Case Study 1: Meagan

Meagan is 35 years old, married with 2 children and works part time as a waitress. She does 3 gym classes per week including weights and strength training, and walks for ½ hour most days.

Although not overweight, she decided, with her gym advisor to complete a 12 week challenge to change her diet to lower her body fat percentage and become fitter and healthier.

She was given a diet by her gym advisor:

Her measurements:

Prior challenge (cm):

Chest: 85         

Arms:    24

Legs:     52

Waist:   74

Hips:     97.5

Weight: 63.8

Height: 171

Energy level: 5/10

Post challenge (cm):

Chest: 81         

Arms:    24

Legs:     49

Waist:   69

Hips:     90.5

Weight: 58.3

Height: 171

Energy Level: 9/10

Meagans comments about the 12 week challenge:

My exercise regime didn't change much, it was mainly the food and water intake that was the game changer for me. I ate pretty healthy before, but ate carbs more & later in the day as well. Portion sizes were also a problem for me prior to diet- I usually ate too much and only drank max 2ltrs water daily. I saw results in week 1 & I loved every week of this diet. Delicious, healthy meals & knowing what & when to eat helped a lot too.

Calculate her BMI; prior and post challenge

Analyse the diet by completing a food group analysis and then looking at total daily kJ, macronutrient levels and the micronutrients; B9(folate) and calcium, comparing energy, macronutrients and micronutrients to their respective RDIs. (Refer to the information sheets located below the workshop heading in this Topic (8)).

Answer the following questions:

1. What type of diet is this and what is the premise this diet is based on?

2. How much energy is supplied daily by this diet and how does this compare to the RDI for this person?

3. Which nutrients, if any are outside the RDIs in this diet and are there consequences (negative or positive) if this diet was used long term? If there are negative consequences, what health problems could result?

4. How would you rate this diet and exercise routine?

For each, whether they illustrate forward, or reverse, genetic approaches, and explain why you made that choice.

A.Your graduate student read a paper in which mutations in a specific antioxidant gene leads to resistance to the biological effects of cocaine in mice. She decides to use Cas-CRISPR to make a targeted mutation in the Drosophila homolog of this gene and examine the effects of cocaine on the resulting mutant flies. Is this a forward or reverse genetic approach?

B. Your graduate student has performed a genetic screen and isolated twenty mutations that lead to resistance to the drug PCP in flies. She proceeds to clone and sequence the mutated genes. Is this a forward or reverse genetic approach?

CONSERVATION BIOLOGY

Define the following terms using one sentence for each term: conservation biology, restoration ecology, and biodiversity (including genetic diversity, species diversity, and ecosystem diversity).

List the key benefits of biodiversity, and discuss in one short paragraph several threats to biodiversity.

Define population conservation, and explain in three to four sentences the rationale behind this approach.

Some cancers are consistently associated with the duplication of a particular part of a chromosome. What type of gene is most likely to be found in the duplicated region?

Define the term “bioconcentration” and explain in two to three sentences how certain chemicals used in pest control may affect all organisms in an ecosystem.

Using one or two sentences for each item, define each of the following environmental issues and explain the contribution of human technological advances to each: toxic waste, eutrophication, thermal pollution, smog, acid rain, the greenhouse effect, overgrazing, deforestation, erosion, and the introduction of invasive species.

9. Why isn’t Earth’s climate uniform? To answer this, summarize the major factors that can produce differences in climate from place to place.

Introduction TO ECOLOGY

Define ecology and state in one sentence, its importance for understanding the environment.

List biotic and abiotic factors that determine the distribution of organisms on Earth.

List ten of Earth’s major terrestrial and/or aquatic biomes and list characteristics of each.

Identify two factors that dictate the distribution of all terrestrial biomes and explain the importance of each in one sentence.

ECOSYSTEMS AND THE BIOSPHERE

Define the term “ecosystem” in one sentence.

Describe in one short paragraph the general flow of energy and the cycling of nutrients through ecosystems.

Identify the differences and similarities between a food chain and a food web.

Name and define each trophic level in an ecosystem and cite an example for each level, using the following terms: producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, tertiary consumer, decomposer, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, autotroph, and heterotroph.

Using one organism as an example, describe the difference between a fundamental niche and a realized niche in one or two sentences.

Using one or two sentences, compare and contrast resource partitioning and the competitive exclusion principle.

Describe in one sentence the concept of symbiosis, and define in two sentences the concepts of parasitism, commensalism and mutualism using a pair of organisms to exemplify each.

In two sentences, list the key characteristics of a predator and a prey using an example of an animal that exemplifies each. Describe in a short paragraph why a predator and prey can exhibit a cyclical relationship in terms of population oscillations.

Select 5 biomes describing at least 3 characteristics for each of the 5 biomes.  

List‌ ‌the‌ ‌major‌ ‌biomes‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌world‌

In a paragraph discuss four differences between r-strategists to K-strategists. Give one example of a plant and one animal that exhibits each strategy and explain in a sentence for each what traits inform you that they exhibit that strategy.

In two sentences differentiate between density-dependent and density-independent forces and their impact on population size.

In a paragraph discuss the key differences between the three types of survivorship curves (Type I, Type II and Type III); give one example of an organism that exhibits each pattern and state in a sentence for each what traits inform you that it exhibits that strategy.

State seven ways humans make an impact on the environment through population size and/or the ecological footprint of its citizens.

What are some cities, states, and counties that have reached carrying capacity ? - what made them reach carrying capacity?

. Protein X is a single polypeptide with three functional domains. The first is a globular domain which has a protein binding domain and contains both alpha-helices and beta-sheets. The second domain is a group of seven alpha-helices that contain mostly hydrophobic amino acids. The third domain appears to be an enzymatic domain which transfers a phosphate group from ATP to a hydroxyl group on another protein. Postulate the function of this protein and give reasons that support this prediction.

Describe why shape is critical to the proper functioning of all proteins.