A packet of light energy is called a
A) quantum.
B) pigment.
C) photon.
D) phaser.
If you close your eyes, hold your hands over your eyes for a short time, and then
uncover your eyes, your pupils will be
A) a darker color than normal.
B) smaller than normal.
C) larger than normal.
D) a lighter color than normal.
Which of the following is a typical feature of an ATP-driven active transport
mechanism?
A) The transport protein must cross to the correct side of the membrane before the
solute can bind to it.
B) The transport protein is irreversibly phosphorylated as transport takes place.
C) The transport protein catalyzes the conversion of ADP to ATP.
D) The solute moves against the concentration gradient.
The uniformity in the way nerve cells function within the animal kingdom
A) indicates that the PNS evolved before the CNS.
B) is evidence that the neuron was an early evolutionary adaptation.
C) is proof of neurotransmitter efficiency.
D) must have prevented the development of diversity.
Which of the following situations could represent kin selection in action?
A) You help your friend with linguistics, and your friend helps you with biology.
B) You help your brother pay for his children’s college tuition, even though he may not
be able to pay you back.
C) When your mother gets old, you help her pay her property taxes.
D) You inexplicably forget to use birth control, and a child results.
Which of the following statements about organs is false?
A) An organ represents a higher level of structure than the tissues composing it.
B) An organ consists of several tissues.
C) An organ can only carry out the functions of its component tissues.
D) An organ consists of many cells.
In the 1920s, Frederick Griffith conducted an experiment in which he mixed the dead
cells of a bacterial strain that can cause pneumonia with live cells of a bacterial strain
that cannot. When he cultured the live cells, some of the daughter colonies proved able
to cause pneumonia. Which of the following processes of bacterial DNA transfer does
this experiment demonstrate?
A) transduction
B) conjugation
C) transformation
D) transposition
This figure shows the hierarchy of classification of the cow, Bos primigenius.
The three boxes at the base of the hierarchy represent
A) classes.
B) kingdoms.
C) domains.
D) phyla.
A basal body is
A) composed of nine microtubule triplets surrounding a central pair of microtubules.
B) similar in structure to centrioles.
C) composed of nine microtubule doublets surrounding a central pair of microtubules.
D) identical in structure to cilia.
During REM sleep, an EEG shows
A) a flat trace with very few waves.
B) mainly alpha waves.
C) sleep waves.
D) an irregular, rapidly changing pattern.
Which of the following statements regarding circulatory systems is true?
A) The smallest blood vessels in the body are veins.
B) A circulatory system is necessary in any animal whose body is too large or too
complex for vital chemicals to reach all parts of the body by diffusion.
C) Materials are exchanged directly between the blood and body cells.
D) Veins carry blood away from the heart to body organs and tissues.
The calcium that triggers muscle contraction is stored in
A) the motor neuron.
B) synaptic vesicles.
C) the endoplasmic reticulum.
D) the mitochondria.
Which of the following substances is cycled between organic matter and abiotic
reservoirs?
A) fat
B) carbon
C) protein
D) nucleic acid
Respiration ________, and cellular respiration ________.
A) produces ATP; is gas exchange
B) is gas exchange; produces ATP
C) produces glucose; produces oxygen
D) uses glucose; produces glucose
The structural and functional unit of nervous tissue is the
A) dendrite.
B) axon.
C) neuron.
D) nerve.
The “Ironman” is a version of the triathlon, a race that includes three events: swimming,
bicycling, and running. In an Ironman, an athlete must swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles,
and run 26.2 miles, in that order, without a break. The annual Ironman World
Championship is held in Hawaii every year. The men’s course record was set in 2011 by
Australia’s Craig Alexander with a time of 8 hours, 18 minutes, and 37 seconds, and the
women’s course record was set in 2009 by England’s Chrissie Wellington with a time of
8 hours, 54 minutes, and 2 seconds.
Which event of the Ironman would likely contribute the most to bone development and
growth?
A) swimming
B) bicycling
C) running
D) All events would contribute equally.
Recent studies suggest that flame retardants, chemicals that are used for slow burning,
can mimic estrogen hormones found in the human body. The scientists investigating
this phenomenon developed three-dimensional images to show how the chemical
structure of certain flame retardants allows the retardants to bind to and inhibit an
enzyme (estrogen sulfotransferase) that metabolizes estrogen.
Suppose the scientists want to conduct a study of the effects of flame retardants on
estrogen levels. In a hypothetical study, the scientists use frogs to test the effects of
flame retardants because the frogs’ skin is highly permeable and therefore allows for
easy absorption of chemicals.
The scientists collected 20 wild adult frogs and brought them to a laboratory. Ten of the
frogs (group 1: five male and five female) were kept in tanks mimicking their natural
environment. The other ten frogs (group 2: five male, five female) were kept in tanks
identical to those of group 1 but were introduced to low amounts of flame retardants in
the shallow water in their tank. Estrogen levels were measured on the first day of the
experiment and then every 4 days for 20 days.
Flame retardants are an example of
A) lipid-soluble hormones.
B) endocrine disrupters.
C) progestins.
D) androgens.
Which of the following statements about uric acid is true?
A) Animals that excrete uric acid avoid the problem of water loss associated with
excretion of urea.
B) Uric acid is more soluble in water than urea.
C) The darker material in bird droppings is mostly uric acid.
D) Uric acid cannot be excreted because of its toxicity.
It is estimated that the modern continents began to take shape
A) 1.3 million years ago.
B) 650 million years ago.
C) 65 million years ago.
D) 6,000 years ago.
Movement corridors
A) increase inbreeding.
B) reduce dispersal.
C) can be harmful because they allow for the spread of disease.
D) can be harmful because they allow for gene flow.
When you hyperventilate (breathe too fast), respiratory alkalosis (elevated blood pH)
can occur, which can cause you to faint. A common but potentially dangerous method to
reverse respiratory alkalosis is to hold a paper bag over your mouth and take normal
breaths, thereby rebreathing the exhaled air. How might this method reverse respiratory
alkalosis?
A) Inhaling oxygen exhaled into the bag will cause oxygen to diffuse back into the
blood and react with water to form carbonic acid, and blood pH will decrease.
B) Inhaling oxygen exhaled into the bag will cause oxygen to diffuse back into the
blood and react with water to form carbonic acid, and blood pH will increase.
C) Inhaling carbon dioxide exhaled into the bag will cause carbon dioxide to diffuse
back into the blood and react with water to form carbonic acid, and blood pH will
increase.
D) Inhaling carbon dioxide exhaled into the bag will cause carbon dioxide to diffuse
back into the blood and react with water to form carbonic acid, and blood pH will
decrease.
In many bacteria, genes that confer resistance to antibiotics are carried on
A) factors.
B) R plasmids.
C) transposons.
D) exons.
Which of the following statements about the properties of life is false?
A) Organisms have the ability to take in energy and use it.
B) Organisms have the ability to respond to stimuli from the environment.
C) Organisms have the ability to reproduce.
D) Organisms have an unchanging, constant internal environment
Alginates are used in many everyday products, including toothpaste and soap. When
added to water, they form a thick gel that binds or emulsifies liquids. Alginates come
from a group of multicellular stramenopiles that have one pigment that masks all others
and therefore gives these organisms a distinctive, dark color. Alginates are derived from
A) green algae.
B) brown algae.
C) water molds.
D) dinoflagellates.
The diameter of a capillary is about the same as that of
A) a nerve.
B) a red blood cell.
C) an arteriole.
D) a venule.
How does phytochrome control flowering?
A) by determining whether day length exceeds a critical minimum
B) by determining whether day length is shorter than a critical maximum
C) by sensing sunrise and sunset
D) by inducing differentiation of cells in the apical meristem
In Utah there is a clone of aspen trees that covers over 100 acres. Such clones can be
considered to be a single plant with many stems. It appears that the first stem of this
clone originated over 80,000 years ago, even before there were humans in North
America. Which of the following likely contributes most to the long-term survival (long
life span) of aspens?
A) If parts of the organism (clone) are damaged, there are still other parts that can
continue growing.
B) All parts of the clone carry the same genes.
C) A shared root system means that all stems receive the same nourishment.
D) Sexual reproduction can occur more frequently in clones.
In evaluating the economic feasibility of genetically modified crops, which of the
following is least likely to be a concern?
A) resistance of the crop to disease
B) amount of fertilizer needed for the crop
C) amount of land available for the crop
D) harm to humans caused by eating the crop
Which of the following best represents an adaptation to increase surface-to-volume
ratio?
A) the long bones of a giraffe
B) the smooth skin of an earthworm
C) the multilobed sacs in the lungs
D) the striations of skeletal muscle
A pregnant woman goes to her obstetrician for her first ultrasound. After the exam is
over, the doctor remarks, “It looks like the ribs are still developing, and I might even
have seen some tiny fingers and toes.” How many weeks pregnant is this woman?
A) less than 5 weeks
B) between 5 and 8 weeks
C) between 8 and 14 weeks
D) more than 14 weeks
Monoclonal antibodies are a successful driving force of therapy in the treatment of
asthma. The use of antibodies to treat asthma is an application of
A) ecological research on human populations affected by asthma.
B) medical research in a laboratory setting.
C) field research in a natural setting.
D) historical research on diseases that affect lung capacity.
A vaccine works by
A) inhibiting bacterial replication.
B) stimulating the immune system.
C) inhibiting viral replication.
D) preventing the translation of mRNA.
We would expect that a 15-nucleotide sequence that includes a stop codon at the end (as
part of the 15-nucleotide sequence) will direct the production of a polypeptide that
consists of
A) two amino acids.
B) three amino acids.
C) four amino acids.
D) five amino acids.