LEARNING GOALS

The learning goals for the current (third) section of BIO214 are shown below, grouped by lecture number.

To review the learning goals for the first section of the course ("Plant Biology"), click here.

To review the learning goals for the second section of the course ("Animal Biology I"), click here.

18 - What is thermogenesis, and how does it distinguish animal species that are ectothermic, endothermic, or homeothermic?

18 - How is heat produced during shivering? How is heat produced during non-shivering thermogenesis?

18 - How does each the following structures or behaviors influence heat exchange at the body's surface: fur; feathers; subcutaneous fat; vasodilation/vasoconstriction; sweating.

18 - What is the relationship of arteries and veins in a goose's leg, and how does this anatomical relationship minimize heat loss?

18 - Why does an animal species that is adapted to a cold environment tend to have smaller extremities than a related species that is adapted to a hot environment?

19 - What is the anatomy of a neuron? What parts of the neuron are the sites of signal transmission with other cells?

19 - In humans, which two organs form the central nervous system? What is the peripheral nervous system, and what is a nerve?

19 - Be able to distinguish sensory neurons, motor neurons, and interneurons. In what general functions are these three classes of neuron involved?

19 - What two (kinds of) neurons form the neuronal circuit of the knee-jerk reflex? What sequence of signal conduction/transmission events underlies the execution of this reflex?

19 - What happens to the biological clock of an animal that is deprived of sensory input from the outside world? What happens to the biological clock of an animal that is rapidly transported to a different time zone?

20 - Learn the terminology of electrical membrane potentials: resting potential; depolarization; hyperpolarization.

20 - Review the basic features of ion transport proteins. What is the difference between active and passive transport? What controls the movement of ions through an open ion channel?

20 - What effect does the Na/K pump have on the distribution of Na⁺ and K⁺ ions inside and outside an animal cell? What role does this pump play in the production of the resting potential?

20 - How does one define an ion's equilibrium potential? What is the relative contribution of the Na⁺ and K⁺ equilibrium potentials to the resting potential of a typical neuron?

20 - Why does the opening of Na-channels during an action potential cause the cell membrane to depolarize?

21 - What does it mean to say that an action potential is self-propagating? What is threshold potential?

21 - Learn Fig. 48.9 in detail. What are the different phases of the action potential? What is the status of the voltage-gated Na-channels and K-channels during each phase?

21 - Why does depolarization (to the threshold potential) initiate the depolarizing phase of the action potential?

21 - How do Na-channel inactivation and the opening of the voltage-gated K-channel contribute to the repolarizing phase of the action potential? How do they contribute to the undershoot?

21 - Learn the cellular basis of chemical synaptic transmission: presynaptic Ca⁺² influx; synaptic vesicle fusion; neurotransmitter release; binding to postsynaptic receptor; generation of the postsynaptic potential.

21 - What is the difference between an EPSP and an IPSP?

22 - Learn the general features of the vertebrate motor system: bones; joints; ligaments; tendons; muscles; neuromuscular junction.

22 - Learn the anatomy of the sarcomere. How does the Sliding Filament Model explain the contraction of a sarcomere?

22 - How does an EPSP in the muscle fiber lead to its contraction?

22 - What are the two distinct ways in which the nervous system can vary the strength of contraction of an entire muscle?

23 - What causes an inflammatory response at a site of injury? How do the circulatory system and white blood cells behave during an inflammatory response?

23 - Learn the basic components of the immune system: lymphocytes; immunoglobulin genes/proteins; gene rearrangements and antigen specificity.

23 - What is self-tolerance, and how does it arise? How does it relate to autoimmune diseases and to the rejection of transplanted tissues?

23 - Learn the basic steps of an immune response: antigen-binding; lymphocyte activation; antibody secretion; memory cell formation; primary vs. secondary immune responses.

23 - What is the rationale behind immunizations?

24 - Hormones circulate in the blood, yet they only have effects on certain specific target tissues. Why?

24 - What are the catecholamines? What physiological changes occur during the fight-or-flight response?

24 - What are the two classes of corticosteroid, and how does each one prepare the body for long-term stress?

24 - What is a tropic hormone? How do the hypothalamus and pituitary gland control the hormone secretion of other endocrine organs?

24 - How do the hypothalamus and pituitary gland control the reproductive organs? How does this control differ in the two sexes?

25 - What are the differences between external fertilization and internal fertilization?

25 - Learn the sequence of the events that occur during the human menstrual cycle at the level described in the lecture notes. This means learning the 5 different hormones (GnRH; FSH; LH; estrogen; progesterone), which organs secrete them, and what effect they have on the other tissues.

25 - What is implantation, and why does it interrupt the menstrual cycle?

25 - What is the placenta? What is the anatomical basis of chemical exchange between the maternal and fetal blood supplies in the placenta?

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