Contact of a sea urchin egg with signal molecules on sperm causes the egg to undergo a
brief _____.
A) mitosis
B) membrane depolarization
C) vitellogenesis
D) acrosomal reaction
The thin horizontal arrows in the figure above show that the _____.
A) warmer arterial blood can bypass the legs as needed, when the legs are too cold to
function well
B) warmer venous blood transfers heat to the cooler arterial blood
C) warmer arterial blood transfers heat to the cooler venous blood
D) arterial blood is always cooler in the abdomen, compared to the temperature of the
venous blood in the feet of the goose
Cephalization, the clustering of neurons and interneurons in the anterior part of the
animal, is apparent in _____.
A) cnidarians
B) Planaria
C) sea stars
D) invertebrate animals with radial symmetry
If one strand of a DNA molecule has the sequence of bases 5’ATTGCA3′, the other
complementary strand would have the sequence _____.
A) 5’TAACGT3′
B) 5’TGCAAT3′
C) 3’UAACGU5′
D) 5’UGCAAU3′
Use the following information to answer the question(s) below.
Paulinella chromatophora is one of the few cercozoans that is autotrophic, carrying out
aerobic photosynthesis with its two elongated “chromatophores.” The chromatophores
are contained within vesicles of the host cell, and each is derived from a
cyanobacterium, though not the same type of cyanobacterium that gave rise to the
chloroplasts of algae and plants.
Which process could have allowed the nucleomorphs of chlorarachniophytes to be
reduced, without the net loss of any genetic information?
A) conjugation
B) horizontal gene transfer
C) phagocytosis
D) meiosis
Use the accompanying figure and the molecules labeled A, B, C, D, and E to
answer the following questions.
Refer to the figure. To identify the molecule that accepts CO2, Calvin and Benson
manipulated the carbon-fixation cycle by either cutting off CO2 or cutting off light from
cultures of photosynthetic algae. They then measured the concentrations of various
metabolites immediately following the manipulation. How would these experiments
help identify the CO2 acceptor?
A) The CO2 acceptor concentration would decrease when either the CO2 or light are cut
off.
B) The CO2 acceptor concentration would increase when either the CO2 or light are cut
off.
C) The CO2 acceptor concentration would increase when the CO2 is cut off, but
decrease when the light is cut off.
D) The CO2 acceptor concentration would decrease when the CO2 is cut off, but
increase when the light is cut off.
Use the following information to answer the question(s) below.
Rose-picker’s disease is caused by the yeast Sporothrix schenkii (S. schenkii). The yeast
grows on the exteriors of rose-bush thorns. If a human gets pricked by such a thorn, the
yeasts can be introduced under the skin. The yeasts then assume a hyphal morphology
and grow along the interiors of lymphatic vessels until they reach a lymph node. This
often results in the accumulation of pus in the lymph node, which subsequently
ulcerates through the skin surface and then drains.
The answer to which of these questions would be of most assistance to one who is
attempting to assign the genus Sporothrix to the correct fungal phylum?
A) Do these yeasts perform fermentation while growing on the rose-bush thorns, or do
they wait until inside a human host?
B) Does S. schenkii rely on animal infection to complete some part of its life cycle, or is
the infection merely opportunistic?
C) Are the hyphae in lymphatic vessels septate, or are they coenocytic?
D) Is S. schenkii best described as a decomposer, parasite, pathogen, or mutualist of
humans?
From earliest to latest, the overall sequence of early development proceeds in which of
the following sequences?
A) first cell division → synthesis of embryo’s DNA begins → acrosomal reaction →
cortical reaction
B) cortical reaction → synthesis of embryo’s DNA begins → acrosomal reaction → first
cell division
C) cortical reaction → acrosomal reaction → first cell division → synthesis of embryo’s
DNA begins
D) acrosomal reaction → cortical reaction → synthesis of embryo’s DNA begins → first
cell division
Nitrogen (N) normally forms three covalent bonds with a valence of 5. However,
ammonium has four covalent bonds, each to a different hydrogen (H) atom (H has a
valence of 1). What do you predict to be the charge on ammonium?
A) +1
B) -1
C) +2
D) -2
The following questions refer to the figure below.
In this eight-year experiment, twelve populations of E. coli, each begun from a single
cell, were grown in low-glucose conditions for 20,000 generations. Each culture was
introduced to fresh growth medium every twenty-four hours. Occasionally, samples
were removed from the populations, and their fitness in low-glucose conditions was
tested against that of members sampled from the ancestral (common ancestor) E. coli
population.
Which term best describes what has occurred among the experimental populations of
cells over this eight-year period?
A) microevolution
B) speciation
C) adaptive radiation
D) stabilizing selection
In the figure above, which community has the highest species diversity?
A) Community 1
B) Community 2
C) Community 1 and community 3 have the highest species diversity.
D) Community 4
Choose a pair that correctly associates the mechanism for osmoregulation or nitrogen
removal with the appropriate animal.
A) metanephridium flatworm
B) Malpighian tubule frog
C) flame bulb snake
D) exchange across the body surface marine invertebrate
The crucian carp (Carassius carassius) is a Northern European freshwater fish often
inhabiting ponds that become hypoxic (have reduced oxygen levels) and even anoxic
(have no oxygen) when the surface freezes during the winter. Surprisingly, when
oxygen levels are normal, these fish lack the lamellae that provide a large surface area
for gas exchange between water and blood: their gills are smooth. Yet when the level of
oxygen in the water falls, the gill morphology undergoes a change: packing cells stop
dividing and programmed cell death is induced, exposing gill lamellae that were buried
in other tissue. With lamellae exposed, the gills have increased surface area for gas
exchange. These changes in gill lamellar profile are reversible: investigators observed
that the gills return to their normal structure within seven days after returning the fish to
well-oxygenated water. (Jrund Sollid, Paula De Angelis, Kristian Gundersen, and Gran
E. Nilsson. 2003. Hypoxia induces adaptive and reversible gross morphological
changes in crucian carp gills. Journal of Experimental Biology 206:3667-73.)
Once labor begins in childbirth, contractions increase in intensity and frequency,
causing more contractions to occur until delivery. The increasing labor contractions of
childbirth are an example of which type of regulation?
A) positive feedback
B) negative feedback
C) feedback inhibition
D) enzymatic catalysis
After drinking alcoholic beverages, increased urine excretion is the result of _____.
A) increased aldosterone production
B) increased blood pressure
C) inhibited secretion of antidiuretic hormone (ADH)
D) increased reabsorption of water in the proximal tubule
The term homoplasy is most applicable to which of the following features?
A) the legless condition found in various lineages of extant lizards
B) the five-digit condition of human hands and bat wings
C) the fur that covers Australian moles and North American moles
D) the bones of bat forelimbs and the bones of bird forelimbs
Which of the following statements best describes the interaction between fire and
ecosystems?
A) The likelihood of a wildfire occurring in a given ecosystem is highly predictable
over the short term.
B) Many kinds of plants and plant communities have adapted to frequent fires.
C) The suppression of forest fires by man has prevented certain communities, such as
grasslands, from reaching their climax stage.
D) Chaparral communities have evolved to the extent that they rarely burn.
Cells are _____.
A) only found in pairs, because single cells cannot exist independently
B) limited in size to 200 and 500 micrometers in diameter
C) characteristic of eukaryotic but not prokaryotic organisms
D) characteristic of prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms
In certain plants, tall is dominant to short. If a heterozygous plant is crossed with a
homozygous tall plant, what is the probability that the offspring will be short?
A) 1
B) 1/2
C) 1/4
D) 0
Arrange the following in order from largest to smallest.
1. ascospore
2. ascocarp
3. ascomycete
4. ascus
A) 3 → 2 → 4 → 1
B) 3 → 4 → 1 → 2
C) 2 → 3 → 4 → 1
D) 2 → 4 → 1 → 3
A plant has the following characteristics: a taproot system, several growth rings evident
in a cross section of the stem, and a layer of bark around the outside. Which of the
following best describes the plant?
A) herbaceous eudicot
B) woody eudicot
C) woody monocot
D) herbaceous monocot
The following questions are based on the reaction A+ B ↔C+ D shown in the
accompanying figure.
Which of the following terms best describes the forward reaction in the figure?
A) endergonic, ∆G > 0
B) exergonic, ∆G < 0
C) endergonic, ∆G < 0
D) exergonic, ∆G > 0
Which of the following would you classify as something other than an animal?
A) sponges
B) coral
C) jellyfish
D) choanoflagellates
Use the following information to answer the question(s) below.
Paulinella chromatophora is one of the few cercozoans that is autotrophic, carrying out
aerobic photosynthesis with its two elongated “chromatophores.” The chromatophores
are contained within vesicles of the host cell, and each is derived from a
cyanobacterium, though not the same type of cyanobacterium that gave rise to the
chloroplasts of algae and plants.
A biologist discovers an alga that is marine, multicellular, and lives at a depth reached
only by blue light. This alga is most likely a type of _____.
A) red algae
B) brown algae
C) green algae
D) golden algae
Bacteria entering the body through a small cut in the skin _____.
A) inactivate the erythrocytes
B) stimulate apoptosis of nearby body cells
C) stimulate release of interferons
D) activate a group of proteins called complement
When adult amphibian skin harbors populations of the bacterium, Janthinobacterium
lividum (Jl), chytrid infection seems to be inhibited. Which of the following represents
the best experimental design to test whether this inhibition is real?
A) Inoculate uninfected amphibians with Jl, and determine whether the amphibians
continue to remain uninfected by chytrids.
B) Inoculate infected amphibians with Jl, and determine whether the amphibians
recover from infection by chytrids.
C) Take infected amphibians and assign them to two populations. Leave one population
alone; inoculate the other with Jl. Measure the rate at which infection proceeds in both
populations.
D) Take infected amphibians and assign them to two populations. Inoculate one
population with a high dose of Jl; inoculate the other with a low dose of Jl. Measure the
survival frequency in both populations.
Use the following information to answer the question(s) below.
Some plants have continually produced secondary defense compounds. Other plants are
induced to form secondary defense compounds when they are injured. Corn seedling
leaves that are chewed on by the caterpillars of a type of cutworm moth emit immediate
volatile chemicals (LOX products), and after six hours large amounts of terpenoid
compounds are released into the air. The terpenoids are released not only from the leaf
being chewed, but from all leaves of the plant. The terpenoid compounds attract a
parasitoid wasp female that lays her eggs on the caterpillar. When the wasp larvae
hatch, they eat and kill the moth caterpillar. (T.C.J. Turlings, J. H. Loughrin, P. J.
McCall, U. S. R. Rose, W. J. Lewis, and J. H. Tumlinson. 1995. How
caterpillar-damaged plants protect themselves by attracting parasitic wasps.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 92:4169-74.)
Refer to the paragraph on how caterpillar-damaged plants protect themselves by
attracting parasitic wasps. What can you conclude based only on the information in the
preceding paragraph?
A) The attracting terpenoid compounds are always present in the corn seedling.
B) Physical injury by the caterpillar mouthparts results in the immediate release of
terpenoids.
C) Chemical signals from the caterpillar saliva attract the parasitic wasp.
D) The parasitoid wasp is attracted by compounds produced by an injured corn plant.
Which of the following, when taken up by a cell, binds to a repressor so that the
repressor no longer binds to the operator?
A) inducer
B) promoter
C) repressor
D) corepressor
Which of the following is NOT functionally important in cells of the gametophytes of
both angiosperms and gymnosperms?
A) haploid nuclei
B) mitochondria
C) cell walls
D) chloroplasts
CAM plants keep stomata closed in the daytime, thus reducing loss of water. They can
do this because they _____.
A) fix CO2 into organic acids during the night
B) fix CO2 into sugars in the bundle-sheath cells
C) fix CO2 into pyruvate in the mesophyll cells
D) use photosystem I and photosystem II at night
The nematocysts most likely reach the skin of sea slugs through branches of the _____.
A) intestine
B) excurrent siphon
C) nephridium
D) pseudocoelom
Comb jellies may not be the most familiar animal to you, but they are critical in the
food chain because they make up a significant portion of the planktonic biomass. Their
feeding strategy is predatory and involves adhesives or mucus on their tentacles or other
body parts. What feeding tactic do these animals use?
A) suspension feeder
B) fluid feeder
C) deposit feeder
D) food-mass feeder
As an undergraduate research assistant, you are assisting with a radioisotope tracer
experiment. You expose a mature leaf on one side of the lower shoot of a sugar beet
plant to 14CO2 and then track the movement of the 14C atoms by radiography. Where
are you LEAST likely to detect 14C?
A) the treated leaf
B) the shoot apical meristem
C) the roots
D) a mature upper leaf on the opposite side of the plant from the treated leaf
A carbon atom is most likely to form what kind of bond(s) with other atoms?
A) ionic
B) hydrogen
C) covalent
D) ionic bonds, covalent bonds, and hydrogen bonds