Campbell Biology in Focus, 2e (Urry)
Chapter 39 Motor Mechanisms and Behavior
39.1 Multiple-Choice Questions
1) Ruminant animals such as cows regurgitate their food and chew it (the “cud”) seemingly
nonstop all day long. What type of muscle fibers would you expect to find in their masticatory
muscles?
A) oxidative fast-twitch
B) oxidative slow-twitch
C) glycolytic fast-twitch
D) smooth muscle
2) The contraction of skeletal muscles is based on
A) actin filaments coiling up to become shorter.
B) myosin filaments coiling up to become shorter.
C) actin and myosin filaments both coiling up to become shorter.
D) actin cross-bridges binding to myosin and transitioning from a high-energy to a low-energy
state.
E) myosin cross-bridges binding to actin and transitioning from a high-energy to a low-energy
state.
3) Compared to oxidative skeletal muscle fibers, those classified as glycolytic typically have
A) a higher concentration of myoglobin.
B) a higher density of mitochondria.
C) a darker visual appearance.
D) a smaller diameter.
E) less resistance to fatigue.
4) Myasthenia gravis is a form of muscle paralysis in which
A) motor neurons lose their myelination and the ability to rapidly fire action potentials.
B) acetylcholine receptors are recognized by antibodies and destroyed by an overactive immune
system.
C) ATP production becomes uncoupled from mitochondrial electron transport.
D) the spinal cord is infected with a virus that attacks muscle stretch receptors.
E) troponin molecules become unable to bind calcium ions.
5) A skeletal muscle deprived of adequate ATP supplies will
A) immediately relax.
B) release all actin-myosin bonds.
C) enter a state where actin and myosin are unable to separate.
D) fire many more action potentials than usual and enter a state of “rigor.”
E) sequester all free calcium ions into the sarcoplasmic reticulum.
6) The calcium ions released into the cytosol during excitation of skeletal muscle bind to
A) troponin.
B) tropomyosin.
C) actin.
D) myosin.
E) transverse tubules.
7) The “motor unit” in vertebrate skeletal muscle refers to
A) one actin binding site and its myosin partner.
B) one sarcomere and all of its actin and myosin filaments.
C) one myofibril and all of its sarcomeres.
D) one motor neuron and all of the muscle fibers on which it has synapses.
E) an entire muscle.
8) The muscles of a recently deceased human can remain in a contracted state, termed rigor
mortis, for several hours due to the lack of
A) phosphorylated myosin.
B) ATP needed to break actin-myosin bonds.
C) calcium ions needed to bind to troponin.
D) oxygen supplies needed for myoglobin.
E) sodium ions needed to fire action potentials.
9) Calcium ions initiate sliding of filaments in skeletal muscles by
A) breaking the actin-myosin cross-bridges.
B) binding to the troponin complex, which causes tropomyosin to move and thus expose myosin-
binding sites.
C) transmitting action potentials across the neuromuscular junction.
D) spreading action potentials through the T tubules.
E) reestablishing the resting membrane potential following an action potential.
10) Muscle cells are stimulated by neurotransmitters released from the synaptic terminals of
A) T tubules.
B) motor neuron axons.
C) sensory neuron axons.
D) motor neuron dendrites.
E) sensory neuron dendrites.
11) In a relaxed skeletal muscle, actin is not bound to
A) myosin.
B) troponin.
C) tropomyosin.
D) Z lines.
12) Skeletal muscle contraction begins when calcium ions bind to
A) calcium channels.
B) myosin.
C) actin.
D) tropomyosin.
E) troponin.
13) A skeletal muscle with abnormally low levels of calcium ions would be impaired in
A) ATP hydrolysis.
B) the initiation of an action potential.
C) maintaining its resting membrane potential.
D) initiating contraction.
E) its ability to sustain glycolysis.
14) Which of the following is the correct sequence that describes the excitation and contraction
of a skeletal muscle fiber?
1. Tropomyosin moves and uncovers the cross-bridge binding sites.
2. Calcium is released and binds to the troponin complex.
3. Transverse tubules depolarize the sarcoplasmic reticulum.
4. The thin filaments are ratcheted across the thick filaments by the heads of the myosin
molecules using energy from ATP.
5. An action potential in a motor neuron causes the axon to release acetylcholine, which
depolarizes the muscle cell membrane.
A) 1 → 2 → 3 → 4 → 5
B) 2 → 1 → 3 → 5 → 4
C) 2 → 3 → 4 → 1 → 5
D) 5 → 3 → 1 → 2 → 4
E) 5 → 3 → 2 → 1 → 4
15) Skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscle all have
A) A bands and I bands.
B) transverse tubules.
C) gap junctions.
D) motor units.
E) thick and thin filaments.
16) Calcium ions regulate contraction of smooth muscle cells by binding to
A) troponin.
B) tropomyosin.
C) actin.
D) myosin.
E) calmodulin.
17) What force(s) must animals overcome in order to move?
A) friction only
B) gravity only
C) inertia only
D) friction and gravity only
E) friction and inertia only
18) The hydrostatic skeleton of the earthworm allows it to move around in its environment by
A) walking on its limbs.
B) crawling with its feet.
C) swimming.
D) using peristaltic contractions of its circular and longitudinal muscles.
E) alternating contractions and relaxations of its smooth muscle.
19) A skeleton that consists of fluid held under pressure in a closed body compartment is known
as a(n)
A) endoskeleton.
B) exoskeleton.
C) hydrostatic skeleton.
D) cuticle.
20) What bones unite to form the elbow joint in humans?
A) humerus and ulna only
B) humerus and radius only
C) radius and ulna only
D) humerus, radius, and ulna
21) A ball-and-socket joint connects the
A) radius to the ulna.
B) radius to the humerus.
C) ulna to the humerus.
D) humerus to the scapula.
E) radius to the scapula.
22) In which form of locomotion is friction the greatest impediment to moving?
A) running
B) hopping
C) swimming
D) flying
23) A female cat in heat urinates more often and in many places. Male cats are attracted to the
urine deposits. Which of the following is a proximate cause of this increased urination?
A) It announces to the males that she is in heat.
B) Female cats that did this in the past attracted more males.
C) It is a result of hormonal changes associated with her reproductive cycle.
D) The female cat learned the behavior from observing other cats.
24) A female cat in heat urinates more often and in many places. Male cats congregate near the
urine deposits and fight with each other. Which of the following would be an ultimate cause of
the male cats’ response to the female’s urinating behavior?
A) The males have learned to recognize the specific odor of the urine of a female in heat.
B) When the males smelled the odor, various neurons in their brains were stimulated.
C) Responding to the odor means locating reproductively receptive females.
D) Male cats’ hormones are triggered by the odor released by the female.
E) The odor serves as a releaser for the instinctive behavior of the males.
25) Which of the following examples describes a behavioral pattern that results from a proximate
cause?
A) A cat kills a mouse to obtain nutrition.
B) A male sheep fights with another male because it helps to improve its social position.
C) A female bird lays its eggs because the amount of daylight is decreasing slightly each day.
D) A goose squats and freezes motionless to escape a predator.
E) A cockroach runs into a crack in the wall and avoids being stepped on.
26) The proximate causes of behavior are interactions with the environment, but behavior is
ultimately shaped by
A) hormones.
B) evolution.
C) mating rituals.
D) pheromones.
E) the nervous system.
27) Animal communication involves what type of sensory information?
A) visual only
B) auditory only
C) olfactory only
D) tactile only
E) visual, auditory, olfactory, and tactile
28) What type of communication signal is long-lasting and works well even at night?
A) olfactory
B) visual
C) auditory
D) tactile
29) What type of signal is brief and can work among obstructions at night?
A) olfactory
B) visual
C) auditory
D) tactile
30) What type of signal is fast and requires daylight with no obstructions?
A) olfactory
B) visual
C) auditory
D) tactile
31) A chemical produced by an animal that serves as a communication to another animal of the
same species is called a
A) hormone.
B) visual signal.
C) pheromone.
D) tactile signal.
32) Circannual rhythms in birds are influenced by
A) periods of food availability.
B) reproductive readiness.
C) periods of daylight and darkness.
D) magnetic fields.
E) lunar cycles.
33) Upon returning to its hive, a European honeybee communicates to other worker bees the
presence of a nearby food source it has discovered by
A) vibrating its wings at varying frequencies.
B) performing a round dance.
C) performing a waggle dance.
D) visual cues.
34) Karl von Frisch demonstrated that European honeybees communicate the location of a
distant food source by
A) performing a round dance.
B) performing a waggle dance.
C) emanating minute amounts of stimulus pheromone.
D) varying wing vibration frequency.
35) Animals use pheromones to communicate
A) only reproductive readiness.
B) only species recognition.
C) only gender recognition.
D) only danger.
E) reproductive readiness, species recognition, gender recognition, and danger.
36) Displays of nocturnal mammals are usually
A) visual and auditory.
B) tactile and visual.
C) olfactory and auditory.
D) visual and olfactory.
E) tactile and auditory.
37) A cage containing male mosquitoes has a small earphone placed on top through which the
sound of a female mosquito is played. All the males immediately fly to the earphone and go
through all of the steps of copulation. What is the best explanation for this behavior?
A) The males learned to associate the sound with females.
B) Copulation is a fixed action pattern, and the female flight sound is a sign stimulus that
initiates it.
C) The sound is a form of a visual signal, which causes the males to attempt to mate.
D) The reproductive drive is so strong that when males are deprived of females, they will attempt
to mate with anything that has even the slightest female characteristic.
38) A stickleback fish will attack a fish model as long as the model has red coloring. What
animal behavior idea is manifested by this observation?
A) sign stimulus
B) migration
C) imprinting
D) associative learning
39) Parental protective behavior in turkeys is triggered by the cheeping sound of young chicks.
What term best applies to this behavior?
A) sign stimulus
B) migration
C) imprinting
D) associative learning
40) A type of learning that can occur only during a brief period of early life and results in a
behavior that is difficult to modify through later experiences is called
A) innate behavior.
B) imprinting.
C) spatial learning.
D) associative learning.
41) Salmon are hatched in freshwater streams, and then they migrate to the ocean. When an adult
salmon is ready to mate, it returns to the exact stream where it hatched. What term best applies to
this behavior?
A) sign stimulus
B) spatial learning
C) imprinting
D) associative learning
42) Scientists have tried raising endangered whooping cranes in captivity by using sandhill
cranes as foster parents. This strategy is no longer used because
A) fostered whooping crane chicks did not develop the necessary cues for migration.
B) the fostered whooping cranes’ critical period was variable such that different chicks imprinted
on different “mothers.”
C) sandhill crane parents rejected their fostered whooping crane chicks soon after incubation.
D) none of the fostered whooping cranes formed a mating pair-bond with another whooping
crane.
E) sandhill crane parents did not properly incubate whooping crane eggs.
43) A human baby performs a sucking behavior perfectly when it is put in the presence of the
nipple of its mother’s breast. What form of animal behavior is this?
A) associative learning
B) innate behavior
C) imprinting
D) altruistic behavior
E) agonistic behavior
44) A mother goat can recognize its own kid by smell. What form of animal behavior is this?
A) associative learning
B) innate behavior
C) imprinting
D) altruistic behavior
E) agonistic behavior
45) Which of the following would be the best experiment to conduct in order to determine if a
rabbit is capable of using associative learning?
A) Provide some food for the rabbit in a specific location and then cover it up with leaves.
Monitor the location to see if the rabbit returns to find the food at a later time.
B) Introduce the sound of a predator (e.g., coyote howl) to the rabbit’s habitat at a specific time
of the day. Monitor the rabbit’s activity when the sound is and is not played throughout the day.
C) Provide the rabbit with some food in a hard to reach location. Monitor the rabbit’s activity to
see if it is able to reach the food using a novel approach.
D) Expose the rabbit to pheromones and see if they stimulate the rabbit’s interest in mating even
though a potential mate is not available.
46) Sea otters use stones and rocks to break open abalone shells in order to eat the flesh inside. A
young sea otter observes other sea otters break open shells and thus learns how to perform this
task. What type of learning did the young sea otter use to be able to perform this task?
A) associative learning
B) spatial learning
C) imprinting
D) social learning
47) Animal behavior that includes searching for, capturing, and eating food is known as
A) innate behavior.
B) foraging.
C) imprinting.
D) altruistic behavior.