All the offspring of a cross between a red-flowered plant and a white-flowered plant
have pink flowers. This means that the allele for red flowers is ________ to the allele
for white flowers.
A) dominant
B) codominant
C) incompletely dominant
D) recessive
Darwin found that many of the species on the Galpagos islands
A) resembled species on the nearest mainland.
B) resembled species in Europe.
C) resembled species from Australia.
D) were identical to South American species.
Describe what is happening in the following figure.
A) Resting potential is not restored.
B) The neuron is experiencing resting potential.
C) There are fewer positive charges on the inside of the neuron, so it is less negative.
D) The neuron is working to restore the resting potential of -70 mV.
Purple sulfur bacteria are organisms capable of photosynthesis. They get their name, in
part, because they use H2S (hydrogen sulfide) instead of water during the light
reactions. In what form would you expect to find sulfur (S) as a result of photosynthesis
in these bacteria?
A) S2
B) SO2
C) CS2
D) C6H12S6
Which of the following represents a step in the nitrogen cycle?
A) Nitrogen-fixing bacteria convert atmospheric nitrogen to nitrates.
B) Nitrites bind to soil particles.
C) Nitrogen-fixing bacteria convert atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia.
D) Denitrifiers convert ammonium to atmospheric nitrogen.
Barry Marshall and his collaborators showed that
A) lifestyle factors such as stress, diet, and smoking cause chronic gastritis and stomach
ulcers.
B) lab animals are easily infected by Helicobacter pylori.
C) Helicobacter pylori bacteria are protective against peptic ulcers.
D) Helicobacter pylori bacteria cause chronic gastritis and stomach ulcers.
What is implied by this figure?
A) The clay particle has a negative charge at its surface.
B) The clay particle has a positive charge at its surface.
C) The root hair has a negative charge at its surface.
D) The plant does not need K+.
A survivorship curve that involves producing very few offspring, each of which has a
high probability of surviving to adulthood, is typical of
A) sea stars.
B) elephants.
C) oysters.
D) rodents.
If a chromosome fragment breaks off and then reattaches to the original chromosome
but in the reverse direction, the resulting chromosomal abnormality is called a(n)
A) deletion.
B) inversion.
C) translocation.
D) reciprocal translocation.
Which of the following statements about biomes, the major terrestrial ecosystems
covering the Earth, is true?
A) Each of the 10 major biomes is restricted to just one or two continents.
B) The major factors affecting the distribution of biomes are wind and sunlight.
C) Most natural biomes are unaffected by human activity.
D) Fire is very important in some biomes.
Mechanoreceptors (touch) are not evenly spaced on your body. What part of the body
might be expected to have mechanoreceptors located closer together?
A) eyelid
B) heel of foot
C) top side of arm
D) pad of toe
In 2012, scientists discovered that colonies of single-celled organisms can be found in
high numbers in the human gut. Scientists are particularly concerned with the colonies
that produce methane, as methane in the human gut can be linked to constipation and
irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The scientists can classify these colonies as belonging
to the domain
A) Archaea.
B) Bacteria.
C) Eukarya.
D) Protista.
The three greatest current threats to biodiversity, in order starting with the greatest, are
A) habitat loss, overharvesting, and invasive species.
B) habitat loss, invasive species, and overharvesting.
C) invasive species, habitat loss, and overharvesting.
D) invasive species, overharvesting, and habitat loss.
You are observing a single cell under a microscope. You go home for the night, and the
next day you see four cells. The four cells look similar, and when you stain them with a
dye that binds to DNA they all appear to contain the same amount of DNA. What likely
happened overnight?
A) The single cell divided once to form four new cells via asexual reproduction.
B) The single cell divided once to form four new cells via sexual reproduction.
C) The single cell divided to form two new cells, and the two new cells each divided to
form four total cells, all by asexual reproduction.
D) The single cell divided to form two new cells, and the two new cells each divided to
form four total cells, all by sexual reproduction.
The process through which species not closely related may come to resemble one
another if they live in a similar environment is known as
A) coevolution.
B) homology.
C) convergent evolution.
D) paedomorphosis.
Which of the following mammals has not yet been cloned and brought through the
complete gestation cycle?
A) cow
B) human
C) pig
D) cat
An unknown bacterial species is recovered from a sick patient’s digestive tract. It has a
membrane outside the cell wall that contains toxic lipids. This observation indicates that
A) the infection should be relatively easy to control with common antibiotics, because
the pathogen is a gram-positive species.
B) the infection should be relatively easy to control with common antibiotics, because
the pathogen is a gram-negative species.
C) the infection may be quite threatening and difficult to control, because the pathogen
is a gram-positive species.
D) the infection may be quite threatening and difficult to control, because the pathogen
is a gram-negative species.
The digestive tract of a nematode is most like which of the following?
A) a sock
B) a soda straw
C) a cup
D) a baseball
The branching “tree of life” analogy
A) accurately reflects evolution. Once a split occurs, species on different branches
evolve absolutely independently.
B) has been discredited because it does not help us understand evolutionary
relationships among organisms.
C) does not describe ecological interactions between species, so it should be replaced
by the web of life.
D) fails to account for horizontal gene transfer, in which species on different branches
exchange genes.
The three tissue systems of a mature plant root complete their development in the root
zone of
A) elongation.
B) cell division.
C) differentiation.
D) vascularization.
Which of the following statements regarding the definition of species is false?
A) The ecological species concept identifies species in terms of their ecological niches.
B) The phylogenetic species concept defines a species as a set of organisms that shares
a common ancestor and forms one branch on the tree of life.
C) The morphological species concept relies upon comparing the DNA sequences of
organisms.
D) Under the biological species concept, the gap between species is maintained by
reproductive isolation.
To cross-fertilize flowers A and B, one would first remove flower A’s immature
________ and later transfer pollen from flower B to flower A’s ________.
A) carpe; ovule
B) anthers; stamen
C) stamens; stigma
D) stigma; style
Through which of the following structures does urine leave the bladder?
A) ureter
B) urethra
C) renal medulla
D) distal convoluted tubule
Pecking order in chickens is an example of
A) dominance hierarchy.
B) alpha order.
C) agonistic behavior.
D) mating behavior.
When the human brain’s normal electrical activity is suddenly altered, a seizure can
result. Seizures cause several behavioral and physical complications such as sudden
mood changes, muscle spasms, or uncontrollable body shaking. Seizure impulses often
start in one hemisphere of the brain and travel to the other. Which of the following
surgical treatments would reduce the severity of seizures?
A) severing the suprachiasmatic nucleus so that the patient’s biological clock has altered
circadian rhythms
B) severing the corpus callosum so that the brain has diminished ability to send
messages between the two cerebral hemispheres
C) severing the parietal lobe so that speech capabilities are diminished
D) stimulating the cerebrum to allow the retention of short-term memory capabilities
Fast muscle fibers contain a high proportion of myofibrils, which allows the fibers to
generate high amounts of force. However, this leaves little room in the fibers for other
cellular components, including mitochondria. The opposite is true for slow muscle
fibers. Does this information support or refute what you know about the
fatigue-susceptibility of fast and slow fibers? Why or why not?
A) It supports it because if fast fibers have less room for mitochondria than slow fibers
do, they cannot produce as much ATP and thus are less fatigue-resistant than slow
fibers.
B) It supports it because if fast fibers have less room for mitochondria than slow fibers
do, they can produce more ATP than slow fibers and thus are more fatigue-resistant than
slow fibers.
C) It refutes it because if fast fibers have less room for mitochondria than slow fibers
do, they can produce more ATP than slow fibers and thus are less fatigue-resistant than
slow fibers.
D) It refutes it because if fast fibers have less room for mitochondria than slow fibers
do, they cannot produce as much ATP and thus are more fatigue-resistant than slow
fibers.
The box numbered 2 represents which of the following?
A) the cycling of energy
B) decomposers acting on all parts of the system
C) the cycling of matter
D) gases in the atmosphere that can block sunlight
Bark consists of
A) functioning xylem, secondary phloem, cork cambium, and cork.
B) secondary phloem, cork cambium, and cork.
C) cork cambium and cork.
D) cork only.
In photosynthesis, the chemiosmotic production of ATP
A) requires oxygen.
B) is similar to the production of ATP in mitochondria.
C) is done by the Calvin cycle.
D) is a result of the oxidation of glucose.
Different species of brittle stars (echinoderms) have different feeding mechanisms.
When a species of brittle star feeds by using tentacle-like appendages to capture large
food particles, it is using which of the following feeding mechanisms?
A) radula for feeding
B) suspension feeding
C) clawlike appendages for feeding
D) nectar feeding
Which of the following distinguishes the secondary immune response from the primary
immune response?
A) The primary response is specific; the secondary one is not.
B) The secondary response is faster and stronger.
C) The primary response involves B cells; the secondary one involves T cells.
D) The secondary response allows additional antigens to be recognized faster.
The evolution of the vertebrate skeleton system
A) originated with a snake-like animal whose descendants gradually developed limbs.
B) enabled tetrapods to colonize land.
C) originated in an earlier exoskeleton.
D) made animals significantly taller.
Which of the following statements is true of a typical animal?
A) Homeotic genes play important roles in the development of the organism from
zygote to adult.
B) The organism requires carbon dioxide as an essential nutrient.
C) The cell walls are diverse in structure but are composed of chitin.
D) The haploid larvae develop into diploid adults.
The sequence of events that cause a sarcomere to contract can be summed up in the
correct order as
A) detach, extend, contract, attach.
B) detach, pull, extend, contract.
C) detach, extend, attach, pull.
D) pull, contract, detach, recoil.