Grade by Grade
E. Animals: Structure and Function · Animals: Structure and Function

Animals: Structure and Function: Unit Review

A1.1 A1.2 A1.3 A1.4 A1.5 A1.6 A1.8 A1.9 A1.10 A1.11 A1.12 A1.13 A2.1 A2.2 E1.1 E1.2 E2.1 E2.2 E2.3 E3.1 E3.2 E3.3 E3.4About 40 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can explain how the digestive, respiratory and circulatory systems work and how they connect.
  • I can use the unit's vocabulary and do its calculations (SA:V, lung volumes, partial pressure, cardiac output, blood pressure).
  • I can describe disorders of these systems and how technology helps diagnose and treat them.
  • I can design, analyse and evaluate investigations of the body's responses.

Words to know

diffusion gradient
A difference in concentration (or partial pressure) that drives diffusion.
hydrolysis
Splitting a molecule by adding water; the reaction of chemical digestion.
enzyme
A protein catalyst with an active site; affected by temperature and pH.
ventilation
Moving air into and out of the lungs by changing chest volume and pressure.
hemoglobin
The iron-containing protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen.
systolic / diastolic
Highest / lowest arterial pressure in the cardiac cycle.
cardiac output
Heart rate × stroke volume.
atherosclerosis
Plaque build-up inside artery walls.

Let's review!

In this unit you studied how animals, especially humans, get what their cells need. You began with exchange surfaces and diffusion, then followed food through the digestive system (nutrients, enzymes, the tract, absorption and control). You learned the physics of breathing and the chemistry of gas transport, then the heart, blood vessels and blood pressure, and blood. You measured your own responses to exercise, explored dissection and comparative anatomy, studied disorders, and assessed technologies and society's needs.

This review has a few questions from every lesson. Try each one, then press Show answer to check.

How to use this review

Do one or two sections at a time. For each answer, try to use the unit vocabulary (diffusion gradient, systolic, diastolic, coronary, peristalsis, hemoglobin...). Write units on every calculation (mm Hg, mL, L/min, beats/min). Draw a quick sketch for path-tracing questions. For each question you get wrong, write down why (forgot a term? mixed up two structures? calculation slip?) and go back to that lesson's worked examples. Finish with the 10-question quiz.

Digestivemouth → stomach → smallintestine → large intestineenzymes hydrolyze foodvilli absorb monomersliver, pancreas, gallbladdergastrin, secretin, CCKRespiratorytrachea → bronchi →bronchioles → alveoliBoyle's law: ventilationdiffusion down PO₂ gradienthemoglobin carries O₂CO₂ mostly as HCO₃⁻Circulatory4 chambers, 4 valvesSA node → AV node → Purkinjesystole / diastolearteries, capillaries, veinsBP e.g. 120/80 mm Hgplasma, RBC, WBC, plateletsAll three supply cellular respiration: C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂ → 6CO₂ + 6H₂O + energy (ATP)
The three systems of this unit at a glance. Each one serves the same goal: delivering glucose and oxygen to cells and removing carbon dioxide.

Exchange Surfaces: Why Animals Need Respiratory, Digestive and Circulatory Systems

1

A cube-shaped cell has sides of 20 µm. Find its SA:V (in µm⁻¹). If the side doubles, what happens to SA:V?

2

State three factors that affect the rate of diffusion across a surface.

3

Explain how breathing and blood flow keep the diffusion gradient steep in the lungs.

The Molecules of Food: Carbohydrates, Lipids, Proteins and More

1

Name the monomers of starch, proteins and triglycerides.

2

Is digestion dehydration synthesis or hydrolysis? Explain.

3

A food turns iodine blue-black and Biuret violet. What does it contain?

Enzymes: How Chemical Digestion Works

1

Explain why pepsin stops working in the small intestine.

2

What is the induced-fit model?

3

In an experiment testing the effect of temperature on amylase, name the independent, dependent and one controlled variable.

The Digestive Tract: Mouth, Stomach and Small Intestine

1

What do parietal cells and chief cells secrete?

2

Explain the role of bile.

3

Name, in order, the sections of the small intestine and the main secretion entering the first one.

Absorption, the Liver, the Large Intestine and the Control of Digestion

1

Where do fats go after absorption, and why don't they enter capillaries first?

2

Which hormone makes the pancreas release bicarbonate, and what triggers it?

3

Give two functions of gut bacteria.

Breathing Mechanics: Pressure, Volume and Lung Capacity

1

Explain inhalation using Boyle's law.

2

TV = 500 mL, IRV = 2900 mL, ERV = 1100 mL. Find vital capacity.

3

Find alveolar ventilation for TV = 450 mL, dead space = 150 mL, 16 breaths/min.

Gas Exchange and Transport: From the Atmosphere to the Cell

1

Find PO₂ in air at 740 mm Hg (21% O₂).

2

How is most CO₂ carried in the blood?

3

Why does hemoglobin unload more O₂ in working muscle?

starch inbreadamylase,maltaseglucose absorbedin a villushepatic portalvein → liverO₂ in air(PO₂ ≈ 160)alveolus(PO₂ ≈ 104)bindshemoglobinleft heart→ aortacapillary→ muscle cellmitochondrion
Two journeys that meet in a muscle cell: glucose from bread (top) and oxygen from the air (bottom) both travel in the blood (glucose passes through the heart too) to the capillaries, and are used in the mitochondria.

The Heart: Structure, the Cardiac Cycle and Its Electrical System

1

Trace blood from the left atrium to the aorta, naming the valves.

2

On an ECG at 25 mm/s, R–R = 3 large squares. Find the heart rate.

3

What causes "lub" and "dub"?

4

Find cardiac output for HR = 65 and SV = 80 mL.

Just for fun

Over this unit, your heart has probably beaten a few million times, you've taken hundreds of thousands of breaths, and your stomach lining has replaced itself many times. Your body did all that while you studied it. Show-off.

Blood Vessels, Blood Pressure and Capillary Exchange

1

A reading is 126/84 mm Hg. Which is systolic? Find the pulse pressure.

2

Explain why fluid leaves at the arterial end of a capillary and returns at the venous end.

3

Name three things that help return blood through veins.

Blood: Components, Clotting and Blood Types

1

Give the function of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.

2

Put in order: fibrinogen → fibrin, prothrombin → thrombin, platelet plug.

3

Can a type A+ person safely receive O− red cells? AB+ red cells?

Investigation: How Exercise Changes Heart Rate, Breathing and Blood Pressure

1

Heart rate rises from 72 to 126 beats/min. Find the percentage increase.

2

Why should breathing rate be counted without the subject knowing?

3

Explain the change in breathing during exercise as negative feedback.

Dissection and Comparative Anatomy: How the Three Systems Connect

1

What three vessels are in the umbilical cord, and which carries oxygen-rich blood?

2

What do the foramen ovale and ductus arteriosus do?

3

Why is countercurrent exchange in gills efficient?

Disorders of the Respiratory System: Asthma, COPD, Pneumonia and More

1

FEV₁ = 1.8 L, FVC = 3.6 L. Interpret.

2

How does emphysema reduce gas exchange?

3

What is radon, and why test for it?

Disorders of the Digestive and Circulatory Systems

1

Name the two main causes of peptic ulcers.

2

Distinguish a heart attack from cardiac arrest.

3

Explain how constipation develops.

4

What is atherosclerosis?

Technologies for Seeing and Treating Internal Systems

1

Name a technology that both diagnoses and treats a digestive problem.

2

Distinguish angiography from angioplasty.

3

Name two Canadian contributions from this unit.

Society's Needs and Health Technology: Food, Fitness and Organ Transplants

1

Give one societal need and one technology or policy that responds to it.

2

State the Food Guide plate proportions.

3

Why are immunosuppressants both a solution and a new problem?

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

Which change would slow diffusion across the alveolar wall?

2.

Which enzyme hydrolyzes proteins in the stomach?

3.

Bile helps fat digestion by:

4.

Glucose and amino acids travel from the intestine first to the:

5.

During inhalation, pressure inside the lungs:

6.

Most CO₂ is transported in the blood as:

7.

The heart's natural pacemaker is the:

8.

In the reading 118/76 mm Hg, 76 is the:

9.

Which disorder involves the breakdown of alveolar walls?

10.

Which procedure opens a narrowed coronary artery?

For parents and teachers

Use the review to find what to revisit:

  • Diffusion, SA:V calculations, or how the three systems connect → Lesson 1 (Exchange Surfaces).
  • Nutrient building blocks, hydrolysis, food tests → Lesson 2 (The Molecules of Food).
  • Enzyme action, temperature/pH graphs, experimental variables → Lesson 3 (Enzymes).
  • Organs, stomach cells, bile and pancreatic juice → Lesson 4 (The Digestive Tract).
  • Villi, lacteals, the liver, the large intestine, digestive hormones → Lesson 5 (Absorption and Control).
  • Boyle's law, lung volumes, minute and alveolar ventilation → Lesson 6 (Breathing Mechanics).
  • Partial pressures, hemoglobin, CO₂ transport, control of breathing → Lesson 7 (Gas Exchange and Transport).
  • Valves, the cardiac cycle, ECGs, cardiac output → Lesson 8 (The Heart).
  • Vessel structure, measuring blood pressure, capillary exchange → Lesson 9 (Blood Vessels and Blood Pressure).
  • Blood components, clotting, blood types → Lesson 10 (Blood).
  • Pulse and breathing measurement, variables, percentage change, error → Lesson 11 (Investigation).
  • Dissection terms, fetal circulation, comparing animals → Lesson 12 (Dissection and Comparative Anatomy).
  • Asthma, COPD, spirometry, pneumonia, lung cancer, CF → Lesson 13 (Respiratory Disorders).
  • Ulcers, IBD, celiac, constipation, atherosclerosis, heart attack vs cardiac arrest → Lesson 14 (Digestive and Circulatory Disorders).
  • Endoscopy, cardiac technologies, Canadian contributions, careers → Lesson 15 (Technologies).
  • Food guide, labels, movement guidelines, transplants, evaluating claims → Lesson 16 (Society's Needs).

The Grade 11 Biology units Genetic Processes (for cystic fibrosis and hemophilia inheritance) and Plants: Anatomy, Growth and Function (for transport in plants) connect closely to this one. In Grade 12, these ideas continue in SBI4U (Biology), especially in the metabolic processes and homeostasis units.