To: AP Biology Students 2015-2016 From: Dr. Whaley Welcome to your AP Biology Summer Assignment (Parts I & II) It is important to set goals when studying AP Biology. The goal of this summer assignment is to introduce you to the great adventure of Biology. This adventure will take you from the depths of the sea to the top of the world, and you will find out some interesting biological facts about yourself along the way. The FOUR BIG IDEAS in Biology that we will study throughout the year are entwined in this adventure story. Those FOUR BIG IDEAS are: Evolution, Energy, Information and Interactions. You will come across some concepts in your reading that are brand new to you. Make note of them, research them, study them, and be assured that we will re-visit them throughout the year. Read through the assignment carefully. Bring your completed assignment to the first day of class. Enjoy your summer reading! ASSIGNMENT PART I (DUE FIRST DAY OF CLASS) a) Read Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin, Vintage Books, Random House, New York, 2009 (ISBN 978-0-307-27745-9). This is available from local libraries and online stores like amazon.com. b) Answer the discussion questions listed below. Page numbers refer to the paperback version.    

1. What  is  your  overall  impression  of  this  book?    What  did  you  like  or  not  like  about  it?    Why?  

         

2. Who  is  Tiktaalik?    Why  was  the  discovery  of  Tiktaalik  important?          

   

3. Define  “serendipity”.    What  role  did  serendipity  play  in  Shubin’s  discovery  of  Tiktaalik?  

         

   

4. How  is  Shubin’s  work  an  example  of  interdisciplinary  studies  and  cooperative  learning?  

                   

5. The  scientific  method,  as  you  know,  involves  testing  predictions.    Illustrate  this  with  examples  from  Shubin’s  work.  

                     

6. Refer  to  the  third  paragraph  on  page  43:    “Do  the  facts  of  our  ancient  history  mean  that  humans  are  not  special  or  unique  among  living  creatures?    Of  course  not.    In  fact,  knowing  something  about  the  deep  origins  of  humanity  only  adds  to  the  remarkable  fact  of  our  existence…We  are  not  separate  from  the  rest  of  the  living  world;  we  are  part  of  it  down  to  our  bones,  and…even  our  genes.”  

 Comment  on  Shubin’s  statement.  

                         

           7.       On  page  77  Shubin  writes,  “One  of  the  joys  of  being  a  scientist  is  that  the  natural  world  has  the  power  to  amaze  and  surprise.”      The  book  communicates  his  enthusiasm  for  learning  about  the  amazing  and  surprising  natural  world!  

 Reflect  on  your  reading.    Also  reflect  on  ways  in  which  you  have  been  amazed  or  surprised  by  the  natural  world.    Provide  two  examples  where  the  natural  world  amazed  or  surprised  you:    one  example  from  the  information  you  learned  by  reading  Shubin’s  book,  the  other  example  from  an  experience  you  had  being  “in  nature”  or  learning  some  fascinating  new  fact  or  observing  the  forces  of  nature.    Write  a  paragraph  to  communicate  your  enthusiasm  for  learning  about  the  natural  world!    

                                                                       

Assignment  Part  2  Due  First  Day  of  Class    

Design  Your  Own  Lab:  Transpiration  in  Plants    Scientific  inquiry  is  an  important  part  of  every  science  class.    It  involves  much  more  than  simply  following  the  “scientific  method”.    Your  ability  to  ask  a  scientific  question  based  on  observations  and  background  information,  state  and  test  a  hypothesis,  carry  out  an  investigation,  and  analyze  the  results  shows  that  you  are  mastering  the  process  of  inquiry.    The  AP  Biology  course  integrates  scientific  inquiry  within  the  framework  of  Four  Big  Ideas:    Evolution,  Energy,  Information  and  Interactions.    In  this  assignment,  you  will  design  and  carry  out  an  investigation  to  study  transpiration  in  plants,  a  topic  that  we  will  study  further  as  we  explore  “Interactions”.        Online  Textbook  Resource:    To  learn  the  background  about  transpiration  go  to  www.pearsonhighered.com/campbell/      

       

  CHOOSE  AND  CLICK          

LOG  IN  Login  name:  MAStudent157  password:  apbiology1                                        

   SELECT  A  CHAPTER  –  DROP  DOWN  MENU…CHOOSE  CHAPTER  3  (WATER)  THEN  CHAPTER  36  (TRANSPORT  IN  PLANTS)    E-­BOOK  –  CHOOSE  EITHER  BOOK,  THEN  CHAPTERS  3  AND  36    

     

Use  these  resources  to  learn  about  the  properties  of  water  that  make  it  important  for  life  (Chapter  3),  and  to  learn  how  a  plant  accomplishes  the  task  of  absorbing  water  from  the  soil,  transporting  it  up  to  its  leaves,  and  allowing  water  to  evaporate  back  into  the  atmosphere  through  the  process  of  transpiration  (Chapter  36).        AP  Biology  Lab  Manual  Resource  Attached  to  this  handout  you  will  find  an  excerpt  from  the  AP  Biology  Lab  Manual    describing  Investigation  11:  Transpiration.        Read  the  background  information  and  look  up  any  new  terms.    Your  assignment  is  to  investigate  an  environmental  variable  that  might  contribute  to  the  rate  of  transpiration  in  plants.    Things  you  will  need  to  do…  

• Understand  transpiration  • Decide  on  which  environmental  variable  you  will  study  (temperature,  light,  

humidity,  pH…etc)  • State  the  hypothesis  with  a  justification  (If…then…because)  • Design  the  experiment  (independent  variable,  dependent  variable,  control,  

constants,  multiple  trials,  averages)  • Gather  lab  materials  • Set  up  the  experiment  (includes  photos)  • Collect  data  (include  data  table)  • Analyze  data  (include  graph)  • Write  a  conclusion  

 Lab  Procedure    

     

Data  Collection    

• Take  photos  of  your  experimental  set-­‐up.  • Determine  the  mass  of  each  plant  and  then  its  mass  for  several  days  under  

your  environmental  condition.    Since  transpiration  is  a  measure  of  water  loss,  you  can  assume  that  loss  of  mass  is  due  to  loss  of  water  indicating  that  transpiration  has  occurred.    

• Average  the  data  from  multiple  plants  and/or  trials.  • Report  your  data  in  a  table  and  a  graph  made  on  graph  paper  or  using  a  

computer.      Lab  Report  

 The  typed  report  should  include…    

• Title:  include  the  name  of  the  plant    • Brief  introduction:  what  was  the  purpose  of  the  experiment?  • Experimental  design:  hypothesis  with  justification,  independent  variable,  

dependent  variable,  control,  constants,  trials  • Results:  data  table,  graph,  pictures  of  experiment  • Conclusion/Discussion:  revisit  the  hypothesis,  explain  results,  sources  of  

error,  next  steps  

BigIdea

Investigation 11 S135

Interactions 4INVESTIGATION 11

TRANSPIRATION*What factors, including environmental variables, affect the rate of transpiration in plants?

■ BACKGROUNDCells and organisms must exchange matter with the environment to grow, reproduce, and maintain organization, and the availability of resources influences responses and activities. For example, water and macronutrients are used to synthesize new molecules, and, in plants, water is essential for photosynthesis. Organisms have evolved various mechanisms for accumulating sufficient quantities of water, ions, and other nutrients and for keeping them properly balanced to maintain homeostasis.

Plants absorb and transport water, nutrients, and ions from the surrounding soil via osmosis, diffusion, and active transport. Once water and dissolved nutrients have entered the root xylem, they are transported upward to the stems and leaves as part of the process of transpiration, with a subsequent loss of water due to evaporation from the leaf surface. Too much water loss can be detrimental to plants; they can wilt and die.

The transport of water upward from roots to shoots in the xylem is governed by differences in water (or osmotic) potential, with water molecules moving from an area of high water potential (higher free energy, more water) to an area of low water potential (lower free energy, less water). (You may have studied the concept of water potential in more detail when exploring the processes of osmosis and diffusion in Investigation 4 in this manual.) The movement of water through a plant is facilitated by osmosis, root pressure, and the physical and chemical properties of water. Transpiration creates a lower osmotic potential in the leaf, and the TACT (transpiration, adhesion, cohesion, and tension) mechanism describes the forces that move water and dissolved nutrients up the xylem.

* Transitioned from the AP Biology Lab Manual (2001)

S136 Investigation 11

Bio_T_Lab11_01

Water lost bytranspiration

Water absorbed by root hairs

Suctionpressure Capillarity

Figure 1. Transpiration Model

During transpiration, water evaporating from the spaces within leaves escapes through small pores called stomata. Although evaporation of water through open stomata is a major route of water loss in plants, the stomata must open to allow for the entry of CO2 used in photosynthesis. In addition, O2 produced in photosynthesis exits through open stomata. Consequently, a balance must be maintained between the transport of CO2 and O2 and the loss of water. Specialized cells called guard cells help regulate the opening and closing of stomata.

In this laboratory investigation, you will begin by calculating leaf surface area and then determine the average number of stomata per square millimeter. From your data, several questions emerge about the process of transpiration in plants, including the following:• Do all plants have stomata? Is there any relationship between the number of stomata

and the environment in which the plant species evolved?• Are leaf surface area and the number of stomata related to the rate of transpiration?

What might happen to the rate of transpiration if the number of leaves or the size of leaves is reduced?

• Do all parts of a plant transpire?• Do all plants transpire at the same rate? Is there a relationship between the habitat in

which plants evolved and their rate of transpiration?• What other factors, including environmental variables, might contribute to the rate of

transpiration?• What structural features and/or physiological processes help plants regulate the

amount of water lost through transpiration? How do plants maintain the balance between the transport of CO2 and O2 and the amount of water lost through transpiration?