Biology Exam Prep
A scientist is studying a species which normally reproduces asexually. What species concepts could be used to define it?
Phylogenetic and ecological species concept
Many Australian flowers are adapted to be pollinated by Australian creatures. Which of the following adaptations is likely the largest contributor to the unique nature of Australia's flora:
Plants produce flowers on sturdy stems to support the weight of birds.
We could use biodiversity to measure the
Pollution of an area, recovery of an ecosystem after a disturbance, impact of urbanisation
An immature mayfly that is feeding on algae is eaten by a fish, which is then eaten by a bear. What was the mayfly's role in the ecosystem?
Primary consumer
In general, the total biomass in terrestrial ecosystems will be greatest for which trophic level?
Primary producers
Select the option where the trophic levels are correctly placed in ascending (bottom-up) order?
Producer, Primary, Secondary, Tertiary
Compared to an internal skeleton, what is an advantage of an exoskeleton?
Provides greater physical protection
Which of these is not considered a way ecosystems can contribute directly to people's good health and wellbeing, considered under SDG 3?
Provides urban cooling
Experimental evolution is a technique that has been used to show that
fruit flies of the species Drosophila melanogaster are able to evolve resilience to extreme cold stress within just a few generations
Which of these is not a primary producer?
fungi
The bringing together of information from a variety of disciplines and sources to inform debates and decisions on specific issues is known as
evidence synthesis
Organisms respond to environmental change (such as global warming) in several ways. Which of the following responses is the slowest, and thus LEAST likely to occur in the event of rapid environmental change?
evolutionary adaption
In a tide pool, 15 species of invertebrates were reduced to eight after one species was removed. The species removed was likely a(n)
keystone species
Bergmann's Rule states that within a broadly distributed taxonomic clade, populations and species that are
larger in size are found in colder environments than those that are smaller in size
Sclerophylly is considered to be a response to:
low soil fertility
What is the general pattern of the Earth's latitudinal diversity gradient?
terrestrial species diversity is highest around the tropics and declines towards the poles
Seasonal variation in temperature is caused by:
the Earth's tilted axis of rotation
In general, the most important determinant of plant community type in Australia is:
the amount and regularity of rainfall
The temperature at or near the Earth's surface results from all of the following EXCEPT:
the direction of prevailing wind
Genotype-by-environment interactions mean that
the effect of any given genotype on the phenotype is difficult to predict
With ecological footprints, in general,
the higher the standard of living, the larger the ecological footprint
Australian vegetation differs from that of other continents in a number of ways, including all of the following EXCEPT:
the presence of sclerophyllous species in Australia.
Heritability is
the proportion of phenotypic variation due to genetic differences among individuals
Aichi targets have been assessed as achieved overall if:
the segments would be blue or green
Evapotranspiration is
the sum of direct evaporation of water from soils and water bodies and the amount of water transpired by plants
Polar regions are cooler than equatorial ones because:
the sunlight strikes the poles at an oblique angle
The only continent where no anthropogenic extinctions have been recorded is from:
Antarctica
What is the main diet of small macropods like potoroos?
Fungi
The Anthropocene follows on from the
Holocene
Consider the food chain of grass → grasshopper → mouse → snake → hawk. About how much of the chemical energy fixed by photosynthesis of the grass (100 percent) is available to the snake?
0.1%
Put the following events in the order from the oldest to most recent: 1) origin of life, 2) evolution of prokaryotes, 3) evolution of eukaryotes, 4) evolution of multicellularity.
1 > 2 > 3 > 4
Using the relationship between the number of host-specific beetle species to tree species, estimate the number of beetle species in a forest plot. The plot contains 30 tree species, and each tree species host, on average, 3 unique species of beetles in the canopy. Also, there are twice as many beetle species in the canopy than on the ground.
135
In the paper from your Discover reading by Waters et al. (2016), the great acceleration corresponds with what year?
1950
Globally, without recent conservation efforts, the extinction rates of mammals and birds over the past decade would have:
2-4 times higher
Approximately how much of the entire photosynthetic output of land do humans use?
25%
Under the Paris Climate Agreement, Australia has committed to reduce its total greenhouse gas emissions by a certain percentage below 2005 levels by 2030. This percentage is
26-28%
How much of our planet is considered to be the tropics?
40%
Microbial abundance in the human gut is approximately 1014. Using the richness-abundance scaling relationship (S = 7.6 x N0.35), estimate the approximate number of microbial species in our gut.
6.0 x 10^5
What is the most recent estimate of the number of eukaryotic species on earth today?
8.7 million
Species richness is:
A count of species
In which of the following scenarios would you expect evolution to NOT occur?
A large isolated population, where there is no mating with individuals outside the population. Random mating occurs within the population, where each member has equal fitness and there is minimal mutation
The plant genus Nothofagus has a present-day and/or fossil distribution across all of the following Southern Hemisphere continents / islands EXCEPT:
Africa
The colonization of land and diversification in arthropods and vertebrates occurred
After the colonization of land by plants and fungi
During the industrial revolution (which led to an increase in soot in the atmosphere), the light form of the peppered moth (Biston betularia) rapidly decreased in frequency and was replaced by a darker morph. This represents a case of:
Adaptive evolution under directional selection
The oxygen catastrophe in Earth's history refers to:
Anaerobic lifeforms could not tolerate the high oxygen levels
Plants can have symbiotic relationships with insects such as ants. Consider the bullhorn acacia example and select the TRUE response.
Ants protect the acacia by eating insect eggs and larvae on the plant, and removing creeping vines that try to grow on the plant
According to the earth's energy budget, how is majority of the energy from the solar radiation that enters the atmosphere sent back out to space?
As infrared radiation (heat) from the surface and atmosphere
I once saw a bumper sticker that said "Reunite Gondwana". Which region would not be part of this?
Baltica
Which one of the following genera does not belong in the eucalypt family, the Myrtaceae?
Banksia
Climate engineering techniques using marine systems for carbon dioxide uptake and storage do NOT include
Biochar production
Which area is most likely to have the highest proportion of endemic species?
Borneo, Indonesia (latitude = 1.15)
Which area is most likely to have the highest species richness?
Borneo, Indonesia (latitude = 1.15)
All of the following features may be found on sclerophyll plants except (choose the FALSE response):
Broad leaves
Which of the following is a trait that allows Australian plants to inhabit arid environments?
C4 physiology, sclerophylly, succulent leaves and/or stems.
An Australian insect group that DOES NOT have Gondwanan connections is:
Cockroaches
All of the following are responses of plants to cold stress EXCEPT:
Conversion of the fluid mosaic cell membrane to a solid mosaic one.
One of the arguments in favour of the Anthropocene was that the widespread use of new materials, such as concrete, plastics and aluminium could potentially.....
Create a new characteristic that would be used to date future geological deposits from this time period
Dinosaurs became extinct during the:
Cretaceous
Choose the genus that is NOT a common component of Australian flora.
Cupressus
When first proposed, Darwin's theory of natural selection did not fully explain how evolution could occur. This was because:
Darwin proposed the theory before accurate mechanisms of genetic inheritance were established
A general trend in global biodiversity is a gradient of
Decreasing diversity moving from the equator toward the poles
A food web:
Describes how carbon cycles through ecosystems
In the case of the Coho salmon, smaller male fish and larger male fish have a greater fitness in comparison to the intermediately sized male fish. This case shows an example of which type of selection?
Disruptive selection
Three-spined stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus) show substantial heritable variation in gill-raker length related to differences in their diets. Longer gill rakers appear to function better for capturing open-water prey, while shorter gill rakers function better for capturing shallow-water prey. Which of the following types of selection is most likely to be found in a large lake (open water in the middle and shallow water around the sides) with a high density of these fish?
Disruptive selection
Biodiversity components directly deliver benefits that may contribute to the achievement of individual SDGs. Blicharska and colleagues consider these components to be:
Ecosystems, species and genes
Select the FALSE pairing:
Ericaceae: The Wattles
What group of mammals have (a) embryos that spend more time feeding through the placenta than the mother's nipples, (b) young that feed on milk, and (c) a prolonged period of maternal care after leaving the placenta?
Eutheria
It is important to maintain biodiversity for promoting ecosystem functioning. Examples of ecosystem functions do not include:
Evenness of species distribution
Generation-to-generation change in the allele frequencies in a population is
Evolution
The example of the gradual decrease in wingsize in the Grey-crowned Babbler is an example of what type of response
Evolution
Invasive species typically
Expand in population size dramatically when in a new area, sometimes with negative consequences for native species and ecosystems
Allele frequencies in a gene pool may shift randomly and by chance. What is this random shift called?
Genetic drift
An emu came from which biogeographic group?
Gondwanan
Plant genera such as Eucalyptus, that are restricted to southern hemisphere continents, are said to have _____________ distributions.
Gondwanan
What is considered an implication of covid-19 on greenhouse gas emissions?
May result in a 6% drop in greenhouse gas emissions for 2020
Sclerophylls are plants that
Have evolved to survive low nutrient soils, drought and fire.
Prior to splitting apart in the early Cretaceous (~130mya), Gondwana included all of these current-day localities except (select the FALSE answer):
Hawaii
Lyme disease is spread by ticks to humans. Abundance of ticks and thus the spread of the disease depends on the diversity of small mammals and rodents. Which of the following statements is correct:
High diversity of resistant mammal species reduces the incidence of this disease in susceptible hosts, thereby reducing transmission to humans.
The Ocean Health Index clean water score measures contamination by chemicals, excessive nutrients (eutrophication), human pathogens and hard waste in the marine environment. The overall score varies between 0 and 100, and is higher when the pollution of estuarine, coastal, and open ocean waters is assessed as minimized. The global average score is 74, and in comparison, Australia's score is
Higher than the global average
Over the past two decades the key causes of extinction and decline of Australian mammals do not include
Hunting
The producers in ecosystems include which of the following?I Photosynthetic protistsII CyanobacteriaIII Plants
I, II and III
Which one of the following statements about bacteria is correct?
In comparison to the other kingdoms, the structural differences between prokaryotes is not great.
Small animals such as mice are able to survive falls from many times their size whereas the same relative fall for a person would prove lethal. Why is this the case?
In proportion to their weight, the body of the mouse experiences much greater air resistance (they have a low surface to volume ratio, whereas ours is large)
On assessment of the SDG's, global marine key biodiversity areas covered by protected areas have
Increased from 2000
In the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, the progress towards a 2050 Vision is achieved through a 2020 Mission. There are five strategic goals addressing the mission. These goals do not include
Increasing the direct pressures on biodiversity and reducing sustainable use
What areas have the most percentage cover of agricultural land?
India
Hyperoxia (increased level of O2) can cause
Insect body size to increase
Which of the following groups of animals is most species rich?
Insects
The behaviour leading to cannibalism of male Redback spiders is an example of an adaptation that has evolved under:
Intersexual selection
What has happened to the rate of deforestation globally (2011-2020) compared to the past decade?
It has fallen by a third
If the proportion of each body part is kept unchanged, a mouse as large as an elephant cannot survive because
It's skeleton would not be able to support the weight
Eucalypts are adapted to fire-prone environments. Select the answer that is NOT an adaptation to fire for eucalypts.
Large hollow cavities for storage of water used to withstand a fire.
In the workshop, we investigated the real-life study of the change in wild bird size over time by Dr Janet Gardiner. Which of the following discoveries were not supported by Dr Gardiner's data?
Larger birds have evolved to live at higher altitudes
In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, there are 17 goals. These goals do not include
Life in the Atmosphere
Some examples of over-exploitation of natural environments include
Logging
According to the theory of plate tectonics, continents are
Made of lighter rocks that ride on plates and shift position over geological time
Based on a comparison of Australia's progression towards the Aichi targets, when compared to the rest of the world which of the following areas is Australia most likely to be doing as well, or better in achieving the goals?
Marine fish and invertebrate fishing practices.
Australia's coverage of marine areas incorporated into some sort of protected areas:
Meets the SDG target of 10%
You may have heard that monarch butterflies (and their caterpillars) are "poisonous" to many predators. What makes these insects so toxic?
Monarch caterpillars store cardenolides from milkweeds.
If we consider the rates of species description and current rates of extinction, we are:
More species are becoming extinct than we can describe them
The original source of all genetic variation is
Mutation
The largest family of flowering plants in Australia is the:
Myrtaceae
Most crop plants acquire their nitrogen mainly in the form of
NO3-
What is the only evolutionary mechanism that consistently leads to adaptive evolution?
Natural selection
Carnivorous adaptations of plants mainly compensate for soil that has a relatively low content of
Nitrogen
With regards to the analysis of modeled historical global temperatures, which would best represent the findings of the IPCC?
No periods of the past 1000 years have been as consistently hot globally as the last 30 years.
Two strains of corn grow to produce different yields of grain in response to differing amounts of nitrogen in the soil. Grain yield for one strain varies dramatically with soil nitrogen content as opposed to the other strain where grain yield varies marginally. The range of phenotypes observed for a given strain along an environmental gradient from high to low nitrogen content is termed the:
Norm of reaction (or Reaction Norm)
During the early Cretaceous in Australia, the flora included all of the following taxa/species/plant types EXCEPT:
Nothofagus
According to the Transforming Australia: SDG Progress Report, Australia's progress towards Goal 15 - Life On Land, Target 15.5: 'Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species' was assessed as being
Off track
Which of the following is true?
Once it is established in a population, a new mutation may increase or decrease in frequency depending on the environment
Select the CORRECT option. In what way do nitrogen compounds differ from other minerals needed by plants?
Only nitrogen is not derived from the breakdown of parent rock.
In the paper from your Discover reading by Maxwell et al. (2016), what are the two most prevalent threats to threatened and near-threatened species?
Over-exploitation and Agriculture
When all continents were fused into one during the Permian period, they were called
Pangaea
Carbon dioxide is typically measured in
Parts per million
Which of the following descriptions occurs during BOTH the basal (non-specific) and specific resistance to invading pathogens?
Pathogen molecules are detected by a plant's cellular receptors
A major evolutionary episode that corresponded in time most closely with the formation of Pangea was the:
Permian extinctions
The Palaeozoic includes the following periods of time:
Permian, Devonian and Silurian
In many reptiles, brood sex ratios are determined by temperature the clutch is reared at, rather than by sex chromosomes. Temperature-mediated cases of sex determination provide an example of:
Phenotypic plasticity
Which of the nutrients goes through the slowest cycle?
Phosphorus
Eutrophication, excessive growth, can result as an excess of which two nutrients?
Phosphorus and Nitrogen
Which of the following processes increases the level of atmospheric oxygen?
Photosynthesis
A plant is short with wide spread but shallow roots. Its leaves are large and deep green to maximise photosynthetic ability. They have large, open stomata to ensure maximal intake of CO2 and release of water. Which environment would you suggest this plant has adapted to?
Rainforest
Australia, while large, has a small population compared to other developed nations. As such, we are sometimes considered a small player/ contributor on the world stage. Which of the following Aichi targets would Australia's practices and ecosystems MOST likely have the greatest impact on the world stage, compared to other countries?
Reduced anthropogenic effects/ pressures on coral reefs.
One potential geoengineering method to combat global warming is to
Release mirrors into the atmosphere
Heterotrophs that prey on grazers are:
Secondary consumers
The peacock's tail is likely to have evolved under
Sexual selection
An example of an old immigrant is?
Skink
The oldest eucalypt macrofossil was found in:
South America
What area in the world has the largest extent of net loss of forest?
South America
Australia's native fauna largely consists of which two components?
South-east Asian and Gondwanan
Which of the following statements about species richness is correct?
Species richness of animals is positively correlated with the richness of plants
In humans, historically, body size at birth is likely to have been shaped by
Stabilising selection
In the case of the Sociable Weaver, we observed a case where individual birds whose body mass significantly differed from the mean body mass for the population were selected against.What type of selection is at play here?
Stabilising selection
Which trophic level is most vulnerable to extinction?
Tertiary consumers
In an ecosystem where the energy and biomass at the primary producer level is represented by the number 500, which of the following would be the most likely trophic level in a general system
Tertiary consumers: 0.5
Which one of the following can BEST be explained by plate tectonics?
The Australian lungfish (Neoceradotus) inhabits shallow freshwater stream and lakes. Its closest relatives are found in Africa and South America.
Which of the following statements BEST describes the effect of climate on biome distribution?
The distribution of biomes depends, in part, on mean annual temperature and precipitation.
The relationship between maximum size in insects and atmospheric oxygen concentration (or partial pressure) was maintained from the Mid-Carboniferous until ∼130 Mya in the Early Cretaceous. What decoupled this relationship?
The evolution of flying predators, in particular, birds
A high school student is carrying out a science project. She plants alfalfa seeds, and encloses an area planted with one set of alfalfa seeds within a box covered in red cellophane (which reflects light of red wavelengths, but not far-red wavelengths). She leaves another set of planted alfalfa seeds uncovered. What do you expect she'll find in these two alfalfa populations when her science project is over?
The germination rate will be higher in the uncovered seed set.
Which of the following statements regarding the history and fates of Eucalyptus and Nothofagus is FALSE?
The greatest increase in Eucalyptus numbers occurred soon after Australia split completely split from Gondwana (~100 MYA).
Which of the following was NOT an observation made after the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park?
The overall number of small animals in the area decreased due to being hunted by the wolves.
What is the main explanation for why insects today are smaller than their ancestors?
The oxygen content of the air was higher in the past
In the 4th outlook of global success towards the Aichi Targets, Antarctica was left out of the global comparison. When Antarctica was compared to the rest of the world in the 4th outlook, in which of the following areas was Antarctica doing SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER?
The prevention and conservation of threatened species.
You have a really leafy houseplant that completely shades the soil in the pot where it is growing. You notice that the tips of some roots are starting to break through the surface of the soil. If you do nothing, what would you expect to happen to the growth of these roots and why?
The roots will grow downward back into the soil because the statoliths are being redistributed due to gravity and that will change the direction of growth.
Which one of the following can BEST be explained by continental drift/plate tectonics?
The scarcity of eutherian (placental) mammals in Australia.
Which of the following is true of Pigface plants?
The stems and leaves store water due to the variable rainfall in their environment.
Which of the following statements is the most correct with regards to the UN Sustainable Development Goals vs. the CBD Aichi Targets?
The sustainable development goals relate to sustainability and social equality including biodiversity factors, while the Aichi targets major focus is biodiversity.
Grasses have evolved many adaptations that allow them to survive in their natural landscapes. Choose the TRUE adaptation below.
Their areas of growth and elongation remain protected near the ground so they can survive and regenerate following fire or herbivory.
Which of the following statements it true of Sweet pittosporum?
Their fruit contains sticky seeds that aid in dispersal.
Which one of the following options is INCORRECT in regard to Australian native bats?
They are all of Gondwanan origin
Which characteristic is NOT TRUE for tannins in eucalypt leaves:
They are highly flammable
Diprotodont mammals are a monophyletic group characterised by a number of features. Which of the following is correct?
They have one pair of lower incisor teeth and molars for crushing and grinding food
Which of the following animals only very recently became extinct?
Thylacinus
The arrows in a food web represents the
Transfer of energy
Which of the following does NOT explain why there are more species in the tropics than in temperate forests?
Tropics are younger
What would impact biodiversity in an agricultural setting?
Using insecticides
When describing the effect mountain ranges have on rainfall patterns which of the following is correct?
Warm air forced up by mountains cools as it rises and causes rain
A houseplant is growing on your windowsill. Every Sunday, without fail, your roommate turns the plant 180 degrees. When you ask your roommate why she does that, her reply is simply, "I want straight plants." Does this method produce straight plants?
Yes. Rotating the plant will even out the growth of the plant toward the light by changing where the light hits the plant every week.
Male Redback spiders are often eaten while mating with female Redback spiders. Does this cannibalistic behaviour of females confer any fitness advantage to the males, and if so why / why not?
Yes. The likelihood of being eaten increases the longer the male remains in copula, thereby releasing more sperm into the female and increasing the likelihood of paternity success for the male
Which of these is the smallest unit that natural selection can change?
a population's gene frequency
The local and regional effects of deforestation include all of the following EXCEPT:
a reduction in the availability of land for agriculture.
Predictable consequences of increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere include all of the following EXCEPT:
a reduction in the concentration of oxygen gas
While responses to plant hormones are normaly slow, one hormone has been shown to be involved in the rapid opening and closing of stomata. Which of the following is that hormone?
abscisic acid
Examples of forcings do NOT include
acidification of the oceans
Evolutionary adaptation can be seen as a long term response to climate change, because:
adaptation can only occur across multiple generations, since it involves changes in allele frequencies from one generation to the next
Select the option that CORRECTLY completes the following sentence. Australia became a separate island continent:
after South America separated from Antarctica
Which one of the following terrestrial environments is least represented in Australia?
alpine
Artificial fertilisation of oceans would lead to
an increase in primary production
There are many changes in the environment that can be seen as evidence of a warming climate. One of these does NOT include:
an increase in snow cover
Which of the following is incorrect? Australian native rodents:
are all of Gondwanan origin.
In Australia, succulent species of plants:
are less diverse than on other continents.
When a species cannot tolerate climate change in situ, or colonize suitable habitat elsewhere quickly enough, in general they
become extinct
The survival strategies of plants growing in very dry habitats include all of the following EXCEPT
being deciduous in summer.
According to the IPCC, between 1951-2010 how much has greenhouse gases contributed to global mean surface warming
between 0.5°C and 1.3°C
Australian animals display remarkable adaptations to semi-arid environments. For example, in to reduce water loss, many Australian frogs will ________.
burrow
Larger mammals
can maintain body temperature more efficiently than smaller mammals
Methods by which plants may increase the uptake of nutrients by their roots include all of the following EXCEPT:
capture and metabolism of insects by carnivorous plants.
Geoengineering could also be called
climate engineering
Why do the dominant plants of similar biomes on different continents look similar to one another?
convergent evolution of traits
Which of the following is NOT an example of a plant defence against herbivory?
cryptic colouration
Along altitudinal or latitudinal gradients, one usually finds the same sequence of biomes. In both cases, there are equivalent changes along the gradient for all of the following EXCEPT:
day length
The following are all responses to global climate change by terrestrial, marine and freshwater species. Which is likely to be the LEAST readily available response for most species?
decrease in body size
In the central Pacific Ocean, the pH of the sea water has
decreased
Because tropical plants have very high species diversity, they also have very low population:
density
Select the most correct option. Mallee vegetation is characterised by the presence of the following types of vegetation, except:
drought-sensitive
Which one of the following ecological units incorporates ABIOTIC factors?
ecosystems
An area in which different terrestrial biomes grade into each other is known as a(n):
ecotone
Which Australian vertebrate group DOES NOT have a fossil record extending back to Gondwanan times:
elapid snakes
The platypus and echidna are:
endemic to the Australian plate
The three main components of biodiversity are:
genetic diversity, species diversity, and community & ecosystem diversity.
A PhD student collected individuals of many different populations of a given species of beetle found along the eastern seaboard of Australia, and brought these back to the lab. They then conducted an experiment on the individuals of the different populations, exposing each to an extreme cold stress, and measuring how long it took for these individuals to recover from this cold stress. They observed that individuals captured in the tropical north of Australia took much longer to recover from the stress than those captured in the temperate south of Australia. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that southern temperate populations of this beetle:
have evolved a higher capacity than tropical northern populations to tolerate extremely cold thermal conditions
The tropics are regions that are characterised by the following set of climatic parameters.
high temperature and solar radiation, ascending air masses, lots of rainfall
The rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels has seen a rise in atmospheric temperature. In general,
higher latitudes have warmed more than environments near the equator
The environment of Australia prior to its separation from Antactica could best be described as:
humid with extensive temperate rainforest.
Greenhouse gases include all of the following EXCEPT:
hydrogen sulphide
Bacteria obtain energy by all of the following methods EXCEPT by:
hydrolysis of water
In a specific experiment, two different plants, which germinated from seeds from the same parent (therefore genetically identical), were grown in two different pots containing the same amount of nutrients, water and sunlight for exactly the same amount of time. One plant was touched every single day for the period of the experiment, while the other was left alone. The results showed that the plant that was touched every day was much shorter in comparison to the plant that was left alone.What type of response was this and was this a short or long-term response? i. Short-term response ii. Long-term response iii. Phenotype plasticity iv. Evolution v. Genotype-by-environment interaction
i and iii are correct
Identical twins provide an excellent way for biologists to study the capacity for phenotypic plasticity, because
identical twins possess the same genotypes, thus allowing biologists to observe how the phenotype is affected by environmental differences in the absence of genetic variation
Which of the following combinations are examples of a short-term responses to environmental stresses: i. Natural selection ii. Migration iii. Genetic drift iv. Evolution v. Phenotypic plasticity vi. Adaptive evolution
ii and v are correct
The Australian megafauna:
included giant lizards, snakes and birds.
Natural selection is based on all of the following except
individuals adapt to their environments and, thereby, evolve
Australia's fauna is in sharp contrast with those of the rest of the world. When Australia broke free of the other southern continents
marsupials diversified and eutherians became extinct
There are three major groups of mammals, categorized on the basis of their
method of reproduction
Populations that are faced with novel environmental stressors may respond in three ways in order to avoid extinction. These are via:
migration to other less stressful environments, phenotypic plasticity, or evolutionary adaptation
Carnivorous plants have evolved mechanisms that trap and digest small animals. The products of this digestion are used to supplement the plant's supply of:
minerals
Evolutionary responses to climatic change are
more likely to occur in populations containing high levels of genetic variation than those containing low levels of genetic variation
Correctly complete the following sentence. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has concluded that habitat destruction accounts for
more than 70% of the species that have become extinct, endangered, vulnerable or rare in the last 100 years.
Genetic variation:
must be present in a population before natural selection can act upon the population
The interaction between the fungal and higher plant components of a mycorrhizal asociation is best described as a:
mutualism
The sum total of an organism's interaction with the biotic and abiotic resources of its environment is called its:
niche
Frequency distributions of complex traits, such a body height, within a population typically resemble
normal distributions
In a marine setting, which of the following limit rates of primary production?
nutrients
Locations where two continental plates separate, with the upwelling of molten material, are known as:
ocean ridges
Phenotypic plasticity refers to the ability
of one genotype to produce more than one phenotype when exposed to different environments
When biologists examine variation in the mean values of traits, such as body size, across a given species distribution, they often observe linear associations of these values with latitude. They call these associations latitudinal clines. Such clines provide biologists with insights into the capacity:
of these traits to evolve adaptively in response to differences in climatic variables such as temperature
The likely sequence of evolution of diets in macropods is:
omnivore -> browser -> grazer.
An adaptation of some plants to waterlogging is the:
possession of aerial roots that provide access to oxygen.
Which of the following BIOTIC factors has the greatest potential impact on the structure and organization of biological communities?
predation, competition, disease
The following are changes in the environment that can be seen as evidence of a warming climate, EXCEPT
reduced severity of cyclones
Fungi are common decomposers that break down the remains of dead plants and animals. These actions most benefit plants by
returning nutrients to the soil
Under conditions of low light, shade plants have higher rates of net photosynthesis than sun plants. This is due to all of the following reasons EXCEPT:
shade plants are predominantly CAM, and can therefore photosynthesize at night.
Consistent changes in atmospheric temperature across time
should lead to directional selection on populations to cope with these changes
The term monotreme literally means ________.
single opening
Endemic species are defined as
species found in one locality and nowhere else on Earth
The arid and semi-arid regions of Australia are dominated by:
spinifex grasslands and mulga shrublands.
Which of the following hypothesis explain why speciation rate may be higher in the tropics than in temperate forests?
stable climate allows species to specialise
Compared to terrestrial plants, aquatic plants are far less confined by
structural support requirements
In terms of total area, forests that has suffered the biggest losses over the past 10,000 years have been:
temperate forests
Alkaloids are considered "expensive" defense compounds to produce because:
they contain nitrogen, an essential and often limiting element plants need.
Where do biodiversity hotspots predominantly occur?
tropical and subtropical regions on land and at sea
The atmosphere of early Earth probably contained no O2 until the emergence of organisms that _____.
used water as an electron source for photosynthesis
The Coriolis Effect means that which of the following statements is correct?
winds in the Northern Hemisphere deflect to the right, winds in the Southern Hemisphere deflect to the left
Plants (including Australian species) that inhabit very arid environments are collectively known as:
xerophytes
Which of the following members of a marine food chain occupies a similar tropic level to a grasshopper in a terrestrial food chain?
zooplankton
