Exam 1

Question 1

1. A community is all of the _________ that interact with each other in a certain way.
2. A(n) _________ is a group of individuals of the same species living in the same area at the same time.
3. A(n) ________ is a community along with its physical environment.
   a. population
   b. species
   c. community
   d. ecosystem
   e. biome

Answer 1

1. B
2. A
3. D

Question 2

4. In some circumstances, grasses benefit from being grazed. This plant-herbivore interaction would best be labeled as ________.
5. _________ between two bat species occurs because both species prefer the same roosting areas.
   a. competition
   b. consumption
   c. mutualistic/mutualism

Answer 2

4. C

5. A

Question 3

6. Which of the above does not tend to promote speciation?
7. Which of the above is most likely to play a role in speciation?
8. What term is defined as the change in allele frequencies that occurs when a new population is established?
   a. natural selection
   b. disruptive selection
   c. a founder event
   d. a genetic bottleneck
   e. gene flow

Answer 3

6. E
7. B
8. C

Question 4

9. an earthquake decimates a ground squirrel population, killing 98% of the squirrels. The surviving population happens to have broader stripes, on average, than the initial population. If broadness of stripes is genetically determined what affect has the ground squirrel population experienced during the earthquake?
10. This process leads to adaption.

a. natural selection
b. disruptive selection
c. a founder event
d. a genetic bottleneck
e. gene flow

Answer 4

9. D

10. A

Question 5

11. if you found a well preserved fossil specimen with many velociraptor like characteristics (an extinct dinosaur of Jurassic Park frame) which species concept would you use to determine whether it is indeed a member of the velociraptor genus, a close relative or a novel species.
12. Which species concept uses reproductive isolation as the primary criterion for determining species boundaries?
    a. biological species concept
    b. morphospecies concept
    c. phylogenetic species concept

Answer 5

11. ??

12. A

Question 6

If NASA gave you a sample of dust from mars and asked you to determine whether the sample contains evidence of life, what could you do?

a. use a microscope to observe whether the dust is the product of evolution
b. use a microscope to observe whether the dust contains cellular structures
c. none of these tests would indicate life
d. use a microscope to observe whether the dust contains structures.

Answer 6

B

Question 7

Which of the following statements is true about the testing of scientific hypotheses?

a. hypotheses may be tested by a combination of observation, measurement, and experimentation
b. hypotheses must be tested by making observations or measurements in a natural environment
c. hypotheses about biological questions can be tested without collecting data
d. hypotheses must be tested by carrying out experiments

Answer 7

A

Question 8

A friend of yours calls to say that his car would not start this morning. he asks for your help. you say that you think the battery must be dead. IF so, then jump starting the car from a good battery will solve the problem. in doing so, you are _______.

a. testing a theory for why the car will not start
b. making observations to inspire a theory for why the car will not start
c. stating a hypothesis and using that hypothesis to make a testable prediction
d. comparing multiple hypotheses for why the car will not start

Answer 8

C

Question 9

The main reason polar regions are cooler than the equator is that ________

a. there is more ice at the poles
b. sunlight strikes the poles at a lower angle
c. the poles are farther from the sun
d. the polar atmosphere is thinner and contains fewer greenhouse gases
e. the poles are permanently titled away from the sun

Answer 9

B

Question 10

Why are big, predatory animals rare? Most big, predatory animals are tertiary consumers, which implies that

a. typically, they are highly territorial
b. it’s hard for an ecosystem to support many of them because so much energy is lost at each level of energy exchange
c. by overexploitation, humans have caused many predatory species to become endangered.
d. it takes a long time for a big, predatory animals to evolve
e. its hard for a big annual to move through dense vegetation

Answer 10

B

Question 11

The feeding relationships among the species in a community determine the community’s ______

a. species area curve
b. species richness
c. trophic structure
d. secondary succession
e. ecological niche

Answer 11

C

Question 12

To recycle nutrients, an ecosystem must have at a minimum ________

a. producers
b. producers and decomposers
c. producers, primary consumers, and decomposers
d. producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, and decomposers

Answer 12

B

Question 13

Which of the following are important are important biotic factors that can affect the distribution of species

a. light intensity, seasonality
b. precipitation, wind
c. temp, water
d. predation, competition
e. nutrient availability, soil ph

Answer 13

D

Question 14

Why do moderate levels of disturbance result in an increase in species diversity

a. habitats are opened up for less competitive species
b. competitively dominant species infrequently exclude less competitive species after a moderate disturbance
c. the environmental conditions become optimal
d. the resulting uniform habitat supports stability, which in turn supports diversity
e. less competitive species evolve strategies to compete with dominant species

Answer 14

A

Question 15

What is a fossil

a. a fossil is a preserved hard part of an organism, such as shell or bone
b. a fossil is an extinct organism
c. a fossil is a n organism that has turned to stone
d. a fossil is physical evidence of an organism that lived in the past

Answer 15

D

Question 16

As scientist, we expect the fossil record to be sparse and potentially biased (for a variety of reasons) which of these is a valid critique of the general fossil record

a. paleontologists lack the training to make proper conclusions
b. paleontologists typically only find species that were widespread and or present on the earth for long periods of time
c. paleontologists typically find odd and rare species within the past 100,000 years
d. fossil finds are typically limited to species within the past 100,000 years

Answer 16

B

Question 17

Which statement about vestigial traits is correct?

a. vestigial traits cannot be explained by the theory of evolution by natural selection
b. vestigial traits are similar to functional traits in closely related species
c. vestigial traits improve the biological fitness of individuals
d. humans lack vestigial trait

Answer 17

B

Question 18

Of the following anatomical structures, which is homologous to the bones in the wing of a bird?

a. cartilage in the dorsal fin of a shark
b. bones in the hind limb of a kangaroo
c. chitinous struts in the wing of a butterfly
d. bony rays in the tail fin of a flying fish
e. bones in the flipper of a whale

Answer 18

E

Question 19

We categorize the different types of evidence for evolution as either demonstrating that species changed over time, or that species were related by common ancestry. Of the three types evidence listed below, which is (are) associated with demonstrating that species change over time
a. the fossil record
b. homology
c. direct observations
d. A and B
E. A and C

Answer 19

?

Question 20

Polar bears and arctic foxes are both white, and this is due to convergent evolution (analogy) this means that

a. they had a common ancestor that was a white mammal
b. arctic foxes and polar bears are both members of the order carnivore
c. they independently evolved white coloration because it was adaptive because it was adaptive in snowy environments

Answer 20

C

Question 21

Which of the following organisms would be most likely to fossilize

a. a rare worm
b. a common worm
c. a common squirrel
d. a rare squirrel

Answer 21

C

Question 22

Mutations occur when animals need help surviving

t or f

Answer 22

False

Question 23

What is biological fitness

a. biological fitness measures the overall health of an individual
b. biological fitness measures the life span of an individual
c. biological fitness measures the number of offspring produced by an individual
d. biological fitness measures the reproductive success of an individual relative to others in the population

Answer 23

D

Question 24

Indicate which of the following conditions must exist in a population before evolution can occur.

a. genetic variation among members of the population
b. environmental change
c. sexual reproduction
d. the population has predators

Answer 24

A. genetic variation among members of the population

Question 25

In a small population of alpine foxes, you observe increased ear length over a ten year period. Can you conclude that increases in ear length is adaptive in this population?

a. yes, because natural selection would remove any trait variation that is not adaptive
b. yes, because alpine foxes rely on their hearing to detect prey
c. no, because alpine foxes rely mainly on sight to detect prey
d. no, because small populations are susceptible to genetic drift, which could also account for the change in ear length

Answer 25

D

Question 26

Cotton topped tamarins are small primates with tufts of long white hair on their heads. While studying these creatures, you notice that males with longer hair get more opportunities to mate and father more offspring. To test the hypothesis that having longer hair is adaptive in these males, you should first ________.

a. test whether other traits in these males are also adaptive
b. look for evidence of hair in ancestors of tamarins
c. determine if hair length is heritable
d. test whether males with shaved heads are still able to mate

Answer 26

C. determine if hair length is heritable

Question 27

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

a. artificial selection
b. directional selection
c. stabilizing selection
d. disruptive selection
e. sexual selection

Answer 27

c. stabilizing selection

Question 28

Populations can evolve in the absence of natural selection.

true or false

Answer 28

true

Question 29

Why are males usually the sex with exaggerated traits used in courtship?

a. in most species, females protect their larger investment in offspring by being choosy about their mates
b. in most species, females can afford to be choosy about their mates because of females’ smaller investment in offspring
c. in most species males protect their larger investment in offspring by being choosy about their mates.
d. in most species, males compete for the opportunity to mate with females

Answer 29

A

Question 30

Currently the only predators of GAlapogos marine iguanas are Galapagos hawks. Iguana body size is not correlated with risk of hawk predation, although small iguanas can sprint faster than large iguanas. If predators (for example, cats) that preferably catch and eat slower iguanas are introduced to the island, iguana body size is likely to ________; the iguanas would then be under ________ selection.

a. increase; directional
b. increase; disruptive
c. decrease; directional
d. decrease; disruptive
e. stay the same; stabilizing

Answer 30

C

Question 31

Which of the following is the most predictable outcome of increased gene flow between two populations

a. increased genetic drift
b. lower average fitness in both populations
c. higher average fitness in both populations
d. increased genetic difference between the two populations
e. decreased genetic difference between the two populations

Answer 31

E

Question 32

A farmer uses triazine herbicide to control pigweed in his field. For the first few years, the triazine works well and almost all the pigweed dies; but after several years, the farmer sees more and more pigweed. Which of these explanations best explains what happened?

a. The herbicide company lost its triazine formula and started selling poor quality triazine
b. natural selection caused the pigweed to mutate, creating a new triazine resistant species
c. Triazine- resistant pigweed has less-efficient photosynthesis metabolism
d. triazine resistant weeds were most likely to survive and reproduce

Answer 32

D or B???

Question 33

Which statement represents the best explanation for the observation that the nuclear DNA of wolves and domestic dogs has a very high degree of sequence homology? Dogs and wolves ________.

a. have very similar morphologies
b. belong to the same family
c. are both members of the order Carnivora
d. share a very recent common ancestor

Answer 33

D

Question 34

When constructing a phylogenetic tree, which of the following is considered most important?

a. ancestral characters
b. analogous primitive characters
c. derived characters
d. the number of homoplasies (Analogies)
e. overall phenotypic similarity

Answer 34

C

Question 35

Phylogenetic trees constructed from evidence from molecular data are based on similarities in _______.

a. biochemical pathways
b. the pattern of embryological development
c. habitat and lifestyle choices
d. mutations to homologous genes
e. morphology

Answer 35

D

Question 36

Adaptive radiations can be a direct consequence of all of the following, except ______.

a. genetic drift
b. vacant ecological niches
c. colonization of an isolated region that contains suitable habitat and few competitor species
d. evolutionary innovation

Answer 36

A

Question 37

How do mass extinctions differ from backgrounds extinctions?

a. mass extinctions occur over a longer period of time than background extinctions
b. mass extinctions but not background extinctions, are generally caused by asteroid impacts
c. mass extinctions cause a larger proportion of organisms to go extinct than background extinctions
d. mass extinctions typically result rom Hox gene mutations, and background extinctions typically result from changes in weather patterns

Answer 37

C

Question 38

Put the following events from the history of life in their relative order (to pick your response, interpret the roman numeral series within a letter option from left to right as earliest to most recent)
I. origin of animal life
ii. origin of prokaryotes
iii. origin of eukaryotes
iv. origin of multicellularity

a. I, ii, iii, iv
b. ii, iii, iv, I
c. iii, ii, iv, I
d. iv, iii, ii, i

Answer 38

B

Question 39

Which phrase best reflects the relationship between natural selection and evolution

a. evolution is a process that causes natural selection to occur
b. natual selection is a process that causes evolution to occur
c. natural selection and evolution are the same thing

Answer 39

B

Question 40

Which of the following statement regarding the theory of evolution is true?

a. evolution means that organisms always progress from simple forms to more advanced forms
b. evolution can be defined as the change in allele frequencies in a population over generations
c. evolution occurs only due to random chance
d. evolution represents the results of selection for acquired characteristics
e. evolution is the production of adaptations that meet anticipated needs

Answer 40

B