Friday, April 22, 2011

April 22nd: Eight class days before AP Bio Test!!

1. Homework is to read about adaptations for alternative carbon fixation on pp. 195-198.
2. Our Final Exam will take place in class on May 2nd and 3rd.  If you have a conflict with an AP test we will come up with a solution together. 
3. Review sessions are continuing!  There are still five more.  Sessions are held from 3:05 to 4:35 on the dates below.
     Today the topic is Classification and Diversity. 
     Tuesday 4/26 - Plants
     Friday 4/29 - Animal Systems
     Tuesday 5/3 - Ecology
     Thursday 5/5 - open forum

In class we went over the online photosynthesis lab that was assigned Tuesday.  We discussed the role of DPIP and why we expect to see certain trends in certain situations.  I then collected the assignment.  Next we finished our discussion of photosynthesis by focusing on the Calvin Cycle.  The key components to remember are: The 1-carbon CO2 is joined to a 5-carbon RuBP molecule by Rubisco (yay Rubisco!).  This unstable 6-carbon molecule immediately splits into 2 3-carbon molecules.  ATP and NADPH from the light dependent reactions are then used to create carbohydrate while regenerating RuBP to start the cycle again.  The cycle would need to run 6 times (using 6 CO2 molecules) to create 1 glucose.  Here is a link to an animation on the Calvin Cycle.  http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Biology/Bio231/calvin.html

On Monday we will go over the alternate pathways for carbon fixation and begin cellular respiration.

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