CaliforniaStateUniversitySan Bernardino; Department of Biology
Exam Study Guides
First Midterm
Examples of Major Concepts for Study
Age of the earth
Evolution and its mechanisms
Food acquisition strategies
Culture of the Enlightenment and how it contributed to scientific understanding
Special adaptations of plants
What is a synapomorphy? How do we define (versus describe) groups?
Comparison of plants versus fungi versus animals
Scientific method
What is science versus what is not.
Continental drift
Major plant groups and their ages
Major fungal groups and their ages
Oldest multicellular organisms
Possible “Essay” Question Topics:
·Explain and define the different types of food acquisition strategies described in class, and give an example of each.
·Explain, either as a list of components or with text/prose, the process of Natural Selection as described by Charles Darwin.
·What is convergent evolution? Give at least two examples.
·The earth it now acknowledged to be extremely old. Describe how it came to be understood that the earth was extremely old during the Age of the Enlightenment.
·What is Symbiosis? Describe at least one example.
Second Midterm
Examples of Major Concepts for Study
·Water to Land Transition: Examples of problems associated with it and solutions in different groups; for example, compare plants and amphibians.
·Chordate Synapomorphies!!!
·Defining feature of vertebrates!!!
·Caenogenesis
·Importance of Segmentation
·Protostome/Deuterostome differences
·Insect stuff: original function of wings; origin of insects; most primitive are wingless
·Endoskeleton versus Exoskeleton
Be able to give examples of cases where the most common condition in a group is not the primitive condition.
Be able to answer example questions on the book Galapagos as discussed in class.
What is the importance of Tiktaalik as a form intermediate between fishes and amphibians?
What are the major groups of the Bilateralia and what are their differences?
What are the major groups of arthropods and where are they found?
What are the major groups of Fungi and how old are they?
What are conodonts?
What fossil groups are most closely related to Chondrichthyes? To Actinopterygii?
From what group of fishes did tetrapods (amphibians) arise?
Possible “Essay” Question Topics:
Be able to draw a basic cross-section of a vertebrate.
Explain NEOTONY and give examples.
Defining Features for: Deuterostomia, Chordata, Vertebrata, Gnathostomata,Tetrapoda
If given a cross-sectional drawing of a vertebrate, you should be able to label it.
You should be able to briefly list and explain the basic chordate synapomorphies.
Important Topics for the Final
Examples of Major Concepts for Study
Remember!!! This is NOT and exhaustive list. Any material presented in lecture could be on the final. Further, listing here doesn't guarantee topic will be on the final.
Defining Features for: Batrachia, Amniota, Dinosauria, Aves (Birds), Mammalia, Primates, Homo sapiens (today)
Closest extinct relatives of each of the above.
Examples of Convergent Evolution
Examples of Neotony
Posture vs. number of feet on ground
Components of human locomotion (today)
Extinct vs. living relatives of groups.
Functions of feathers
Build your trees!
Position of Synapsida in Vertebrate evolutionary tree.
Food acquisition strategy (you are what you eat – herbivore vs. Carnivore features)
Important Terms or Taxonomic Groups You Should Understand or recognize:
Graviportal
Osteoderms
Sexual dimporphism
Placental mammal
Extra-embryonic membrane
Synapsid
Pelycosaur
Monotreme
Marsupial
Placental mammal
Coelurosaur
Maniraptoran
Tetanuran
Bird (Avialae)
Possible “Essay” Question Topics:
(Any of these topics could be preented as an essay-style question, or broken up into a number of short-answer or multiple choice questions.)
How do you define a dinosaur anatomically? And, what are the most primitive members of the Dinosaurs? What are the two major groups within Dinosauria (Ornithischia and Saurischia) - and how are they defined?
What were the major groups of Ornithischian and Saurischian dinosaurs, and during what time periods were they abundant?
Did an extraterrestrial impact kill off all of the dinosaurs?
What grades of organizational difference characterizes pelycosaurs from therapsids from mammals?
What is the primitive reproductive means/behavior for Amniotes? Birds? Monotremes?
What is a placental mammal?
Some extra Galapagos Questions:
What languages did the young child Kamikaze speak fluently?
Who was Kamikaze's mother? Father? Where was Kamikaze born?
How can you use the later characters in the book in a discussion of convergent evolution?
Which characters did contribute to the genetic pool of the human race a million years from now? Who did not?