Bio 103 Chippandale Questions
B
"Goose bumps" on our skin were used as an example of? A) an evolutionary adaptation. B) a vestigial characteristic. C) convergent evolution. D) parallel evolution. E) genetic drift.
B
Which of the following pieces of information would give the best estimate of an individual organism's Darwinian Fitness? A) The total number of offspring produced in its lifetime. B) The number of grandoffspring it produces. C) A detailed measurement of its "fit" to the environment (camouflage, foraging ability etc.). D) Its relative body size.
E
Which of the following processes provides a source of variation for evolution in an animal? A) mistakes in protein folding B) mutations in the somatic tissues C) mutations in the germ line D) novel meiotic recombinants E) both C & D
B
Which of the following statements about natural selection is a misconception? A) Natural selection involves differential reproductive success. B) Natural selection occurs when individuals evolve. C) In natural selection, traits that are favoured depend on current environmental conditions. D) Natural selection occurs as a result of competition among individuals in a population. E) Natural selection acts on heritable variations in a population.
D
Who, with Charles Darwin, was the co-proposer of descent with modification as the main driver of evolutionary change? A) Julian Huxley. B) Theodosius Dobzhansky. C) J.B.S. Haldane D) Alfred Russell Wallace. E) Darwin actually first proposed the idea.
E
You sample a population of butterflies and find that 56% are heterozygous at a particular locus. What should be the frequency of the recessive allele in this population? A) 0.07 B) 0.08 C) 0.09 D) 0.70 E) Allele frequency cannot be determined from this information.
A
Zika virus was first isolated where? A) From a monkey in Africa. B) From a mosquito in Micronesia. C) From a pregnant woman in Brazil. D) From a chicken in China.
B
1) In exploring a previously unsurveyed region of New Guinea you collect a hundred butterflies. You have to send a report back by satellite phone to your supervisor about the probable diversity of species in the area. Which species concept will you have to use? A) biological B) phylogenetic C) ecological D) morphological
A
10) Genetic mutations in asexually reproducing organisms lead to more evolutionary change than do genetic mutations in sexually reproducing ones because A) asexually reproducing organisms, but not sexually reproducing organisms, pass all mutations on to their offspring. B) asexually reproducing organisms devote more time and energy to the process of reproduction than do sexually reproducing organisms. C) sexually reproducing organisms can produce more offspring in a given time than can sexually reproducing organisms. D) more genetic variation is present in organisms that reproduce asexually than is present in those that reproduce sexually. E) asexually reproducing organisms have more dominant genes than organisms that reproduce sexually.
E
11) Asexual reproduction results in greater reproductive success than does sexual reproduction when A) pathogens are rapidly diversifying. B) a species has accumulated numerous deleterious mutations. C) there is some potential for rapid overpopulation. D) a species is expanding into diverse geographic settings. E) a species is in stable and favourable environments.
B
12) Sexual reproduction A) allows animals to conserve resources and reproduce only during optimal conditions. B) can produce diverse phenotypes that may enhance survival of a population in a changing environment. C) yields more numerous offspring more rapidly than is possible with asexual reproduction. D) enables males and females to remain isolated from each other while rapidly colonizing habitats. E) guarantees that both parents will provide care for each offspring.
C
13) For water fleas of the genus Daphnia, switching from a pattern of asexual reproduction to sexual reproduction coincides with A) environmental conditions becoming more favourable for offspring. B) greater abundance of food resources for offspring. C) periods of temperature or food stresses on adults. D) completion of puberty. E) exhaustion of an individual's supply of eggs.
C
14) You discover a species of fish, but you are unable to observe its mating behaviour. The male is highly ornamented compared with the female. On this basis, you can conclude that the species is probably A) monogamous. B) polyandrous. C) polygamous. D) andromous.
A
15) In polyandrous mating systems with male parental care, which of the following is likely to apply with respect to display traits: A) females will be more competitive or ornamented than males are. B) males will be more competitive or ornamented than females are. C) the sexes will be usually be monomorphic. D) the sexes will usually exhibit phenotypic plasticity in display traits.
C
16) Which of the various species concepts distinguishes two species based on the degree of genetic exchange between their gene pools? A) phylogenetic B) ecological C) biological D) morphological
E
18) Two related species of meadow voles have been separated for many generations by dense forest habitat. Human's log the forest, thereby bringing the vole species back into contact. Which of the following is the most likely outcome when they meet? A) They interbreed but the hybrids are inviable; no gene flow between species occurs. B) They interbreed freely and produce fertile hybrid offspring; extensive gene flow occurs. C) They remain separate in the extremes of their ranges but develop a persistent hybrid zone in the area of overlap; little gene flow occurs. D) They do not attempt to interbreed where the ranges overlap; there is no gene flow. E) We need more information to predict what the outcome will be.
A
19) Autopolyploidy occurs through which process: A) syngamy of unreduced gametes of the same species to form a zygote. B) two independent errors in mitosis. C) inclusion of two complete diploid genomes from two different species to form a zygote.. D) long term geographic isolation. E) strong natural selection favouring an increased ploidy.
B
2) Rank the following from most general to most specific. 1. gametic isolation 2. reproductive isolating mechanism 3. pollen-stigma incompatibility 4. prezygotic isolating mechanism A) 2, 3, 1, 4 B) 2, 4, 1, 3 C) 4, 1, 2, 3 D) 4, 2, 1, 3 E) 2, 1, 4, 3
D
20) A narrow hybrid zone separates the toad species Bombina bombina and Bombina variegate in Europe. In the hybrid zone, which should be true for loci carrying different alleles that are fixed in each parental species? A) Trick question: the species are such close relatives that such alleles should be absent. B) Allele frequencies should be nearly the same as the allele frequencies in toad populations distant from the hybrid zone. C) The alleles' heterozygosity should be lower among the hybrid toads there. D) The allele frequency on one side of the hybrid zone should be roughly inverse to the frequency on the opposite side of the hybrid zone
A
21) The cichlid species diversity in Lake Victoria is in rapid decline due to which process? A) fusion. B) stability. C) geographic isolation. D) polyploidy. E) reinforcement.
B
22) What is currently believed true of the Cambrian explosion? A) There are no fossils in geological strata that are older than the Cambrian explosion. B) All major animal phyla appear abruptly at the beginning of the Cambrian. C) Only the fossils of microorganisms are found in geological strata older than the Cambrian explosion. D) The major phyla were present millions of years before the explosion, which really marks the beginning of organisms with hard parts that were well preserved as fossils. E) The Cambrian explosion marks the appearance of grazers and suspension-feeding animals in the fossil record.
A
23) Which of the following statements provides the strongest evidence that prokaryotes evolved before eukaryotes? A) The oldest fossilized cells resemble prokaryotes. B) Prokaryotic cells lack nuclei. C) The meteorites that have struck Earth contain fossils only of prokaryotes. D) Laboratory experiments have produced liposomes abiotically. E) Liposomes closely resemble prokaryotic cells.
D
24) Bagworm moth caterpillars feed on evergreens and carry a silken case or bag around with them in which they eventually pupate. Adult female bagworm moths are larval in appearance; they lack the wings and other structures of the adult male and instead retain the appearance of a caterpillar even though they are sexually mature and can lay eggs within the bag. This is a good example of A) allometric growth. B) hypomorphosis. C) sympatric speciation. D) heterochrony. E) changes in homeotic genes.
B
25) The loss of ventral spines by modern freshwater sticklebacks is due to natural selection operating on the phenotypic effects of Pitx1 gene via ... A) duplication (gain in number). B) silencing (loss of expression). C) elimination (loss). D) mutation (change).
A
26) External fertilization often yields more offspring than does internal fertilization. However, internal fertilization offers the advantage that ... A) sperm may fertilize eggs more efficiently in a closed environment. B) it requires less time and energy to be devoted to reproduction. C) the larger number of offspring produced often receive a greater amount of parental investment. D) it permits the most rapid population increase. E) it requires expression of fewer genes and maximizes genetic stability.
B
27) Organisms with a reproductive pattern that produces shelled amniotic eggs generally A) end up having a higher embryo mortality rate than do organisms with unprotected embryos. B) invest most of their reproductive energy in the embryonic and early postnatal development of their offspring. C) invest more energy in parenting than do placental animals. D) produce more gametes than do those animals with external fertilization and development. E) lower their embryo mortality rate to less than one in a thousand.
A
28) In guppies, females may copy the mate choice of conspecifics even if it means mating with a different male than she would choose with no other females present. This decision may increase A) the likelihood of producing attractive male offspring. B) the number of resulting offspring. C) paternal care of offspring. D) survivorship of offspring. E) her own survivorship through reduced harassment and sexual conflict.
C
29) The frequency of a particular throat colour morph of males in a population of side- blotched lizards in any given season is most strongly determined by: A) the frequency of homozygous recessive genotypes in the population. B) annual ambient temperature—blue = cold; orange = normal; yellow = hot. C) negative frequency-dependence of fitness in last year's population. D) body size: large males monopolize reproductive success.
C
3) Two species of salamanders belonging to the same genus occasionally mate, but the offspring fail to develop and hatch. What is the mechanism that keeps the two species separate? A) the prezygotic barrier called hybrid sterility B) Dobzhansky-Muller incompatibilities. C) the postzygotic barrier called hybrid inviability D) gametic isolation
A
30) The life history strategy of the Pacific salmon is referred to as: A) semelparity. B) iteroparity. C) turbidity. D) polycarpy.
C
4) Theoretically, the production of sterile mules by interbreeding between female horses (mares) and male donkeys (jacks) should A) result in the extinction of one of the two parental species. B) cause convergent evolution. C) strengthen postzygotic barriers between horses and donkeys. D) weaken the intrinsic reproductive barriers between horses and donkeys. E) eventually result in the formation of a single species from the two parental species.
B
5) Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and gray wolves (Canis lupus) can interbreed to produce viable, fertile offspring. These species shared a common ancestor recently and have a high degree of genetic similarity, although their anatomies vary widely. Judging from this evidence, which two species concepts are most likely to place dogs and wolves together into a single species? A) biological and morphological B) biological and phylogenetic C) ecological and morphological D) ecological and phylogenetic E) morphological and phylogenetic
A
6) Rocky Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum) and one-seeded juniper (J. monosperma) have overlapping ranges. If pollen grains (which contain sperm cells) from one species are unable to germinate and make pollen tubes on female ovules (which contain egg cells) of the other species, then which of these terms are applicable? 1. sympatric species 2. prezygotic isolation 3. postzygotic isolation 4. allopatric species 5. habitat isolation 6. reduced hybrid fertility A) 1 and 2 B) 2 and 4 C) 1, 3, and 6 D) 2, 4, and 5 E) 1, 2, 5, and 6
E
7) Recall the Florida soapberry bugs. If the two host plants (balloon vine and flat-podded rain tree) occur in the same area and if some bugs have a strong preference for the introduced rain tree and and mate only with other bugs that live on rain tree fruit, and vice-versa, then over time which of these should occur? 1. reproductive isolation 2. sympatric speciation 3. habitat isolation 4. prezygotic barriers A) 1 only B) 2 and 3 C) 1, 2, and 3 D) 2, 3, and 4 E) 1 through 4
B
8) Beetle pollinators of a particular plant are attracted to its flowers' bright yellow color. The beetles not only pollinate the flowers, but they mate while inside the flowers. A mutant version of the plant with red flowers becomes more common with the passage of time. A particular variant of the beetle prefers the red flowers to the yellow flowers. Over time, these two beetle variants diverge from each other to such an extent that interbreeding is no longer possible. What kind of speciation has occurred in this example, and what has driven it? A) allopatric speciation; ecological isolation B) sympatric speciation; habitat differentiation C) allopatric speciation; behavioural isolation D) sympatric speciation; sexual selection E) sympatric speciation; allopolyploidy
C
9) One advantage of asexual reproduction is that... A) asexual reproduction allows the species to endure long periods of unstable environmental conditions. B) asexual reproduction enhances genetic variability in the species. C) asexual reproduction enables the species to rapidly colonize habitats that are favourable to that species. D) asexual reproduction produces offspring that respond effectively to new pathogens. E) asexual reproduction allows a species to easily rid itself of harmful mutations.
C
A continental population of tortoises has a locus for shell colour with two alleles, each at frequency of 0.5. In a founder event involving a single pregnant female, who mated once before floating away to a remote island, the probability of the population being polymorphic for shell colour is approximately what? A) One in 10,000. B) One in twenty. C) Fifty fifty. D) Two out of three
B
A marine biologist collects eggs from a species of snail that is widespread along the Pacific coast. She separates the eggs into two seawater tables, one of which has a caged Dungeness crab (a predator of the snail) in it and the other does not. She finds that the snails that grow up in the table with crab odour present grow much thicker shells than those that grew up without crab odour. She suggests this is an example of: A) natural selection B) phenotypic plasticity C) evolutionary adaptation D) genetic drift
B
According to Bob Trivers and Bernard Crespi, in "parent-offspring" conflict we predict that males will imprint their sperm at which of the following loci? A) Growth inhibitors. B) Growth promoters. C) Gonad structure loci. D) HOX loci.
A
According to pigeon-fanciers, how did pigeons influence Darwin's thinking about evolution? A) Relationships between the variety of fancy pigeons helped him conceive of the idea of evolutionary trees. B) Along with rediscovery of Mendel's work, breeding pigeons helped him solve the riddle of inheritance. C) He saw many varieties locally-adapted to different regions of Britain, a theme reinforced when he visited Galapagos and saw the finches. D) It was through the London Pigeon-Fanciers Society that he met Julian Huxley, and together they developed the idea of natural selection.
B
An environmental stress causes some individuals to die based upon body size. Which of the following statements is true if all of the variation between individuals in body size is due to environmental factors? A) Natural selection will not occur. B) Evolutionary change will not occur. C) If the population size is large enough the population will adapt. D) The population is doomed to extinction because of the lack of genetic variation. E) Both (A) and (B)
B
Arrange the following from most general (i.e., most inclusive) to most specific (i.e., least inclusive): 1. sexual selection 2.microevolution 3.intrasexual selection 4.evolution. A) 4, 1, 2, 3 B) 4, 2, 1, 3 C) 2, 4, 3, 1 D) 2, 1, 3, 4 E) 3, 2, 1, 4
B
At the population level, the difference between the actual trait value and the optimal trait value that is the result of having two separate sexes is called... A) the genetic load. B) the gender load. C) intralocus sexual conflict. D) stabilizing selection.
C
Brachydactyly is a dominant trait affecting development of the fingers. This trait was important in the development of modern evolutionary genetics because ... A) study of its change in frequency called into question Mendel's laws in the early 20th century. B) Godfray Hardy recognized that a dominant gene does not take over and blend with its recessive counterpart. C) Reginald Punnett realized that the dominant allele should approach a ratio of 3:1 with ther recessive allele in a population at equilibrium. D) Charles Darwin used it as a primary example of an adaptation in his late career essays on human evolution.
D
Charles Darwin was the first person to propose A) that evolution occurs. B) a mechanism for how evolution occurs. C) that Earth is older than a few thousand years. D) a mechanism for evolution that was supported by evidence. E) that population growth can outpace the growth of food resources.
B
Currently, two extant elephant species (X and Y) are placed in the genus Loxodonta, and a third species (Z) is placed in the genus Elephas. Thus, which statement should be true? A) Species X and Y are not related to species Z. B) Species X and Y share a greater number of homologies with each other than either does with species Z. C) Species X and Y share a common ancestor that is still extant (in other words, not yet extinct). D) Species X and Y are the result of artificial selection from an ancestral species Z. E) Species X, Y, and Z share a common ancestor, but nothing more can be claimed than this.
B
Drosophila males poison their mates with ejaculate. This is believed to serve which advantage? A) None, it is a non-adaptive coincidence. B) Males are in competition with other males and damage to females is an unintended side-effect. C) Males that can impregnate females and subsequently cause their death are favoured in competition. D) Males transfer toxic ejaculate proteins that strengthen the female immune system, improving future survival.
C
During a study session about evolution, one of your fellow students remarks, "The giraffe stretched its neck while reaching for higher leaves; its offspring inherited longer necks as a result." Which response will be most helpful to the student? A) If the giraffes did not have to compete with each other, longer necks would not have been passed on to the next generation. B) You are quite right: Those animals that could reach the higher leaves because of exercise also had more energy to produce offspring. C) Your idea is Lamarkian: traits acquired in the individual lifetime are not transmitted to offspring. D) Everyone knows that the giraffe got its long neck because one day at the watering hole a crocodile grabbed it by the nose and it got stretched.
C
During an organism's lifetime, which of these is most likely to help the organism respond to a change in environment A) microevolution B) change in allele or gene frequency C) change in gene expression D) change in average heterozygosity
D
Each of the following has a better chance of influencing gene frequencies in small populations than in large populations, but which one most consistently requires a small population as a precondition for its occurrence? A) nonrandom mating B) natural selection C) gene flow D) genetic drift E) mutation
A
Evolution via natural selection is based on all of the following except A) phenotypic variation exists within populations. B) the best-adapted individuals tend to leave the most offspring. C) individuals who survive longer tend to leave more offspring than those who die young. D) populations tend to produce more individuals than the environment can support.
C
Given a population that contains genetic variation, what is the correct sequence of the following events, under the influence of natural selection? 1.Well-adapted individuals leave more offspring than do poorly adapted individuals.2. A change occurs in the environment.3. Genetic frequencies within the population change. 4. Poorly adapted individuals have decreased survivorship. A) 4 → 2 → 3 → 1 B) 2 → 4 → 3 → 1 C) 2 → 4 → 1 → 3 D) 4 → 2 → 1 → 3 E) 4 → 1 → 2 → 3
D
How did Paul Vasey's study of the Samoan Fa'Afafine bear upon theories for the evolutionary maintenance of male homosexuality? A) This "third gender" has distinctive hippocampal (brain) structure first identified in homosexual rams. B) The Fa'Afafine are heterosexual but don't identify as male; they are a "bridge" between genders. C) Female relatives of Fa'Afafine on the mother's side have larger families than those of average Samoan men. D) The Fa'Afafine contribute to their own fitness by helping and supporting close relatives' parenting efforts.
D
How did the fact that ostriches still have small wings help convince 19th century naturalists of the truth of evolution via descent by modification? A) They suggest common ancestry of flying and flightless birds. B) They bear out the principle of homology. C) They are hard to explain by special creation. D) All of the above.
A
How did the writings of Thomas Malthus influence Darwin? He realized that ... A) Populations are capable of exponential growth and will outgrow their resources creating a struggle for existence. B) Technological innovation in agricultural practices would be needed to permit exponential growth of the human population into the foreseeable future C) The Earth changed over the years through a series of catastrophic upheavals. D) The Earth is ancient, with vast periods of time allowing gradual evolution.
B
How is the heritability of a character related to fitness likely to be influenced by measurement in the lab versus the field? A) Heritability will usually be higher in the field than in the lab because there is more environmental variation to exaggerate genetic fitness differences. B) Heritability will usually be higher in the lab than in the field because there is less environmental variation. C) Apart from normal measurement error, heritability should be constant across environments because it is a genetic feature of the organism. D) Heritability can only be measured in the laboratory because it is experimentally-determined.
D
If the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus experiences a cost for maintaining one or more antibiotic-resistance genes, then what should happen if populations discontinue use of antibiotics? A) These genes should continue to be maintained in case people start using antibiotics again. B) The bacteria should try to make the cost worthwhile by locating, and migrating to, microenvironments where traces of antibiotics are present. C) The bacteria should start making and secreting their own antibiotics. D) Bacteria that lack resistance genes will outcompete the resistant genotypes and the bacterial population will once again become sensitive to antibiotics.
C
If the small finch population that first colonized Galapagos differed from their progenitor population on the mainland in gene frequency, then what specific evolutionary process would have occurred? A) Genetic drift. B) A population bottleneck. C) The founder effect. D) Gene flow.
A
In Dr. C's Male-Limited Evolution experiment, several morphological characters changed in a direction that increased reproductive success of males when females were removed from the gene pool. Which of the following statements best characterizes those changes? A) Males became smaller, slower growing and more developmentally stable. B) Males became larger, faster growing and more coercive to females. C) Males evolved highly attractive pheromones and potent seminal fluids for sperm competition. D) Males evolved slower growth, larger testes and longer sperm.
B
In Illinois prairie chickens, the estimated average number alleles per locus declined from 5.2 to 3.7 in the mid 20th century. This measurement is referred to as? A) average heterozygosity. B) allelic richness. C) genetic variation. D) genome-wide heterozygosity.
A
In Scott Carroll's study of soapberry bugs in Florida, the researchers made a point of growing populations that were found on introduced flat-podded golden rain tree fruit on the native fruit, balloon vine, as well as the reverse. What did they conclude? A) Offspring of the short-beaked bugs from the f-pgrt fruit grew long beaks when they were reared on bv fruit, and the reverse, showing evidence for adaptation. B) Offspring of the short-beaked bugs from the f-pgrt fruit grew long beaks when they were reared on bv fruit, and the reverse, showing evidence for phenotypic plasticity. C) Offspring of the short-beaked bugs from the f-pgrt fruit grew short beaks on both fruit types and offspring from bv fruit parents grew long beaks on both fruits, showing evidence for adaptation. D) Offspring of the short-beaked bugs from the f-pgrt fruit grew short beaks on both fruit types and offspring from bv fruit parents grew long beaks on both fruits, showing evidence for genetic drift.
B
In The Modern Synthesis, which controversial evolutionary process was ruled out as a contributor to evolutionary change by the synthesizers? A) Founder-flush effects. B) Saltationalism. C) Genetic drift. D) Macroevolution.
D
In a Hardy-Weinberg population with two alleles, A and a, that are in equilibrium, the frequency of allele a is 0.2. What is the frequency of individuals with AA genotype? A) 0.20 B) 0.40 C) 0.49 D) 0.64 E) Genotype frequency cannot be determined from the information provided.
E
In a Hardy-Weinberg population with two alleles, A and a, that are in equilibrium, the frequency of the allele a is 0.4. What is the proportion of the population that is heterozygous for this allele? A) 0.04 B) 0.16 C) 0.24 D) 0.36 E) 0.48
E
In a canyon in Arizona, you come upon a large population of whiptail lizards that consists only of females; in an adjacent canyon another population has equal frequencies of males and females. Which of the following is likely to be true? A) The all-female population is parthenogenetic and has a higher ectoparasite load. B) The all-female population is parthenogenetic and has a lower mutation load. C) Environmental stress levels are higher in the population with males. D) The canyon with mixed sexes is warmer, on average, than the canyon with females only. E) Two of the other choices are likely.
A
In a population of iguana lizards studied by a graduate student over two seasons, small individuals generally failed to compete for breeding sites, but large animals starved before mating began, leaving space for the intermediate animals to breed. Which of the following terms best describes this situation? A) stabilizing selection B) directional selection C) disruptive selection D) artificial selection E) sexual selection
A
In an extinction vortex, which is the correct order of events?1) Fitness declines.2) More mating between relatives.3) Deleterious recessive alleles are exposed.4) Population size declines. A) 4 , 2 , 3 , 1 B) 2 , 1 , 3 , 4 C) 1 , 3 , 2 , 4 D) 3 , 4 , 2 , 1
B
In the formula for determining a population's genotype frequencies, the 2 in the term 2pq is necessary because A) the population is diploid. B) heterozygotes can come about in two ways. C) the population is doubling in number. D) heterozygotes have two alleles.
C
In the green alga Volvox, the colony is an organism. Associated with this increase in complexity from unicellular algae is what basic change? A) syngamy. B) basal body rotation. C) incomplete cytokinesis. D) oogamy.
D
In the study of soapberry bugs in Florida, museum specimens were measured ... A) because native bugs went extinct when the new invasive bugs were introduced. B) because the introduced flat-podded fruit trees displaced balloon fruit in central Florida. C) because the introduced flat-podded fruit trees brought a new population of bugs with them from SE Asia . D) because the researchers wanted to demonstrate that beak length had not changed in bugs still living on native balloon fruit.
C
Last year's flu vaccine proved to be ineffective in part because... A) its designers neglected to account for global patterns of air travel. B) an outbreak of avian flu in SE Asia occurred after the vaccine's design and spread with bird migrations. C) a variant of a common strain (H3N2) proved virulent and different enough to evade the vaccinated immune system. D) H5N1 made a strong resurgence that was unanticipated by the designers of the vaccine.
D
Males in a species of African cichlid fish maximize fitness through one of two strategies: (1) Bright colours to attract more mates but dying early or (2) being drab and inconspicuous and surviving longer. What process is occuring? A) Directional selection. B) Stabilizing selection. C) Balancing selection. D) Disruptive selection.
D
Microcephaly is believed to be prominent in the Lahore population in Pakistan because of: A) a major outbreak of Zika virus that began in 2007 and little education about avoidance of arboviruses. B) a historic bottleneck in the population that caused anomalously high frequency of the dominant allele that causes it. C) a founder-flush event related to the colonization of the area increasing frequency of an otherwise rare recessive condition. D) inbreeding related to the cultural tradition of cousin-cousin marriage increasing frequency of an otherwise rare recessive condition.
C
Non-functional members of a gene family are called: A) paralogous genes. B) orthologous genes. C) pseudogenes. D) polytomies.
B
On what grounds were American health research funding agencies criticized by NPR for not anticipating the threat of emerging arboviruses like Zika? A) Critics say the agencies only support research into curative measures and not prevention. B) Critics say the agencies only direct funding to diseases after they become major threats. C) Critics say the agencies doubt the validity of the association between Zika and microcephaly. D) Critics say the agencies are generally underfunded relative to other priorities like the military.
A
Phenylketonuria, a recessive genetic disease, exists at a newborn frequency of about 1 / 10 000. Given H-W equilibrium, the allele frequency is ... A) 0.01% B) 0.1% C) 1%. D) 10%. E) Cannot be estimated without additional information.
C
Pike's Peak, Santa Cruz, Chericahua and Olympic were names given by Dobzhansky to what? A) Different species of fruit fly. B) Vacation homes. C) Inversion polymorphisms. D) Varieties of pigeons.
B
Richard Lenski's group documented the evolution citrate metabolism in E. coli line Ara-3 shortly after 33,000 generations of selection. Why did their publication attract negative attention from the religious right? A) Like Richard Dawkins, Lenski is an outspoken atheist and creationists have constantly sought to discredit his evolution experiments. B) By documenting a complex evolutionary innovation in real time, Lenski's group refuted creationist claims. C) The religious right does not consider evidence from simple bacteria relevant to questions relating to the origins of complex organisms. D) Lenski's student and first author on the paper, Zachary Blount, wrote disparaging things about religion on his blog.
A
Scottish geologist Charles Lyell's major contribution to Darwin's theory of evolution was... A) uniformitarianism. B) catastrophism. C) continental drift. D) exponential population growth. E) fancy pigeons.
C
Sickle cell and thalassemia are both mutations that affect red blood cells and protect against malaria, yet they rarely overlap in their global distributions. Why? A) They are transmitted by different species of mosquitoes. B) Each is effective against a different type of malaria (Plasmodium falciparum vs. P. vivax). C) Together the two mutations have a highly deleterious effect upon a carrier's survival to maturity. D) There is negative epistasis between their protective effects: double heterozygotes are malaria-susceptible.
C
Structures as different as horse hooves, bat wings, and whale flippers contain many of the same bones, these bones having developed from very similar embryonic tissues. How do biologists interpret these similarities? A) by identifying the bones as being analogous structures B) by the principle of convergent evolution C) by proposing that horses, bats, and whales share a common ancestor D) Three of the statements above are correct. E) Two of the statements above are correct.
D
Swine are vulnerable to infection by H1N1 strains native to pigs and different strains native to humans, which can both be present in an individual pig at the same time. When this occurs, it is possible for genes from the two strains to be combined, thereby producing a genetically distinctive virus, which can subsequently cause widespread disease. The production of new types of flu virus in the manner described above was referred to as: A) a bottleneck effect. B) a founder effect. C) natural selection. D) an antigenic shift. E) sexual selection.
C
T/F: In a population with a promiscuous mating system, strong intersexual selection, and equal numbers of males and females, average male fitness will be higher than average female fitness. A) T. B) F. C) Need more info.
B
The Red Queen Hypothesis was originally formulated by Van Valen to explain which of the following phenomena? A) How sexual species can resist disease and parasitism. B) The constant rate of extinction in the fossil record. C) The fact that many organisms resort to sexual reproduction when the habitat deteriorates. D) The advantages of sexual reproduction in removing deleterious mutations from the gene pool.
D
The Spanish Flu of 1918/19 caused a pandemic that was particularly lethal because of which factor(s)? A) Unusually high mortality among people in their "prime". B) Global spread via bird migrations followed by the evolution of human-to-human transmission. C) Prior to widespread insecticide use, the global distribution of its mosquito vectors facilitated rapid transmission. D) Two of the three full answer choices. E) All of the full answer choices.
A
The ancestor of the mitochondrion is believed to be ... A) an obligate intracellular parasite Ricketsiales bacterium. B) a free living Wolbachia bacteria. C) a cyanobacterium, preceded by a chlamydial infection. D) an archaean from the group Lokiarchaeota
E
The higher the proportion of loci that are "fixed" in a population, the lower is that population's A) nucleotide variability. B) genetic polyploidy. C) average heterozygosity. D) nucleotide variability, average heterozygosity, and genetic polyploidy. E) nucleotide variability and average heterozygosity.
C
The rapid rise of antibiotic resistance in bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), occurs because: A) humans purposefully raise MRSA in large fermenters in an attempt to make the bacteria ever-more resistant. B) bacterial populations are often small and subject to population bottlenecks that alter genotype frequencies. C) drug use creates environments in which bacteria frequently come into contact with methicillin. D) humans are becoming resistant to bacteria by taking antibiotics like methicillin.
D
The role of recombination in liberating beneficial mutations from unexceptional genetic backgrounds is known as ... A) Muller's Ratchet. B) the Elm-Oyster model. C) the Red Queen hypothesis. D) the Ruby in the Rubbish hypothesis.
A
The term arbovirus comes from which roots? A) arthropod borne. B) arboreal in origin. C) antisense RNA beta oxymyxovirus D) their discoverer, H.P. Arbovitz.
C
The three main mechanisms that alter allele frequencies and change the genetic composition of populations are... A) natural selection, bottleneck effect, and founder effect. B) natural selection, gene flow, and random mating. C) natural selection, genetic drift, and gene flow. D) natural selection, random mating, and gene flow. E) natural selection, gene flow, and large population size.
A
The trend towards increased wing size in Drosophila with increasing latitude in North America and Australia is an example of A) clinal variation. B) biogeography. C) endemism. D) genetic drift. E) geographic variation.
B
The use of an airfoil supported by the forelimbs and fingers of the tetrapod body plan in bats, birds, and pterosaurs for flight is an example of which? A) Convergent evolution. B) Evolutionary homology. C) Evolutionary divergence. D) Mimicry.
D
What plant, that has been cultivated by humans for millennia and artificially selected into a remarkable diversity of forms, gave us cauliflower and kohlrabi? A) Teosinte. B) Asparagus. C) Duck weed. D) Wild mustard.
B
What two fundamental tradeoffs underlie the evolution of anisogamy? A) zygote development time and zygote size; gamete size and gamete mating type. B) gamete size and gamete number; zygote size and zygote survival. C) endosymbiont infectivity and transmissibility; zygote quality and zygote number. D) mitochondrial number and membrane damage; gamete mating type and gamete qulaity.
C
When John Endler moved a population of guppies into the Rivulus predator's range, he noted which response in the population? A) The fishes became brighter in colouration and slower maturing. B) The fishes became duller in colouration and faster maturing. C) Males became brighter in colouration and both sexes matured more slowly. D) Females became duller in colouration and both sexes matured more rapidly.
D
When artificial selection is applied to a quantitative genetic trait in a large variable population, the response is usually... A) Slow and bounded by the trait value of the most extreme individuals in the population. B) Slow but ultimately going beyond the trait value of the most extreme individuals. C) Rapid and bounded by the trait value of the most extreme individuals in the population. D) Rapid and quickly going beyond the trait value of the most extreme individuals.
B
Whenever diploid populations are in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium at a particular locus A) this means that, at this locus, two alleles are present in equal proportions. B) allele frequencies should not change from one generation to the next. C) natural selection, gene flow, and genetic drift are acting equally to change an allele's frequency. D) the population itself is not evolving, but individuals within the population may be evolving.
B
Which of the following animals is believed to be the closest living relative of whales? A) whale shark. B) hippo. C) Coelacanth, a lobe-finned fish. D) fur seal.
A
Which of the following is a true statement concerning genetic variation? A) It must be present in a population before natural selection can act upon the population. B) It is created by the direct action of natural selection. C) It arises in response to changes in the environment. D) It tends to be reduced by the processes involved when diploid organisms produce gametes. E) A population that has a higher average heterozygosity has less genetic variation than one with a lower average heterozygosity.
