Lab exam 1 Study Guide
 Know the difference between poly, para and monophyletic
 Know what a zygotic, gametic and sporic life cycle are and the difference between them – know
examples of organisms for each
 Know meiosis and mitosis and where they occur in the life cycles (see handout from the first lab)
 Recognize cytoplasmic streaming
 Recognize a chromoplast, and know what its function is
 Recognize other plastids such as amyloplasts (starch storage) and chloroplasts
 What are crystals? Know how to recognize them. We had most success with Raphides (the
‘shards of glass’)
 Recognize and state the function of some major plant cell organelles such as chloroplasts,
the central vacuole, the cell wall, mitochondria, and the cytoskeleton
 Be able to recognize a cyanobacteria and a heterocyst and akinete and state its function (we
focused on identifying heterocysts, but know the function of an akinete too)
 What are some major characteristics (size, life history, pigments…) of cyanobacteria?
 Be able to recognize some of the species we saw
 Know what a spectrophotometer does, what an absorption spectrum is, and how to read one
 Know what paper chromatography shows, and be able to recognize some major pigments
 Know why O2 production is a measure of photosynthesis
 What is the likely relationship between light intensity and O2 production?
 Know how to recognize plasmodesmata in plant cells, and what their function is
 For the following unicellular protists, be able to identify them, and know the clade and phylum,
major characteristics including photosynthetic pigments, cell wall components, living
arrangements (single, chain, colony, multicellular etc). Also, be able to state whether they have
likely gone through primary, secondary or tertiary endosymbiosis, and what evidence we have
for that.
o Euglena (Euglenophyta)
o Dinoflagellates (Dinophyta)
o Diatoms (Bacillariophyta)
o Golden-browns (Chrysophyta) (we didn’t do much with these – so just know some of the
major characteristics – like the photosynthetic pigments)
 Be able to identify members from three phyla of multicellular algae (Phaeophyta, Rhodophyta,
Chlorophyta). Know their clades too. And major characteristics (including photosynthetic
pigments). Be able to label the thallus: holdfast, stipe, blade, pneumatocyst. Remember not all
of them have all of these. Be able to point out which has an isomorphic (ulva) and
heteromorphic (like laminaria and kelp – the big brown algae) – alternation of generations
(sporic) life cycle.
 Life cycles and stages in polysiphonia – identify the antheridial cluster (sperm producing male n)
the cystocarp (female n), and the 2n with the tetraspores in it. This is the alternation of
generations sporic life cycle. You may need to be able to draw the polysiphonia life cycle at
some point in your lives…
*The zygotic (haploid) life cycles are NOT alternation of generations. Organisms also rely
heavily on asexual reproduction (we saw some of that) and they have a mobile stage that we
were also able to see. We looked at spirogyra and volvox mostly for these
 For the Volvox (chlorophyta), be able to identify the asexual reproductive structures (daughter
colonies), the diploid zygote: this is the zygotic (haploid) life cycle
 For spirogyra (chlorophyta), be able to identify it (spiral chloroplast arrangement), and state some
key characteristics of its life cycle that we saw (eg. conjugation in spirogyra), and most
importantly that this is the zygotic (haploid) life cycle
 Be able to identify chlorella….
 Know what monoecious and dioecious mean


Identify the bryophytes we worked with and place them into their correct classification (eg)
Bryophytes: Marchantia is a liverwort – phylum hepatophyta, Moss is bryophyta , hornwort is
anthocerophyta,
recognize gametophytes, sporophytes, sporangia, antheridia, archegonia, venter, egg, etc. where
does meiosis occur?

Recognize the gametangia if evident (the structures that give rise to the antheridia and
archegonia) – on Marchantia they were visible

Gemmae cups (marchantia liverwort) and their function

Parts of a moss and a liverwort

Know the stages of the lifecycle, how to ID stages and whether the stage is n, 2n, and where
meiosis and mitosis occur. Be able to draw them!