1. You are researching microbial life in the Rocky Mountains. You scoop up a water sample from a melted snow puddle because you are curious about the possible microbes that might live there. Using your microscope, you examine several drops of the sample on microscope slides. Your examination reveals that your melted snow puddle contains two different kinds of cells: one cell type was large with several different internal structures and the other cell type was small and lacked the internal structures of the larger cell. Give the name for each cell type and describe their overall similarities and differences.

2. The habitat of one species of frog is the tall green grasses in a swamp. The vast majority of the frogs in this population are green. A few individual frogs carry a mutation that prevents the production of the green pigment; as a result these individual frogs are brown. The temperature in this area rises and less rain falls over a 10 year period, and as a result the swamp begins to dry up and the grasses turn brown. Using what you have learned about natural selection, explain how this change in environment may have affected the evolution this frog population (not including possible direct effects of warmer temperatures and less rain on the frogs). Include the following terms in your explanation: allele frequency, selective pressure, differential reproduction, beneficial trait, evolution.

3. Inorganic fertilizers contribute to water pollution and your town is encouraging its citizens to switch from inorganic fertilizers to organic fertilizers, like seaweed powder, so as to minimize pollution. You have a prize winning rose garden that you fertilize with inorganic fertilizers. Being a good researcher and critical thinker, you are not convinced that the seaweed powder will yield the same results as the inorganic fertilizer you have used for years with good results. In order to draw your own conclusion based on scientific evidence, you decide to conduct an experiment in your garden. Design an experiment to test the following hypothesis: Soluble seaweed powder is just as effective as using inorganic fertilizer on my rose garden. Be sure to descriptions of your test subjects, sample size, control(s), dependent and independent variables, the type of data collected) and hypothetical results/conclusion in your experiment. Does your conclusion support the hypothesis?

4. You are a vegetarian, and you want to make the case to your non-vegetarian but environmentally conscious friend that eating vegetarian is more environmentally friendly. Using what you know about the second law of thermodynamics, how energy is transferred in food chains, and ecology, make a logical argument to convince your friend that eating a plant based diet is an environmentally good choice. You should incorporate the following in your answer: energy transfer, producer, consumer, trophic level, resources, waste, environmental impact.

5. Describe in detail the major land biome where you live. How have human activities altered or not altered the landscape and how has this affected native species? In your description include specific examples and the following terms: biodiversity, habitat loss, pollution, introduced species, overharvesting, physical disturbance, and resource depletion.