Honors Biology Summer Assignment

Welcome to 10th grade honors biology! This is a challenging, fast-paced, exciting class. Because of the breadth of information to be covered and work to be done next year, you will need to complete a summer assignment. This will help make the amount of information to be covered next year a little more manageable. This summer you will be reading the two ecology chapters of your biology textbook. You will be responsible for learning these chapters and coming to school in September prepared to take a test. In addition, you will complete a small research project and an ecology lab on your own. Both activities will be due in the first week of school. The instructions at the bottom of this page will walk you through each step of the summer assignment in more detail.

Have a wonderful summer. I look forward to working with you next year.

Summer Assignment Part 1: Read and Study For this part of the assignment, you will access an online copy of our class’s textbook. o Log onto the Glencoe Website at: http://www.glencoe.com/ose/ o Enter the following access code: B8D08E304D o Using the table of contents, find chapters 24 and 25.

Carefully read and take notes on chapters 24 and 25. The Glencoe website provides several study aids. You should use these to ensure you understand the material. To find these, o Log on to http://glencoe.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0078664276/student_view0/ o Explore all “Chapter Activities” for Chapters 24 and 25 o Chapter 24: Ecosystem Structure and Function contains the following: o Web Links o Check Challenge Quiz 1 o Check Challenge Quiz 2 o Chapter Test o Vocabulary eFlashcards o Interactive Tutor o Chapter 25: Change in Ecosystems contains the following: o Web Links o Check Challenge Quiz 1 o Check Challenge Quiz 2 o Check Challenge Quiz 3 o Chapter Test o Vocabulary eFlashcards o Interactive Tutor

Summer Assignment Part 2: Invasive Species Web Quest This assignment can be found on the Glencoe resources page: http://glencoe.mcgraw- hill.com/sites/0078664276/student_view0/ o Under Unit/Prologue Resources, select Unit 6. o Click on the “Web Quest” link that appears. o Follow the instructions provided, which will help you research and prepare a presentation on an invasive species. Begin by looking at the websites provided while thinking about the following questions: 1. Why do invasive species behave differently in new places than they do in their native habitats? 2. Why are invasive species particularly problematic on islands? 3. Some of the worst invasive species are plants. What characteristics do plants often have that make them invasive? 4. How has the chestnut blight caused some changes to forest ecosystems?

Next you will focus your research on one particular invasive species that is problematic in New England. Type a summary of your research, including at least one picture of the invasive species. Be sure to include information about where the species originally came from, how and when it was brought to this country, what features of this species make it invasive, and in what ways it is disrupting native ecosystems. You should also discuss how people are attempting to control this species. When we return to school in September, you will share your findings with your class.

Summer Assignment Part 3: Lab: Producers in an Ecosystem You will use the online textbook again for this portion of the summer assignment. o Click on “BSCS Biology: A Molecular Approach” in the navigation bar on the left side of the page. o Find and select “Laboratory Investigations” from the navigation bar. o This section of the text is 193 pages long. You will find the ecology lab on page 110 of 193. (The actual number at the bottom of the page is 789.) o Complete lab 24A: Producers in an ecosystem. You will conduct this experiment outside in a location of your choosing. If you have a friend who is also taking Biology H next year, you may work with him or her. Whether you work alone or with a partner, you are responsible for handing in a typed copy of the lab analysis questions written in your own words. Some notes: o If you do not have a meterstick, cut a piece of string or yarn the length from your hip to the ground and use that instead. o You do not need to collect samples of the plants you find. o There are no teams; you will be studying all plants in your study plot. o You may use common names for plants. If you don’t know the name of a plant you should look it up using the Internet.

Due Dates: