Biology Fundamentals

Predict the net movement of water and solutes during diffusion and osmosis.

Determine whether a substance crosses a membrane by simple diffusion, facilitated diffusion, active transport, or bulk transport.

Explain how enzymes lower activation energy and predict how temperature, pH, and concentration affect enzyme activity.

Explain how cells use ATP to couple energy-releasing reactions to energy-requiring processes.

Trace the major transformations of matter and energy during cellular respiration.

Trace the major transformations of matter and energy during photosynthesis.

Explain how negative feedback helps an organism maintain homeostasis.

Distinguish the stages and biological purposes of the cell cycle and mitosis.

Explain how meiosis and fertilization create genetic variation while maintaining chromosome number across generations.

Solve monohybrid genetic crosses using allele notation, Punnett squares, and probability.

Predict inheritance outcomes involving incomplete dominance, codominance, or sex-linked traits.

Relate DNA, genes, alleles, chromosomes, and traits to one another.

Describe how semiconservative DNA replication produces two DNA molecules.

Transcribe a DNA template sequence into messenger RNA.

Translate a messenger RNA sequence into an amino-acid sequence using a genetic-code chart.

Predict how a change in a DNA sequence can affect a protein and phenotype.

Apply the conditions of natural selection to explain how a population changes across generations.

Distinguish natural selection from mutation, gene flow, and genetic drift as mechanisms of evolutionary change.

Infer evolutionary relationships from a cladogram or phylogenetic tree.

Explain how reproductive isolation can lead to speciation.

Analyze how limiting factors and carrying capacity affect population growth.

Predict how competition, predation, and mutualism can affect populations within a community.

Trace energy flow through trophic levels and explain why available energy decreases at higher levels.

Trace carbon through an ecosystem and predict how human activities can alter the carbon cycle.