Genetics

Today we'll be working on the last section of the Biology course - Genetics.  Answer the following questions in your books -

1. Define sexual and asexual reproduction - http://www.biotopics.co.uk/genes1/asexual_and_sexual_reproduction.html
2. Using the link from question 1, what type of reproduction leads to variation in a population?
3. What does DNA in genes code for? - http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/aqa/geneticvariation/whyorganismsaredifferentrev1.shtml
4. Place the following in order from smallest to largest - Nucelus, DNA, chromosome, gene.
5. Apart from genetics, what else can influence how an organism looks? - http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/aqa/geneticvariation/whyorganismsaredifferentrev3.shtml
6. Briefly describe what cloning is and outline one way that it can occur - http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/tech/cloning/whatiscloning/
7. Play this game, what things are randomly separated to determine what the offspring will look like? - http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/whoami/thingdom.aspx

Try any of these once you're finished - http://nature.ca/genome/04/041/041_e.cfm

This video is really relevant to the section of the course that we're looking at now.  We won't have time to watch it all in class, but it would be a good use of time to see it all at home. Some bits are a little bit graphic, but it's all worth it!

Revision

For revision before the test coming up (Wednesday for 10x2, next week for 10y4), make sure you're comfortable with the following points:

• What animals and plants compete for (what resources in which conditions).
• How plants and animals are adapted to compete for them ('tricks' they have which help them survive.  Make sure you know how plants are adapted to dry environments and how an animal's body size affects it's heat loss).
• What biomass means, and why it is important for ecosystems.
• What happens at each step in a biomass pyramid, why energy is constantly being lost and how it gets passed on.
• How changes in the environment can affect species living there, and why variation in a species is important.

To help you at home, try using the textbook on kerboodle, or GCSE bitesize - http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/aqa/interdependence/ , http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/aqa/energy_biomass/

Energy flow in Ecosystems

1. Give the equation for respiration (both the words AND symbols) - http://purchon.com/biology/aerobic.htm
2. Explain the difference between a pyramid of numbers and one of biomass - http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/edexcel_pre_2011/environment/populationsandpyramidsrev2.shtml
3. Give two ways that energy can be lost from a food chain - http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/edexcel_pre_2011/environment/populationsandpyramidsrev3.shtml
4. In general, why do cold-blooded animals require less energy than warm-blooded ones? - http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/image_galleries/ir_zoo/coldwarm.html
5. At which steps in a food chain is energy lost?
6. Complete this activity, making sure you write down what percentage of energy makes it to the next stage at each step - http://www.teachersdomain.org/asset/tdc02_int_energyflow/
7. Try any of the links here - http://reviewgamezone.com/game.php?id=3030

Term 2

Welcome back! Today we will be looking at some competition stuff from last term, and starting on a new topic - energy.

1. Briefly describe two types of factors that could cause enivronmental change - http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210243/Science%20Station/How%20living%20things%20interact%20with%20their%20environment/relationship%20of%20biotic%20and%20abiotic%20factors.htm
2. What do populations (not individuals) need to help them survive? - http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/news/101201_panthers
3. How can climate change affect the distribution of organisms? Use one example from this site - http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/environmental-change/measuring-climate-change/species-distribution/index.html
4. What does biomass mean? (Remember that we're not talking about renewable fuels, just ecosystems) - http://www.answers.com/topic/biomass 
5. What level in a biomass pyramid is usually the biggest? - http://cleangreenenergyzone.com/pyramid-of-biomass/
6. Draw a biomass pyramid for the grass - vole - barnowl food chain - http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/edexcel_pre_2011/environment/populationsandpyramidsrev2.shtml
7. Try these once youre done -  http://science.discovery.com/interactives/literacy/darwin/darwin.html , http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/explorer/ecosystems/be_an_explorer/map/form.htm#

Competition

Todat we will be following on from the adaptations we looked at and talking about competition.  Asnwer the following questions in our books:

1. What is competition between organisms? - http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Competition
2. Plants compete for which resources?  - http://www.saburchill.com/ans02/chapters/chap019.html
3. Do organisms like plants or animals always compete for the same resources? - http://www.biotopics.co.uk/newgcse/Competition.html
4. When does competition occur between organisms (what conditions need to happen?)? - http://www.biotopics.co.uk/newgcse/Competition.html
5. When individuals are in competition, which ones are the most likely to survive? - http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/aqa/evolution/evolutionrev2.shtml
6. Explain what happens when an organism becomes adapted to a new environment (scroll down to 'competitive speciation' - http://redpath-museum.mcgill.ca/Qbp/2.About%20Biodiversity/processes.htm 
7. Try this game, making sure you take careful notice of how your animals are competing for different resources! - http://science.discovery.com/interactives/literacy/darwin/darwin.html 

Once youre finished, try http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/natures-most-amazing-events/animal-arcade/lion.html

Adaptations

We're looking at adaptations that plants and animals have to help them survive and reproduce.  We completed a practical looking at how size can help animals in different environments.  We concluded that (although some of our groups didn't work because of different water temperatures) smaller animals have a greater surface area:volume ratio and so cool down more quickly.
With plants, we defined transpiration, xylem and stomata.  You should all be able to use these in describing how plants are adapted to certain environments.  With the celery experiment we found that water moves up through the roots and xylem, then out through the stomata in the leaves.  Plants in warm conditions can lose too much water, so either have sunken stomata or less of them (or close the ones they do have).  Plants also have other adaptations to help them in hot environments, such as waxy outer layers to prevent water loss, thin leaves and stems that can store water (like a cactus).
This page from bitesize has some good information about adaptations ion hot and cold climates if you skip to the next page down the  bottom - http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/aqa/evolution/organismsrev2.shtml

If you have time, try some of the exam style questions from the textbook on the kerboodle website, page 92-3.