Biology 201 – Exam 1 Review (Section C) Flashcards

A set of question-and-answer flashcards derived from the lecture/exam notes to prepare for the Biology 201 exam.

Which adjective would never be used in reference to a hypothesis in formal scientific language?

Proven.

In Pasteur's swan-neck flask experiments, what would be a reasonable criticism if he claimed results supported the cells-from-cells hypothesis?

Without a comparison group (e.g., straight-neck flasks), it's impossible to be sure broth could grow bacteria.

Thomas Malthus' idea that influenced Darwin/Wallace as an essential element of natural selection?

Limited resources mean not every individual will survive.

The Peppered moth case illustrates which concept?

Natural selection favoring one color over another.

Which statement about evolution is true?

Evolutionary fitness is better measured by reproductive output than by survival.

What strategy would probably be most effective to decrease rifampin resistance in a community?

Give some people rifampin and other people alternative antibiotics that affect different cellular pathways.

The reason honeycreepers in Hawaii are good evidence for speciation through evolution?

Despite their morphological diversity, the species on the island are more closely related to each other than to species found elsewhere.

A vestigial trait is best defined as?

A trait that serves no useful purpose and is not currently under selection.

In the Trinidad guppy study, if predator-added pools behave like predator controls and predator-removed pools resemble predator-free controls, what is the most reasonable conclusion?

Guppy behavior may be due to phenotypic plasticity, not necessarily evolution.

If predator-added pools resemble predator-free controls and predator-removed palettes resemble predator controls, what is the most reasonable conclusion?

Guppies can change behaviors depending on the environment; evidence of plasticity rather than fixed evolution.

What type of study was described in the guppy experiment?

A field experiment.

In Hardy-Weinberg calculations, with 100 ss, 400 Ss, and 500 SS among 1000 individuals, what is the next generation frequency of ss genotypes?

0.09.

In real-world malaria areas, what pattern is seen instead of Hardy-Weinberg expectations?

Heterozygotes (Ss) are present at higher-than-expected frequencies because one sickle-cell allele reduces malaria risk.

In stabilizing selection, which individuals are favored?

Individuals with intermediate trait values are favored.

Which factor is not a typical reason that adaptation to the environment is imperfect?

The idea that most environments are unchanged for extended periods.

If you are black-haired in a culture with positive assortative mating, your chosen partner would most likely be?

Black-haired.

The reason females are typically choosier than males about mates is that females usually?

Invest more energy and/or time in offspring than males.

In species with strong intrasexual selection, males who are more effective competitors usually end up with?

Most or all of the matings with females.

Besides natural selection, which mechanism is most likely to fix an allele in a population?

Genetic drift.

Mutations are crucial to evolution because they?

Introduce new genetic variation into populations.

For sexually reproducing organisms, which species concept best reflects reproductive isolation and evolutionary independence?

Biological species concept.

What is a common challenge across the major species concepts?

All of these challenges apply (they can give different answers, aren’t universally applicable, etc.).

In the Dodo case, which mode of speciation best explains its evolution?

Dispersal/colonization followed by differentiation mainly due to genetic drift.

Disruptive selection promoting sympatric speciation would be most strongly aided by which mating pattern?

Positive assortative mating (mating with similar beaks).

Polyploids leading to speciation is primarily because they are?

Reproductively isolated from their diploid relatives.

In Utah sagebrush, a stable distribution with hybrids suggests what kind of zone?

A stable hybrid zone.

The invasion of terrestrial environments by plants and animals occurred in which geological era?

Paleozoic.

Which key adaptation in fish helped drive their diversification?

Pharyngeal jaws.

During the Cambrian explosion, which trait did not appear?

Endothermy.

The largest mass extinction event is the?

Permian-Triassic extinction.

The asteroid impact 65 million years ago had?

Devastating impacts across life on Earth.

Wings in birds and bats are an example of?

Homoplasy (convergent evolution).

When reconstructing phylogenies of extinct organisms, we are largely limited to?

Morphological data.

Why are intact fossils more useful than other fossils?

They preserve soft tissues, maintain 3D shape, and DNA can sometimes be extracted; all are useful features.

If a recently extinct bird bone shows 25% remaining carbon-14 and the half-life is 10,000 years, how old is the bone?

20,000 years.

Based on a molecular clock graph, if two protist species differ by 60 amino acid changes out of 100, roughly how long ago did they share a common ancestor?

Approximately 950 million years ago.

Prokaryotes differ from Eukaryotes because prokaryotes lack a nucleus, while eukaryotes have one. True or False?

True.

The Bacteria and the Archaea are more closely related to each other than to the Eukaryotes. True or False?

True.

Land plants are believed to have evolved from green algae. True or False?

True.

Vascular systems evolved in plants before seeds did. True or False?

True.

The cuticle was an early trait that helped plants survive on land. True or False?

True.

Flowers are a distinguishing feature of gymnosperms. True or False?

False.

The gametophyte-dominated life-cycle is seen in the more primitive terrestrial plant groups. True or False?

True.

Cycads are part of the gymnosperm group. True or False?

True.

Ferns are part of the bryophyte group. True or False?

False.

The most derived plant group studied are the angiosperms. True or False?

True.