AP BIOLOGY
SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT
Dear AP Biologist,
Biology is an exciting science to study – relevant and ever changing. During the
course of the year, we will discuss, experiment, question and analyze. The
summer reading assignments have three purposes. First, the AP Biology
curriculum is extensive and intensive. Your summer work will allow us to
proceed at a more reasonable pace through the year. Secondly, ecological
concepts form a basis for many of the curriculum topics. Having a firm
foundation in ecology will be beneficial to you as we proceed through the rest of
the curriculum. Thirdly, this assignment will help you discover useful ways to
master the required material.
We are glad that you have chosen to take AP Biology and look forward to an
exciting year! In order to “fit it all in” you must complete a summer reading
assignment prior to our first class meeting. This summer assignment will take you
between 15 and 30 hours to complete. The subject is interesting to read and not
very difficult to understand. Your time spent learning before the start of class will
allow us to have more time for the “fun” of biology, and ensure that you’ll be well
prepared for the AP exam in May. The text we will be using is Campbell Biology:
AP Edition by Neil Campbell & Jane Reece, 9th Edition. Follow the instructions
below to access the online textbook and resources that will be used for the
summer assignment and throughout the school year.
ASSIGNMENT #1
1. Create a log in for Mastering Biology to complete the assignments listed
below. Go to pearsonschool.com/access to create a login. You are
joining a science course with the text Campbell/Reece AP Biology 9 th
edition. You will need ONE of the following access codes (if the first code
is full, try the second one and so on):
SSNAST-SKIM-POME-SYNC-DASH-META
SSNAST-BRAE-POME-SYNC-STUN-NOTA
SSNAST-DEAB-POME-SYNC-PINT-LUIK
SSNAST-BIBB-POME-SYNC-PUSH-OKTA
The website will ask you for the first six letters SSNAST and then you will
choose the book (see image) and then enter the entire code to log in. The
website will ask you if you would like to join a course….you will do this at a
later date once you know which class/teacher you will have for AP
Biology.
ASSIGNMENT #2
2. Read Chapter 51 in the text. You need to take notes as you read. Pay
attention to diagrams and read their captions as well. There are several
note taking strategies for you to try as you work through this unit.
**You may choose to take notes in a composition notebook or on loose-leaf
paper to add to your notebook.** **MUST BE HAND WRITTEN NOTES**
Take one section from chapter 51 and utilize one of the following notetaking techniques on each section. Use a different technique for each
section.
1. Concept map/mind map (Section 51.1)
(http://www.alextech.edu/en/collegeservices/SupportServices/Study
Skills/LectureNoteTaking/MethodsOfNotetaking.aspx)
2. Outline (Section 51.2)
3. Cornell Notes (Section 51.3)
(http://coe.jmu.edu/LearningToolbox/printer/cornellnotes.pdf)
4. Xerox or print the section and highlight key ideas and terms
(Section 51.4)
5. Repeat ONE of the four note-taking techniques for the
remaining 5 chapters 52-56. **You may also use a different
technique other than the 4 above for the remaining
chapters.
BRIEFLY describe your reaction to EACH of the techniques. What
technique did you find the most appropriate for you learning style and
WHY??
Notes for chapters 51-56 will be handed in as a grade and up to 10 bonus
points on your first test. Hopefully you will find a method that you will use
throughout the entire to help you digest the complex material.
ASSIGNMENT #3
3. The questions related to each chapter will help focus your reading to
ensure that you are studying the pertinent topics. As you read, neatly
answer the questions on loose-leaf paper. Do not type your answers.
Be sure to include all relevant information from each question in your
answers; this will enable you to study from the questions without referring
to them. Your answers will be collected on the first Friday of our full
week of school, and will be graded.
4. Be aware that simply being able to answer all the questions in the packet
is insufficient to prepare for the test. You are responsible for learning all
the information in these chapters, and you will be held accountable for this
on the ecology and behavior unit test.
ASSIGNMENT #4 **NOT HANDED IN FOR A GRADE**
5. Prepare written responses to the Behavior and Ecology essay questions.
One of the ecology AP Biology essays will appear on your first test.
You should be prepared to answer any of the questions fully. You
are not required to hand anything in about these essays at this point.
The Ecology and Behavior unit exam will address all six chapters, and will
administered during the second full week of school, after limited discussions of
summer packet content and performing a behavior lab. The course starts out
fast, and the frantic pace continues until the AP exam in May. AP Biology is
challenging, and requires a lot of time, but the study of biology is quite exciting
and I think you will enjoy this course!
Looking forward to working with you. Get ready to think Biology and having fun!
School Supplies: Please try to purchase these items before the first day of
school. The Test Prep Book will also help you with the summer
assignment.
1. You will need a lab notebook, which will remain in the lab at all times. You
have several choices of notebook. Please bring this notebook the first day of
school.
You can get a formal lab notebook such as the carbonless ones found at
http://www.hmpublishing.com/products/life-science.html or
http:www.barbakam.com/productcart/pc/home.asp. You will need about
50 pages. It doesn’t matter if it says chemistry or life or environmental
sciences. These notebooks have a tear-out copy page that you will be
able to take home to complete your lab.
The other alternative is to get a composition notebook, take photos of your
pages and print out (full size) those pages to hand in with your labs.
2. You will need an AP Biology Test Prep book. The suggested book follows
the Campbell textbook and is best aligned with the AP Exam.
Preparing for the AP Biology Exam: School Edition. 5 th edition
Pearson Education, AP* Test Prep Series : AP Biology (Fred and Theresa
Holtzclaw) ISBN -13:987-0133458145 ISBN-10: 0133458148
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0133458148/ref=ox_sc_mino_detail?ie=UTF
8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
or
http://www.amazon.com/Preparing-Biology-School-PearsonEducation/dp/0133458148/ref=dp_ob_title_bk
3. 3-ring binder with 10 subject dividers
There are other review books on the market (Barrons, Cliff Notes, Sterling,
Princeton Review, etc) that are all great resources, however the Pearson book
provides questions that are most like the AP Exam because the authors of the
book are also question writers for the College Board.
Good luck, have a great summer and we look forward to exploring biology with
you next year!
Ms.Johns and Ms. Veterane
AP BIOLOGY ESSAYS - ECOLOGY
1) A scientist working with Bursatella leacfui, a sea slug that lives in an intertidal
habitat in the costal waters of Puerto Rico, gathered the following information
about the distribution of sea slugs within a ten-meter square plot over a 10day period.
Distribution of slugs within a ten-meter square plot
Time of Day
Average distance between individuals
(cm)
Midnight
8.0
4 AM
8.9
8 AM
44.8
NOON
174.0
4 PM
350.5
8 PM
60.5
Midnight
8.0
For the date above, provide information on the following:
a. Summarize the pattern
b. Identify THREE physiological or environmental variables that could cause
the slugs to vary their distance from each other
c. Explain how the variable could bring about the observed pattern of
distribution
Choose ONE of the variables you identified and design a controlled experiment
to test your hypothetical explanation. Describe results that would support or
refute your hypothesis.
2) Living organisms play an important role in recycling of many elements within
an ecosystem. Discuss how various types of organisms and their
biochemical reactions contribute to the recycling of either carbon or nitrogen
in an ecosystem. Include in your answer ONE way in which human activity
has an impact on the nutrient cycle you have chosen.
3) Consumers in aquatic ecosystems depend on producers for nutrition.
a. Explain the difference between gross and net primary productivity.
b. Describe a method to determine/measure net and gross primary
productivity in a freshwater pond over a 24-hour period.
-
In an experiment, net primary productivity was measured, in the early
spring, for water samples taken from different depths of a freshwater pond
in a temperate deciduous forest.
c. Explain the data presented by the graph, including a description of
the relative rates of metabolic processes (how much photosynthesis
versus respiration) occurring at different depths of the pond.
d. Describe how the relationship between net primary productivity and
depth would be expected to differ if new data were collected in midsummer from the same pond. Explain your prediction.
4) Many populations exhibit the following growth curve:
a) Describe what is occurring in the population during phase A.
b) Discuss THREE factors that might cause the fluctuations shown in
phase B.
c) Organisms demonstrate exponential (r) or logistic (K) reproductive
strategies. EXPLAIN these two strategies and discuss how they affect
the population size over time.
ECOLOGY GUIDED QUESTIONS CHAPTERS 51-56



Answer every question thoroughly & completely on separate paper
Indicate Chapter # and question # for each question and relevant
pages to be referred to later as review
Be sure to include diagrams, graphs, or other figures as requested
by the question
Chapter 51: Behavioral Biology
1. Explain the differences between the proximal and ultimate causes of
behavior.
2. What is ethology?
3. Define and give an example of a fixed action pattern.
4. What is sign stimulus? Give at least 2 examples.
5. Distinguish between innate behaviors, learned behaviors, and habituation.
6. Describe the processes of parental and sexual imprinting and explain what
is meant by the critical period.
7. Distinguish between classical conditioning and operant conditioning.
8. What is cognition? Explain each of the following: kinesis, taxis, cognitive
maps.
9. Discuss 3 navigational strategies used by birds to navigate on long flights.
10. For each of the following, explain the behavior and its ultimate cause
(evolutionary significance): agnostic behavior, dominance hierarchy,
territoriality, courtship
11. Distinguish between monogamy and polygamy, and explain the role of
parental investment in determining the evolution of these systems.
12. Use a diagram to describe the honeybee’s waggle dance, and the
information it conveys. Given the position of a food source in relation to
the hive, predict the angle at which a waggle dance would be preformed.
13. Define “inclusive fitness” and explain the evolutionary advantage to a
population, which has members who exhibit altruistic behavior. Contrast
kin selection and reciprocity as explanations of altruistic behavior. Which
one of them is generally more applicable?
14. Describe a research project of each of the following ethologists: Konrad
Lorentz, Nicholas Tinbergen, and Karl von Frisch.
15. Explain what is meant by a biological clock and by circadian rhythms, and
state the role the clock plays in effecting drives and changing behavioral
programs. (See pg. 1070)
Chapter 52: An Introduction to Ecology and the Biosphere
1. Define population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere. Indicate how
each is related to the others, and suggest one question that an ecologist
studying each might seek to answer.
2. Distinguish between biotic and abiotic factors. Describe 6 abiotic factors;
including an example of how each may influence a living organism.
3. Explain 6 factors affecting the distribution and ecology of organisms. (At
least 3 of these should be biotic)
4. What is an introduced species? Cite 2 examples of introductions, and
briefly explain their effects on the native species.
5. What is microclimate? Why might variations in microclimate have a
greater effect on some species than on others?
6. What abiotic factors seem to be the greatest determinants of biome
locations?
7. Describe the primary characteristics of the major types of aquatic biomes,
citing typical organisms. Discuss the factors that divide each into zones,
and describe each zone.
8. Distinguish between each of the following pairs of terms: benthic/pelagic,
photic/aphotic, neritic/oceanic.
9. What is a species geographic range? Explain the difference between a
species potential and actual range.
Chapter 53: Population Ecology
1. Give two methods biologists use to estimate population densities.
Distinguish between uniform, clumped, and random dispersions, and
indicate the conditions under which each occurs, and which one is the
most common.
2. Study a graph of the general types of survivorship curves (pg. 1174 in
Campbell). Sketch:
a. A survivorship curve for a population in which the death rate is the
same at every age, label it by type.
b. A survivorship curve that reflects the loss of large quantities of
young, such as would be seen in most plant species and label it by
type.
3. Why are survival and reproduction considered to be “conflicting
demands?”
4. Sketch an exponential growth curve. Describe at least one situation in
which exponential growth could occur.
5. Sketch a logistic growth curve and label the carrying capacity, the
inflection point, the portion of the curve showing an accelerating rate of
population growth, and the portion showing a decelerating rate.
6. Draw an exponential growth curve with a sudden crash, and list factors
that might cause the crash. Distinguish between those that are densitydependent, and those that are density-independent.
7. Distinguish between an R-selected species and a K-selected species with
respect to body size, life span, number of offspring, relative time of
reproduction (earlier or later in life), type of survivorship curve, type of
environment (stable of unstable), and type of growth curve (S-shaped or
boom and bust). Use a chart format to answer this question.
8. Discuss several ways in which negative feedback mechanisms affect
population growth. Include in your discussion at least one one example of
physiological stress caused by overcrowding.
9. Describe the snowshoe hare/lynx relationship. Explain the changes in the
hare population in at least two ways.
10. What information can be gained from examining the age structure
pyramids for human populations? What is meant by ecological footprint?
Chapter 54: Community Ecology
1. Differentiate between the individualistic and the interactive hypotheses of
community structure.
2. Explain G.F. Gauses’ competitive exclusion principle. Give one example.
3. Define ecological niche. What is the difference between the fundamental
niche and the realized niche?
4. “Coexistence” is the term given to a situation in which 2 closely related
species are found in the same habitat. Explain how resource partitioning
and character displacement might allow this to occur.
5. Distinguish between intraspecific competition and interspecific
competition. Give an example of each.
6. Describe several strategies that prey species have adopted for survival.
Include plant and animal examples.
7. Compare and contrast Batesian and Mullerian mimicry. Give examples.
8. Define and give an example of each of the following species interactions:
predation, parasitism, commensalism, mutualism, symbiosis (see pg.
1198), and coevolution.
9. What is the difference between a food chain and a food web?
10. Differentiate between a dominant species and a keystone species. Give
an example of each.
11. The “top-down model” and the “bottom-view model” are views of
community structure. Explain how each would answer this question: What
has caused a decrease in the population size of primary consumers?
12. What is a disturbance? Give an example of a natural and of an
anthropogenic (human-caused) disturbance. Are disturbances always
bad?
13. Define the following terms: succession, primary succession, and
secondary succession.
14. What are 3 possible ways in which early arriving and late arriving species
may interact during succession?
15. Describe the steps and name some representative organisms that would
be characteristic of succession if the WHS grounds crew stopped mowing
the soccer field.
16. What is biodiversity? Explain the latitudinal gradient of species diversity.
Chapter 55: Ecosystems
1. Define ecosystem. Where does the flow of energy in an ecosystem begin?
2. What are trophic levels? What is always at the first trophic level? State the
trophic level of each of the following: cow, grass, man
3. What are detritivores? Give some examples.
4. What is primary productivity? Distinguish between gross primary
productivity and net primary productivity.
5. How could primary productivity be increased?
6. What is meant by biomass? Which ecosystem would tend to have a
greater biomass/unit area, a prairie or a deciduous forest? Explain.
7. What are the major limiting nutrients in aquatic ecosystems?
8. What is eutrophication?
9. Sketch and explain a pyramid of energy and a pyramid of biomass.
10. Use a diagram to describe the water cycle. Specify the roles of
evaporation, transpiration, and precipitation.
11. Use a diagram to describe the carbon cycle. In doing so, explain how
carbon enters the living system, and how it leaves, indicate the role of
microorganisms in the cycle, and identify the reservoir for carbon.
12. Use a diagram to describe the nitrogen cycle. In doing so, discuss
nitrogen fixation, nitrification, and denitrification. Indicate the role of
microorganisms in the cycle, and identify the reservoir for nitrogen.
13. Explain the effects of deforestation on chemical cycling as demonstrated
by the Hubbard Brook experiment.
14. Explain the process of biological magnification. Cite at least one example.
15. What is the contributing to the great increase in atmospheric carbon
dioxide? What are potential effects of this?
16. What is the greenhouse effect? What contributes to it? Explain.
17. What is restoration ecology? Distinguish between bioremediation and
augmentation.
Chapter 56: Conservation Biology
1. Distinguish between genetic diversity, species diversity, and ecosystem
diversity.
2. What are ecosystem services? Why might ecologists be attempting to
assign dollar values to them?
3. Explain 4 threats to biodiversity, and give an example of each.
4. Why is a vortex used to explain the course of extinction in a small
population?
5. Explain the idea of an “MVP.”
6. There are some members of the general public who question the value of
conducting basic ecological research. In the context of the “declining
population approach,” explain the value of knowing, for any given
population, its: life history, fundamental and realized niche, relative
abundance, dispersal, distribution.
7. Discuss Acid Rain, Biological Magnification, Greenhouse Effect and use
examples as to how each of these can affect the ecosystem.