AP Biology Summer Assignment
Freedom High School
2016-2017
Welcome to AP Biology! This course is designed to offer students a solid foundation in a college level biology course. It is
equivalent to a two-semester introductory biology course taken the first year of college. The experience is very challenging,
but is rewarding at the same time. Throughout the course you will become familiar with topics focused around the 4 Big
Ideas:




Big Idea 1: The process of evolution drives the diversity and unity of life.
Big Idea 2: Biological systems utilize free energy and molecular building blocks to grow, and to reproduce and to
maintain dynamic homeostasis.
Big Idea 3: Living systems store, retrieve, transmit, and respond to information essential to life processes.
Big Idea 4: Biological systems interact, and these systems and their interactions possess complex properties.
Print this packet out and fill in your answers. If you have any questions as you work this please email Mrs. Crumbliss at
[email protected] or Mrs. Hertema at [email protected].
A. Population Biology
2.D.1: All biological systems from cells and organisms to populations, communities and ecosystems are affected
by complex biotic and abiotic interactions involving exchange of matter and free energy.
Go to the following link http://glencoe.mheducation.com/sites/dl/free/0078757134/383928/BL_04.html
1. Fill in the data table and answer the questions.
P. aurelia
grown alone, cells/mL
Day 0
Day 2
Day 4
Day 6
Day 8
Day10
Day 12
Day 14
Day 16
P.caudatum
grown alone, cells/mL
P.aurelia
P.caudaatum
grown in mixed culture, grown in mixed culture,
cells/mL
cells/mL
2. What are the objectives of this experiment?
3. Make a hypothesis about how you think the two species of Paramecium will grow alone and how they will grow
when grown together.
4. Explain how you tested your hypothesis.
5. On what day did the Paramecium caudatum population reach the carrying capacity of the environment? How do
you know?
6. Explain the differences in the population growth patterns of the two Paramecium species. What does this tell you
about how Paramecium aurelia uses available resources?
7. Describe what happened when the Paramecium populations were mixed in the same test tube. Do the results
support the principle of competitive exclusion?
8. Explain how this experiment demonstrates that no two species can occupy the same niche.
9. If one of these paramecium represents an invasive species, which one would it be and why? Answer in terms of
competition of resources.
B. Evolution
1.C.1: Speciation and extinction have occurred throughout Earth’s history.
Go to the following link: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/mar/07/extinction-species-evolve and read the
article. Answer the following questions.
1. Why are scientists stating we may be in our sixth major mass extinction?
2. How many species are currently being threatened? What ratios did you see (mammals, amphibians,…etc…if you
used another link other than the one above, list the numbers threatened per group – mammals, amphibians,
insects, reptiles…)?
C. Behavior Biology
4.B.3: Interactions between and within populations influence patterns of species distribution and abundance.
Go to the following link and find the information in Chapter 45: https://openstax.org/details/biology
Answer the questions.
1. Compare and contrast population density and dispersion.
2. Identify and explain the dispersion patterns seen in organisms.
3. One species of fish is highly territorial, which another lives in large schools. Predict and explain each species’ likely
pattern of dispersion.
4. Describe what produces a Type I, Type II and Type III survivorship curve and give an example organism for each.
5. Compare and contrast FOUR characteristics of “r” and “k” life history strategies.
6. Identify and discuss THREE factors that regulate population size.
7. In some species of fish, females disperse some of their eggs widely and lay other eggs in a nest. Only the latter receive
parental care. Explain the trade-offs in reproduction that this behavior illustrates.
8. Discuss how humans differ from other species in their ability to “choose” a carrying capacity for their environment.
9. Male competition for breeding access to females often uses ritualized behaviors rather than fighting to the death.
Explain the adaptive advantage of using ritualized fights.
D. Cell Biology
3.A.2: In eukaryotes, heritable information is passed to the next generation via processes that include the cell
cycle and mitosis or meiosis plus fertilization.
Click on the link: http://media.hhmi.org/biointeractive/click/cellcycle/
1. Answer the following questions. Click on the “Background” tab on the right side. Read the information and watch
the videos.
a) Why is cell division important for both unicellular and multicellular organisms?
b) Why does cell division remain important to an adult organism even after it is fully developed?
c) Cells divide, differentiate, or die. What is differentiation?
d) What is apoptosis? What is its purpose?
e) What are cell cycle regulators?
f) What happens if cell cycle regulators don’t function properly?
2. Click on the purple section labeled “Cell Cycle Phases” as well as the words “Mitosis” and “Interphase” to read an
overview of the cell cycle. You can also click on the various phases.
a) Cells go through periods of growth and division. Cell division occurs during ____________________.
b) The rest of the cell cycle is called interphase, during which
_____________________________________________________________________________.
c) Fill in the details about what happens during the three phases of interphase labeled in the diagram.
d) In general, what is the purpose of a checkpoint in the cell cycle?
e) What is the G0 phase of the cell cycle? Which factors determine whether a cell enters G0? Can cells
leave G0?
E. Ecology
4.B.3: Distribution of local and global ecosystems changes over time.
Click on the link: http://media.hhmi.org/biointeractive/click/gorongosamap2/
Examine the two climate graphs from different sites in Gorongosa National Park. The first graph shows the climate patterns
in the main park territory, which does not include Mount Gorongosa, while the second graph shows climate patterns on
Mount Gorongosa. The blue bars show the average precipitation and the red lines shows the average temperature each
month.
1. For each graph, describe the trend in the amount of rainfall throughout the year. Include which month(s) have the
highest rainfall and which month(s) have the lowest rainfall.
2. For each graph, describe the trend in the temperature throughout the year. Include which month(s) have the
highest temperature and which month(s) have the lowest temperature.
3. Based on the two graphs, how are temperature and rainfall trends related? Use evidence to support your claim.
4. Based on these temperature and precipitation graphs, predict which biome you think each site belongs to. Use
evidence from the graphs to support your reasoning (you may use a textbook or other resource to compare these
graphs with biome climate descriptions).
Open the Gorongosa Interactive Map Click and Learn. Advance through the introduction to learn where Gorongosa
National Park is located. Select the “Park Territory” and “Biomes” layers in the menu to the left on the present map view
and make sure that all other layers are turned off. Toggle the “Park Territory” layer on and off to see the biome identified for
Mount Gorongosa and the rest of the Park Territory. Click the labels for the two biomes on the map and read their
descriptions.
5. How does the information on the two biomes in the interactive map compare to your prediction in question 4? Is the
information about temperature and precipitation of the two biomes in the map the same or different from the climate
graphs on the first page?
Select the “Vegetation Types” layer, and click the vegetation labels on the map to read their descriptions.
6. List the types of vegetation present in each biome in the tables below. Explain how temperature and precipitation
might influence the vegetation within each biome.
7. Research the average monthly rainfall and temperature in the city where you live using the website
http://en.climate-data.org/. Generate a climate graph for your city using the data in the climate table in the empty
graph below. Model your climate graph after the Gorongosa graphs by plotting the temperature data as a line
graph and the precipitation data as a bar graph.
8. Using evidence from your climate graph and the biome resources used in question 4, which biome best describes
your region? Why?
9. Describe how rainfall trends in your region compare to rainfall trends in the two Gorongosa sites: Does it rain
during the same time of year in your region as the two Gorongosa sites? Does it rain the same amount? Explain
the similarities or differences.
10. Describe how temperature trends in your region compare to temperature trends at the two Gorongosa sites.
Explain your answers.
11. Based on your own observations of nature of using provided resources, describe the vegetation in your region and
explain how it differs from the two Gorongosa sites.
12. In addition to climate, what other factors might determine biomes? (You may use other resources. Be sure to cite
your information).
13. Why do you think scientists study biomes in a place like Gorongosa? Why is it so important to understand the
biome where you live?
4.A.6: Interactions among living systems and with their environment result in the movement of matter and energy.
Go to the following link and find the information for Chapter 46: https://openstax.org/details/biology
Answer the following questions:
1. Identify four common tropic levels in ecosystems
2. Explain the difference between grazing food webs and a detrital food web.
3. Compare and contrast the movement of energy and matter in food chains and food webs.
4. Explain the difference between net productivity and gross productivity.
5. Based on the Second Law of Thermodynamics, would you expect the typical biomass of primary producers in an
ecosystem to be greater than or less than the biomass of secondary producers in the same ecosystem? Explain
your reasoning.
6. The top carnivore of many ecosystems is often endangered species. Speculate why this relationship is often
correlated together.
7. Discuss why the transfer of energy in an ecosystem referred to as energy “flow” not energy “cycling”.