bio qeustions

True or false? The absence of a trait cannot be used as a synapomorphy in phylogenetic analysis, only shared derived traits that are present in the clade can be used.

False

Which of the following is an example of homoplasy?

A) hox genes in humans and sea stars
B) astragalus ankle bones in camel and pig
C) hair in humans and fur in bear
D) streamlined bodies in dolphins and ichthyosaurs

D

You can use "one-snip test" to identify monophyletic groups−−meaning that if you "cut" any branch on a tree, everything that "falls off" is a monophyletic group. Why is this valid?

A) One snip gets an ancestor and all species that share a similar trait.
B) One snip gets an ancestor and some of its descendants, but not all.
C) One snip gets all species that share a similar trait.
D) One snip gets an ancestor, all its descendants, and nothing else.

D

Choose the best definition of a fossil?

A) a bone, tooth, shell, or other hard part of an organism that has been preserved
B) any part of a dead organism
C) any trace of an organism that lived in the past
D) rock that contains information about an organism

C

Select the correct statement about current hypotheses for the cause of the Cambrian explosion.

A) Oxygen levels reached a critical threshold at the start of the Cambrian explosion, making the evolution of big, mobile animals possible.
B) With the evolution of algae, oxygen was produced by oxygenic photosynthesis for the first time in the history of life on Earth.
C) There are no plausible hypotheses accounting for the rapid adaptive radiation known as the Cambrian explosion.
D) Key developmental toolkit genes arose early in the Cambrian, leading to the Cambrian explosion of animal phyla.

A

Which is the best definition of adaptive radiation?

A) An adaptive radiation occurs when a novel trait evolves that makes new ecological opportunities available.
B) An adaptive radiation happens when an ancestral population speciates within a short period of time.
C) Adaptive radiations of surviving organisms often follow mass extinctions.
D) An adaptive radiation occurs when a single lineage produces many ecologically diverse descendant species in a relatively short period of time.

D

How can mass extinction events be distinguished from background extinctions?

A) Mass extinctions occur when normal environmental change eliminates certain populations to zero.
B) Mass extinctions result primarily from natural selection
C) A mass extinction occurs when at least 60 percent of species are wiped out within 1 million years.
D) During a mass extinction, species die out because individuals are poorly adapted to normal or gradually changing environmental conditions.

C

Which of the following is LEAST likely to trigger an adaptive radiation?

A) lack of heritable variation
B) the evolution of a new morphological feature
C) the colonization of a new habitat
D) the extinction of competitors
E) Hox gene duplication events

A

You are the (un)lucky student of a wacky professor who develops a time machine. She asks you to test it. You get in and there is an immediate glitch and the date readout fails (consistent with all of the technical glitches that have plagued her this quarter). When you land you are not sure what era you are in. As you open the door you discover that you cannot breathe. You quickly shut the door, and conclude that you are in the

A) Pre-cambrian
B) Cambrian
C) Cenozoic era
D) Mesozoic Era

A

If a beginning biology student put dolphins and ichthyosaurs together into a group, this would be an example of a

A) monophyletic
B) paraphyletic
C) polyphyletic

C

What is the most common way that a bacterium can acquire a plasmid with genes for antibiotic resistance from another bacterium?

A) Viruses can pick DNA (including plasmids) from one bacterium and transfer it to another bacterium by the process of transduction.
B) During sexual reproduction, the offspring receives chromosomes and plasmids from both bacterial parents.
C) A bacterium can take up DNA (including plasmids) lost by another bacterium into its immediate environment through the process of transformation
D) One bacterium can transfer a copy of a plasmid to another bacterium through a conjugation tube by the process of conjugation.
SubmitP

D

What do some photosynthetic bacteria use as a source of electrons instead of water?

A) ferric ion (Fe3+)
B) oxygen (O2)
C) organic compounds (e.g., CH3COO−CH3COO− )
D) ferrous ion (Fe2+)

D

What are organisms called that use organic compounds as electron donors in cellular respiration?

A) heterotrophs
B) phototrophs
C) lithotrophs
D) organotrophs

D

Biologists sometimes divide living organisms into two groups: autotrophs and heterotrophs. These two groups differ in \_____.

A) their mode of nutrition
B) their electron acceptors
C) the way that they generate ATP
D) their sources of energy

A

A prokaryote that obtains energy and carbon as it decomposes dead organisms is a(n) \_____.

A) autotroph and phototroph
B) autotroph
C) chemotroph,
D) heterotroph and chemotroph
E) autotroph, phototroph, and chemotroph

D

What kind of molecules serve as electron acceptors in cellular respiration?

A) molecules with high potential energy
B) molecules with low potential energy
C) water
D) polar molecules
E) molecules in an excited state

B

As a result of melting glaciers, islands in the South Pacific will be covered with water. There is a high probability that each submerged island will become new habitat with new resources for fish species to utilize. What is the most likely outcome ?

A) Severe inbreeding
B) Hybrid sterility
C) Loss of genetic variation
D) Adaptive Radiation

D

Place the following events in the history of life on Earth in chronological order from oldest to most recent.

A) Cambrian explosion
B) Oldest fossils of eukaryotes appear
C) Colonization of Land
D) Large amounts of atmospheric oxygen

DBAC

You identify a cell with a thick cell wall comprised of peptidoglycan. You are able to infer that this species most likely \_____.

A) lives as an extremophile
B) it is gram positive
C) looks pink under a microscope
D) is a chemoorganotroph
E) has inner and outer phospholipid bilayer

B

Which of the following is true about adaptive radiation:

A) It is rapid speciation that fills diverse niches
B) It starts by colonization of a new habitat that has few competitors
C) It forms a monophyletic group
D) The evolution of a key trait drives it
E) All of the above

E

Which of the following is not a step in Koch's postulates:

A) when the agent is exposed to a susceptible host, he must acquire the disease
B) microbe present in affected and absent in healthy
C) microbe isolated and grown away from host organism
D) bacteria micrograph of causative agent must be taken

D

Identify the type of metabolism:

Cyanobacteria produces ATP (and oxygen) by photosynthesis and uses CO2 to build other molecules

photoautotroph

Bacteriodes fragilis are gram-negative. Which statement about them is TRUE?

A) they are likely to be extremophiles
B) They have 2 plasmids membranes
C) They have a single plasma membrane and petidoglycan
D) They can carry out anaerobic metabolism

(1 correct answer, but part of another answer is also correct)

B

Identify the type of Metabolism

Bacteriodes fragilis is an obligate anaerobe that lives in your large intestine by fermenting waste products. You thus place this organism into the category of \________.

Chemoorganoheterotroph

The purple non-sulfur bacterium Rhodospirillum grows best as a photoheterotroph. What are the best sources of energy and carbon for this bacterium?

A) methane and carbon dioxide
B) light and carbon dioxide
C) glucose and light
D) sulfate and light

C

Identify the type of Metabolism:
E. coli breaks down organic compounds, uses organic compounds as electron donors to make ATP and uses carbon from the environment to make other molecules.

Chemoorganoheterotroph

Identify the type of metabolism:

This species uses sulfide (S2-) for aerobic respiration and uses carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air as a source of carbon for building other molecules

chemolithoautotroph

Bacteriodes fragilis is an obligate anaerobe that lives in your large intestine by fermenting waste products.
You thus place this organism into the category of:

Chemoorganoheterotroph

Identify the metabolsim:

A species of Archea uses ammonia (NH3) as an electron donor for cellular respiration and uses atmospheric CO2 for building other molecules

chemolithoautotroph

Identify the type of metabolism:

Heliobacter produces energy by photosynthesis and uses carbon from the environment to build other molecules

Photoheterotroph

You had an argument with a non-bio friend who said that unicellular protists are the same as bacteria. How do we know that unicellular protists and bacteria are different?

A) protists eat bacteria
B) bacteria are made of cells
C) protists have a membrane bound nucleus, but bacteria don't
D) bacteria are photosynthetic, but protists are not.

C

Which of the following statements is consistent with the assertion that protists are paraphyletic?

A) Protists don't include some eukaryotic groups.
B) Protists all share a common set of synapomorphies.
C) Protists are all more primitive than land plants and animals.
D) Protists do not share a single common ancestor.

A

deliberate manipulation by humans, as in animal and plant breeding, of genetic composition of a population by allowing only individuals with desirable traits to reproduce

artificial selection

a watertight barrier that coats the aboveground parts of today's land plants and helps them resist drying.

cuticle

a shared or derived trait that distinguishes monophyletic groups

synapomorphy

a complex polymer built from six-carbon rings.

lingin

multicellular haploid stage

gametophyte

multicellular diploid stage

sporophyte

The major function of the medicinal compounds in plants is to \_____.

A) defend the plant against herbivores
B) defend the plant against microbes
C) attract pollinators for seed dispersal
D) attract insects and birds to spread seeds and fruits

A

How do most plants contribute to the ecosystem?

A) Plants hold water and moderate the climate.
B) Plant presence speeds soil erosion.
C) Plants aid in decomposition of organic material.
D) Plants release carbon dioxide.

A

The most direct ancestors of land plants were probably \_____.

A) liverworts and mosses
B) kelp (brown alga) that formed large beds near the shorelines
C) green algae
D) photosynthesizing prokaryotes (cyanobacteria)

C

According to the fossil record, plants colonized terrestrial habitats \_____.

A) in conjunction with insects that pollinated them
B)only about 150 million years ago
C) in conjunction with fungi that helped provide them with nutrients from the soil
D) to escape abundant herbivores in the oceans
Submit

C

If humans had been present to build log structures during the Carboniferous period (though they were not!), which plant types would have been suitable sources of logs?

A) horsetails and bryophytes
B) charophytes (stoneworts), bryophytes, and gymnosperms
C) ferns, horsetails, and lycophytes
D) whisk ferns and epiphytes
E) lycophytes and bryophytes

C

The appearance of cuticle and stomata correlated with what event in the evolution of green plants?

A) the first upright growth forms
B) the evolution of the first water-conducting tissues
C) growth on land
D) the first woody tissues

C

Which of these characteristics is shared by algae and seed plants?

A) roots and shoots
B) chloroplasts
C) vascular tissue
D) pollen
E) embryo development within gametangia

B

the production of two different types of spores by different structures

heterospory

the production of a single type of spore

homospory

spore producing structures that produce microspores

microsporangia

Which of the following groups is definitely monophyletic?
A) nonvascular plants
B) seedless vascular plants
C) seed plants
D) green algae

C

In the process of alternation of generations, the \_____.
A) gametophyte is diploid and produces gametes
B) gametophyte is haploid and produces spores
C) sporophyte is diploid and produces spores
D) spores unite to form a zygote
E) sporophyte is haploid and produces gametes

C

In plants, which of the following are produced by meiosis?

A) haploid gametes
B) diploid gametes
C) haploid spores
D) haploid sporophytes
E) diploid spores

C

What trait gives seeds an advantage over spores?
A) Small in size
B) Protected from the environment
C) Long-lived
D) Contain nutrients

D

What do seeds contain?
A) embryo and nutritive tissue
B) male gametophyte and nutritive tissue
C) female gametophyte and nutritive tissue
D) mature sporophyte and nutritive tissue

A

Fruit is most important in facilitating \_____.

A) fertilization
B) spore production
C) pollination
D) seed dispersal

D

Vegetables from the genus Brassica have a lot of sulfur relative to other vegetables. The sulfur is used by a group of sulfate reducing bacteria that use H2 as an electron donor, use SO42- as an electron receptor, and use fermentation products from other bacteria as carbon sources. (One of the end products is H2S, hydrogen sulfide, which makes post-Brassica flatulence especially pungent.) How would describe these bacteria?

A) Chemoorgano autotrophs
B) Chemolitho autotrophs
C) Chemoorgano heterotrophs
D) Chemolithotropic heterotrophs

D

You argue that it is not an algae or a plant, that it is really a bacteria. What feature would you look for to demonstrate that it is really a bacteria?

A) Single plasma membrane
B) Peptidoglycan
C) Chlorophyll a
D) Chloroplast

B

Which of the following might be a result of adding a secondary consumer?

A) a decrease in the number of primary consumers
B) a decrease in the population of decomposers
C) a decrease in atmospheric carbon dioxide
D) a decrease in the population of scavengers

A

Researchers studying bacteria found that their bacterial cultures mysteriously started dying. After some investigation they found that a protist was contaminating their cultures. They decided to treat their cultures with a drug that would affect the protist but not the bacteria. Which drug would be a good choice?

A) A drug that disrupts peptidoglycan
B) A drug that stops RNA synthesis
C) A drug that destroys mitochondria
D) A drug that blocks electron acceptors

C

Yes or no? Are fungi mutualists?

yes

fungi that live in association with plants roots

mycorrizhal

the fungi along with the roots they are associated with

mycorrhizae

What type of relationship is this?
if 1 species benefits @ the other's expense

A) parasitic
B) mutualistic
C) commensal

A

What type of relationship is this?
when both species benefit

A) parasitic
B) mutualistic
C) commensal

B

What type of relationship is this?
when 1 species benefits but the other one is not affected

A) parasitic
B) mutualistic
C) commensal

C

Fungi often live in close association with other organisms in a nondetrimental fashion known as \______.

A) parasitism
B) pathology'
C) predation
D) mutualism

D

Hyphae are \______

A) thin filaments
B) dead at maturity
C) reproductive cells
D) cross-walls

A

Fungi spend most of their lives feeding. Considering a typical mushroom, which is the longest-lived component of this life cycle?

A)dikaryotic mycelium
B) The mature spore-producing body
C) The spores dispersed by wind
D) The haploid mycelium

D

If the trees in that woodlot are associated with EMF, what effect might the excess nitrate have on the fungi and/or trees?

A) The fungi may secrete more peptidases to break down the nitrate.
B) The excess nitrate may stimulate the fungi to transport more sugar to the trees.
C) The trees may take up the nitrate directly into their roots and rely less on the fungi.
D) Fungal growth may be stimulated, causing the trees to transport more nitrogen to the fungi.

C

Lignin and cellulose provide rigidity to the cell walls of plants. But in most fungi, chitin performs this role. Why is it logical that most fungi don't have lignin or cellulose in their cell walls?

A) Fungi use lignin and cellulose for energy storage, so these compounds cannot be used as components of the cell walls.
B) Lignin and cellulose cannot be present in the cells where chitin is present.
C) Lignin and cellulose are not soluble in water and organic solvents.
D) Fungi produce enzymes that degrade cellulose and lignin.

D

Experiments with isotopes used as tracers showed that some fungi \_____.

A) obtain sugars from plants in exchange for phosphorus, nitrogen, and other soil nutrient
B) stake nutrients from plant
C) stake carbon dioxide from plants
D) help plants by providing them with sugar

A

What does it mean to say that a hypha is dikaryotic?

A) When the hyphae of two different individuals fuse after plasmogamy, a new dikaryotic hypha develops with two independent nuclei in each cell.
B) When the hyphae of two different individuals fuse after karyogamy, a new dikaryotic hypha develops with two independent nuclei in each cell.
C) Two gametes fuse together during fertilization to form a new mycelium with dikaryotic hyphae.
D) After karyogamy, two nuclei in a basidium cell fuse together to form a diploid nucleus. The basidium develops into a dikaryotic hypha.

A

When cyanobacteria began producing oxygen, they created new habitats and became new sources of food for early protists. What most likely happened next in protist evolution?

A) Allopatric speciation
B) Extinction
C) Adaptive radiation
D) Artificial selection

C

This polar bear is green because of an organism that uses sunlight to excite electrons and synthesizes organic molecules from CO2. The organism has a membrane bound nucleus. It is a(n)

A) Eukaryote
B) Photoheterotroph
C) Cyanobacteria
D) Protist
E) Green algae

E

The major function of the medicinal compounds in plants is to

A) attract pollinators for pollen dispersal
B) attract insects and birds to spread seeds and fruits
C) defend the plant against herbivores
D) defend the plant against microbes

C

Extracts from some mosses have shown antimicrobial activity. Which of the following is a possible mechanism for inhibiting bacterial growth?

A) Blocks spore formation
B) Inhibits nuclear membrane formation
C) Blocks peptidoglycan synthesis
D) Inhibits meiosis

C

koalas and humans both independently evolved fingertips (no other mammals have fingerprints). This is an example of

A) trade-offs
B) divergent evolution
C) genetic drift
D) convergent evolution

D

what is the correct order of evolutionary events in the Pre-cambrian?

A) Eukaryotes, Multicellular animals, Photosynthesis
B) Photosynthesis, Eukaryotes, Multicellular animals
C) Eukaryotes, Photosynthesis, Multicellular animals

B

Following the mass extinction of the dinosaurs, many of the ecological niches (habitats) that they once occupied were taken over by new species of mammals which were rapidly diverging. Which term best describes this phenomenon?

A) Bottleneck Effect
B) Adaptive Radiation
C) Founder Effect
D) Gene flow

B

Deinococcus radiodurans is a species of extremophile Archea that can with stand extreme radiation, freezing, dehydration, and acids. How do we know that we (humans) share a common ancestor with Deinococcus radiodurans?

A) Similar RNA polymerase and start codon
B) We are both chemoorgano heterotrophs
C) Organelles and a nuclear membrane
D) Peptidogylcan and cells walls

A

Your friend tells you that he thinks he found a dinosaur fossil, but he isn't sure. As biologist, what other fossils do you suggest she look for that should have emerged in the same time period as dinosaurs

A) humans and whales
B) arthropods and mollusks
C) primitive mammals

C

Researches studying bacteria found that their bacterial cultures mysteriously started dying. After some investigation, they found that a protist was contaminating their cultures. They decided to treat their cultures with a drug that would affect the protist but not bacteria. Which drug would be a good choice?

A) a drug that blocks electron acceptors
B) a drug that disrupts peptidoglycan
C) a drug that stops RNA synthesis
D) a drug that destroys the mitochondria

D

syphillis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum pallidum. Treponema pallidum pallidum requires organic compunds as both an energy source and a carbon source. Which feeding startegy most accurately describes that of this bacterium?

A) chemolithotrophic heterotroph
B) chemooragnoautotroph'
C) chemolithoautotroph
D) chemooraganoheterotroph

D

According to the endosymbiotic theory, why was it adaptive for larger (host) cell to keep the engulfed cell alive, rather than digesting it as food.

A) the engulfed cell provided the host cell with ATP
B) the engulfed cell provided the host cell with CO2
C) the engulfed cell allowed the host cell to metabolize glucose

A

You are walking through Aldrich park with a friend and find a large clump of moss. Your friend says "look at that! It's a gametophyte!" Is your friend right or wrong?

A) wrong
B) right

B

Why was the evolution of pollen critical to the success of plants on land?

A) pollen increased the probability that an animal will preform pollination rather than relying on wind
B) pollen allowed embryos to disperse to new locations
C) pollen allowed gametes to move without water
D) the evolution of pollen led to a sporophyte-dominant life cycle

C

A researcher discovers an unfamiliar type of seed in their diet that she suspects may belong to an undiscovered species of plant. She takes the seeds to the lab and notes that they do not have a layer of endosperm. What class of plants is this seed probably from?

A) gymnosperms
B) angiosperms
C) spores
D) seeds

C

Which of the following is an important ecological impact of fungi?

A) fungi accelerate nutrient recycling
B) fungi play a key role in aquatic food chains
C) fungi produce oxygen
D) fungi are primary producers

A

Why is it more difficult to treat fungal infections than bacterial infections in humans?

A) fungal and animal cells and proteins are similar. Thus, drugs that disrupt fungal cell or protein function may also disrupt human cell or protein function.
B) fungi are larger organisms than bacteria and thus require stronger drugs to stop an infection
C) most fungi are multicellular and thus the drugs required to treat a fungal infection must be able to kill several types of cells; bacteria, on the other hand, are unicellular and thus simpler to kill.
D) fungi are able to mutate more quickly than bacteria, so they quickly developed resistance to antifungal drugs

A

It has been hypothesized that fungi and plants have a mutualistic relationship because plants make sugars available for the fungi's use. What is the best evidence in support of this hypothesis?

A) fungi survive better when they are associated with plants
B) fungi associated with plants have the ability to undergo photosynthesis and produce sugars for the plant.
C) radioactively labeled sugars produced by plants eventually show up in the fungi with which they are associated.
D) radioactive labeling experiments show that plants pass phosphorous the fungus for manufacturing sugars.

C

Which of the following represents the correct sequence of events for this mode of reproduction?

A) sporophyte -\> fertilization -\> gametophyte -\> gamete -\> sporophyte

B) gametophyte -\> fertilization -\> sporophyte -\> spore -\> gamete -\> gametophyte

C) gametophyte -\> gamete -\> fertilization -\> sporophyte -\> spore -\> gametophyte

D) gamete -\> fertilization -\> gametophyte -\> spore -\> sporophyte -\> gamete

C

A mystery plant has lignin, produces pollen and ovules, and does not produce fruit. What group of plants does it belong to?

A) mosses
B) ferns
C) gymnosperms
D) angiosperms

C

If you treat a lichen with an antibiotic and the
photosynthetic symbiont died, then what should be
TRUE about the symbiont?

A) It had peptidoglycan in its cell wall.
B) It was a green algae.
C) It had a chloroplast.
D) It was probably a heterotrophic prokaryote

A

What is secreting enzymes to digest the worms?

A) Heterokaryotic structure
B) Mycelia
C) Hyphae
D) Septa

B

openings for gas exchange and minimal water loss

stomata