Biology Homework Questions: Exam 1

How long ago were the organisms that produced the oldest fossil records alive?

3.5 Billion Years

Food processors are phasing out the use of which types of fats, because research has shown them to be particularly unhealthy?

Saturated fats and trans fats

Researchers discovered that female gray tree frogs prefer to mate with males who sound the longest mating calls. The mechanism of evolution is _____.

Sexual Selection

Where does most of the absorption of food nutrients take place?

Small Intestines

A prominent tail helps the peacock attract a mate.

Natural selection

A particular antibiotic kills 99% of a bacterial population. What will be the result of the continued application of this antibiotic?

Over time, the antibiotic will become less effective at killing the bacteria.

Binary fission produces __________.

Two genetically identical bacterial cells.

Kingdom ____ consists of multicellular eukaryotes that produce their food by photosynthesis

Plantae

The domain Eukarya is divided into kingdoms. Which of these kingdoms includes members that are highly diverse and do not fit neatly into a single classification scheme?

Protists

___ are a diverse collection of mostly single-celled eukaryotes, which are sorted into several kingdoms to reflect their evolutionary relationships.

Protists

What do you think might happen if you put a mixture of proteins and starch in a solution containing trypsin, an enzyme that breaks down proteins?

The protein would be broken down into amino acids.

What is the concern about using antibacterial and antimicrobial soaps?

The use of any chemical that kills bacteria can eventually lead to resistance to that chemical in the population of bacteria.

In the video, what does the UK's Chief Medical Officer suggest for promoting the development of new antibiotics?

encouraging big pharmaceutical companies to start investing again in new drug research and development

A sudden volcanic eruption kills many members of a population of elk. By chance, the individuals that remain do not have the same mix of genes as the original population. The mechanism of evolution is _____.

Bottleneck Effect

Although millions of prairie chickens once roamed the Midwest, their numbers dwindled to only 50 individuals in the 1990s. These few individuals have since produced a larger population. The genetic variation among the current population is quite low. The mechanism of evolution is ______.

Bottleneck Effect

Organisms with prokaryotic cells are separated into two ______, Bacteria and Archaea.

Domains

All organisms with eukaryotic cells are grouped in domain ____.

Eukarya

Although some closely related (but separate) species of salamander can mate with each other to produce offspring, the offspring fail to develop normally and cannot reproduce. The type of evidence is _____.

Hybrid Weakness

The chemical reaction shown here, in which a large molecule is broken down into the smaller parts that make it up, is called a __________ reaction.

Hydrolysis

Darwinian fitness is measured only in terms of _____________.

the contribution that an individual makes to the gene pool of the next generation in comparison to the contributions from other individuals

A population of ants are separated by a new, large housing development that prohibits gene flow.

Allopatric speciation

Bacteria with rod-shaped cells connected end-to-end are called _________.

Bacilli

Comparision of DNA sequences among single-celled organisms suggests that eukaryotes are more closely related to archaea than bacteria. The type of evidence is _____.

Bioinformatics

The amino acid sequence of human hemoglobin is more similar to the sequence of hemoglobin from dogs than it is to the sequence from fish. The type of evidence is ______.

Bioinformatics

Polymers that contain sugars ...

(a) may store hereditary information. (b) may store energy. (c) may protect cells.

Abert's squirrels and Kaibab squirrels are two species that share a common ancestry but no longer interbreed because they are separated by the Grand Canyon.

Allopatric Speciation

Pine forests separated by a mountain range, a canyon, or a body of water contain isolated populations of organisms.

Allopatric Speciation

In the projected video showing the growth of bacteria, why did the bacteria grow up to the edge of the area with antibiotics, pause, then continue to grow across the area with antibiotics?

A few bacteria experienced random mutations in their DNA, which allowed some of them to grow even though antibiotics were present.

How does the term "lactase persistent" relate to the term "lactose tolerant"?

A lactase-persistent person is lactose tolerant

What is kwashiorkor?

A malnourished condition caused by a lack of adequate protein in the diet

Imagine that you have been employed as a technical consultant for a new television program in which the main character is a doctor who works with anabolic steroids. The writers have asked you for a short description to provide them with background about this class of drugs. How would you best describe them?

Anabolic steroids are synthetic versions of the male sex hormone testosterone. They can increase muscle mass and strength, but they also have dangerous side effects and are illegal without a prescription.

Kingdom _____ consists of multicellular eukaryotes that obtain their food by ingesting (eating) other organisms.

Animalia

Which of the following correctly describes what the video referred to as a "microbial cure"?

Antibiotics are used to kill all of the infectious bacteria in a person.

Most of the prokaryotes known as ____ live in extreme environments, such as salty lakes.

Archaea

Cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and kohlrabi are all the same species of plant. What is responsible for the differences in these vegetables?

Artificial Selection

Most of the animals found on the island of Madagascar are found nowhere else, indicating they evolved from ancestral populations after Madagascar was isolated from other continents. The type of evidence is ______.

Biogeography

____ are the most diverse and widespread prokaryotes.

Bacteria

Over time, bacteria have become increasingly resistant to antibiotics. Which of the following best explains this in terms of natural selection?

Bacteria that happen to have natural resistance to antibiotics survived and reproduced.

In the Galapagos Islands, birds called blue-footed boobies will mate only after a specific "dance" is performed where a potential mate displays bright blue feet. The type of evidence is ____.

Behavioral Isolation

Male fireflies signal to females of the same species by blinking their tail lights at a particular rhythm. Females only respond to signals sent by males of their species. The type of evidence is ______.

Behavioral Isolation

This substance is stored in the gall bladder and released to aid in the digestion of fat.

Bile

Fossils of some species of reptile are found only in West Africa and Brazil, even though these locations are currently separated by thousands of miles of Atlantic ocean. The type of evidence is ______.

Biogeography

Which of the following conditions are required for evolution to occur? A. Resources must increase at the same rate that the population grows. B. Most offspring must survive.Individuals within a population must vary in their ability to compete for resources. C. Individuals within a population must vary in their ability to compete for resources. D. There must be equal reproductive success among individuals in a population. E. Resources in the environment must be limited. F. Traits must be heritable.

C, E, F

The skulls of humans and other primates have the same basic layout of bones, even though the heads are drastically different sizes and shapes. The type of evidence is ______.

Comparative Anatomy

Which of the following would NOT be considered an essential nutrient?

Dairy

Follicle cells in your scalp assemble proteins to build new hair. This most likely involves __________ reactions.

Dehydration Synthesis

Remains of a 365 million year old organism named Ichthyostega include features that suggest it spent time both in water and on land, indicating that it was a transitional species between fish and land-dwelling amphibians. The type of evidence is _____.

Fossil Record

The oldest known and most primitive bird is the 150-million-year old Archaeopteryx. Its remains display feathered wings, but its skeleton is otherwise similar to the two-legged dinosaurs that lived at that time. The type of evidence is ____.

Fossil Record

Tristan da Cunha is a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean. In 1814, 15 people formed a colony there, one of whom carried a rare gene for blindness. The frequency of this gene is now 10 times higher on the island than on the mainland from which the settlers arrived. The mechanism of evolution is ______.

Founder Effect

Kingdom _____ includes eukaryotic organisms that mostly decompose organic wastes and absorb nutrients into their cells.

Fungi

Within the open ocean, many species of sea slug release gametes simultaneously, but eggs of each species cannot be fertilized by sperm of a different species. The type of evidence is _____.

Gametic Incompatibility

Insecticide resistance among mosquitos is spreading around the world after mutations that originate in one population are spread to other populations through matings. The mechanism of evolution is _____.

Gene Flow

As habitats change, populations of northern pine trees that were once separated can now exchange pollen. This exchange of genes between populations is allowing the previously isolated gene pools to mix. The mechanism of evolution is ____.

Gene flow

New individuals move into a population.

Gene flow

By chance, some wildflowers in this population reproduce, while others do not.

Genetic Drift

Starch and glycogen are complex carbohydrates made by joining together long chains of __________ molecules.

Glucose

The enzyme lactase breaks the sugar lactose into which compound(s)?

Glucose and galactose

In North America, one species of garter snake lives primarily in the water, while another species lives primarily on land. Therefore, they rarely meet and mate. The type of evidence is ______.

Habitat Isolation

In older classification schemes, the group called Reptilia was defined as consisting of lizards, turtles, and snakes. Birds were separated into the group called Aves. Why is Aves not a clade?

It does not include the reptiles.

What do fats, steroids, and waxes have in common?

Low solubility in water

Certain species of plants require hummingbirds to transfer pollen from the male parts of one flower to the female parts of another flower. The shape of the plant flower is compatible only with the one species of hummingbird that transfers its pollen. The type of evidence is _______.

Mechanical Incompatibility

Some closely related species of snails cannot mate because their shells spiral in opposite directions, making it impossible for their reproductive organs to be aligned. The type of evidence is ______.

Mechanical Incompatibility

How does a bacterial cell obtain new DNA during the process of transformation?

Naked DNA from the surrounding environment is taken up by a bacterium.

Camouflage enables this insect to evade predators.

Natural selection

The bird's beak is well-suited for cracking seeds.

Natural selection

Due to differences in mating times, two sub-populations of frogs form into separate species, even though they occupy the same pond. This overall process is known as ________.

Sympatric Speciation

Medium size ground finches living on the same island develop different bill sizes, which alters their mating signals.

Sympatric Speciation

Self-fertilization in plants allows a new species to arise amidst the ancestral population.

Sympatric Speciation

Small fish called cichlids live in the same lake but at different depths, which cues differential reproduction.

Sympatric Speciation

Which of the following contributes the LEAST to the problem of antibiotic resistance?

Taking the entire course of antibiotics as prescribed by the doctor

Dr. Haxton told one of his students, "To move in the bloodstream, fats need the help of phospholipids." What would a good student say?

Yes. Nonpolar molecules aren't compatible with water.

During digestion, __________ are broken down into __________ through __________ reactions.

proteins; amino acids; hydrolysis