Biology 2 Final Exam
Why does it make sense that endotherms typically maintain an internal temperature set point that is higher than that of their environment?
Because it is easier to generate heat than to eliminate heat
Why was the proliferation of cyanobacteria a particularly significant event in the history of life on earth?
Because it resulted in a massive increase in the amount of oxygen present in the atmosphere
Why is mate guarding a behavior that is more likely to arise in male mammals than in female mammals?
Because males are more likely to otherwise wind up investing resources in offspring that are not their own
Why is ectothermy a particularly effective strategy in the ocean?
Because the ocean tends to have a failry constant temperature year round without any great fluctuations
Why is it thought that stable climates tend to harbor greater biodiversity?
Because they favor the evolution of K-selected species
Ligaments attach to what tissues?
Bone only
Which of the following statements is correct with regards to veins and arteries?
Both veins and arteries are surrounded by smooth muscle
Which of the following is correct with regards to xylem vs. phloem sap flow?
Both xylem and phloem flow require constant inputs of energy
Which of the following is true with regards to C3 vs. C4 vs. CAM plants?
C4 plants use more energy to fix CO2 than do C3 plants.
Contraction of a muscle cell begins after what binds to troponin?
Calcium
Which of the following is most likely to produce thousands of eggs at once?
An organism that utilizes external fertilization
Which of the following best represents the leading hypothesis for how altruistic behaviors become a feature of a species?
Animals that perform altruistic acts tend to increase the likelihood that some of their own behavioral tendencies will be passed on to the next generation via a close relative of theirs.
Which of the following statements is correct?
Antheridia are found on male gametophytes
Which of the following statements is correct with regards to energy producing pathways?
Fermentation does not utilize an electron transport system.
Which of the following is correct with regards to water relations in plants?
Higher transpiration rates result in lower water potential within the xylem.
In which of the following places would you be most likely to find hemolymph?
In the open circulatory system of an invertebrate
Which of the following statements is correct with regards to primary production?
Marine primary producers fix more carbon per cell on average than do terrestrial primary producers
Which of the following prokaryotic cell lines would have the potential to evolve and diversify the most rapidly?
One that exhibits a high DNA replication error frequency with a high reproduction rate
Which of the following animals is most likely to be an endotherm?
One that has brown fat high in uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1)
The following organisms are all about the same size (mass). Which of them is most likely to have the highest mean metabolic rate?
Organism D: multicellular, endothermic, not fully grown
Think of peas in a pod. The pod itself mainly consists of what?*
Ovary
Flashing a plant with a red wavelength of light followed immediately by a flash of far red light during the night results in it flowering. Which of the following should be concluded about this plant?
Pfr activates (promotes) flowering in this plant
In which of the following sensory neurons would we find opsin?
Photoreceptors
Which of the following is correct with regards to the geotropic response in plants?
Plant shoots tend to exhibit negative geotropism while their roots tend to exhibit positive geotropism
Which of the following statements is correct with regards to angiosperm reproduction?*
Pollination occurs when a pollen grain comes into contact with a stigma
Which of the following organisms does not have either neurons or myocytes?
Sponge
Which of the following statements is correct with regards to the life cycles of plants?
Sporophytes produce spores by meiosis
What would happen if myelin coated the entire length of a neuron's axon, rather than just sections of it?
The depolarization wave would dissipate before reaching the end of the axon, and the action potential would cease to propagate
Which of the following statements is correct?*
The ecological niche of a species includes its physical environment.
Cyanobacteria are present at the surface of a sediment layer, but then are replaced by purple bacteria deeper down. Which of the following most likely explains why the purple bacteria do better deeper down?
There is less light and of different wavelengths deeper down
Where do seaweeds get their nutrients from?
They absorb them from the surrounding water
Which of the following best describes the mechanism by which minerals enter the roots of a plant?
They are actively taken up and transported into the root
Which of the following is true of amine hormones?
They are produced by modification of an amino acid
Which of the following best describes the status of vertebrate photoreceptors in the dark?
They are releasing low levels of glutamate
Which of the following statements is generally correct with regards to the bryophytes?
They can disperse their spores but not their gametes through air
Based on both extant and fossil species distributions, which of the following is thought to be the best explanation for how the rhea, ostrich, and emu (all large flightless birds) ended up on the continents of South America, Africa, and Australia, respectively?
They each evolved from the same flightless common ancestor, but gained the ability to fly to different continents before then losing the ability to fly again.
A certain plant has these characteristics as part of its life cycle:--Both eggs and sperm are released free into the environment (neither are held to the plant for fertilization)--Isomorphic generationsWhich plant could this be?*
Ulva
Some sharks accumulate waste urea in their tissues in order to increase their internal osmolarity. Why is accumulating waste urea a better solution than accumulating waste ammonia?
Urea is less toxic
Consider the food web shown. Which of the following statements about this community is correct?*
Wood mice feed at more than one trophic level.
Which of the following results in Turner syndrome?
X0 karyotype (chromosome combination)
A certain plant normally flowers when the day length is greater than 14 hours. Suppose that the plant is exposed to an artificial daily light/dark cycle consisting of the following: 8 hours light > 8 hours dark > 4 hours light > 4 hours dark. Is the plant expected to flower under this light cycle?
Yes
Are there cases where more than one kind of tissue produces the same hormone in a given species?
Yes
What is Wallace's Line?
it is a geographic dividing line that generally separates Asia-type species on one side from Australia-type species on the other, due to a deep ocean channel that runs between.
A certain diploid organism has 5 different kinds of chromosomes (for a total of 10 chromosomes per cell). How many different chromosome combinations can be produced in its gametes, not accounting for crossing over?
10
You observe an animal species with the following characteristics: long lived, with multiple reproductive episodes before death, and offspring that show mortality rates that start out low but then increase with age. What terms would best describe the reproductive strategies of this new animal species?1. r-strategists2. K-strategists3. Iteroparous4. Semelparous
2 and 3
A certain strain of a flowering plant species has a ploidy of 8n. What will the ploidy of its pollen be?
4n
The sporophytes of a certain angiosperm are 2n. What will the ploidy of this plant's endosperm be?
6n
What is the main difference between a dietary mineral and a vitamin?
A dietary mineral is an inorganic compound, while a vitamin is an organic compound
A certain waste elimination structure works by transporting waste molecules from the body fluid into the gut for elimination along with undigested food waste. Which waste elimination structure could this be?
A Malpighian tubule
Which is the best definition of the word "theory" as it's used in science?
A broad explanation that is well-confirmed by many lines of evidence
What is a ganglion?
A bundle of neurons coordinated into a single processing center
What is a statocyte?
A cell that detects gravity via mechanoreceptors
Which of the following statements is correct?
A climate proxy is a measurement we can make today that helps us infer the climate of the past
Which of the following statements is true?
An angiosperm seed contains cells of three different ploidies.
Which of these individuals is likely to be most successful in an evolutionary sense?
A female that lives for 5 days and leaves 10 offspring, all of whom survive to reproduce
Which of the following pairs the phenomenon with its correct term?
A group of colonizers leaves a population, carrying with it only a fraction of the parent population's genetic diversity = founder effect
Which of the following statements is correct with regards to species interactions and communities?*
A keystone species is one that has a disproportionately large effect on its biological community.
Which of the following is the best example of intrasexual competition?
A male insect secretes a copulatory plug into the genital tract of a female insect after mating with her
Which of the following statements is correct with regards to animal reproduction?
A monotreme is a mammal that lays eggs.
What is a motor unit?
A neuron along with all of the muscle cells it controls
Hypotheses for abiogenesis all generally require a few key elements, including an aquatic environment, a way to concentrate the molecules of life, a membrane bubble, and what else?
A self-replicating molecule
Which of the following is the best example of a passive homeostatic adaptation?
A species has a body shape that better dissipates heat
Which of the following statements is true with regards to human vision?
After images are caused in part by interneurons running out of neurotransmitters
Which of the following statements is true?
All chloroplasts ultimately trace back to the same original cyanobacterium.
Which of the following is the best summation of Kleiber's Law?
As an animal's size increases, its metabolic rate decreases per unit mass but increases overall
Which of the following describes a positive feedback?
As the earth gets warmer, evaporation of water increases, resulting in increased mean humidity and thus greater heat trapping by the atmosphere.
Which of the following statements is correct with regards to Earth's climate system?
As the earth warms, more water evaporates, which can act to further increase warming (due to increased humidity) and/or contribute to cooling (due to increased cloud cover).
What is the difference between autotrophs and heterotrophs?
Autotrophs produce their own sugar from carbon dioxide, while heterotrophs must consume sugar from an outside source
Which of the following is correct with regards to phytochrome, sensing, and response in plants?
Auxin accumulates more on the side of a shoot that is higher in Pr
The plot below shows the temperature of a mass of pure water as it is subjected to a constant input of energy: Which point on the graph represents liquid water only?
C
Which node in the tree below represents the most recent common ancestor of the mushrooms and birds?
C
What causes atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations over Hawaii to oscillate up and down annually, as shown below?*
Changes in the global average rate of photosynthesis with the seasons
Which comes next in the series? Kingdom > Phylum > ____________
Class
Which kind of species interaction results in a net cost to both?
Commensalism
Why is it hypothesized that the discovery of cooking may have helped humans evolve bigger brains?
Cooking makes a wide variety of foods easier to eat and digest
Which immune cell plays a role in the adaptive immune response of vertebrates by directly killing infected host cells?
Cytotoxic T cells
Which of the following is correct with regards to neuron function?
Depolarization of the axon hillock is the key even that triggers an action potential
Where do nitrogenous wastes mostly come from in animals?
Digested proteins
Suppose that an island has two food sources: large seeds and small seeds. Finches who have large beaks can eat the large seeds, and finches that have small beaks can eat the small seeds. Finches with a medium size beak can't eat either one very well. This scenario implies which kind of selection?
Disruptive selection
Vascular plants bring in large amounts of water through their roots--as much as 2-4 L per day for corn, or 225 L (~60 gallons) per hour (!) for a large silver maple tree. This water consumption is mainly associated with the need to do what?
Exchange gases
Which of the following is correct with regards to skeletons?
Exoskeletons must be periodically shed (molted) in order for the organism to grow
What is stochastic extinction?
Extinction that occurs just due to (bad) luck
Which of the following statements is correct wih regards to fungi?
Fungi are only diploid during the zygote stage.
Which of the following statements is correct with regards to breathing air vs. water?
Gills can work okay in air provided they are stiff and covered enough to not collapse or dry out
The myelin sheath is made up of layers of what?
Glial cells
Suppose that several owls migrate into the biological community above, effectively doubling the owl population. What impact would this be expected to have on the abundance of grasshoppers in the community?
Go Up
Which of the following is correct with regards to the Svante Arrhenius' determination that human-produced carbon dioxide could induce global climate change?*
He thought this was likely to be a good thing
Which of the following is correct with regards to oxygen binding proteins?
Hemoglobin has a greater number of oxygen binding sites than does myoglobin
Leaky gut syndrome isn't a proper medical diagnosis, but it implies any number of problems with increased permeability of the small intestine (i.e., allowing molecules to seep through the intestinal wall). Which of the following could result in this problem?
Improperly functioning tight junctions between the villi
Which of the following statements is correct with regards to promiscuity vs. polygamy?
In promiscuity there is no lasting mate bond beyond the sex act, whereas in polygamy long-term mating bonds are maintained
Which of the following statements is true with regards to population growth?
In some cases, an increase in the size of a population may spur an increase in its per capita growth rate.
Which of the following changes would be most likely to lead to a higher root pressure in a plant?
Increase in humidity
Which of the following represents an adaptation that would help a desert vertebrate better retain (rather than excrete) water?
Increased number of open aquaporins in the collecting duct
Which of the following statements is true with regards to a compound eye?
It allows for a wider field of view
What is the advantage in having a pigmented cell next to a photoreceptor in the light sensitive spot of a very primitive organism?
It allows the animal to sense the direction that light is coming from
What happened to the Monteverde Cloud Forest of Costa Rica when an adjacent lowland forest was harvested for lumber?
It became more dry
Which of the following statements is correct with regards to a conifer ovule at some point in the conifer's life cycle?
It contains a gametophyte
Which of the following statements is correct with regards to a conifer ovule at some point in the conifer's life cycle?*
It contains a gametophyte
Which of the following best describes the phototrophy of the halobacteria?
It does not utilize an electron transport system, and the ATP produced is NOT used to manufacture glucose
A certain type of neuron has a typical resting potential of -35 mV. Which of the following is most likely to be true about this type of neuron?
It fires action potentials more readily than is typical for most neurons (i.e., it is more "jumpy")
How does a neuron report a higher stimulus intensity?
It fires more frequently
What does it mean when we say that a certain fungal species is parasexual?
It follows a sexual reproduction scheme but without using meiosis anywhere along the way
Which of the following is a valid criticism of Whittaker's "five kingdoms of life" classification system?
It groups both the bacteria and archaea into a single kingdom
What is the key function of sporopollenin?
It helps protect cells from desiccation
Which of the following best describes the "logic" of hormonal regulation of gametogenesis in human males
It involves constraining gametogenesis to a relatively constant level by a simple negative feedback
Which of the following is the best description of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system?
It is a part of the peripheral nervous system and is responsible for ramping up the "fight or flight" response
Which of the following statements is correct about diffusion?
It is a random passive process in which molecules effectively move from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration.
A certain fungal cell is diploid. What can be said about this cell?
It is a zygote
Which of the following is correct with regards to the descending limb of the loop of Henle?
It is permeable to water
Which of the following is correct with regards to speciation?
It is possible for speciation to occur without an associated selective pressure driving the change
In what way did the writings of Thomas Malthus inform both Darwin and Wallace's conceiving of the theory of evolution?
It made them think in terms of certain individuals in a population having advantages when it comes to acquiring resources from a finite supply
What effect does myelination have on neuron function?
It makes action potentials travel more rapidly
In the short TED Ed animation you watched, the narrator talked about a sperm having a far smaller Reynolds number than a sperm whale. What does this mean?
It means that a sperm can't travel through water nearly as easily as a sperm whale can
Which of the following is correct with regards to reproduction via fragmentation?
It only occurs in multicellular organisms
What is the main function of the pancreas?
It produces digestive enzymes and bicarbonate
Which of the following is a defining characteristic of the most parsimonious explanation for a phenomenon?
It relies on the fewest improbable events
Which of the following is correct with regards to the cecum?
It serves as a fermentation chamber in hindgut fermenters
What does histamine do?
It signals blood vessels to dilate and become more permeable
What happens to a zygote in the dikaryotic reproductive scheme of fungi?*
It undergoes meiosis to produce spores
Which of the following statements is correct with regards to endosymbiotic theory?
It was formally proposed by Lynn Margulis in 1966, although others had had similar ideas as much as a hundred years earlier
Which of the following is correct with regards to an osmoconforming fish?
Its internal solute concentration will be equal to that of its environment, and it must live in saltwater
Which of the following will occur so long as a population maintains a constant per capita growth rate of 0.1?
Its overall rate of growth will increase over time
What is the difference between a population's range and dispersion?
Its range is the total extent of the area it inhabits, while its dispersion is how its organisms are distributed within that area
Which of the following statements is true with regards to learning?
Learned behaviors tend to exhibit a higher level of variability than do innate behaviors among the members of a population.
Which of the following plays a role in cell elongation in plants?*
Loosening/weakening of the cell walls
Which biome tends to be found in areas that have a hot, dry summer but a cool, moist winter with occasional wildfires?*
Mediterranean / chaparral / thorn scrub
Which of the following best describes muscle function?
Muscles can only contract with force--they cannot also extend with force
What does it suggest when a certain gene shows very little variation in a population?
Mutations in the gene are being selected against
Which of the following statements is true with regards to human reproduction?
Mutations occur at a higher rate in the female's ovaries (and thus egg cells) than they do in the male's testes (and thus sperm), for reasons that are not yet understood
Which of the following best describes the relationship between plants and mycorrhizal fungi?*
Mutualism
Which of the following is correct with regards to muscle structure and function?
Myosin ratchets against (along) actin in all muscle cells.
Which of the following sensory neurons plays the strongest role in the sensing and reporting of physical damage (perceived as pain)?
Nociceptors
The wasp Nasonia vitripennis lays its eggs in the pupae of house flies, Musca domestica. The hatched wasp larvae then slowly feed on the living house fly pupae as they develop, until eventually the host pupae die (which is okay since the larvae don't need them anymore anyway). This situation is best an example of what?
Predation
Which of the following environmental conditions most favors the persistence of the sickle cell allele in the human population?
Presence of malaria
Which of the following results in the LH surge in female humans?
Production of estradiol by ovarian follicles
Which of the following is most clearly an example of amensalism?*
Pseudonitzschia diatoms produce domoic acid as a byproduct of their metabolism, and it just so happens to be toxic to marine mammals
Which of the following exhibits a dominant, vascular sporophyte that grows out of (or on, if you prefer) an inferior, nonvascular gametophyte?
Pteridophyte
Which of the following correctly identifies a difference between a scavenger and a detritivore?*
Scavengers are larger animals, while detritivores are smaller animals
Which of the following is most correct with regards to science?
Science technically doesn't prove a fact so much as it consistently fails to disprove it.
Which of the following statements is correct?
Seeds are multicellular propagules, while spores are unicellular propagules.
What is the biggest advantage to producing seeds, as opposed to just spores?*
Seeds can carry a much larger nutrient supply
Which of the following is correct with regards to the life cycle of the vast majority of fungi?
Sex involves the body cells of two different fungi fusing and growing into a new mycelium
Which of the following best describes the bryophytes?
Small nonvascular terrestrial plants
Which of the following is correct with regards to the human microbiome?
Some archaea live in the human body, but so far none of them have been found to be pathogens.
Which of the following is a problem associated with the biological species concept?
Some groups of organisms are capable of interbreeding successfully but for practical reasons never actually do
Suppose that a neuron doesn't fire an action potential when only one of its synapses receives a neurotransmitter, but does when several of its synapses receive a neurotransmitter. This is an example of which of the following?
Spatial summation
Which class of hormone is most likely to act inside the cell as a transcription factor altering gene expression?
Steroid
Sponges are best characterized as which of the following?
Suspension feeders
Which of the following is most responsible for afterimage effects (where we continue to see false colors of an object after looking at it)?
Synaptic fatigue of interneurons
Which human sense represents, in principle, the most ancient form of sensing in living things?
Tasting
What is the difference between taxonomy and classification?
Taxonomy involves describing and naming living things, while classification involves organizing living things into larger groups by some overall (typically hierarchical) scheme.
What is the advantage of having a four-chambered heart, as opposed to a two-chambered heart?
The animal can control and rapidly deliver blood supply to both the systemic and respiratory capillaries
Which of the following is correct with regards to neuron anatomy?
The axon terminals contain neurotransmitters.
A cell has an internal osmolarity (tonicity) of 0.1 osmolar. If the cell is placed in a 0.15 molar solution of glucose, what will happen?
The cell will lose water
The phylogeny below has been proposed to explain the relationships between Species A-F. We compare a certain gene across all of the species in order to test the phylogeny. Which of our findings below poses the strongest evidence AGAINST some part of the proposed phylogeny (that is, most suggests some aspect of the tree is wrong)?
The gene for Species C differs by about the same number of base pairs from that of either Species B or F
Which of the following is correct with regards to the great apes?
The great apes are a paraphyletic group.
Which of the following will occur if a plant actively transports solutes into its guard cells?
The guard cells will fill with water, and the stomata will open
Which of the following represents proper homeostatic control of the relevant system?
The kidneys allow more salt to leave in the urine when the body's salt levels rise.
Which of the following statements provides the best summation of the triune brain model?
The mammalian brain consists of three main brain structures that each represent a major evolutionary innovation, resulting essentially in three brains integrated into one.
Which of the following statements is correct with regards to muscle structure, function, or use?
The muscle swelling that occurs with extended activity is due to water that enters the muscle cells in response to consistently elevated levels of Ca2+
Which of the following is correct with regards to skeletal muscle?
The myocytes, myofibrils, and sarcomeres all shorten during skeletal muscle contraction, while the individual actin and myosin filaments do not
What is the McGurk Effect?
The phenomenon in which what we hear is influenced by what we see along with the sound
What is the big advantage of the double fertilization scheme of angiosperms?
The plant is able to produce two seeds per every one fertilization event
The figure below is an approximate plot of the membrane potential for a typical action potential as it passes a point on a cell membrane: Which of the following statements is correct with regards to the different regions of the plot?
The potassium channels are open and the sodium channels are closed in both regions 3 and 4
Which part of the vertebrate nervous system is most clearly under conscious control?
The somatic nervous system
Which part of a seedling is responsible for light sensing and triggering of the phototropic response in plants?
The tip
Which of the following is correct with regards to the vertebrate eye vs. the cephalopod eye?
The vertebrate eye has neurons that feed back through a hole in the retina, while the cephalopod eye does not
Which of the following statements is correct with regards to water potential in a plant?
The water potential in a sieve tube element is typically highest in the region where sugar is transported into the sap
What key feature of the heart's pacemaker cells causes them to beat in regular rhythm?
They have "leaky" sodium channels
What is noteworthy about Cordyceps fungi?*
They infect and sometimes control the movement of insects
A very few microscopic animal species have been discovered that reproduce entirely asexually, although they are all descended from ancestors that did utilize sexual reproduction. Which of the following is most likely to be true about these species?
They lost the ability to reproduce sexually relatively recently (they are an evolutionarily young species)
What is unique and noteworthy about some species within the Cordyceps and Ophiocordyceps genera of fungi?
They produce some of the most powerful antibiotic compounds yet discovered
What is the advantage of having a certain sensory neuron wired to multiple interneurons, via excitatory synapses in some and inhibitory synapses in others?
This can sharpen or exaggerate the sensory data sent to the brain
A cell extends its membrane to engulf a particle of food. Which of the following statements is most likely to be true about this scenario?
This is an example of phagocytosis, and the cell is eukaryotic
Suppose that black ROUSes (rodents of unusual size) prefer to mate with other black ROUSes, while brown ROUSes prefer to mate with other brown ROUSes. Which of the following is most likely to occur in this scenario?
This tendency would eventually lead to separate black and brown species over time, via a prezygotic barrier.
In the context of biological communities, what is a carbon sink?*
Tissue that cannot be used for energy by another organism
Antibodies have both a variable part and a constant part in their Y-shaped structure. What's the purpose of the constant part?
To interact with / be recognized by the host immune system
Which kind of horizontal gene transfer involves a cell taking up DNA from the environment?
Transformation
Which of the following statements is correct with regards to the vascular system of plants?
Vessel elements are larger than tracheids.
Which of the following statements is correct?
Water does not require an open channel to cross the cell membrane, but it crosses more rapidly if it has one.
What mainly happens in the large intestine?
Water is reabsorbed from the food waste stream
Under which of the following scenarios would parthenogenesis NOT be capable of producing a male offspring?
When sex is determined by the XX/XY genetic system
What is facilitation, in the context of ecological succession?*
When the establishment of one species in a habitat primes the environment in such a way that paves the way for another species to come into the habitat
Which of the following is the best description of imprinting?
When the situation to be responded to has a highly consistent correct response
When is an innate behavior most likely to evolve?
When the situation to be responded to has a highly variable correct response
What kinds of molecules pass through a cell membrane most easily?
small and hydrophobic
