Download Biodiversity – Biology 100

Biodiversity – My questions should serve as a guide, these questions are not an exhaustive list; any
material from lecture, discussion or lab also is 'up for grabs.' Exam questions are short-answer,
multiple choice or matching. Harder questions may require you to go beyond memorization, I will
often provide you with data or a situation and ask you to apply knowledge. Once you are comfortable
with these questions think of other ways to phrase the information, identify terms or look through your
notes and determine what I have not asked, but likely would ask on an exam. Pose questions to one
another for practice. Please come see me if you have questions or if you want to practice what you
know.
1.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Select the word or phrase that best defines microevolution
natural selection
speciation over short periods of time
divergence of species over long periods of time
changes in allele frequencies over a short period of time, which can lead to adaptation
2.
a.
b.
c.
d.
The economist Malthus was influential in Charles Darwin’s thinking because Malthus:
accompanied Darwin on his voyage
proposed that all organisms could change to fit their environment
suggested that populations would expand unless some negative factor kept them under control.
found evidence suggesting that the earth was much older than 7,000 years
3.
a.
b.
c.
d.
The value to Darwin of Lyell’s ideas on the geologic history of the earth was the
fossil and radiocarbon dating method
enormous lengths of time required for geologic events to occur
confirmation of Lamarck’s ideas
the Great Chain of Being
For all matching questions, answers may be used more than once or not at all.
For questions 4-7, match the type of selection that best fits the following scenario or statement.
a. disruptive
4.
5.
6.
7.
b. sexual
c. stabilizing
d. artificial
e. directional
Crabapples that are heaviest are preferentially eaten by Cedar Waxwings ____
Intermediate weight babies have the highest survivorship _____
Guppies with the brightest colors attract and mate with the most females _____
Type of selection practiced by Darwin when he bred pigeons for fancy feathers _____
For questions 8-10, match the type of reproductive isolating mechanism with the scenario.
a. mechanical isolation
b. behavioral isolation
c. genetic isolation
d. habitat isolation
e. temporal isolation
8. Individuals meet and mate, but fertilization does not occur because the egg does not recognize the
sperm’s chemical cues ______
9. A group of snails are reproductively mature in early June and do not mate with other snails in the
same population that become reproductively mature in July ______
10. A parasite meets mates in bird digestive systems while others only find mates in mammals ____
For questions 11-13, match the examples with the term that best fits.
a. adaptive radiation
b. vestigial structure
c. biogeography
d. convergent evolution
11. Humans have a tailbone, but we do not have a tail _____
12. Organisms live in certain locations on Earth, which can be influenced by continental drift _____
13. A single population of mice moves into an island. Over time, five different species result ____
14. Which of the following may be considered a type of postzygotic isolating mechanisms?
a. offspring do not survive to reproduction
b. offspring do not produce viable gametes (egg and sperm)
c. offspring are never formed because the parents cannot physically mate
d. all of the above
e. a and b only
15. What is a homologous structure? How does it differ from analogous structures?
16. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate term.
a. When migration and reproduction occurs between populations, allele frequencies can change. The
term for this change in allele frequencies due to migration is ___________________.
b. The idea that mitochondria and choloroplasts were originally free-living prokaryotes that were
incorporated into a eukaryotic cell is called the _____________________ hypothesis.
c. The highest group in classification is called a _________________; Archaebacteria and Bacteria
are prokaryotic examples of this group.
d. Scientists practice__________________ when they identify organisms, name and classify them.
e. Homo sapiens is the scientific name for humans. Which part is the genus? _______________
Use the table below to answer 17 and 18. Your undergraduate research focuses on robins. Over 4
years, you record the number of viable offspring produced for small, medium and large eggs (110 of
each kind). You also follow these offspring and record the number of offspring that reproduced.
EGG SIZE
# VIABLE OFFSPRING # OFFSPRING REPRODUCING
Small eggs (n=110)
100
100
Medium eggs (n=110)
43
23
Large eggs (n=110)
107
98
17. Your data demonstrate a type of:
a. sexual selection
b. disruptive selection
c. directional selection
e. stabilizing selection
18. What are the relative fitness values for small, medium and large eggs respectively?
a. 1; 0.23; 1
b. 1; 0.23; 0.98
c. 1; 0.77; 0.02
d. 0.91; 0.21; 0.89
19. The concept of a molecular clock is based on the idea that
a. neutral mutations accumulate at a regular rate, thus time of divergence can be estimated.
b. radioactive isotopes decay at a constant rate and can predict time of divergence.
c. harmful mutations occur at predictable times, thus time of divergence can be estimated.
d. DNA is very similar in primates, thus primates are closely related and diverged more recently.
20. Speciation occurs only:
a. when mutations generate morphological differences.
b. if allele frequencies diverge.
c. if populations become reproductively isolated.
d. if natural selection acts differently in the populations.
For questions 21-23, use the choices to select the era that best corresponds with each event.
a. Paleozoic
b. Cenozoic
c. Mesozoic
d. Archean
e. Proterozoic
21. First eukaryotic cells arise; oxygen present in atmosphere ______
22. Embryos are protected from dry conditions in enclosed eggs and seed coats ______
23. Colonization of land by plants and amphibians; formation of fossil fuel reserves we use today ____
24. Only prokaryotic cells are present for ~2 billion years ______
25. Experiments on chemical evolution, like those performed by Miller and Urey, demonstrate that:
a. Cell membranes will form spontaneously to organize cells.
b. DNA forms readily and reproduces itself.
c. Many complete prokaryotic cells are formed after 3 months.
d. Chemical components necessary for life such as simple amino acids and nucleotides can form
from gases that were present on an early Earth.
26. Be able to discuss homonoid evolution. Differentiate between pongids and homonoids and
homonids. What are the morphological characteristics common to the homonoids? What selective
factors may have led to changes in homonoid form and the development of adapatations? How are
homonids different? How are the different Homo species different from one another?
27. Define evolution; differentiate between macro and microevolution and the concepts related to each
subdiscipline. What mechanisms cause evolutionary change? Understand how all 4 mechanisms work.
28. Understand 2-3 mechanisms that might cause or create variation in a gene pool? What is the
definition of the term phenotypic variation, what causes this type of variation? How do we determine
if traits are caused by the environment or genes? Are most traits one or the other, or caused by both
factors? In order for a trait to be selected for (or against) the trait must be partly determined
genetically, why? If someone a crime is committed we can use variation in DNA to help determine
who committed the crime. Please be able to explain what evidence is needed, and how that evidence is
obtained and analyzed (CSI lab).
29. What is the difference between a simple and a continuous trait? If you were to plot the number of
individuals (y-axis) and differences in the trait (x-axis), what might a trait that is continuous look like?
30. What is an adaptation? How do adaptations evolve? What is a population? If individuals are
selected for, why can only populations evolve? What is adaptive radiation? Why might adaptive
radiation commonly occur on island systems?
32. Clearly identify the formal requirements for evolution by natural selection. Use an example.
What is artificial selection? Differentiate between stabilizing, directional and disruptive selection.
33. Why might genetic diversity be low in populations that came close to going extinct? What is
inbreeding and its effect on diversity over time? Differentiate between a bottleneck and a founder
event. What is genetic drift, why does it have more pronounced effects in small populations?
34. Discuss why coloration in Endler’s guppies does not appear to be perfectly adapted. How might
competition explain why many similar species tend to live in different habitats (=niches)? What is
sexual selection and how does it differ from natural selection? Review other questions related to the
Beak of the Finch reading. Understand them.
35. Understand the different lines of evidence used to support evolution (e.g. fossil data,
biogeography, anatomical, developmental, molecular). Be able to provide data or trends that support
each concept. What is radiometric dating and how is it used to date fossils? What is a molecular
clock and how are they used in evolutionary biology?
36. What was the early Earth like? How old is the Earth? Understand the environmental conditions
that existed during the non-living and living periods
37. What are the different geologic eras of the Earth’s history? Approximately how long does each
period last? What were major trends in biological diversity in each era? What are the organisms
characteristic of each period?
38. What were the major metabolic pathways? (eg. Chemoautotrophs vs. photoautotrophs). What
organisms respire (answer – all organisms if they have oxygen and can undergo aerobic respiration)?
When did photosynthesis first appear? What happened when photosynthesis evolved? Understand why
oxygen was produced and the results of oxygen release into the atmosphere
39. When did eukaryotic organisms arise? What is endosymbiosis and the relevance of this
hypothesis? What data support this hypothesis?
40. What did the experiments that mimicked conditions on early earth reveal?
41. What do we mean by heirarchial classification? What are the different levels that all organisms
belong to (e.g. domains, kingdoms, phyla, etc)? What is taxonomy? Why do we need to classify and
name organisms using a scientific name rather than a common name?
42. How did antibiotic resistance evolve? Resistance to an antibiotic first arose via a mutation, I
thought all mutations were bad, am I wrong? What are mutations and their importance to evolution?
What are hox genes? How do they affect development, and why is this important?
43. What is a species (note – there may be more than one way to define this)? What are two different
ways that species can evolve? Why are reproductive isolating mechanisms important for determining
if two organisms are two different species?
44. Why do biologists state that all organisms on the planet share a common ancestor? Basically,
what data support this statement?
45. Who was Charles Darwin? When did he live? What did he do and propose? What were his
influences? How did what he read and see influences his theory of natural selection? What were the
dominant philosophies prior to the 1800s and emerging in the 1800s? Who was Wallace, Smith, Lyell,
Lamarck, Malthus, Mendel?
46. What is gene flow? How do limitations in gene flow potentially cause evolution?
47. What is required for two species to evolve from one species? Differentiate between the different
types of reproductive isolating mechanisms. Differentiate between allopatric speciation and sympatric
speciation via hybridization.
48. Labs: CSI lab, Natural selection lab, Beak of the Finch discussion, Plant lab – for the plants focus
on the evolutionary changes that occurred within the plant lineage as plants evolved from aquatic
ancestors to groups that are better adapted for living on dry land. What kinds of structural changes
occurred that aided plants for life on dry land. Which groups evolved things like fruit, cones, pollen,
vascular system, true roots, flowers, woody growth?