Biology 1009 Final Exam Quiz Questions

Question 1

Evolution…
A. must happen, due to organisms’ innate desire to survive.
B. can happen whenever any of the conditions for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium are not met.
C. must happen whenever a population is not well-adapted to its environment.
D. requires that populations become better suited to their environments.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The concept of “Fitness” is described as the…

A. likelihood of an individual contributing fertile offspring to the next generation.
B. relative likelihood that more females will die than males in the population.
C. relative likelihood that one genotype will contribute to the gene pool of the next generation compared with other genotypes.
D. all of the above are true.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

In a population of squirrels, fur color varies from a light shade, almost white, to a very dark brown. If changes in the environment resulted in decreased predation of individuals with the lightest coloration, which type of natural selection would you expect to occur?
  A. Diversifying selection. 
 B. Stabilizing selection. 
 C. Directional selection. 
D.  Balancing selection.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

In peas, a gene controls flower color such that R = purple and r = white. R is dominant to r. In an isolated pea patch, there are 36 purple-flowering plants and 64 white-flowering plants. Assuming Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, what is the allele frequency of “r” for this population?

A. 0.36
B. 0.64
C. 0.75
D. 0.80

Answer 4

D

Question 5

Natural selection changes allele frequencies because some ________ survive and reproduce more successfully than others…

A. individuals
B. alleles
C. loci
D. gene pools

Answer 5

A

Question 6

Members of two different species possess a similar-looking structure that they use in a similar way to perform about the same function. Which of the following would suggest that the relationship more likely represents homology instead of convergent evolution?

A. The structures in adult members of both species are similar in size.
B. Both species are well adapted to their particular environments.
C. The two species also live in similar habitats.
D. The two species share many proteins in common, and the nucleotide sequences that code for these proteins are almost identical.

Answer 6

D

Question 7

Which of the following must be true of a population before the population can evolve in response to natural selection?

A. There must be genetic variation among individuals.
B. The population must exhibit sexual reproduction.
C. The population must have predators.
D. The population must have recently colonized a new environment.

Answer 7

A

Question 8

A test question for your midterm exam states, “The elephant stretched its nose while reaching for higher leaves; therefore its offspring inherited longer noses.” Which statement is most likely to be helpful in correcting this misconception?

A. Spontaneous mutations can result in the appearance of new traits.
B. Disuse of an organ may lead to its eventual disappearance.
C. Only favorable adaptations have survival value.
D. Characteristics acquired during an organism’s life-time are not passed on through the genes.

Answer 8

D

Question 9

In a Hardy-Weinberg population with two alleles, “A” and “a”, that are in equilibrium, the frequency of the allele “a” is 0.3. What is the percentage of the population that is homozygous for this allele?

A. 9.0
B. 0.9
C. 0.09
D. 0.49

Answer 9

A

Question 10

In the formula for determining a population’s genotype frequencies, the 2 in the term 2pq is necessary because….

A. heterozygotes have two alleles.
B. the population is doubling in number.
C. heterozygotes can come about in two ways.
D. the population is diploid.

Answer 10

C

Question 11

There are two alleles, B and b, at a gene locus in a population at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The relative frequency of the dominant (B) allele is 0.7. What is the expected number of heterozygous individuals if the total population size is 500 individuals?

A. 150
B. 210
C. 350
D. 420

Answer 11

B

Question 12

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 → 1 → 3
B. 2 → 4 → 1 → 3
C. 4 → 1 → 2 → 3
D. 2 → 4 → 3 → 1

Answer 12

B

Question 13

Which of the following must be true of a population before the population can evolve in response to natural selection?

A. There must be genetic variation among individuals.
B. The population must exhibit sexual reproduction.
C. The population must have predators.
D. The population must have recently colonized a new environment.

Answer 13

A

Question 14

If two modern organisms are distantly related in an evolutionary sense, then one should expect that…
A. they live in very different habitats.
B. they should share fewer homologous structures than two more closely related organisms.
C. their chromosomes should be very similar.
D. they shared a common ancestor relatively recently.

Answer 14

B

Question 15

Artificial selection is the process by which…

A. individuals in wild populations randomly mate.
B. humans prevent natural selection.
C. natural selection fails to act in wild populations.
D. humans allow only organisms with specific characteristics to breed.

Answer 15

D

Question 16

In ______________ a population can be severely reduced in size by floods or a drought.

A. bottleneck effect
B. founder effect
C. balancing selection
D. Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium

Answer 16

A

Question 17

Which of the following is an example of evolutionary change?
  Biogeography. 
  Fossil record. 
  Convergent evolution. 
  All of the above.

Answer 17

D

Question 18

Most Swiss starlings produce four to five eggs in each clutch. Starlings producing fewer, or more than this number of eggs have offspring with reduced fitness. Which of the following terms best describes this situation?

A. Directional selection.
B. Diversifying selection.
C. Stabilizing selection.
D. Balancing selection.

Answer 18

C

Question 19

When males directly compete with each other for mating opportunities, this is an example of…

A. stabilizing selection.
B. balancing selection.
C. intersexual selection.
D. intrasexual selection.

Answer 19

D

Question 20

With regard to the Hardy-Weinberg equation, which of the following would be used to calculate the frequency of individuals who do not exhibit a disease but are carriers of a recessive genetic disorder?
A.  p2
B.  q2
C.  2pq 
D.  q

Answer 20

C

Question 21

In the formula for determining a population’s genotype frequencies, the 2 in the term 2pq is necessary because…

A. heterozygotes have two alleles.
B. the population is doubling in number.
C. heterozygotes can come about in two ways.
D. the population is diploid.

Answer 21

C

Question 22

What must be true of any organ described as vestigial?
A. It must be analogous to some feature in an ancestor.
B. It must be homologous to some feature in an ancestor.
C. It must be both homologous and analogous to some feature in an ancestor.
D. It need be neither homologous nor analogous to some feature in an ancestor.

Answer 22

B

Question 23

Inbreeding refers to….

A. mating between genetically related individuals.
B. selective breeding to produce heterozygotes.
C. mating between genetically unrelated individuals.
D. breeding in a population that is decreasing in size.

Answer 23

A

Question 24

The purpose of nitrogen fixation is to….
A. convert ammonia (NH3) to nitrate (NO3-).
B. convert atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3) or ammonium (NH4+).
C. convert ammonium (NH4+) to nitrite (NO2-).
D. convert ammonia (NH3) to ammonium ((NH4+).

Answer 24

B

Question 25

The energy that drives the water cycle comes from
 A. Geothermal heat. 
 B. Cohesion energy. 
C.  Adhesion energy. 
 D. Solar energy.

Answer 25

D

Question 26

Which of the following statements about nitrogen is FALSE.

A. Nitrogen can be used directly from the air.
B. Nitrogen is used to make proteins in the human body.
C. Nitrogen can be fixed by bacteria.
D. Nitrogen can be released back into the air.

Answer 26

A

Question 27

Which of the following is the possible path of movement of nitrogen in the nitrogen cycle?

A. air - animals - soil - plants - air
B. soil - animals - plants - air - soil
C. soil - air - plants - animals - soil
D. air - soil - plants - animals - soil - air

Answer 27

D

Question 28

Heterotrophs use nitrogen...
A.  in cellular respiration. 
B.  in photosynthesis. 
C.  to make nucleic acids and proteins. 
D.  to transcribe polypeptides.

Answer 28

C

Question 29

The amount of productive land needed to support the average individual of a particular country represents the....
A.  ecological correspondence. 
B.  ecological footprint. 
C.  ecological provision. 
D.  ecological mood.

Answer 29

B

Question 30

One of the first widely used pesticides produced remained active for a long time, and killed many insects considered to be pests. This pesticide is called…

A. CFC.
B. MSY
C. XXy
D. DDT.

Answer 30

D

Question 31

In the water cycle, water vapor condenses into clouds. When the water droplets become large enough, they fall to the earth as…

A. precipitation.
B. aquifers.
C. evaporation.
D. transpiration.

Answer 31

A

Question 32

Deforestation can...
 A. reduce parasitism. 
B.  increase species extinction. 
C.  increase competition with invasive species. 
D.  reduce population growth.

Answer 32

B

Question 33

Which statement is FALSE regarding invasive species?

A. They are often competitively inferior.
B. Their populations grow rapidly.
C. They often have no major predators.
D. Feral dogs introduced to Australia replaced the native thylacine.

Answer 33

A