Biology 2 Quiz Questions

From the list below, select the correct format for the binomial (scientific name) of the species the monarch butterfly.

Danaus plexippus

In addition to naming species, Linnaeus also grouped species into a hierarchy of increasingly inclusive categories. The largest category that would include the most related species is the

Domain

What kind of evidence has recently made it necessary to assign the prokaryotes to either of two different domains rather than assigning all prokaryotes to the same kingdom?

Molecular

Which kingdom has been replaced with two domains?

Monera

What evidence suggests that limbless bodies are the result of convergent evolution of snakes and lizards?

Snakes and lizards with limbless bodies evolved from different ancestors of legged lizards.

What is one key difference between transduction and conjugation?

Transduction involves DNA being incorporated via a virus from one cell to another.

What is one key difference between genetic transformation and transduction in prokaryotes?

Transformation involves the uptake of foreign DNA from the surroundings, whereas transduction involves a virus transferring DNA from one bacterium to another.

Over evolutionary time, many cave-dwelling organisms have lost their eyes. Tapeworms have lost their digestive systems. Whales have lost their hind limbs. How can natural selection account for these losses?

Under particular circumstances that persisted for long periods, each of these structures presented greater costs than benefits.

Evolution is best defined as which of the following?

a change in genetic composition of a population from generation to generation

A shared ancestral character is

a character that originated in an ancestor of two taxa.

If you wanted to find the largest number of endemic species, you should visit which of the following geological features (assuming each has existed for several millions of years)?

an isolated ocean island in the tropics

Which of the following are the best examples of homologous structures?

bones in the bat wing and bones in the human forelimb

The interactions of prokaryotes with humans are

both negative and positive.

Although not present in all bacteria, this cell covering often enables cells that possess it to resist the defenses of host organisms, especially their phagocytic cells.

capsule

Bacteria are able to adhere to substrates and to other individuals by using which structures?

capsules and fimbriae

What structure(s) can allow a bacterium to persist, often over extended periods of time, in extreme environments such as those lacking in nutrients, dehydrating, and freezing, or in very hot temperatures?

capsules or endospores

A potential source of confusion in constructing a phylogeny tree is similarity between organisms that is due to

convergent evolution

Although hummingbirds and house flies both use wings to fly, this similarity is not based upon closely shared ancestry but rather on evolution and adaptation as a result of survival and reproduction in a given environment. The term best describing such a phenomenon is

convergent evolution

Two plant species live in a similar environment but on different continents. Although the two species are not at all closely related, they may appear quite similar as a result of

convergent evolution

What environment stimulates evolution of drug-resistant pathogens?

excess antibiotics

Assuming that each possesses a cell wall, which of these prokaryotes should be expected to be most strongly resistant to plasmolysis in saline environments?

extreme halophiles

Scientists have identified two major branches of prokaryotic evolution. What was the basis for dividing prokaryotes into two domains?

genetic characteristics such as ribosomal RNA sequences

Natural selection is based on all of the following except

genetic variation exists within populations.

Both ancestral birds and ancestral mammals shared a common ancestor that was terrestrial. Today, penguins (which are birds) and seals (which are mammals) have forelimbs adapted for swimming. What term best describes the relationship of the bones in the forelimbs of penguins and seals, and what term best describes the flippers of penguins and seals?

homologous; analogous

Artificial selection is

human-directed selective breeding.

The rise of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can be considered to be an example of artificial selection because

humans synthesize methicillin and create environments in which bacteria frequently come into contact with methicillin.

It has been observed that organisms on islands are different from, but closely related to, similar forms found on the nearest continent. This is taken as evidence that

individuals adapt to their environments and thereby evolve.

The majority of a bacterium's key genetic information is located in the

nucleoid

In a hypothetical situation, a bacterium lives on the surface of a leaf, where it obtains nutrition from the leaf's nonliving, waxy covering while inhibiting the growth of other microbes that are plant pathogens. If this bacterium gains access to the inside of a leaf, however, it causes a fatal disease in the plant. Once the plant dies, the bacterium and its offspring decompose the plant. What is the correct sequence of ecological roles played by the bacterium in the situation described here? Use only those that apply.

nutrient recycler, commensalist, pathogen

Sister taxa

represent groups of organisms that share an immediate common ancestor.