SUFFOLK COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Prof. L. Sabatino BY52 Sample Exam #1
Multiple Choice Questions (2 pts each)
Select the best choice of those given and record your answers on the answer sheet.
1. Cladogenesis is best described as the method to provide speciation by:
a) reducing diversity b) branching c) sympatric methods d) not branching
2. The reproductive barrier that maintains the species boundary between horses and
donkeys, although mules are produced in a cross between species is:
a) mechanical isolation
b) gametic (sperm & egg) incompatibility
c) hybrid sterility
d) prezygotic barriers
3. Allopatric speciation occurs when:
a) a new species appears in the midst of old ones
b) asexual reproduction occurs
c) there is geographic isolation
d) gene flow between large populations is increased
4. Autopolyploidy is:
a) an example of sympatric speciation that is important in the evolution of plants
b) a failure in meiosis resulting in decreased sets of chromosomes
c) a form of allopatric speciation due to adaptive radiation
d) an example of two species contributing chromosomes to a new species
5.Which of the following terms best describes the process in which animals reach sexual
maturity while retaining some juvenile characteristics such as in the example of Chordate
evolution?
a) cladogenesis
b) allometric growth c) polyploidy
d) paedomorphosis
6. Which of the following is a true statement concerning a population?
a) Two or more species comprise a population.
b) A population consists of one species in a region.
c) The population will always have a uniform dispersal
d) Members of the population will have no reproductive interaction
7. Which of the following describe a Type I survivorship curve, as an example the
survivorship in Oysters?
a) many offspring survive to adulthood
b) many offspring are produced but few survive to adulthood
c) half of the offspring survive to adulthood
d) all of the above
8. A logistic (S) curve of population growth indicates that the population growth has:
a) no upper limit
b) slowed due to reaching the carrying capacity
c) a birth rate that exceeds death rate at its upper limit
d) all of the above
9. Which of the following is an example of a strategy to avoid predation?
a) a plant produces a chemical that is toxic when ingested
b) rabbit flees the lynx
c) camouflage – insect looks like a stick
d) all of the above
10. Predation and parasitism can best be described as:
a) +/+ benefit for both species
b) +/0 benefit for one species but not detrimental for the other
c) +/- benefit for one and detrimental for the other species
d) -/- negative effects on both species
11. The length of a food chain is controlled by the:
a) number of predators
b) loss of energy as it is passed from one trophic level to the next higher tropic level
c) lack of mutualism in an environment
12. Within an ecosystem, a tree is a:
a) secondary consumer b) primary consumer c) producer
d) abiotic factor
13. In the Bottom-up model, the relationship of vegetation and herbivores is correctly
describes as:
a) an increase in nutrients results in an increase in vegetation
b)an increase in predation of heribores increases vegetation
c)a decrease in predation of heribores decreases vegetation
d) a decrease in nutrients results in an increase in vegetation and herbivores
14. The correct sequence from the most to the least comprehensive of the taxonomic
levels listed here is:
a) family, phylum, class, kingdom, order, species and genus
b) kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species
c) kingdom, phylum, order, class, species, family, and genus
d) phylum, family, kingdom, class, order, genus and species
15. Absolute dating of a fossil involves:
a) comparison with the fossil layers above and below
b) the half-life of isotopes
c) determining its biological species
d) extracting DNA
16.An example of the effect of Continental Drift on evolution is:
a) The formation of Pangaea and mass extinctions
b) Increased competition between species that had previously been separated
c) Elimination of environments d) Isolation of species – Australia
e) All of the above
17. The relationship between the human hand and lobster claw is best describe as:
a) analogous b) homologous
c) vestigial
d) nonadaptive
18. A taxon ( kingdom) all of whose members have the same common ancestor is said to
be: a) polyphyletic b) monophyletic
c) paraphyletic
d) anaphyletic
19. Which of the following best describes the principle of parsimony in the construction
of a phylogenetic tree?
a) The tree with the greatest number of evolutionary changes
b) The tree with the fewest number of evolutionary changes
c) The tree with the fewest shared derived characteristics
d) The tree with the greatest number of analogous changes
20. Prokaryotics:
a) Are found in two domains (Bacteria and Archaea)
b) Are larger than eukaryotic cells and evolved after eukaryotes
c) Have cell walls that are biochemically identical to plants
d) Have membrane-bound nucleus
21. Prokaryotic cells depend upon ________ for genetic variation.
a) meiosis
b) mitosis
c) mutation d) endospores
22. Photoautotrophs:
a) use light as energy source and organic nutrients as carbon source
b) use chemicals as energy source and organic nutrients as carbon source
c) use light as energy source and CO2 as carbon source
d) use chemicals as energy source and CO2 as carbon source
23. Protists are:
a) eukaryotic cells that are not classified as Fungi, Plants or Animals
b) prokaryotic cells in the Domain Archaea
c) eukaryotic cells with flagella that are structurally similar to bacteria
d) nonparasitic, multicellular, prokaryotic organisms
24. Which of the following is true for Protists?
a) Reproduce by meiosis and mitosis
b) Membrane bound nucleus and organelles
c) Phototaxis and chemotaxis
d) All of the above
25. Which of the following is evidence for the endosymbiosis hypothesis for the origin of
mitchondria?
a) mitochondrial DNA is similar in structure to prokaryotic DNA
b) mitochondria are similar in size to prokaryotes
c) Mitochondrial ribosomes are similar to prokaryotic ribosomes
d) All of the above
26. Biologists suspect that endosymbiosis gave rise to mitochondria before cholorplasts
(plastids) because:
a) no Protists have choloroplasts
b) photosynthesis evolved many times in different taxa
c) almost all eukaryotic cells have mitochondria, while only autotrophic eukaryotes
have plastids
d) only animals have mitochondria
27. Bacteria are propelled by:
a) pili b) cell walls c) capsule
d) flagella
e) cell membrane
28. Fungi are:
a) eukaryotic, heterotrophs with cell walls
b) prokaryotic, autotrophs with peptidoglycan cell walls
c) eukaryotic, autotrophs without cell walls
d) unicellular, prokaryotic heterotrophs
29. The primary role of the mushroom’s underground mycelium is:
a) releasing exoenzymes and absorbing nutrients
b) anchoring the plant
c) sexual reproduction
30. Linear chromosomes with histones in a membrane bound nucleus is found in:
a) eukaryotic cells
d) prokaryotic cells
e) bacterial cells
f) all cells (prokaryotic and eukaryotic)
31. Which of the following is correctly matched?
a) fungi cell walls – chitin
b) plant cell walls – cellulose
c) bacterial cell walls – peptidoglycan
d) all of the above
32. Land plants are:
a) multicellular, eukaryotes with cellulose cell walls
b) photosynthetic autotrophs with cholorphyll a & b
c) cells with rosette cellulose synthesizing complexes in the plasma membrane
d) embryophytes with alternation of generations
e) all of the above
33. Which of the following is not a vascular plant?
a) ferns (Pteridophytes)
b) Mosses (Byophytes)
c) pines (Gymnosperms)
d) flowering plants (Angiosperms)
34. The gametophyte of a land plant is:
a) multicellular and haploid
c) the structure that produces the gametes
b) the structure that undergoes meiosis
d) diploid in gymnosperms
35. Apical meristem formation is:
a) found in fungi for absorptive nutrition
b) important in formation of roots and shoots in land plants
c) a developmental stage in animals controlled by hox genes
36. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic found in animals?
a) multicellular, heterotroph which ingests food
b) organisms with nervous and muscular tissue
c) prokaryotic organisms with cell walls
d) reproduce sexually and embryonic development is controlled by hox genes
37. Organisms such as Jellyfish have only two germ layers, which are:
a) endoderm lining the digestive cavity and the mesoderm forming muscles
b) ectoderm covering the organism and endoderm lining the digestive cavity
c) mesoderm forming the coelom and ectoderm giving bilateral symmetry
38. Echinoderms and Chordates (Deuterostomia) differ from Molluscs, Annelids and
Arthropods (Protostomia) because of a change in:
a) coelom formation
b) mouth formation in the embryo
c) tissues formation
d) symmetry
39. In chordates the dorsal hollow nerve cord becomes the:
a) notochord for support
b) gills and gas exchange structures
c) brain and spinal cord (CNS)
d) jaws of Gnathostomes
40. Which of the following statements about the development of Amniotes (shelled egg
with amnion) is true?
a) The evolutionary event is a shared primitive characteristic in Amphibians and
Reptiles
b) It is homologous to reptiles, bird, and mammals
c) It is not necessary for terrestrial development in animals.
d) It is a derived characteristic only occurring in mammals.
Essays (10 pts each):
1. Evolution is dependent upon speciation.
a) Define a species in biological terms.
b) Identify two prezygotic and two postzygotic isolating mechanisms that
would maintain the species.
c) Contrast allopatric and sympatric speciation and give an example of each.
2. Survival of a species depends upon its environment.
a) Explain how limited resources affect a population by describing the effect
of carrying capacity on the intrinsic rate of growth. Be sure to include J &
S curves in your discussion.
b) Explain how interspecific competition can affect community structure by
describing the Competitive Exclusion Principle.
c) Describe what might happen to the Food Chain if there is a decrease in the
nutrients available to plants.