Mutation is the only evolutionary mechanism that _____.
A) does little to change allele frequencies
B) is more important in eukaryotes than in prokaryotes
C) happens in all populations
D) has no effect on genetic variation
You have a cube of modeling clay in your hands. Which of the following changes to the
shape of this cube of clay will decrease its surface area relative to its volume?
A) Pinch the edges of the cube into small folds.
B) Flatten the cube into a pancake shape.
C) Round the clay up into a sphere.
D) Stretch the cube into a long, shoebox shape.
Carbon dioxide levels in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid affect pH. This enables the
organism to sense a disturbance in gas levels as _____.
A) the brain directly measures and monitors oxygen levels and causes breathing
changes accordingly
B) the medulla oblongata, which is in contact with cerebrospinal fluid, monitors pH and
uses this measure to control breathing
C) the brain alters the pH of the cerebrospinal fluid to force the animal to retain more or
less carbon dioxide
D) stretch receptors in the lungs cause the medulla oblongata to speed up or slow
breathing
You discover a new species of bacteria that grows in aquatic environments with high
salt levels. While studying these bacteria, you note that their internal environment is
similar to the salt concentrations in their surroundings. You also discover that the
internal salt concentrations of the bacteria change as the salt concentration in their
environment changes. The new species can tolerate small changes in this way, but dies
from large changes because it has no mechanism for altering its own internal salt levels.
What type of homeostatic mechanism is this species using to regulate its internal salt
levels?
A) conformation
B) regulation
C) integration
D) assimilation
Which molecule shown above contains a functional group that cells use to transfer
energy between organic molecules?
A) A
B) B
C) C
D) D
Every morning at the same time, John went into the den to feed his new tropical fish.
After a few weeks, he noticed that the fish swam to the top of the tank when he entered
the room. This is an example of _____.
A) cognition
B) imprinting
C) classical conditioning
D) operant conditioning
The function of mechanical digestion is to break down large chunks of food into smaller
pieces. Why is this important? Smaller pieces of food _____.
A) do not taste as good as larger pieces of food
B) have more surface area for chemical digestion than do larger pieces of food
C) are easier to excrete than are larger pieces of food
D) are more easily stored in the stomach than are larger pieces of food
The following questions are based on the 15 molecules illustrated in the accompanying
figure. Each molecule may be used once, more than once, or not at all.
Which of the following combinations of molecules illustrated could be linked to form a
nucleotide?
A) 1, 2, and 11
B) 3, 7, and 8
C) 5, 9, and 10
D) 11, 12, and 13
HIV is inactivated in the laboratory after a few minutes of sitting at room temperature,
but the flu virus is still active after sitting for several hours. What are the practical
consequences of these findings?
A) HIV can be transmitted more easily from person to person than the flu virus
B) The flu virus can be transmitted more easily from person to person than HIV
C) This property of HIV makes it more likely to be a pandemic than the flu virus
D) Disinfecting surfaces is more important to reduce the spread of HIV than the flu
In receptor-mediated endocytosis, receptor molecules initially project to the outside of
the cell. Where do they end up after endocytosis?
A) on the outside of vesicles
B) on the inside surface of the cell membrane
C) on the inside surface of the vesicle
D) on the outer surface of the nucleus
Which of the following types of mutation would convert a proto-oncogene into an
oncogene?
A) a mutation that blocks transcription of the proto-oncogene
B) a mutation that creates an unstable proto-oncogene mRNA
C) a mutation that greatly increases the amount of the proto-oncogene protein
D) a deletion of most of the proto-oncogene coding sequence
You have two beakers. One contains pure water, the other contains pure methanol
(wood alcohol). The covalent bonds of methanol molecules are nonpolar, so there are
no hydrogen bonds among methanol molecules. You pour crystals of table salt (NaCl)
into each beaker. Predict what will happen.
A) Equal amounts of NaCl crystals will dissolve in both water and methanol.
B) NaCl crystals will not dissolve in either water or methanol.
C) NaCl crystals will dissolve readily in water but will not dissolve in methanol.
D) NaCl crystals will dissolve readily in methanol but will not dissolve in water.
Which of the following contribute to the surface area available for water absorption
from the soil by a plant root system?
I) root hairs
II) endodermis
III) mycorrhizae
IV) fibrous arrangement of the roots
A) II and III
B) I, III, and IV
C) I, II, and IV
D) I, II, III, and IV
In July 2008, the United States had a population of approximately 302,000,000 people.
How many Americans were there in July 2009, if the estimated 2008 growth rate was
0.88%?
A) 5,500,000
B) 303,000,000
C) 304,000,000
D) 2,710,800,000
Cells produced by lateral meristems are known as _____.
A) dermal and ground tissue
B) lateral tissues
C) pith
D) secondary tissues
The following question(s) are based on information in Hopi E. Hoekstra, Kristen E.
Drumm, and Michael W. Nachman, “Ecological Genetics of Adaptive Color
Polymorphism in Pocket Mice: Geographic Variation in Selected and Neutral Genes,”
Evolution 58(6), 2004: 1329-41.
The figure above shows the distribution of pocket-mouse coat colors in several Arizona
populations found either on light-colored granite substrate or on dark volcanic rock
(dark substrate). The Melanocortin-1 receptor (Mc1r) alleles, D and d, differ by four
amino acids. Mice with DD and Dd genotypes have dark coats, whereas mice with the
dd genotype are light colored. What sort of genotype frequencies might you expect to
find in the Xmas, Mid, and O’Neill populations?
A) Xmas-high DD frequency; Mid-high Dd frequency, O’Neill-high dd frequency
B) Xmas-high Dd frequency; Mid-high DD frequency, O’Neill-high dd frequency
C) Xmas-high dd frequency; Mid-high Dd frequency, O’Neill-high DD frequency
D) Xmas-high dd frequency; Mid-high DD frequency, O’Neill-high Dd frequency
Which of the following is the best statement of the use of the addition rule of
probability?
A) the probability that two or more independent events will both occur
B) the probability that either one of two independent events will occur
C) the probability of producing two or more heterozygous offspring
D) the likelihood that a trait is due to two or more meiotic events
A trend first observed in the evolution of the earliest tetrapods was _____.
A) the appearance of jaws
B) feet with digits
C) the mineralization of the endoskeleton
D) the amniotic egg
The thermoacidophile Sulfolobus acidocaldarius lacks peptidoglycan, but still
possesses a cell wall. What is likely to be true of this species?
1. It is a bacterium.
2. It is an archaean.
3. The optimal pH of its enzymes will lie above pH 7.
4. The optimal pH of its enzymes will lie below pH 7.
5. It could inhabit certain hydrothermal springs.
6. It could inhabit alkaline hot springs.
A) 1, 3, and 6
B) 2, 4, and 5
C) 1, 3, and 5
D) 1, 4, and 5
What is an adaptive advantage of recombination between linked genes?
A) Recombination is required for independent assortment.
B) Recombination must occur or genes will not assort independently.
C) New allele combinations are acted upon by natural selection.
D) The forces on the cell during meiosis II results in recombination.
An elephant and a mouse are running in full sunlight, and both overheat by the same
amount above their normal body temperatures. When they move into the shade and rest,
which animal will cool down faster?
A) The elephant will because it has the higher surface-area-to-volume ratio.
B) The elephant will because it has the lower surface-area-to-volume ratio.
C) The mouse will because it has the higher surface-area-to-volume ratio.
D) They will cool at the same rate because they overheated by the same amount.
A fish swimming into an estuary from a river would have which of the following as its
greatest physiological challenge?
A) The high water flow would make the fish expend more energy.
B) The low oxygen content would give the fish difficulty in swimming aerobically.
C) The temperature change would stress the fish by denaturing its proteins.
D) The change in water solute content would challenge the osmotic balance of the fish.
Based on the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, a community’s species diversity is
increased by _____.
A) frequent massive disturbance
B) stable conditions with no disturbance
C) moderate levels of disturbance
D) intensive disturbance by humans
What would be the consequences if we were to reverse the direction of water flow over
the gills of a fish, moving water inward past the operculum, past the gills, the out the
mouth? This reversal of water flow would _____.
A) reduce efficiency of gas exchange
B) change the exchange of gases in the body from carbon dioxide out and oxygen in to
carbon dioxide in and oxygen out
C) increase the efficiency of gas exchange
In mammals, advanced cognition is usually correlated with a large and very convoluted
neocortex, but birds are capable of sophisticated cognition because they have _____.
A) a more advanced cerebellum
B) a cerebellum with several flat layers
C) a pallium with neurons clustered into nuclei
D) microvilli to increase the brain’s surface area
Much of the coordination of vertebrate body functions via chemical signals is
accomplished by the _____.
A) respiratory system
B) endocrine system
C) integumentary system
D) excretory system
What property of steroid hormones allows them to cross the phospholipid bilayer?
A) Steroid hormones are lipid soluble and easily cross the phospholipid bilayer.
B) Steroid hormones can act in very small concentrations and very few molecules of
steroids need to cross the lipid bilayer.
C) Steroid hormones act on cells close to where they were produced and very few
molecules are required to travel such a short distance to cross the lipid bilayer.
D) Steroid hormones act on the same cells in which they are produced and, therefore,
are within the cell they are acting upon.
The solutions in the arms of a U-tube are separated at the bottom of the tube by a
selectively permeable membrane. The membrane is permeable to sodium chloride but
not to glucose. Side A is filled with a solution of 0.4 M glucose and 0.5 M sodium
chloride (NaCl), and side B is filled with a solution containing 0.8 M glucose and 0.4 M
sodium chloride. Initially, the volume in both arms is the same..
Refer to the figure. If you examine side A after three days, you should find _____.
A) a decrease in the concentration of NaCl and glucose and an increase in the water
level
B) a decrease in the concentration of NaCl, an increase in water level, and no change in
the concentration of glucose
C) a decrease in the concentration of NaCl and a decrease in the water level
D) no change in the concentration of NaCl and glucose and an increase in the water
level
There is some evidence that reptiles called cynodonts may have had whisker-like hairs
around their mouths. If true, then hair is a shared _____.
A) derived character of mammals, even if cynodonts continue to be classified as reptiles
B) derived character of the amniote clade and not of the mammal clade
C) ancestral character of the amniote clade, but only if cynodonts are reclassified as
mammals
D) derived character of mammals, but only if cynodonts are reclassified as mammals
Which of the following is an example of an ecosystem?
A) all of the brook trout in a 500-square-hectare river drainage system
B) the plants, animals, and decomposers that inhabit an alpine meadow
C) the intricate interactions of the various plant and animal species on a savanna during
a drought
D) all of the organisms and their physical environment in a tropical rain forest
Auxins in plants are known to affect which of the following processes?
I) gravitropism of shoots
II) maintenance of seed dormancy
III) phototropism of shoots
IV) inhibition of lateral buds
V) apical dominance
A) only I and II
B) only I, III and V
C) only I, III, IV and V
D) only II, III, IV and V
Water potential is generally most negative in which of the following parts of a plant?
A) mesophyll cells of the leaf
B) xylem vessels in leaves
C) xylem vessels in roots
D) cells of the root cortex
DNA sequencing has transformed our understanding of genes, genomes and evolution.
Which of the following statements comparing two common sequencing techniques, the
chain termination method and next generation sequencing is TRUE?
A) The chain termination method is faster and more efficient, so it is used to generate
large-scale sequences, while next generation synthesis is used for routine, small-scale
jobs.
B) The chain termination method employs the polymerase chain reaction, but next
generation sequencing does not.
C) In the chain termination method, the order of bases is detected by fluorescently
labeling each dideoxy-nucleotide in a different color, while next generation sequencing
determines the order of bases by detecting the release of PPi during the formation of the
phosphodiester bond.
D) Next generation sequencing employs electrophoresis, but the chain termination
method does not.