Soon after the coelom begins to form, a researcher injects a dye into the coelom of a
deuterostome embryo. Initially, the dye should be able to flow directly into the _____.
A) blastopore
B) blastocoel
C) archenteron
D) pseudocoelom
The Permian period ended and then rapid speciation occurred as new animal and plant
forms evolved. The most likely explanation for this is _____.
I) adaptive radiation
II) ecological opportunity
III) lack of competition
IV) morphological innovation
A) just one of the above
B) two of the above
C) three of the above
D) all of the above
What would be the best anatomical feature to look for to distinguish a gastropod from a
chiton?
A) presence of a muscular foot
B) presence of a rasp-like feeding structure
C) production of eggs
D) number of shell plates
The tertiary structure of a protein is the _____.
A) order in which amino acids are joined in a polypeptide chain
B) unique three-dimensional shape of the fully folded polypeptide
C) organization of a polypeptide chain into an α-helix or β-pleated sheet
D) overall protein structure resulting from the aggregation of two or more polypeptide
subunits
Assuming that they all belong to the same plant, arrange the following structures from
largest to smallest.
1. antheridia
2. gametes
3. gametophytes
A) 2, 3, 1
B) 2, 1, 3
C) 3, 2, 1
D) 3, 1, 2
When Mendel crossed yellow-seeded and green-seeded pea plants, all the offspring
were yellow seeded. When he took these F1 yellow-seeded plants and crossed them to
green-seeded plants, what genotypic ratio was expected?
A) 1:2:1
B) 3:1
C) 1:1
D) 1:1:1:1
In 1997, Dolly the sheep was cloned. Which of the following processes was used?
A) replication and dedifferentiation of adult stem cells from sheep bone marrow
B) separation of an early stage sheep blastula into separate cells, one of which was
incubated in a surrogate ewe
C) fusion of an adult cell’s nucleus with an enucleated sheep egg, followed by
incubation in a surrogate
D) isolation of stem cells from a lamb embryo and production of a zygote equivalent
Given its mode of reproduction and internal structures, which of the following should
be expected to occur in Giardia at some stage of its life cycle?
A) separation (segregation) of daughter chromosomes
B) crossing over
C) meiosis
Many plants flower in response to day-length cues. Which of the following statements
best summarizes this phenomenon?
A) As a rule, short-day plants flower in the summer.
B) As a rule, long-day plants flower in the spring or fall.
C) Long-day plants flower in response to long days, not short nights.
D) Flowering in short-day and long-day plants is controlled by phytochrome.
For a neuron with an initial membrane potential at -70 mV, an increase in the movement
of potassium ions out of that neuron’s cytoplasm would result in the _____.
A) depolarization of the neuron
B) hyperpolarization of the neuron
C) replacement of potassium ions with sodium ions
D) replacement of potassium ions with calcium ions
The major function of the medicinal compounds in plants is to _____.
A) attract pollinators for seed dispersal
B) attract insects and birds to spread seeds and fruits
C) defend the plant against herbivores
D) defend the plant against microbes
The active ingredient orlistat acts to decrease the amount of fat that is absorbed by
attaching to enzymes that digest fat. Which of the following are potential targets of
orlistat?
A) salivary amylase
B) pepsidase
C) pancreatic lipase
D) secretin
Healthy individuals of Paramecium bursaria contain photosynthetic algal
endosymbionts of the genus Chlorella. When within their hosts, the algae are referred to
as zoochlorellae. In aquaria with light coming from only one side, P. bursaria gather at
the well-lit side, whereas other species of Paramecium gather at the opposite side. The
zoochlorellae provide their hosts with glucose and oxygen, and P. bursaria provides its
zoochlorellae with protection and motility. P. bursaria can lose its zoochlorellae in two
ways: (1) if kept in darkness, the algae will die; and (2) if prey items (mostly bacteria)
are absent from its habitat, P. bursaria will digest its zoochlorellae.
Which term best describes the symbiotic relationship of well-fed P. bursaria to their
zoochlorellae?
A) mutualistic
B) parasitic
C) predatory
D) pathogenic
Which statements about dispersal are correct?
I) Dispersal is a common component of the life cycles of plants and animals.
II) Colonization of devastated areas after floods or volcanic eruptions primarily depends
upon climate.
III) Seeds are important dispersal stages in the life cycles of most flowering plants.
IV) Dispersal occurs only on an evolutionary time scale.
A) only I and III
B) only II and IV
C) only I, II, and IV
D) only II, III, and IV
Partial or complete loss of hearing (deafness) can be caused by damage to the _____.
I) axons of the neurons associated with each hair cell that carry information to the brain
II) hair cells (the sensory receptors) in the cochlea
III) tympanic membrane, or eardrum
A) only II
B) only III
C) only I and II
D) I, II, and III
Which sensory distinction is NOT encoded by a difference in neuron identity?
A) red and green
B) loud and faint
C) salty and sweet
D) spicy and cool
An anthropologist discovers the fossilized heart of an extinct animal. The evidence
indicates that the organism’s heart was large, was well-formed, and had four chambers,
with no connection between the right and left sides. A reasonable conclusion supported
by these observations is that the _____.
A) animal had evolved from birds
B) animal was endothermic and had a high metabolic rate
C) animal was most closely related to alligators and crocodiles
D) species had little to no need to regulate blood pressure
What would be the expected effect on plants if the atmospheric CO2 concentration was
doubled?
A) All plants would experience increased rates of photosynthesis.
B) C3 plants would have faster growth; C4 plants would be minimally affected.
C) C4 plants would have faster growth; C3 plants would be minimally affected.
D) C3 plants would have faster growth; C4 plants would have slower growth.
The complexity and variety of organic molecules is due to _____.
A) the chemical versatility of carbon atoms
B) the variety of rare elements in organic molecules
C) the diverse bonding patterns of nitrogen
D) their interaction with water
If a patient has an injury in the brain stem, which of the following would be observed?
A) auditory hallucinations
B) visual hallucinations
C) an inability to regulate body temperature
D) an inability to regulate heart function
The following figure depicts the outline of a large fairy ring that has appeared overnight
in an open meadow, as viewed from above. The fairy ring represents the furthest
advance of this mycelium through the soil. Locations A-D are all 0.5 meters below the
soil surface.
In which of the following human mycoses should one expect to find a growth pattern
most similar to that of the mycelium that produced the fairy ring?
A) skin mycoses
B) coccidiomycosis (lung infection)
C) systemic (bloodborne) Candida infection
D) Sporothrix infection of lymphatic vessels
One of the complications of Alzheimer’s disease is an interference with learning and
memory. This disease would most likely involve _____.
A) changes in the concentration of ions in the extracellular fluid surrounding neurons
B) changes in myelination of axons
C) molecular and structural changes at synapses
D) structural changes to ion channels in axons
The nuclear lamina is an array of filaments on the inner side of the nuclear membrane.
If a method were found that could cause the lamina to fall into disarray, what would you
most likely expect to be the immediate consequence?
A) the loss of all nuclear function
B) the inability of the nucleus to divide during cell division
C) a change in the shape of the nucleus
D) failure of chromosomes to carry genetic information
There are advantages and disadvantages to adaptations. Animals that are endothermic
are likely to be at the greatest disadvantage in _____.
A) very cold environments
B) very hot environments
C) environments with a constant food source
D) environments with variable and limited food sources
Although transposable elements and short tandem repeats (STRs) are repetitive DNAs,
they differ in that _____.
A) STRs occur within exons; transposable elements occur within introns
B) STRs occur within introns; transposable elements occur within exons
C) the repeated unit in STRs is clustered one after another; transposable element repeats
are scattered throughout the genome
D) the repeated unit in STRs is much larger than the repeated unit of transposable
elements
Which of the following statements comparing respiration in fish and in mammals is
correct?
A) The respiratory medium for fish carries more oxygen than the respiratory medium of
mammals.
B) A countercurrent exchange mechanism between the respiratory medium and blood
flow is seen in mammals but not in fish.
C) The movement of the respiratory medium in mammals is bidirectional, but in fish it
is unidirectional.
D) In blood, oxygen is primarily transported by plasma in fish, but by red blood cells in
mammals.
How would acidification of seawater affect marine organisms? Acidification of
seawater would _____.
A) increase dissolved carbonate concentrations and promote faster growth of corals and
shell-building animals
B) decrease dissolved carbonate concentrations and promote faster growth of corals and
shell-building animals
C) increase dissolved carbonate concentrations and hinder growth of corals and
shell-building animals
D) decrease dissolved carbonate concentrations and hinder growth of corals and
shell-building animals
Looking at the data in the figure above, what can be said about survival and clutch size?
A) Animals with low survival tend to have smaller clutch sizes.
B) Large clutch size correlates with low survival.
C) Animals with high survival tend to have larger clutch sizes.
D) Probability of survivorship does not correlate with clutch size.
Males are more often affected by sex-linked traits than females because _____.
A) male hormones such as testosterone often alter the effects of mutations on the X
chromosome
B) female hormones such as estrogen often compensate for the effects of mutations on
the X chromosome
C) X chromosomes in males generally have more mutations than X chromosomes in
females
D) males are hemizygous for the X chromosome
Canada thistle is a dicot that spreads via growth from lateral roots. You want to use a
root miner insect for weed control. What would you need to observe in the underground
growth to verify that this weed spreads via lateral roots and not by underground stems?
A) an epidermis at the periphery
B) vascular bundles in a ring around the outside of a cross section
C) a vascular bundle in the center surrounded by parenchyma tissue
D) meristematic tissue at the tips of the branches
Encouraging the growth (via nutrient fertilization) of photosynthetic protists in marine
environments may help reduce global warming because _____.
A) photosynthetic protists are primary consumers in many marine food chains
B) photosynthetic protists fix atmospheric carbon dioxide, decreasing atmospheric
carbon dioxide levels
C) the increased oxygen consumption by large populations of photosynthetic protists
will increase photosynthesis in land plants
D) photosynthetic protists would release a lot of oxygen, and fertilizing them would
increase levels of oxygen in the atmosphere