The greatest challenge facing the zoned reserve systems of Costa Rica is
A) high predation by jaguars.
B) forest fires.
C) soil erosion.
D) the growing human population.
Antigens can be
A) proteins.
B) large polysaccharides that protrude from virus surfaces or foreign cells.
C) blood or tissue cells from organisms of the same or different species.
D) all of the above.
In stimulus detection, sensory receptor cells convert a stimulus
A) into a neurotransmitter.
B) into an enzyme.
C) into an electric signal.
D) into an astigmatism.
You are a member of an African family that has been displaced from their home by civil
war, so you are trying to select a new country in which to settle to gain better economic
opportunities. You know that Nigeria is a large country with rich natural resources, so
you are considering it for your new home. Among the data you find while researching
Nigeria is the following diagram of the current age structure of the country.
Which of the following statements about the age structure of Nigeria is false?
A) The population of males and females ages 0 to 4 is approximately the same.
B) The population of males ages 15 to 19 is smaller than the population of females ages
5 to 9.
C) There are approximately 28 million males in Nigeria ages 0 to 14.
D) The population of females ages 40 to 44 is smaller than the population of males ages
65 to 69.
Which group of animals is the most diverse?
A) Sponges
B) Deuterostomes
C) Bilaterians
D) Eumetazoans
Bioventing is a scientific technology that uses microorganisms to break down
components of fuels in groundwater. Bioventing is an example of
A) a microbial community.
B) bioremediation.
C) biofilm-forming bacteria.
D) a radiolarian community.
Tay-Sachs disease
A) causes an accumulation of lipids in brain cells.
B) involves damage to liver cells.
C) is due to the absence of an enzyme that digests polysaccharides.
D) prevents the breakdown of glycogen.
Which of the following statements regarding animal digestive systems is false?
A) We expect that an herbivore will have a longer alimentary canal than a carnivore of
similar body size.
B) Meat is more difficult to digest than vegetable matter because of its protein content.
C) Many herbivorous animals have cellulose-digesting microbes in their colon and
cecum.
D) When cows chew their cud, it helps to soften and break down plant fibers, making
these more accessible to digestion by microbes.
If valuable solutes were not adequately reabsorbed from filtrate, what would occur?
A) The excretion process could not be completed.
B) The solutes would be excreted.
C) The filtration process could not be completed.
D) The solutes would be reabsorbed.
The reason animals need a continuous supply of oxygen is to
A) make carbon dioxide.
B) dispose of carbon dioxide.
C) carry out glycolysis.
D) obtain energy from their food.
An alimentary canal is best defined as
A) the compartment in which an animal temporarily stores its food.
B) a digestive cavity in which food is churned and mixed.
C) a tube-shaped compartment for the transport, digestion, and absorption of food.
D) an organ designed for regulation of food passage.
A gardener planted large, healthy flower bulbs in her garden. When spring arrived,
green shoots emerged from the bulbs, and some of them, but not all, produced flowers.
She decided to dig up a few bulbs that flowered and a few that didn’t to see if she could
see what the difference was. She was stunned to find that none of the bulbs looked
healthy; they all appeared much smaller. What had happened?
A) The bulbs were a sugar source; sugars from them traveled up the phloem to the
aboveground sugar sink.
B) The bulbs gave off water as they produced shoots; their smaller size was due to
dehydration.
C) All of the molecules in the bulb were transferred to the aboveground shoots.
D) The bulbs were a sugar sink, so water flowed into them and out the roots, washing
material from the bulb into the soil.
Consider the following situations: (1) a magnesium atom and two chlorine atoms join
together to form a molecule of magnesium chloride; (2) water molecules interact with
each other in a beaker; and (3) two carbon atom and six hydrogen atoms join together to
form ethane. Rank the strength of the bonding interactions taking place in each
situation, from the weakest bonds to the strongest bonds.
A) 1 < 2 < 3
B) 3 < 2 < 1
C) 2 < 3 < 1
D) 2 < 1 < 3
The main causes of the loss of plant biodiversity include
A) plant diseases and clear-cutting of forests to create farmland.
B) herbivory, logging, and air pollution.
C) clear-cutting of forests to create farmland and logging.
D) plant diseases and herbivory.
The electrons lost from the reaction center of photosystem II are replaced by electrons
from
A) CO2.
B) ATP.
C) H2O.
D) photosystem I.
The largest blood vessel in the human body is the
A) superior vena cava.
B) pulmonary vein.
C) aorta.
D) pulmonary artery.
Mate-attracting features such as the bright plumage of a male peacock result from
A) intersexual selection.
B) intrasexual selection.
C) disruptive selection.
D) stabilizing selection.
Which of the following would be the best way to determine if aphids must actively
draw phloem sap into their digestive tract or if hydrostatic pressure in the phloem tube
could force the sap into them?
A) Cut a phloem tube off an aphid and see if it can still feed.
B) Cut a phloem tube from a plant and see if an aphid can still take up sap from it.
C) Measure relative rates of sugar manufacture in leaves with and without aphids.
D) Insert mouth parts removed from an aphid, without including the digestive tract, into
phloem sap and see if sap keeps flowing through them.
What type of cell helps to stimulate B cells to produce antibodies?
A) plasma cell
B) cytotoxic T cell
C) helper T cell
D) macrophage
Which of the following would a biologist describe as microevolution?
A) the formation of new species
B) the extinction of species
C) dramatic biological changes, such as the origin of flight, within a taxon
D) a change in the gene pool of a population from one generation to the next
Which of the following statements about the energy yield of aerobic respiration is false?
A) Glycolysis resulting from 1 glucose molecule yields 2 ATP molecules.
B) The oxidation of pyruvate results in the production of 0 ATP molecules
C) Oxidative phosphorylation resulting from 1 glucose molecule yields 12 ATP
molecules.
D) The citric acid cycle resulting from 1 glucose molecules yields 2 ATP molecules.
The core theme of biology, which explains both the unity and diversity of life, is
A) genetics.
B) ecology.
C) evolution.
D) metabolism.
Why don’t the countries that most need high-protein crops grow them?
A) High-protein crops usually require fertilizers, which may not be affordable to these
countries.
B) High-protein crops require extensive irrigation, which may not be affordable to these
countries.
C) High-protein crops are more difficult to process, making the foods they produce too
expensive.
D) High-protein crops are typically low in most other vital nutrients.
Protists include
A) a single clade of eukaryotes that are distantly related to animals.
B) two clades of eukaryotes: One that is related to animals and fungi, and another that is
related to plants.
C) two clades of eukaryotes: algae and protozoans.
D) multiple clades of eukaryotes with some lineages more closely related to plants,
animals, or fungi than they are to other protists.
In a showy flower such as a magnolia or rose, the flower parts that play the main role in
attracting the notice of animal pollinators are the
A) petals.
B) sepals.
C) fruits.
D) stigmas.
In a process called phytoremediation, specific plants are planted in areas where toxic
chemicals have contaminated groundwater. The roots absorb the contaminants to help
eliminate the tainted water, which is often drinking water. This is an example of
A) an endotoxin.
B) a microbial community.
C) bioremediation.
D) a biofilm.
Which butterfly has changed gradually but significantly from its ancestor through
microevolutionary events that were not part of a speciation event?
A) butterfly A
B) butterfly B
C) butterfly C
D) butterfly D
Which of the following choices lists the organs of the bird digestive system in the
correct order, from first to last contact with food material?
A) esophagus, stomach, gizzard, crop, intestine, anus
B) esophagus, gizzard, crop, stomach, intestine, anus
C) esophagus, crop, stomach, gizzard, intestine, anus
D) esophagus, crop, gizzard, stomach, intestine, anus
Some white blood cells are able to surround and ingest bacteria. Which of the following
would you expect to see as part of the blood cell structure?
A) secondary cell walls
B) flagella
C) pseudopodia
D) cilia
Which of the following takes place during translation?
A) the conversion of genetic information from the language of nucleic acids to the
language of proteins
B) the conversion of genetic information from DNA nucleotides into RNA nucleotides
C) the conversion of genetic information from the language of proteins to the language
of enzymes
D) DNA replication
________ are soil-dwellers; ________ are mostly marine; and ________ mostly inhabit
fresh water.
A) Earthworms; leeches; annelids
B) Earthworms; leeches; polychaetes
C) Earthworms; polychaetes; leeches
D) Polychaetes; earthworms; leeches
In a population of plants with a diploid number of 12, a new individual appeared with a
chromosome number of 24. If this organism could self-fertilize, forming offspring with
the same number of chromosomes (24), scientists would consider this an example of
A) sympatric speciation.
B) behavioral isolation.
C) formation of a hybrid zone.
D) reduced hybrid fertility.
In terms of population dynamics, what is “boom-and-bust” cycling?
A) a situation in which a population moves back and forth between rapid growth and
decline
B) a situation in which a growing population overshoots the carrying capacity of its
environment and experiences a crash before stabilizing
C) a situation in which the sex ratio in a population shows repeated oscillations
D) a situation in which the populations of a predator species and a prey species oscillate
in unison
A stonefly is an aquatic insect that has an incomplete life cycle. It spends its growing
period (nymph life stage) on the bottom of streams, camouflaged by the rocky bottom.
When it has finished growing, it crawls to the edges of streambeds to molt and emerges
as a winged adult. Fish often eat the juvenile nymphs as they make their way to the
edge of the streambeds.
Suppose that scientists who study predator-prey relationships notice that over a 50-year
span, new color patterns evolve in the stonefly nymphs such that they are better able to
blend into the colors of a streambed. What would be a logical and reasonable question
that the scientists could investigate in relation to their observations and their knowledge
of predator-prey relationships?
A) As the color pattern changes in nymphs developed, was there also a change in the
color of the sand of the streambeds on which the nymphs molted?
B) As the color pattern changes in nymphs developed, was there an increase in the fish
population size?
C) As the color pattern changes in nymphs developed, was there a decrease in the
phosphorus concentration in the stream water?
D) As the color pattern changes in nymphs developed, did the fish eat a greater number
of nymphs?
The effect of a sending neuron on a receiving neuron is typically greater when
________ neurotransmitters bind to the receiving neuron and the synapse is ________
the base of the receiving cell’s axon.
A) more; close to
B) fewer; close to
C) more; far from
D) fewer; far from