Bio 1020 Introduction to Biology II, Section One Exam, Spring 2012 (Watch for negatives like the word “not.”)
1. The systematic collection and testing of phenomenon in an attempt to rationally explain those observations is:
A. Science
B. Theology
C. Astrology
D. Philosophy
2. A tentative and testable explanation of a natural phenomenon based on previous knowledge is:
A. An experiment
B. A hypothesis
C. A theory
D. Faith
3. Why is a theory different from a hypothesis?
A. Hypotheses have more supportive evidence and are based on more observations than a theory
B. A theory is much broader in scope than a hypothesis, encompassing multiple hypotheses
C. Theories are ‘just’ guesses, and have little validity in the real world
D. Hypotheses are almost always accepted as the ‘truth’
4. Which of the following is not a necessary characteristic of life?
A. Structural organization
B. Homeostasis
C. Movement
D. Evolution
5. Organisms that extract energy and manufacture nutrients from sources that have never been alive are called:
A. Decomposers
B. Heterotrophs
C. Consumers
D. Autotrophs
6. The state of internal constancy within the body and/or cells of living organisms is called:
A. An emergent property
B. Homeostasis
C. Meditation
D. Trophism
7. An inherited trait that enables an organism to survive and reproduce successfully in a given environment is:
A. Natural selection
B. An adaptation
C. Evolution
D. Genetics
8. The enhanced, differential reproductive success of individuals from a population based on inherited traits is:
A. Natural selection
B. An adaptation
C. Evolution
D. Genetics
9. Any change in the frequency of particular alleles within a population over time is:
A. Natural selection
B. An adaptation
C. Evolution
D. Genetics
10. The three domains of life in the modern Woese system of taxonomy are:
A. Monera, Eukarya, and Protista
B. Monera, Plantae, and Animalia
C. Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya
D. Prokarya, Fungi, and Eukarya
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11. A population is:
A. A group of organisms all of the same species, in the same place/time, that can potentially interbreed
B. A group of organisms all of the same species worldwide, regardless of whether they can interbreed
C. Any group of any and all organisms in a particular ecosystem
D. A particular group of organisms, all with the same parent
12. A particular variation of a particular gene (single nucleotide polymorphism – SNP) within a species is called:
A. A null
B. An allele
C. An analogy
D. Natural selection
13. “Lamarckian” evolution, based on Jean-Baptiste Lamarck’s (1744-1829) ideas, suggests that:
A. Organisms inherit “acquired characteristics” that their parents got in response to their environment
B. The geologic history of the earth is constant and gradual, with the same processes throughout
C. Organisms pass on random mutations that happen to be advantageous in their environment
D. All of the organisms we see on the Earth today are exactly the same as they’ve always been
14. Who went around the world on the HMS Beagle and later published On the Origin of Species in 1859?
A. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
B. Charles Darwin
C. Georges Cuvier
D. Charles Lyell
15. Inherited traits that are favorable toward fitness (enhanced reproductive success) in a particular environment:
A. Will tend to be eliminated in all environments
B. Will tend to be eliminated only in that particular environment
C. Will tend to be favorable in all environments
D. Will tend to be favorable only in that particular environment
16. The natural selection mode in which one extreme phenotype is fittest and others are selected against is:
A. Balancing selection (balanced polymorphism)
B. Stabilizing (purifying) negative selection
C. Disruptive (diversifying) positive selection
D. Directional positive selection
17. The natural selection mode in which multiple versions of a gene persist (often by heterozygote advantage. e.g.
sickle cell disease) is:
A. Balancing selection (balanced polymorphism)
B. Stabilizing (purifying) negative selection
C. Disruptive (diversifying) positive selection
D. Directional positive selection
18. Which of the following statements is not true regarding models in science?
A. Models must capture every detail of a process
B. Deviations from a null model help scientists form hypotheses
C. A model is an intentional oversimplification of a complex situation
D. A good model balances fit of the data with simplicity and predictability of the model
19. Which statement is not true about mutation?
A. It is directed such that those mutations necessary for survival will happen
B. It provides the raw material, the variation, for evolution to act upon
C. It is a random phenomenon that can be good, bad, or neutral
D. Bacterial antibiotic resistance is an example
20. A peacock’s huge tail, a male cardinal’s bright red plumage, a bull elk’s massive antlers, are all due to:
A. Convergent evolution
B. Sexual selection
C. Genetic drift
D. Migration
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21. Random changes in allele frequencies merely do to chance within a population is:
A. Convergent evolution
B. Sexual selection
C. Genetic drift
D. Migration
22. Which of the following statements is true regarding the phenomenon of genetic drift?
A. It affects large populations the same as small populations
B. It cannot cause advantageous alleles to be fixed
C. It cannot cause deleterious alleles to be fixed
D. It can cause deleterious alleles to be fixed
23. Kimura’s neutral theory of evolution asserts that:
A. The vast majority of molecular evolutionary change is random drift and does not help nor hurt fitness
B. Noncoding regions of genomes should be highly conserved
C. All mutations are either advantageous or deleterious
D. Substitution and mutation rates cannot be equal
24. Speciation is:
A. The ongoing process through which new species originate from ancestral forms
B. A process that happened only once in the history of the Earth, i.e. Creation
C. A process that previously occurred on the Earth, but is no longer occurring
D. A hypothetical process that has never been observed
25. Which of the following statements is not true regarding the biological species concept?
A. A species is a group of potentially interbreeding organisms that can produce fertile offspring
B. Asexual organisms, hybridization, and lateral gene transfer complicate the definition
C. DNA sequence comparisons help to define species, e.g. the “Bar-Code of Life”
D. A species can always be defined unambiguously
26. The lemur example of different ‘chirp’ calls, or of fireflies with different flash patterns, are both cases of:
A. Prezygotic ecological reproductive isolation
B. Prezygotic behavioral reproductive isolation
C. Prezygotic temporal reproductive isolation
D. Prezygotic gametic reproductive isolation
27. Speciation that has occurred due to the geographic, physical separation of a population is:
A. Allopatric
B. Sympatric
C. Parapatric
D. Polyploidism
28. Which of the following is not an example of adaptive radiation?
A. All of the different Cichlid fishes in Africa’s Lake Victoria
B. The proliferation of mammals after the K-T boundary
C. The spread of Homo sapiens across the Earth
D. All of the different lemurs in Madagascar
29. Antievolutionists complain about “gaps in the fossil record;” which of the following is not true regarding this?
A. Some taxa do not have gaps – transitional forms are well documented; e.g. whales and horses
B. Gaps should be there – fossilization is an extremely rare event, and very hard to find
C. Gaps should be there – geologic events destroy fossils
D. Gaps should be there – there was only one Creation
30. If morphological or molecular structures in different organisms are related by common ancestry, they are:
A. Parsimonious
B. Homologous
C Analogous
D Vestigial
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31. Bird, pterosaur, and bat wing bones are not this; all are ______________ to insect wings due to convergent
evolution.
A. Parsimonious
B. Homologous
C. Analogous
D. Vestigial
32. Evolutionary models in tree estimation techniques attempt to estimate:
A. The hidden evolution that we can no longer observe between living organisms and their ancestors
B. The amount of divergence from Hardy-Weinberg and Wright-Fischer predictions
C. The age of Noah’s Ark and the Great Flood
D. The way ancient life looked and moved
33. A group on an evolutionary tree consisting of a common ancestor and all of its descendants is:
A. Polyphyletic and/or paraphyletic
B. Monophyletic, i.e. a clade
C. An ancestral character
D. A derived character
34. Evolutionary tree-thinking has helped with a lot of things; which of the following has it not helped with?
A. The prediction of upcoming flu strains for vaccine development
B. A criminal case of HIV transmission by a dentist to his patients
C. Tracing the origins of pandemics/epidemics
D. Verification of the Biblical Creation
35. Evolutionary trees have their own special terminology; which of the following statements is not correct?
A. “Branches” represent lineages, i.e. an evolutionary split and divergence from a common ancestor
B. “Nodes” represent hypothetical ancestors of whatever species or gene, etc. is being analyzed
C. Evolutionary “distances” are the number of miles different species live from one another
D. “Outgroups” are used to root evolutionary trees
36. Which of the following statements is not true about the root of an evolutionary tree?
A. An outgroup needs to be within the same evolutionary grouping as the rest of the tree
B. The ancestor of the organism used to root a tree is the ancestor of the entire tree
C. Rooting an evolutionary tree establishes the direction of evolution
D. External knowledge is used to designate the outgroup
37. How many possible bifurcating, unrooted evolutionary trees are possible for four species (or genes, etc.); i.e. how
many different ways can you arrange four things in groups of two?
A. One
B. Two
C. Three
D. Four
38. The evolutionary tree building method based on minimizing change, i.e. the simplest explanation, is:
A. The best guess method
B. Distance based (phenetics)
C. Parsimony based (cladistics)
D. Probability based (maximum likelihood/Bayesian inference)
39. The age of the solar system and formation of the Earth is roughly:
A. 40.6 billion years
B. 4.6 billion years
C. 4.6 million years
D. 4,600 years
40. Which of the following statements is true regarding ‘primordial soup’ prebiotic, origin of life, simulations?
A. Experimental conditions usually require the absence of radiation, methane, ammonia, and water
B. Results have included the production of amino acids and nucleotides
C. Experimental conditions usually require the presence of oxygen
D. Results have included the production of a living cell
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41. Which statement is not true regarding the “RNA World” hypothesis?
A. This was a time in the history of the Earth in which all self-replicating proto-life was RNA based
B. An RNA molecule can be informational, structural, and catalytic, and can replicate
C. RNA molecules are much less chemically stable than DNA molecules
D. It refers to an exhibit in Disneyland
42. The very first cells, sometimes called progenotes, and ‘shortly’ thereafter LUCA, probably arose between:
A. Around 30 to 40 billion years ago
B. Around 3 to 4 billion years ago
C. Around 3 to 4 million years ago
D. Around 3 to 4 thousand years ago
43. The evolution of sunlight based, O2 producing, photosynthesis changed life on the Earth forever by:
A. Creating ozone that allowed more ultraviolet radiation through the atmosphere
B. Increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere
C. Allowing for the evolution of aerobic organisms
D. Decreasing oxygen levels in the atmosphere
44. Which of the following statements is not true regarding the endosymbiotic theory?
A. Some ancient cell engulfed other ancient cells, which became Eukaryotic mitochondria and chloroplasts
B. Chloroplasts have their own DNA very similar to photosynthetic [Cyano]bacterial DNA
C. Mitochondria have their own DNA very similar to aerobic [Proteo]bacterial DNA
D. Bacteria have mitochondria and chloroplasts from an endosymbiotic event
45. The “Cambrian explosion” refers to:
A. The appearance of fossils for all major phyla of animals during the Cambrian
B. The extinction event that killed off all the non-avian dinosaurs
C. The four big extinction events that ended the Cambrian
D. The Hiroshima atom bomb explosion
46. The biggest mass extinction on Earth ended the Permian about 250 million years ago; what were the results?
A. More than 99% of all life on Earth went extinct
B. Lots of empty niches resulted in the adaptive radiation of the mammals
C. Lots of empty niches resulted in the adaptive radiation of the dinosaurs
D. Lots of empty niches allowed for the evolution of the ancestors of both dinosaurs and mammals
47. Which of the following statements is not true regarding the K-T boundary 65 million years ago?
A. It was the huge extinction event that wiped out all non-avian dinosaurs
B. It was caused by an asteroid impact with the Yucatan Peninsula
C. It blanketed the Earth with soot clouds for a few days
D. The soot clouds shut down photosynthesis
48. The closest living relatives to Homo sapiens on the evolutionary tree of life are:
A. Homo neandertalensis
B. Chimpanzees
C. Orangutans
D. Gorillas
49. Which of the following statements is not true regarding what we have learned about human ancestors?
A. Bipedalism distinguishes them all from the rest of the apes
B. Several species coexisted in Africa around 2 million years ago
C. Three species coexisted in Europe as recently as 200,000 years ago
D. DNA evidence supports the idea that all modern Homo sapiens originated in South America
50. The very early (~4.4 million years ago) pre-Homo fossil Ardipithecus ramidus is particularly notable because:
A. It has the unique combination of a grasping big toe on its foot, along with bipedalism
B. Males had enormous, self-sharpening canine teeth
C. It had a brain as large as Homo
D. It lived on the savannah
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