Biology - Topic 4 - Natural Selection and Genetic Modification

Question 1

What is this a definition of: ‘A group of organisms that can reproduce with one another, producing offspring that can also reproduce’?

Answer 1

species

Question 2

What is the scientific name for the modern human species?

Answer 2

Homo sapiens

Question 3

From what type of creature are modern humans thought to have evolved?

Answer 3

apes

Question 4

What are the remains of organisms that have been turned into rock called?

Answer 4

fossils

Question 5

Sedimentary rock exists in layers, one of top of another. Which layers are the youngest?

Answer 5

upper (top) layers

Question 6

Which substance did early human-like animals make tools out of?

Answer 6

wood, stone

Question 7

Why do we only find the stone tools now?

Answer 7

the wooden ones have rotted away

Question 8

Which of these three species is most closely related to modern humans and how can you tell:
Homo habilis
Australopithecus afarensis
Ardipithecus ramidus ?

Answer 8

Homo habilis, because the first word of its scientific name is the same as that of modern humans.

Question 9

On which continent are the oldest human-like fossils found?

Answer 9

Africa

Question 10

What is this a definition of: ‘A gradual change in the characteristics of a species over time’?

Answer 10

evolution

Question 11

Where does the evidence come from that humans evolved?

Answer 11

fossils, stone tools

Question 12

Over how many years can scientists trace human evolution?

Answer 12

4-5 million years

Question 13

Name one trend that has occurred in the bodies of human-like species as they have evolved over millions of years.

Answer 13

walking upright, feet with short toes, larger brains, flatter faces, taller skulls, etc.

Question 14

What are the differences in characteristics between two organisms called?

Answer 14

variation

Question 15

Suggest one reason why polar bears are better adapted than black bears to living in the Arctic.

Answer 15

they are white and so can avoid being seen against the snow by their prey

Question 16

What is the name of the scientist who is most well known for developing a theory about evolution?

Answer 16

Charles Darwin

Question 17

Some scientists think that a species called Homo heidelbergensis evolved into both Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens. What is a species that evolves into two species like this called?

Answer 17

common ancestor

Question 18

What do we call the system of scientific naming for organisms?

Answer 18

binomial system

Question 19

Suggest the environmental change that resulted in the evolution of African elephants’ large ears

Answer 19

increase in temperature

Question 20

Suggest the environmental change that resulted in the evolution of woolly mammoths’ hairiness

Answer 20

decrease in temperature

Question 21

A certain population of animals evolved long legs over a long period of time. Is this more likely to be due to an increase or decrease in the number of predators?

Answer 21

increase

Question 22

What process does Darwin’s theory use to explain how evolution occurs?

Answer 22

natural selection

Question 23

The binomial name for the African bush elephant is Loxodonta africana. What genus does it belong to?

Answer 23

Loxodonta

Question 24

What is the name of the other person who came up with the idea of evolution by natural selection at the same time as Darwin?

Answer 24

Alfred Russel Wallace

Question 25

Suggest one way in which the limbs of gorillas, whales and bats are similar.

Answer 25

They all have five fingers; they all have a pentadactyl structure

Question 26

What is the name of the type of limb that humans have?

Answer 26

pentadactyl

Question 27

Which of these organisms does not have a pentadactyl limb: dog, penguin, frog, fly?

Answer 27

fly

Question 28

How many ‘fingers’ does a pentadactyl limb have?

Answer 28

five

Question 29

How did Darwin and Wallace work together to tell other scientists about their ideas?

Answer 29

they published a scientific paper

Question 30

One branch of biology that has developed thanks to Darwin and Wallace’s theory is the study of genes. What is this branch of biology called?

Answer 30

genetics

Question 31

Elephants belong to the animal kingdom. What other kingdoms are there?

Answer 31

plants, fungi, protists/protoctists, bacteria (prokaryotes)

Question 32

State one way in which the cells of bacteria are different to those of animals, plants, fungi and protists.

Answer 32

They have no nucleus/mitochondria/organelles. They have plasmids. They don’t have chromosomes (instead they have a loop of chromosomal DNA).

Question 33

Cattle, wheat and mushrooms are all farmed. What kingdoms do they belong to?

Answer 33

cattle – animals; wheat – plants; mushrooms – fungi

Question 34

The scientific name for cattle is Bos taurus. What genus do they belong to?

Answer 34

Bos

Question 35

What domain do Bos mutus (wild yaks) and Bos taurus (cattle) belong to?

Answer 35

Eukarya

Question 36

What are the features of the Eukarya domain?

Answer 36

They have nuclei/mitochondria in their cells.

Question 37

Name the other two domains.

Answer 37

Bacteria, Archaea.

Question 38

The three-domain system was developed because while Archaea looked like bacteria/ prokaryotes they had other characteristics more like plants and animals. What were these other characteristics?

Answer 38

They have genes containing unused sections of DNA.

Question 39

There are about 800 different types of farm cattle that all belong to the same species. What is the name for different types of the same species of animal?

Answer 39

breeds

Question 40

What is the name for different types of the same species of plant?

Answer 40

varieties

Question 41

Which term describes a group of similar cells that together carry out a particular function?

Answer 41

tissue

Question 42

Does asexual reproduction produce offspring that are genetically different or identical?

Answer 42

identical

Question 43

Which form of reproduction happens when you take cuttings of a plant to make new plants?

Answer 43

asexual reproduction

Question 44

What is the name of the process in which individuals are chosen to be bred together in order to develop a new breed or variety with useful characteristics?

Answer 44

selective breeding

Question 45

Which process inserts a gene for a particular characteristic into another organism so that it produces that characteristic?

Answer 45

genetic engineering / modification

Question 46

Which term means to grow new cells or tissues from tiny pieces of plant or animal tissue?

Answer 46

tissue culture

Question 47

What term describes humans choosing certain organisms because they have useful characteristics?

Answer 47

artificial selection

Question 48

Give an example of a species of animal that has been produced by selective breeding.

Answer 48

dogs, cows, sheep etc

Question 49

What word describes all the DNA in an organism?

Answer 49

genome

Question 50

What three-letter abbreviation is given to organisms that have been genetically engineered?

Answer 50

GMO

Question 51

What word describes the amount of useful product that can be obtained from a farmed plant or animal?

Answer 51

yield

Question 52

Suggest a characteristic that would be useful in a new variety of lettuce.

Answer 52

e.g. better taste, quicker growing, greater yield, disease resistance

Question 53

Suggest a characteristic that would be useful in a new breed of sheep.

Answer 53

e.g. leaner meat, quicker growing, greater yield, disease resistance, ability to withstand certain conditions, more wool

Question 54

What name is given to the small circles of genetic material in a bacterium that are separate from the bacterial chromosome?

Answer 54

plasmids

Question 55

Which term describes bacteria that are no longer affected by antibiotics?

Answer 55

resistant

Question 56

Why are organisms genetically modified?

Answer 56

to produce a new useful characteristic

Question 57

Why can a gene from one kind of organism produce the characteristic it codes for in a different organism?

Answer 57

Genes work in the same way in all organisms

Question 58

What do we call a diagram of the feeding relationships of many organisms that live in an area?

Answer 58

food web

Question 59

What do producer organisms do that consumers do not?

Answer 59

make their own food

Question 60

Which process do plants use to transfer energy from light to sugars in their cells?

Answer 60

photosynthesis

Question 61

What are crop plants?

Answer 61

plants grown to give useful product, e.g. food

Question 62

How does the Bt gene from Bacillus thuringiensis make GM plants resistant to caterpillars?

Answer 62

It produces Bt toxin, which kills caterpillars.

Question 63

What term describes growing crops and rearing animals for useful products?

Answer 63

agriculture

Question 64

Why are fertilisers used on crops?

Answer 64

so they grow well/to increase yield