Read the following scenario to answer the following questions.
As part of a semester-long biology field research course, you are studying reproductive
barriers among four different frog species. Your goal is to determine what type of
reproductive barrier likely causes the gene pools of the four different frog species to be
isolated. These four species share common geographic habitats and are both
anatomically and gametically compatible. Your research professor gives you the
following figure to consider. After studying the figure, answer the questions that follow.
If the researchers of this study wanted to collect reliable data about natural behavior,
which methodology should they choose?
A) The researchers collected multiple male and female frogs from each species and
studied them in a lab environment to determine their normal breeding seasons.
B) The researchers studied multiple male and female frogs from each species in their
natural environments to determine their normal breeding seasons.
C) The researchers collected multiple male and female frogs from each species, mixed
males and females from each species, and studied the mixed pairs in a lab environment
to determine their normal breeding seasons.
D) The researchers studied one male and female frog from each species in their natural
environments to determine their normal breeding seasons.
Which of these plays a role in the regulation of transcription in both prokaryotic and
eukaryotic cells?
A) RNA splicing
B) attachment of RNA polymerase to the promoter
C) transcription factors
D) gene operons
What does “adaptation” mean in an evolutionary context?
A) the way an individual’s body adjusts to its environment
B) the accumulation of favorable variations in a population over time
C) the ability of organisms to alter their appearance under changing environmental
conditions
D) all of the above
A glycerol with three fatty acids attached is referred to as a ________.
A) prostaglandin
B) nucleic acid
C) steroid
D) fat
Which of the following glands is located nearest the kidneys?
A) ovaries
B) pineal gland
C) thyroid gland
D) adrenal glands
What is the difference between a benign and a malignant tumor?
A) Benign tumors are composed of cancer cells; malignant tumors are not.
B) Benign tumors are not the result of a failure of a cell cycle control system; malignant
tumors are.
C) Benign tumors do not metastasize; malignant tumors do.
D) Benign tumors do not form lumps; malignant tumors do form lumps.
Using the figure below for a reference, approximately how many times larger is a
nucleus compared to a protein?
A) 10 times larger
B) 100 times larger
C) 1,000 times larger
D) 10,000 times larger
Read the following scenario to answer the following questions.
Avian influenza is a viral infection that naturally occurs in wild birds with few
damaging effects. However, avian influenza is highly contagious and can quickly kill
domesticated birds. Some human influenza viruses are similar to the avian influenza.
People infected with avian influenza develop typical flu symptoms (fever, cough,
muscle aches). However, symptoms may become more severe and life-threatening. If
avian influenza evolves into a form that is easily transmissible from person to person, a
global pandemic of widespread human death might occur.
Humans who are infected with avian influenza are likely to have elevated levels of
________.
A) defensive proteins
B) histamine
C) antihistamines
D) bacterial cells
While examining a human cell that functions normally, you determine that it has 45
functional chromosomes and one chromosome that is almost completely inactive. You
immediately decide that it is very likely that this cell ________.
A) came from a normal human female
B) is lacking a chromosome
C) is a gamete
D) will become cancerous if one or two more genes are mutated
Which of the following neurons are part of the peripheral nervous system?
A) sensory neuron and motor neuron
B) interneuron neuron and motor neuron
C) interneuron neuron and sensory neuron
D) only motor neurons
Read the following scenario to answer the following questions.
Over the past 60 years, many amphibian species have experienced significant
population declines, and some species have become extinct. Scientists suspected that
local human activities such as the destruction of wetlands, regional pollution, and
deforestation were the main reasons for these losses. However, research over the past 20
years reveals significant amphibian population declines in protected areas of the world,
such as nature preserves and parks. These global declines suggest widespread problems
including increased ultraviolet radiation, acid rain, and disease. In Switzerland, for
example, 14 of the 20 native amphibian species are threatened with extinction.
When most populations of a wide-ranging amphibian species are lost and the few
remaining populations are widely separated, we expect to see that ________.
A) artificial selection becomes a greater factor in microevolution
B) the founder effect becomes increasingly important
C) gene flow between populations is reduced
D) microevolution no longer occurs
Please read the following paragraph and then answer the following questions.
Two researchers addressed the generally accepted idea that boxer shorts are better for
male fertility than briefs because they lower testicular temperature. They begin by
saying, “Although this idea is regarded as dogma by many in the lay community and the
changing of underwear type is a therapy frequently recommended by medical
practitioners, there is a paucity of data measuring scrotal temperature as a function of
underwear type. (“Munkelwitz, Robert, and Gilbert, Bruce R. “Are boxer shorts really
better? A critical analysis of the role of underwear type in male subfertility.” The
Journal of Urology, 160.4 (1998): 13291333.)
Which of these describes the best experimental design to test the idea that scrotal
temperature is less with boxers than with briefs?
A) Take an equal number of men wearing boxers and men wearing briefs and have
them go into a clinic and have their scrotal temperatures measured.
B) Recruit a number of men of approximately the same age and have some put on
boxers and some put on briefs and then measure their scrotal temperatures.
C) Recruit a number of men of approximately the same age with half wearing boxers
and half wearing briefs. Have them spend time in a room of the same constant
temperature and then measure their scrotal temperatures.
D) Take the first 100 men who come into a fertility clinic, record who are wearing
boxers and who are wearing briefs, and then measure their scrotal temperatures.
Which of these best describes Type III survivorship?
A) There is high survivorship for the very young.
B) Most individuals survive to older age intervals.
C) Survivorship is constant over the lifespan.
D) Survivorship is high for the few individuals that survive to a certain age.
Plants use photosynthesis to
A) store chemical energy, and they use cellular respiration to harvest energy.
B) change light energy into chemical energy as well as to harvest chemical energy.
C) harvest energy, and they use cellular respiration to store chemical energy.
D) change light energy into sugars.
Which of the following hormones promotes seed dormancy?
A) cytokinin
B) ethylene
C) gibberellin
D) abscisic acid
An object at rest has no ________ energy, but it may have ________ energy resulting
from its location or structure.
A) kinetic… potential
B) kinetic… conserved
C) potential… kinetic
D) stored… potential
Which of the following would NOT likely develop as an emerging virus?
A) a virus harmful to humans that changes very slowly over time
B) A virus that is normally harmless to humans undergoes rapid mutations.
C) a virus that begins to infect people in New York City, a popular tourist destination
D) a virus that affects primarily rabbits mutates and infects humans
Please read the following scenario to answer the following questions.
While working with cultured mouse cells, a researcher unknowingly treated the cells
with a mutagen that causes the deletion or insertion of individual nucleotides in DNA.
Subsequently, the researcher isolated and cultured a single cell from this group and
noticed that the progeny of this cell were not producing a certain protein and that this
affected their survival.
The mutation that resulted from the accident was probably ________.
A) an amino acid substitution
B) one that changed the triplet grouping of the genetic message
C) an error in translation
D) a loss in regulation of gene expression
The region of an enzyme to which a substrate binds is called the ________ site.
A) active
B) substrate
C) enzymatic
D) inactive
Modern humans possess the same craving for ________ and ________ as our ancestors,
despite the obesity these cravings can cause today.
A) fat ” sugar
B) sugar ” salt
C) protein ” vitamin C
D) iron; iodine
Which of the following is a characteristic of a population at Hardy-Weinberg
equilibrium?
A) The population is subject to natural selection.
B) The population is not evolving.
C) Genetic drift is occurring.
D) Gene flow in and out of the population occurs.
In the food chain grass → antelope → human → lion, the antelope is ________.
A) both an herbivore and a secondary consumer
B) both a producer and a primary consumer
C) both an herbivore and a primary consumer
D) a secondary consumer only
Please use the following information to answer the following questions.
You work for a company selling tropical rain forest plants commonly found in the
understory of the forest. These plants are shade tolerant and can be grown indoors
because they require low light. Your employer wants you to find out what is the best
type of light to maximize growth of these understory plants. Using a full spectrum of
natural light would cause these plants to die because they are a shade-tolerant plant
species.
From your biology class, you recall that the light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis
involve pigment molecules that absorb light of specific wavelengths. You also
remember the experiments done by the German biologist Theodor Engelmann, in which
he separated light using a prism into different wavelengths and then determined which
wavelengths were best for promoting photosynthesis in the algae species he was
examining. Your goal is to determine which wavelengths (colors) of light are best for
promoting photosynthesis to enhance growth in your species of plant. To achieve this,
you grew your plants under different wavelengths of light and measured their growth
rates. The wavelengths were measured in nanometers (nm), and the growth rate was
measured in millimeters per day (mm/day). The data you collected are as follows:
Make a bar graph plotting growth rates on the y-axis and wavelengths of light on the
x-axis. Referring to your graph, answer the following questions:
Some plant species require shaded conditions while other plant species require bright
sunlight. Shade tolerance is best related to which of these characteristics?
A) Different species of plants have different ratios of pigment molecules that utilize
different wavelengths of light.
B) Plant leaves without a protective coating are subject to sunburn.
C) Some species of plants are able to produce sugar without ever having been exposed
to sunlight.
D) Some species of plants are consumers and do not need sunlight.
The “grandmother hypothesis” suggests that natural selection may have favored a
woman ________.
A) moving away from her children and grandchildren
B) focusing her energy on caring for her grandchildren, instead of producing more
children
C) focusing her energy on the production of as many children as possible before
reaching menopause
D) helping her sisters produce more children
Aquatic organisms ________.
A) have a waxy coating to prevent water loss
B) may experience problems with water balance
C) typically have a plentiful supply of nitrogen
D) never find light to be in short supply
Which of the following describes the sites of leaf attachment in a stem?
A) joints
B) nodes
C) internodes
D) cotyledons
Which anthropoids are most closely related to humans?
A) orangutans
B) chimpanzees
C) gorillas
D) gibbons
Which of the following is part of the brain?
A) thymus
B) hypothalamus
C) adrenal cortex
D) thyroid
Almost every element of bird anatomy is modified for what?
A) laying eggs
B) eating seeds
C) enhancement of flight
D) singing unique songs
Ethical dilemmas raised by DNA technology and knowledge of the human genome
include ________.
A) the potential for interfering in evolution, only
B) the safety of GM foods, only
C) the potential discrimination against people predisposed to certain diseases, only
D) all of the answer choices are correct