BI 173 - First Exam - 1997

Answer Key


Multiple Choice. Place the letter of the choice that best answers the question on the line to the left. Two Points Each.

NOTE: "e" answers are never the correct answer.

_______ 1. Subgroups in a starting population move over time into different niches and evolve 
                    into new species in the process known as
                            a. Coevolution                               b. Homologous adaptation
                            c. Adaptive radiation                     d. Analogous adaptation
                                e. It's one o' them science-type, biological thingies, right...?


_______ 2. A cell generally gets rid of built-up waste materials like carbon dioxide and ammonia 
                    into surrounding fluids by
                            a. Passive transport                             b. Osmosis
                            c. Active transport                              d. Exocytosis
                            e. Do we have to discuss waste materials so early in the morning?


_______ 3. Cells may be organized into
                            a. Protoplasm                                                         b. Organs
                            c. Tissues                                                               d. Taxons
                                                  e. Unions with itty-bitty picket lines


_______ 4. The Law of Independent Assortment does not work in cases of
                            a. Mutations                             b. Macroevolution
                            c. Linkage                                d. Homozygous recessives
                                                 e. Diplomatic Immunity


_______5. How do codons work?
                            a. One protein to each nuclear carbohydrate
                            b. One DNA base to each amino acid
                            c. One DNA base to every three amino acids
                            d. Three DNA bases to each amino acid
                            e. When you're going out, with a head cold, you put your codon

 

_______6. Which would be a pair of analogous but non-homologous structures?
                            a. Bat wing & human hand     
                            b. Octopus tentacle & chimpanzee hand
                            c. Chimpanzee hand & human hand 
                            d. Whale tail & lobster claw
                            e. What I need is a term to describe the pain my brain is feeling...


_______7. Which statement would support one of the ideas put forth byLamarck?
                            a. Traits can be passed along through the generations
                            b. Adaptations vary according to the surroundings of an organism
                            c. Mutations may provide material for large "jumps" of evolution
                            d. The history of life on Earth has reached its high point in
                                        the evolution of humans
                            e. Americans are barbarians (he was French, after all...)


_______8. Divergent evolution is most likely to have produced
                            a. Similar body shapes in sharks and whales
                            b. Pandas in the raccoon family
                            c. Cockroaches' ability to live comfortably with humans
                            d. The fossil record for the development of the horse
                            e. What I want to know is, where did fuzzy dice come from?


_______9. According to Neodarwinists, what in a population is driven by natural selection?
                            a. Allele frequencies                      b. Acquired characteristics
                            c. Possible adaptations                 d. Fossilization potential
                            e. An overwhelming desire in one gender to drink beer and watch football


_______10. Which are more likely to leave fossilized remains?
                            a. Large, bony-skeletoned land animals
                            b. Soft-bodied lake dwellers
                            c. Sap-loving insects
                            d. Ocean animals with hard shells
                            e. Anything made by the Hostess corporation - Twinkies, especially


_______11. Gametes are produced by which process?
                            a. Mitosis                             b. Meiosis                            c. Fertilization
                            d. Fusion        e. Gamete production (too bad "e" is never right, huh?)


_______12. Thomas Malthus made a name for himself writing about
                            a. Geology                                        b. Evolution
                            c. Genetics                                        d. Population
                            e. Airspeed velocity of coconut-laden African swallows
                                            (don't worry if this makes no sense)


_______13. A dominant trait exerts its dominance as
                            a. Gene superiority                             b. Allele selection
                            c. Protein effects                                d. Codon-translation control
                                    e. Producing huge feelings of guilt to get its own way


_______14. As chromosome number increases,
                            a. Diversity and mitosis complexity both increase
                            b. Diversity and mitosis complexity both decrease
                            c. Diversity decreases and mitosis complexity increases
                            d. Diversity increases and mitosis complexity decreases
                            e. You mean I was supposed to be paying attention to this?


_______15. What apparently happened during the Cambrian Explosion?
                            a. Plants first appeared
                            b. All of the known major animal phyla appeared
                            c. Heterotrophs became autotrophs
                            d. The first movement of animals onto land
                            e. The Soup hit the fan


_______16. The current best definition of species is based upon reproductive
                            a. Offspring results                             b. Structures
                            c. Mutations                                       d. Behavior
                            e. Effects of money, status, and looks ...and mind-altering substances


_______17. The organic molecules present in the Primordial Soup most likely came from
                            a. The original material that formed the Earth
                            b. The very first living things
                            c. The first photosynthesis
                            d. The Cambrian Explosion
                            e. Campbell's - Mmmm Good!


_______18. There is an excellent chance that an organism with homologous chromosomes 
                    would be
                            a. An animal                             b. A sexual reproducer
                            c. An asexual reproducer          d. All of these
                                        e. Seeking some sort of therapy



Short Answer.

Pick TEN Questions to answer in the spaces provided.
NOTE: if you answer MORE than ten, only the first ten will be corrected. Four Points each.

Partial credit is possible.

1. According to Neodarwinists, what are two possible responses for a population to environmental change?




2. Draw a pH scale, labeling it with the proper numbers and the types of solutions described by those numbers.




3. Give one set of differences that make prokaryotes distinctly different from eukaryotes.




4. Why is an imaging system like an electron beam needed for microscopy of items below a certain size?



5. What generally-accepted view was challenged by the discovery of fossilized extinct animals?



6. Name four characteristics something should have to be considered alive.




7. As evidence for evolution, the fossil record has strengths and weaknesses. Give one of each.

Strength:


Weakness:


8. Briefly explain the difference between mitosis and binary fission.




9. Name the four main types of biological molecules.




10. Define punctuated evolution.




11. Briefly explain the two parts of the fluid mosaic model.

Fluid:


Mosaic:


12. What is meant by Mendel's genetic Law of Segregation?




13. What is a syncytium?




14. Name the two types of bonds most important to biological molecules.




15. What influence did Charles Lyell's ideas have upon Darwin's Theory? (We're not looking for the name of the idea, but its manner of influence.) Just one is enough.




16. What is crossing over (the biological term, not the death experience this feels like)?




17. Many factors that had not been described in Darwin's time have huge influences on the evolution of organisms. Name two.




18. Evolutionary biologists may compare organisms' chemistry looking for resemblances. What are two different types of chemistry so compared?

 

 

 

LONG ANSWER.  

Select and answer completely any four of the following questions.
Note: if you answer more than four, only the first four will be corrected.

Six Points Each. Partial credit is possible.

1. Fill in:

Asexual reproduction:

Definition:
Main Advantage:
Main Disadvantage:
Sexual reproduction:

Definition:
Main Advantage:
Main Disadvantage:

2. Briefly state Darwin's Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection.








3. The Hardy-Weinberg Principle states that rare alleles will hang around in a population indefinitely provided that four conditions are met by the population. What are three?












4. Define mutation.



What three effects may be produced by molecular-level mutations?

5. Name and briefly define the steps (there are at least four, possibly more depending upon how you determine them) followed in the scientific method when it involves experimentation.












6. Name and briefly describe three different types of isolation that can lead to speciation.







7. Name and give a brief description of function for six different structures found inside an animal cell.






8. For three different types of coevolution, give examples from actual species (not general types, but specific examples). Common names for species are fine. If you can give scientific names, you should be writing this test.













BONUS QUESTIONS ON BACK.

BONUS QUESTIONS. Answer as many or as few as you wish. You can't lose points on the rest of the exam by getting these wrong. Partial credit is possible.

The numbers on the pH scale have an actual, descriptive meaning. What is it, exactly?  Four Points.




Before aerobic respirers evolved to utilize it, oxygen was a potentially toxic material. What about oxygen made it so? Three Points.




Darwin seems to have spent as much time as possible ashore during the Beagle voyage. Historians have suggested two reasons for this. For Three Points Each, what are they?




What incident seems to have forced Darwin to publish his Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection? Two Points.




What flaw in logic clouds much of what is said by researchers in cladistics? Three Points.




What have recent studies indicated about human cultures that permit incest? Three Points.

 

 

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