Biological Scavenger Hunt Based on Work by Todd Ryan

Mr. Stephansky AP Biology Summer Assignment Biological Scavenger Hunt based on work by Todd Ryan

Let us start by repeating information that you have already heard a dozen times. This year-long college course that you have selected to take requires a great deal of reading and writing. During the year, you will be expected to put as much time into it as you would in a college environment (about 3 to 5 hours a week). There will be days when the information is exciting and interesting and there will be days when it is not. Days when you will gladly haul the 20 lb. book home, and days when you wish that you could throw it into the Atlantic for some poor child in Europe to enjoy.

This summer assignment has been designed for five purposes:  to help you distinguish between “carrots and parrots”  to enlarge your vocabulary by familiarizing you with some terms that we will be using in class.  to introduce you to major concepts found in AP Biology through various methods of learning.  to have you earn a strong grade to help you begin the first nine weeks.  to decrease the amount of new material that you will have to learn during the school year. You are to use the internet and any other references that you can find. No textbook is being assigned for this summer assignment.

The Natural History Collection. (The scavenger hunt)

This assignment will send you out of doors to do field work, i.e. “Old-fashioned” Biology. You are to “collect” some of the biological items on the following list during the summer. Your grade will be the point value of the items you collect. Although this assignment is a 100 point assignment, you would be better off collecting MORE than 100 points worth of things to allow for some things not meeting my requirements. To prove that you’ve seen the items, you must submit either;

 A photograph of the object  A hand-drawn image of the object in its found location  A newspaper or magazine article that has that object as its primary subject (limited to 5 submissions maximum)  An internet article/image of the organism (limited to 5 submissions maximum)

Every organism submitted must be labeled with the properly-formatted scientific name and the location of the organism. For example, a dog in your neighbor’s yard would be labeled as Canis familiaris; 600 Franklin St. Whitman, MA. Newspaper and magazine articles must include a correct citation for the article and the article must have been written during the summer (June – August, 2009).

DO’S and DON’TS:  Do take a camera and a small notebook with you as you collect. Remember to record the original colors and markings immediately as they may not photograph as well as you had hoped. When photographing trees, take one shot of the entire tree, one of its bark and another of the leaves or needles. This information will be required as part of your collection.  Do be sure to have organisms that are different in type in the general collection-ex: only one kind of grasshopper, one shelf fungus. Each artifact type should be different in nature (only one footprint and one shell; not 2 shell types or 2 animals).  There is no need to damage or harm anything in this activity. Take nothing but the picture; leave nothing but your footprint.  DON’T WAIT too long to begin  Do collect more than you need- sometimes you have something that is really difficult clearly identify; backup samples are good.  Do remember to record the sort of habitat (the side of road, in a marsh, a shaded woods, GPS location, etc) where your sample was found- this is part of your information to include in the fieldbook and will help you in using the classification guides.  DON’T handle bird nests; they can be full of parasites and many birds return to their nest each year.  DO have the pictures clear enough so that identification is easily made.  DO take your own pictures. No swapping of shots or taking them from a book or the internet (except where noted); include a time and date stamp on the picture if possible.

The submitted portfolio/fieldbook can be in a booklet form or as a PowerPoint presentation. This project must be submitted by Friday, September 4th, 2009.

Specimen List: Below are the items you are to “collect”. An individual organism can only be used once. Humans are acceptable for one category only. You may use internet-based images for no more than 5 of these items.

LOCAL ORGANISMS: PROGRESSIVE POINT VALUES (maximum 5 sets)

The first organism in each category counts 1 pt, the second different type of organism is 2 additional pts (total 1 + 2 = 3), the third is 3 (6 pts total), etc. up to a total of 5 organisms in the category. Every organism/example must be native to Massachusetts.

 Different Biomes (only three must be within MA)  Different types of carbohydrates  Distinguishing characteristics between monocots and dicots  Different classes of proteins  Evidence of alleles for the same trait  Organisms in different animal phyla  Organisms in different kingdoms  Organisms in different plant divisions  Organisms in same class but different orders  Organisms in same genus but with different species  Organisms in same order but different family  Organisms on different levels of the same food chain. These do not need to be native to Massachusetts (you may have up to two examples of each category; submitting more than two will not add any additional points).

INDIVIDUAL ITEMS o A nonvascular plant o Tropism o Analogous structures o Plant using animals for seed dispersal o Altruistic Behavior o Passeriform o An organism that cannot be classified o Population according to the “biological” species o Predation concept o Radially symmetrical individual o Amphibian o Redox reaction o Angiosperm o Reproductive structures of a plant or o Animal larva or pupa fungus o Any scientific experiment o Seed dispersal by animals o Asexual reproduction o Seed dispersal by wind or water o Bilaterally symmetrical organism o Sporophyte and gametophyte generations o Biogeochemical cycle of the same plant o Bryophyte o Street/road sign with famous biologist’s o Pterophyte last name (1 per name) o C3 and either c4 or cam organisms o Succession o Commensalism o Territorial behavior o Crustacean o Taxis o Detritovore o Turgid versus flaccid organism o Dominant vs recessive phenotypes o Vestigial structure in an animal o Email sent to [email protected] o Two different life stages of the same with subject “2009 AP Biology” and then organism (must be morphologically your first and last name (valid 1x only) distinct; i.e., caterpillar – butterfly or o Energy transfers tadpole – frog) o Evidence of evolution o Two different storage polysaccharides o Example of a plant adaptation o rhizome o Example of an animal adaptation o saprophyte o Example of reproductive isolation o spicule from PORIFERA o Examples of palmate, pinnate and parallel o spore venation patterns o sporophyte o Genetic variation within a population o stem - woody o Homeostasis of an organism o thorn of a plant o Homologous structures o vitamin C - natural source o Instinctual behavior o xerophyte o Interaction between science and o xylem technology o flower with a superior ovary o Introduced species o hairy leaf o Lepidopteran o keratin o Mating behavior o meristem area o Mollusk o modified root of a plant o Mutualism o microspore o Organism’s home o monocot plant with flower and leaf o Parasitism o mycelium o Plant using either wind or water for seed o mycorrhizae dispersal o abscisic acid producing area of a plant o actin o myosin o beta carotene o OLIGOCHAETA o bivalve shell o parenchyma cells o C 4 plant o pine cone-female o cartilage o poikilotherm o CHLOROPHYTA o pollen o coelomate o prokaryote o drupe o protein that regulates o epithelial tissue o radial symmetry