        The product of plant anaerobic respiration is ethyl alcohol

·        The cambium lays down the xylem to the inside year by year

·        Gas exchange occurs through stomata at normal temperatures

·        Most chloroplasts are concentrated in palisade parenchyma

·        There is 100% humidity in the intercellular space of the spongy mesophyll

·        When a mineral that is mobile is deficient  it is shown in the older parts of the plant

·        When the mineral  is immobile and deficient it is shown in the young parts of the plant

 

UNIT 5: EVOLUTION

• The flagella in protozoa is analogous  as wings in a bird
• Analogous structures function in the same way
• Fossil records are most conclusive evidence for evolution
• A hybrid vigor is a result of a cross between related species
• Acquired characteristics are not passed on to the next generation

Useful formulas:

Hardy-Weinberg= p²+2pq+q²=1

 

UNIT 6: CLASSIFICATION

• Fungi absorb food as a result of extracellular digestion only
• Autotrophy came before heterotrophy
• Dinoflagellates form some kind of red tide
• Human family is hominid
• A bacterium's cell wall is made of peptidoglycan
• Snails and slugs are not arthropods
• Humans, great apes, and monkeys are members of the same order
• Mollusca: snails, slugs
  Arthropods: crabs, lobsters
  Annelids: earthworm
  Echinoderms: Starfish
  Porifera: Sponges
  Coelenterata: Hydra, Jellyfish

 

UNIT 7: ANIMALS

• Hormones do not produce a rapid response
• MHC stimulates cell-mediated response
• Osmotic pressure in capillary
  
  
  
  
  
• Alveoli thicken as a result of a decrease in oxygen conc. In blood
• Placenta is the respiratory organ in fetus
• For a substance to be an organism it must utilize energy.
• The size of an animal's egg depends on the size of the yolk
• Hemoglobin is similar to chlorophyll
• A paramecium excretes through its cell membrane
• the blastopore forms a frog's anus
• humoral immunity: B cells
  cell-mediated immunity: T cells
• fist stage of cleavage is zygote
• chemical messengers are secreted in both nervous and endocrine systems
• cecum is longer in herbivores
• longest alimentary canals are in herbivores
• Small intestines are more imp. In carnivores
• Both intestines are imp. In  omnivores
• Allantois store/dispose waste from embryo
• Refractory period- Na/K pump rearrange arrangement of Na/K ions
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• When hemoglobin binds to more oxygen at low pH levels this is called the bohr effect
• Sparse means not a lot
• Mesoderm forms the bones
• Lens of the eye forms by embryonic induction
• Notochord forms the vertebral column
• Digestion tracks
• Acoilomate- solid bodied, no cavity
• Pseudocoilomate- have cavity but no total mesoderm lining
• Coilomate- totally lined my mesoderm
• Circadian rhythms are not entirely controlled by exogenous factors (such as light/dark cycle)
• The placenta is the vascular connection between the embryo and the mother
• A frog would be more affected by a decrease in temp. than a snake
• Heart chambers:
• Mammals and birds: 4
• Fish: 2
• Amphibians/reptiles: 3
• The law in which the volume and pressure work together in the lung to inhale and exhale is Boyle's law
• A coelem is a body cavity bounded my mesoderm in which viscera are suspended
• The glomerular filtrate is the blood plasma lacking few proteins
• Gastro vascular cavities have no stomach
• A hematocrite measures blood cellular material using volume (RBCs, WBCs, platelets)

 

UNIT 8: ECOLOGY

·        When a salmon returns to the stream it was born in to lay eggs is an example of imprinting

·        Tundra: Alaska
Taiga: Canada

·        Saprophytes are decomposers that absorb nutrients from the dead (from living -> parasites)

·        Except in sea

·        Mutualism is when two organisms benefit each other (lichen)

·        Poisonous chemical's toxicity and danger inc. as you go up

·        Niche is the prey, predator, habitat, and behavior of an organism

·        Plants contain the most biomass since they are producers, as you go up biomass decreases.

·        Diatoms are usually producers

Useful formulas:

Mark recapture:

Population of certain species= #marked x # recaptured / # recaptured marked