Table of Contents – Biology in Focus HSC Course

Maintaining a Balance | Blueprint of Life | The Search for Better Health

Prelims:

To the student and acknowledgements
List of Board of Studies verbs
Prescribed Focus Areas—an introduction
Biology Skills—an introduction
Domain: Knowledge—an introduction
Timeline: A short history of biology

MAINTAINING A BALANCE

Chapter 1 Temperature regulation 2

Most organisms are active in a limited temperature range
1.1 Enzymes and metabolism
1.2 What is pH?
First-hand investigation: Investigating enzyme activity
1.3 Homeostasis and feedback mechanisms—maintaining a balance
1.4 The importance of a constant internal environment
1.5 Negative feedback—the mechanism of homeostasis
1.6 Temperature regulation and the nervous system
Secondary source investigation: Model of a feedback system
1.7 Temperature limits of living organisms
1.8 Temperature regulation in ectothermic and endothermic organisms
Secondary source investigation: Adaptations and responses of Australian organisms for temperature
regulation
1.9 Temperature changes and responses in plants
Revision questions

Chapter 2 Transport—dissolved nutrients and gases

Plants and animals transport dissolved nutrients and gases in a fluid medium
2.1 Blood as a medium of transport
First-hand investigation: Estimating the size of red and white blood cells
2.2 Chemical substances and how they are transported in blood
2.3 The adaptive advantage of haemoglobin
2.4 Oxygen, carbon dioxide and cell functioning
First-hand investigation: The effect of carbon dioxide on the pH of water
Secondary source investigation: Technology—measuring blood gases
2.5 Structure and functioning of the circulatory system
2.6 Changes in chemical composition in blood during circulation
2.7 Blood replacement technologies—donated blood and artificial blood
Secondary source investigation: Donated blood and its products
Secondary source investigation: Artificial blood and its importance
2.8 Transport of nutrients in plants
First-hand investigation: Investigating xylem and phloem tissue in plants (using a light microscope)
Revision questions

Chapter 3 Excretion—wastes, water and salt balance

Plants and animals regulate the concentration of gases, water and waste products of
metabolism in cells and in interstitial fluid
3.1 The importance of excretion (and water and salt balance) in humans and other animals
3.2 The role of the kidney in excretion and osmoregulation
3.3 Active and passive transport (diffusion and osmosis) in kidney functioning
3.4 Why osmosis and diffusion may be inadequate for waste removal
First-hand investigation: Investigating the structure of a mammalian kidney
3.5 Microscopic structure and the functioning of the mammalian kidney
3.6 Hormonal regulation of kidney functioning
3.7 Technology related to kidney functioning
Secondary source investigation: Technology 1—renal dialysis replaces lost kidney functioning
Secondary source investigation: Technology 2—aldosterone and hormone replacement therapy
3.8 Excretion of nitrogenous wastes and osmoregulation in animals
Secondary source investigation: Urine concentration and water balance in animal excretion
(mammals, marine and freshwater fish)
Secondary source investigation: Nitrogenous wastes and water conservation in animals
(Australian insects and terrestrial mammals)
3.9 Enantiostasis and estuarine organisms
Secondary source investigation: Salt balance in plants
3.10 Water conservation in plants—adaptations in Australian plants to minimise water loss
First-hand investigation: Structures in plants that assist the conservation of water
Revision questions

BLUEPRINT OF LIFE

Chapter 1 Evolution
Evidence of evolution suggests that the mechanisms of inheritance, accompanied by
selection, allow change over many generations
1.1 Evolution—selection, inheritance and change
1.2 Environmental changes
First-hand investigation: Modelling natural selection
Secondary source investigation: A modern example of ‘natural’ selection
Secondary source investigation: Case study—environmental change leads to changes in a species
1.3 The Darwin-Wallace theory accounts for divergent and convergent evolution
1.4 Evidence to support the theory of evolution
First-hand and secondary source investigation: Comparative anatomy investigation—vertebrate forelimbs
Secondary source investigation: Changed thinking about evolutionary relatedness—the impact
of technology
Secondary source investigation: Development of the theory of evolution—history and social and
political infl uences
1.5 Punctuated equilibrium
Revision questions

Chapter 2 Genetics

Gregor Mendel’s experiments helped advance our knowledge of the inheritance of
characteristics
2.1 Gregor Mendel and the birth of genetics
2.2 Mendel’s experiments
2.3 Linking Mendel’s fi ndings to modern genetics
2.4 Mendel’s successful experimental technique
2.5 Mendel ignored?
2.6 Modern genetics
2.7 Variation
2.8 Genetics problems
Secondary source investigation: Techniques for solving genetics problems
2.9 Pedigrees (family trees)
First-hand investigation: Constructing pedigrees and tracing inheritance
Secondary source investigation: Hybridisation
Revision questions

Chapter 3 Chromosomes—the key to inheritance

Chromosomal structure provides the key to inheritance
3.1 Sutton and Boveri—the chromosome theory of inheritance
3.2 Chromosomes, meiosis and gamete formation
Secondary source investigation: Modelling meiosis
3.3 Meiosis and gamete formation
3.4 Variability—gamete formation and sexual reproduction
3.5 Deviations from Mendelian inheritance and variations of Mendel’s ratios
3.6 Thomas Hunt Morgan and sex-linkage
3.7 Co-dominance
First-hand investigation: Problems—co-dominance and sex-linkage
3.8 Nature versus nurture—environmental effects on gene expression (phenotype)
First-hand investigation: Investigating the effects of environment on phenotype
3.9 The chemical nature of chromosomes and genes
3.10 The structure of DNA
Secondary source investigation—The discovery of DNA structure
Revision questions

Chapter 4 DNA functioning—changes in DNA structure are reflected in phenotype

The structure of DNA can be changed and such changes may be reflected in the phenotype of the affected organism
Secondary source investigation: Beadle and Tatum: The ‘one gene—one polypeptide’ hypothesis
4.1 DNA functioning—replication and protein synthesis
4.2 Protein synthesis—making protein from a DNA message
4.3 The signifi cance of protein synthesis
First-hand and secondary source investigation: Developing a model of protein synthesis
4.4 DNA functioning gone wrong—mutations
4.5 The mutagenic nature of radiation
4.6 Mutations may lead to new alleles
First-hand and secondary source investigation: Flow chart to show that changes in DNA activity result in changes in cell activity
4.7 Darwin revisited
Revision questions

Chapter 5 Applications and implications of genetics

Current reproductive technologies and genetic engineering have the potential to alter the path of evolution
Secondary source investigation: Investigating hybridisation and its genetic effects
5.1 Reproductive technologies and the gene pool
Secondary source investigation: Methodology of cloning
5.2 Biotechnology, genetic engineering and transgenic species
Secondary source investigation: Ethical issues arising from the use of transgenic species
5.3 Impacts of technologies on genetic diversity
Revision questions

THE SEARCH FOR BETTER HEALTH

Chapter 1 Health and disease

What is a healthy organism?
1.1 Health
1.2 Maintenance of health
Secondary source investigation: Maintenance and repair of body tissues
Revision questions

Chapter 2 The importance of hygiene

Over 3000 years ago the Chinese and Hebrews were advocating cleanliness in food, water
and personal hygiene
2.1 Hygiene
2.2 What is a pathogen?
First-hand investigation: Identifying microbes in food or water
2.3 Control of disease
Secondary source investigation: Treatment of drinking water
Revision questions

Chapter 3 Infectious disease

During the second half of the nineteenth century, the work of Pasteur and Koch and other
scientists stimulated the search for microbes as causes of disease
3.1 Historical perspectives—microbes as the cause of disease
First-hand investigation: Modelling Pasteur’s experiment
3.2 Causes of infectious disease
Secondary source investigation: Historical development—malaria
Secondary source investigation: Case study of one named infectious disease
3.3 Management of infectious disease
Secondary source investigation: Resistance to antibiotics

Revision questions

Chapter 4 Defence of the body I

Often we recognise an infection by the symptoms it causes. The immune response is not so obvious, until we recover
4.1 First line of defence
Secondary source investigation: Microfl ora imbalance and disease
4.2 Second line of defence
4.3 Defence adaptations
Revision questions

Chapter 5 Defence of the body II

MacFarlane Burnet’s work in the middle of the twentieth century contributed to a better understanding of the immune response and the effectiveness of immunisation programs
5.1 Third line of defence
5.2 The human body’s immune response
5.3 Suppression of the immune response
5.4 How vaccinations work
Secondary source investigation: Effectiveness of vaccination programs
Revision questions

Chapter 6 Non-infectious disease

Epidemiological studies involve the collection and careful statistical analysis of large
quantities of data. Such studies assist the causal identifi cation of non-infectious diseases
6.1 Epidemiology
Secondary source investigation: Smoking and lung cancer
6.2 Non-infectious disease
First-hand and secondary source investigation: A non-infectious disease
Revision questions

Chapter 7 Prevention and control of disease

Increased understanding has led to the development of a wide range of strategies to prevent and control disease
7.1 Strategies to prevent and control disease
First-hand investigation: Diseases of plants
Secondary source investigation: Effectiveness of quarantine
7.2 Other control strategies
Secondary source investigation: Changing methods of dealing with plant and animal diseases
Revision questions

Glossary
Credits
Index