ap bio exam

Which of the following is probably the best explanation for the fact that Antarctic penguins cannot fly, although there is evidence that millions of years ago their ancestors could do so?

Ancestral penguins without large wings were better able to swim and feed in the water; therefore they passed their genes for shorter wing structure on to their offspring.

The TAS2R38 gene encodes a receptor protein that influences the ability to taste bitterness. The gene has two alleles: a dominant, wild-type allele that enables an individual (taster) to taste bitterness and a recessive, mutant allele that interferes with the ability of an individual (non-taster) to taste bitterness. Three single nucleotide mutations in the coding region of the TAS2R38 gene are associated with the non-taster allele. The nucleotide present at the three positions are shown in the table below.A cladogram representing the evolutionary relatedness of selected primates is shown below.Which of the following scientific questions will best help researchers determine when the non-taster allele arose in the evolutionary history of the selected primates?

Does the non-taster allele exist in any nonhuman primate populations?

A researcher is studying two different species. Which of the following sets of observations would best support the claim that the two species have structural similarities as a result of convergent evolution?

Genetic similarity- low//function of structure- same// form of structure- different

Experimental evidence shows that the process of glycolysis is present and virtually identical in organisms from all three domains, Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya. Which of the following hypotheses could be best supported by this evidence?

Glycolysis is a universal energy-releasing process and therefore suggests a common ancestor for all forms of life.

Which organism would the researchers most likely predict to be the most distantly related to eukaryotes?

Organism I

A scientist is attempting to provide support for the hypothesis that RNARNA was the first genetic material. Which of the following would be a workable alternate hypothesis?

RNARNA can be observed to self-replicate without the assistance of proteins, while DNADNA always requires protein-based enzymes to replicate.

In an experiment, 100 mice were released into a field to which no other mice had access. Immediately after their release, a representative sample of mice was captured, their fur color was recorded, and they were returned to the field. After twenty years, a representative sample of mice was captured and the distribution of fur color was again recorded. Which of the following could best explain the change in fur color distribution, as shown in the table above?

The field was primarily composed of light-colored soil and little vegetation, affording gray mice protection from predators.

Over many years of a breeding program, a zoo has an established population of foxes that is well adapted for living in captivity. A representative sample of wild foxes from the neighboring forest was used to start the zoo population. A study was conducted to compare the behavior of the zoo fox population with the wild fox population in the neighboring forest. The behaviors of equal numbers of foxes from each population were assessed. Each fox's behavior was scored on a continuum from docile to aggressive based on its interaction with a trained behaviorist. The data is shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. Aggressive behavior in zoo and wild fox populations The phenotypic variation in behavior between the two populations can best be described as resulting from

artificial selection

Lobe-finned fishes were present in the oceans of the world approximately 400 million years ago. The first tetrapod (vertebrates that had limbs and could move on land) date to about 365 million years ago. One hypothesis states that early tetrapods evolved from lobe-finned fishes. Which of the following is the best plan for testing the hypothesis?

comparing the arrangements of bones in the fins of lobe-finned fishes and limbs of the earliest tetrapods

The condition in which there are barriers to successful interbreeding between individuals of different species in the same community is referred to as

reproductive isolation