BIO 100A Learning curve

Scientists have evidence that earth formed:

4.5 billion years ago.

Mammals experienced significant adaptive radiation about:

65 million years ago.

Animals without backbones represent more than ______ of the total species in the animal kingdom.

95%

Which one of the following is not a common feature among bacteria?

All of the above are common features among bacteria.

Birds and crocodiles share a more recent common ancestor than either group shares with lizards or mammals. Lizards and crocodiles have a common ancestor also shared by birds. Which of the following statements about the relationships among these organisms is most accurate?

All of the above.

Which of the following is an example of a protist?

All of the above.

What role do analogous traits play in constructing phylogenies?

Analogous traits do not play a role in constructing phylogenies.

The most commonly accepted "tree of life" suggests that, after the origin of life, which of the following events occurred?

Bacteria arose from the first self-replicating, metabolizing cells.

The three domains of life are:

Bacteria, Archaea, Eukarya

Which of the following is not likely to be an innate behavior?

Birds avoid eating distinctively colored monarch butterflies because they taste bad.

Why is it so much easier for an infant to learn a complex language than for a college student to learn biology?

Both the second and third choices are true.

Nearly every type of canine, including dogs of both genders, walks in a tight circle before lying down. This circling behavior occurs wherever the dog is, including on a kitchen or concrete floor. How might this behavior have evolved?

Circling in nature may better prepare a "bed" and serve as a check for predators.

Why is it important to compare DNA sequences in the construction of an evolutionary tree?

Convergent evolution can cause distantly related organisms to appear closely related. DNA sequence analysis can show that they are actually distantly related.

Protists are all alike in that they all are:

Eukaryotic

Which statement most accurately describes what we know about the rate of evolutionary change?

For a given organism, the pace of evolution depends on the selective forces acting on the population.

Why do human taste preferences exist?

Human feeding choices influence energy intake and, consequently, fitness.

Which of the following is true about group selection?

It leads to unselfish individual behavior that benefits the population or species.

Which of the following statements correctly distinguishes between microevolution and macroevolution?

Macroevolution includes speciation, while microevolution does not.

Which of the following is not true about the tempo of evolution?

None of the above are true concerning the current view of the tempo of evolution.

Which of the following is a correct statement about sympatric or allopatric speciation?

Polyploidy is a type of sympatric speciation.

Which of the following statements about group selection is true?

Selfish behavior is favored over group selection.

Which of the following describes the relationship between systematics and phylogeny?

Systematics examines the relatedness, or phylogeny, of all species.

As mammals evolved, there was a gradual transition from bodies with short legs to bodies with longer legs, held vertically beneath the trunk of the animal. Which of the following was a result of this anatomical change in early mammals?

The animals could run faster after prey.

Which of these is a condition necessary for reciprocal altruism to evolve?

The benefits to the recipient are significantly greater than the costs to the donor.

A goose sees an egg outside of its nest. Which of the following potential responses by the goose is a fixed action pattern?

The goose uses a side-to-side motion to bring the egg back, and even if the egg is taken away during the process, continues using that motion back to the nest.

You discover a new species of bird in which the females have bright, extravagant plumage whereas the males are very small and drab. What predictions can't you make about this new species?

The males must be providing the larger gamete.

Which of the following statements about wings is false?

The most recent common ancestor of bats and insects had wings.

Which of the following is true of all animals?

They are capable of movement at some stage of their life cycle.

In the Urey-Miller experiment, the electrical sparks served what purpose?

They were used to simulate lightning in earth's early atmosphere.

Many people question whether or not viruses are alive. What is the main piece of evidence supporting the idea that they are not alive?

Viruses can only have metabolic activity by taking over the metabolism of other organisms.

Which statement about viruses is true?

Viruses do not have metabolic activity.

A dog baring its teeth and a balloonfish puffing up its body are both examples of:

Visual communication

Which of the following are not homologous features?

a bird's wing and a beetle's wing

Stinky "morning breath" is caused by:

accumulation of sulfur-containing waste products from anaerobic bacteria.

In a polygynous mating system:

all except the fourth choice are correct

The biological species concept cannot be applied to:

all of the above

If a local climate grows wetter and a river splits the habitat in two, a single population of organisms can be split into two separate populations. These populations will have different evolutionary paths over time, to the point where they may no longer be able to interbreed. What is this an example of?

allopatric speciation

It is mistakenly believed that the rapid evolutionary changes of punctuated equilibrium are the result of some mechanism of evolution other than natural selection, thus seeming to undermine evolutionary theory. This belief is mistaken because:

although the punctuated change appears inordinately fast on a geological time scale, the per-generation rates of change to produce it are relatively slow, much the same as the rates that have been measured for evolving populations.

_______ encompasses any and all of the actions performed by an organism.

behavior

Which of the following characteristics define an arthropod?

bilateral symmetry, gut develops from front to back, and grows by molting

Young herring gulls peck on a red spot on their mother's beak in order to get her to feed them. If the mother's red spot is covered experimentally with paint, the chicks won't peck. This begging behavior is:

both the first and the third answers are true

Communication:

can be shaped by natural selection.

A group of birds fly off the mainland and end up on a distant set of islands. Once there, they find a large number of opportunities for diversification and adaptation. This situation is best described as which of the following?

colonization event

Nearly one-third of amphibian populations are facing extinction. Which of the following does not attribute to the universal decline in amphibian populations?

competition from mammals

Truly altruistic behavior:

conflicts with the theory of natural selection.

In comparing the streamlined nature of a dolphin and that of a shark, you conclude that the streamline feature evolved independently in sharks and dolphins. This common characteristic most likely is the result of:

convergent evolution.

Crabs, lobsters, and barnacles all belong to which group?

crustaceans

Which organisms are considered deuterostomes?

echinoderms

This Belding's ground squirrel is a:

female who has just seen a hawk.

In mammals, as well as many other species, males generally compete for females, whereas females mate with only one or a few males. The best explanation for this phenomenon is:

females have higher parental investment.

Evolution would tend to favor:

greater clarity and unambiguous communication.

When evolution leads to behaviors that are good for a species or population but detrimental to the individual exhibiting the behavior, this process is called:

group selection

A signal that cannot be faked and carries the most accurate information about a situation or individual is known as an ______ signal.

honest

In their experiment, what were Urey and Miller attempting to demonstrate about earth's early environment?

how complex organic molecules could have arisen

Natural selection favors behaviors that might be risky for an individual but beneficial for their close relatives because of:

inclusive fitness

Which of the following pairs of organisms is probably monophyletic?

large cactus finch, vampire finch

Which of the following would not reduce parental uncertainty?

males challenging each other to duels

The three phenomena that tend to trigger adaptive radiations are:

mass extinctions, colonization events, and evolutionary innovations.

The definition of a species:

may be all of the above EXCEPT the first choice.

The situation in which males and females are physically and behaviorally similar is called sexual ____________.

monomorphism

In the plant kingdom, all of the species are descended from a single common ancestor. In terms of phylogeny, what type of tree of life is this?

monophyletic

Which node in this diagram represents the most recent common ancestor of mice, rats, humans, and birds?

node B

Researchers have found that mixtures of __________ placed in water or salt solutions tend to spontaneously form small spherical units that resemble living cells.

phospholipids

The taxonomic rank that includes classes but not domains is:

phylum.

A dog and a pig attempt to mate. We are aware that these are two different animal species. But what is the best explanation for the barrier that makes it impossible for them to successfully mate?

prezygotic traits

Mate guarding is a reproductive tactic that functions to:

reduce parentity uncertainty

A fixed action pattern:

runs to completion once started

Song and bright colors make male birds conspicuous to predators. The large, gaudy tail of the peacock may be a hindrance in activities such as feeding and flight. Yet these features evolved because of:

sexual selection

All groups of animals have nervous systems except:

sponges

The fact that RNA can catalyze reactions necessary for replication gave rise to:

the RNA world hypothesis.

Phase 1 of the creation of life on earth was the formation of small molecules containing carbon and hydrogen. Phase 2 was the formation of self-replicating, information-containing molecules. Phase 3 was:

the development of a membrane, enabling metabolism and creating the first cells.

Which of the following scenarios fits the definition of macroevolution?

the divergence of the eastern and western meadowlark birds into two different species

Eukaryotes likely arose from:

the fusion of a bacterium and an archaea-like prokaryote.

Which of the following accurately states the goal of biological classification?

the grouping of organisms into categories that reflects their evolutionary history

Which of the following is not a pair of homologous structures?

the wing of a housefly and the eye of a dog

Sponges are sessile organisms as adults. They are classified as animals because:

they exhibit movement as juveniles.

Urey and Miller's experimental setup was able to produce all twenty of the amino acids found in proteins. Some amino acids contain the element oxygen. Which starting material in the Urey-Miller experiment was the source of this element?

water

The sex with less energetic investment in reproduction:

will compete among themselves for access to the higher-investing sex.