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Biology is ______.

The study of living things

Biological literacy is the ability to:

-use the process of scientific inquiry to think creatively about real- world issues that have a biological component
- communicate ideas about biology to others
- integrate ideas about biology into your decision making

Science is self- correcting. This means that :

Science actively seeks to disprove its own theories and hypothesis

A null hypothesis:

is the premise that no difference exists between a treatment and control groups

The proposal explanation for a phenomenon is BEST described as:

A hypothesis

A scientific theory is one that:

is the result of all scientific experiments

Which of the following is the BEST description of a control group in an experiment?

The control group is identical to each test group except for one variable

An element:

is a substance that cannot be broken down chemically into any other substance

The four most abundant elements in living organisms are:

Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen and Phosphorus

Which of the following elements have four elections in their outer shells?

Carbon and silicon

If you were going to build a large macromolecule or polymer it needs to be strong. What type of chemical bond do you think would work best for building macromolecules?



-Act as a relatively quickly available source of fuel
-on the plasma membrane serve as cell recognition signals

Which of the following is not an important biological function of lipids?

-regulation of growth and development
-energy storage
-protection of internal organs and tissues

The message on a DNA molecule is

used to make proteins

Which of the following statement about enzymes is NOT true?

Enzymes are permanently changed when they take place in a chemical reaction

Which of the following nucleotide bases are present in equal amounts of DNA?

Adenine and Thymine

Prokaryotic organisms lack:


According to the theory of endosymbiosis, the origin of chloroplasts probably involved:

engulfing of small photosynthetic prokaryotes by larger cells

Which of the following statements about chitin is incorrect?

Humans easily digest chitin as a quick form of energy

Which of the following is the most important factor governing a cell's particular type of interaction with other cells

The pattern of proteins on the cell's surface

Which of the following BEST summarizes the differences between osmosis and diffusion?

Osmosis deals only with water

Which of the following is NOT a way in which the cell's surface membrane interacts with the exterior environment?

The cellular surface organizes the interior organelle organization of the cell

What cell type in animals has a flagellum?

The sperm cell

Which of the following is NOT a function of the plant vacuole?


Which one of the following statements best represents the relationship between respiration and photosynthesis?


Which of the following is NOT a form of kinetic energy?

A covalent bond linking phosphate molecules

Every time a source of energy is converted from one form to another:

Some of the energy is converted to heat, which is one of the least usable forms of kinetic energy

Which of the following is NOT a product of photosynthesis?

Carbon Dioxide

Chlorophyll b and the carotenoids are important as receptors of light energy because they:

respond to wavelengths different from the wavelengths that chlorophyll a responds to

Aerobic training can cause our bodies to produce more mitochondria in cells. Why is this beneficial?

Chemical reactions in the mitochondria provide energy for exercise

Bubbles come from the leaves of an Elodea plant when it is put under water because:

oxygen is a by-product of photosynthesis

The carbon dioxide needed for photosynthesis enters the plant through the:


Cellular respiration is the process by which:


Animal fats and plant oils are sometimes used as sources of fuel for automobile engines. How is energy harvested from these molecules?

They contain long chains of hydrocarbons that, when broken, release the energy stored in the bonds linking the atoms together.

Energy used in cellular respiration can originate from:

carbohydrates, proteins, fats.

Fermentation reactions generally occur under conditions of:

low oxygen concentrations

A ______ is a pill that looks identical to a pill that contains the active ingredient in a scientific trial, but contains no active ingredient itself.


All matter on earth, both biotic and abiotic, is made up of:


An atom can be changed into an ion by adding or removing:

An electron

There are three principal types of bonds that hold multiple atoms together. These are:

Covalent bonds, ionic bonds, and hydrogen bonds.

Which of the following facts supports the claim that the mitochondria developed from bacteria that were long ago phagocytosed into eukaryotic cells?

Mitochondria have their own DNA


Cell Wall

Which of the following BEST defines diffusion?

net movement of particles from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration


The sugar and the CO2

_____ are found in all metabolically active cells and are involved primarily in transporting materials within, into, and out of cells.


Life gains most of its energy from:



are arrangements of light-catching pigments within chloroplasts

Where does the Calvin cycle take place?

in the cellular cytoplasm

If a marathon runner is in the last 2 miles of a full-length marathon, the runner is most likely making ATP by:

anaerobic cellular respiration

Alcoholic beverages are produced as a result of

glucose breakdown by yeast occurring in the absence of oxygen

DNA is now often used as evidence in criminal trials. It is particularly useful because it can be found in

Hair, Saliva, Bone, Dead skin cells

In any DNA molecule, the number of guanine bases will :

always be equal to the number of cytosine bases

The complementary base pairs in a DNA molecule are stabilized by:

-the electrostatic interactions of the charged backbone
-a covalent bond

from DNA to protein involves which series of events?

Transcription; translation

One of the four nucleotide bases in DNA is replaced by a different base in RNA. Which base is it, and what is it replaced by?

Thymine, replaced by Uracil

An important difference between mRNA and DNA is

mRNA contains uracil instead of thymine, which is found in DNA

Which of the following molecules is NOT DIRECTLY involved in translation?


In asexual reproduction, daughter cells inherit their DNA from ____.

A single parent

The purpose of mitosis is to enable existing cells

to generate new, genetically identical cells

Somatic cells can include

Kidney cells, heart cells, liver cells

Using a light microscope, it is easiest to see chromosomes:

during mitosis and meiosis because the condensed chromosomes are thicker and therefore more prominent

The human genome is made up of:

46 Chromosomes

Crossing over takes place during


The egg cells of a horse contain 32 chromosomes. How many chromosomes are in the horse's somatic cells?


Whether it is egg or sperm being produced through meiosis, under normal circumstances, each gamete ends up with:

Equal amounts of cytoplasm

Which of the following statements is NOT correct of human sex chromosomes?

All diploid cells have both an X and a Y chromosome

In some species, sex is determined by environmental, rather than genetic factors. this is true of:

sea turtles

How many human traits are controlled by a single gene?

over 9,000

Which of the following did Gregor Mendel never see?

a chromosome

The law of segregation states that

alleles for a given trait segregate into different gametes

Which of the following statements about dominant traits is correct?

They usually suppress the expression of the recessive trait

An individual with two individual alleles for a particular gene is said to be:

homozygous for that gene

The test- cross

-makes it possible to determine the genotype of an individual of unknown genotype who exhibits the dominant version of a trait
- is a cross of an individual whose genotype for a trait is not known with an individual homozygous- recessive for the trait
- sometimes requires the production of multiple offspring in order to reveal the genotype of an individual whose genotype is unknown

A situation in which the heterozygote offspring of two homozygous individuals show a phenotype intermediate between those of the parents is called:

incomplete dominance

A population is

a group of individuals of the same species that live in the same general location and have the potential to interbreed

Evolution is defined as:

a change in the frequency of alleles in a population over time

The appropriate unit for defining and measuring genetic variation is the:


All of the following statements are true about mutations EXCEPT

the mutation rate can be affected by genetic drift

A storm washed five female and five male tiger beetles from the mainland to a small island that had no previous population of tiger beetles. In tiger beetles, having six spots (A) is dominant to having four spots (a). All ten beetles had six spots, bot one male and one female were heterozygous for the four-spot trait. If six of the beetles died randomly without reproducing, the ration of the genotype could be quite different in subsequent generations. This change in allele frequencies would be an example of:

genetic drift

Select from the choices below the statement that best describes the effect of the migration of individuals into a population.

Migration of individuals into a population generally increases the genetic variability within a population

For a population to evolve through natural selection:

its members must possess inheritable variation

Which of the following is the best measure of an organisms' fitness?

the number of fertile offspring it produces

Natural selection results from interactions

individual organisms and their enviorment.

Artificial selection is likely to produce population- level changes most quickely in organisms with:

A short generation time

Under the right conditions, which type of selection is most likely to lead to the formation of new species?


From an evolutionary perspective, behavior can be viewed best as:

a trait that can be acted on by natural selection

Species that are only distantly related but occupy similar enviorments often come to resemble each other through a process known as:

convergent evolution

Which of the following is NOT a topic in animal behavior

communication, cooperation and sociality, courtship and mate choice, behavioral control of body temperature.

During the breeding season, the sight of a red belly on any other stickleback triggers aggressive behavior in a male stickleback. This is called:

A fixed action pattern

Which of the following best illustrates an instinctive behavior in cats?

hunting and killing

Kin selection is best defined as:

selection for a behavior that lowers an individual's own chances of survival or production, but raises those of a relative

When one vervent monkey grooms another, the monkey being groomed has its fitness improved because

the groomer is removing parasites

When individuals of any species find themselves in an enviorment that differs from the environment to which they are evolutionarily adapted, we observe that:

They engage in behaviors better fit to the environment the species evolved in than the enviornment the individual organisms find themselves in

The energy that a parent puts into the growth, feeding, and care of offspring is called:

reproductive investment

Which of the following is the best way to distinguish male from female?

Male produce motile gametes

The sex with the greater energetic investment in reproduction will be _____ when it comes to mating

more discriminating

Chemicals released by an individual into the environment that trigger behavioral responses in other individuals are called


Which of the following statements BEST describes the difference between artificial and natural selection?


Which of the following statments about Charles Darwin is FALSE?

He was enthusiastic about unleashing his theory of natual selection on the world as soon as he though of it


survival matters less to natural selection than reproductive success does

Phase 1 of the creation of life on earth was ____. Phase 2 was the formation of self-replication, information-containing molecules. Phase 3 was the development of a membrane, which enabled metabolism and created the first cells

the formation of small molecules containing carbon and hydrogen

The biological species concept is primarily based on

reproductive isolation

Horses and Donkeys can breed and produce sterile offspring known as mules. Horses and donkeys remain separate species because of this hybrid sterility, which is:

A postzygotic barrier to reproduction

_____ isolating mechanisms include hybrid mortality and hybrid infertility


In captivity, tigers and lions have been known to interbreed producing hybrids, known as ligers. Why does this NOT make them the same species, according to the biological species concept?

Captivity is not a natural condition

Wolves and bears are placed in the same taxonomic order. Therefore, they most also be classified in the same:


The morphological species concept:

groups species based on similar phenotype

Speciation that occurs when there is a geographic isolation is called _____ speciation

allopatric speciation

Which of the following senarios would best facilitate adaptive radiation?

A population of birds becomes stranded on an island

All mammals have hair because they inherited that trait from a common ancestor. Features that are inherited from a common ancestor are called:

homologous features

Analogous features are problematic when constructing evolutionary trees because:

They are the result of natural selection rather than common ancestry

To which one of the following is the bat's wing NOT homologous?

The dragonfly's wing

The pace of evolution in which there is little change for long periods of time interrupted by short periods with major changes is called

punctuated equilibrium

____ produces new species and ____ takes them away.

Speciation; exinction

Which of the following is NOT correct about all animals?

all have true tissues

Why is the amniotic egg considered a key evolutionary innovation?

It greatly increases the survival probabilities of eggs in a terrestrial environment

Which of the following are chordates

frogs, humans, fish, lampreys

Sharks have ____ skeletons, while sunfish have _____skeletons

cartilaginous; bony

Birds are _____, while turtles are _____.

endotherms, ectotherms

Which of the following series of events correctly describes the evolutionary history of the vertebrates, from the earliest to latest in time?

lungs - jaws - four limbs - hair

The most specious group of exant animals are the ______.


What is the major developmental characteristic that shows the close relationship between echinoderms and chordates?

in both groups, the gut develops back to front

The molluscan class Cephalopoda includes all of the following kinds of animals EXCEPT:


Two important features that distinguish mammals from any other type of animal are:

hair and mammary glands

Which of the following is an example of echinoderm?


Members of which of the following groups exhibits radial symmetry?


As adults, sponges of the phylum Porifera are sessile, meaning that they ____.

live attached to a solid structure and do not more around

The ferns possess all of the following EXCEPT


The most common term for the action of transerring pollen grains from an anther onto a stigma is


Which of the following is NOT an example of a gymnosperm?


In angiosperms the _____ are the specialized reproductive organs whose main function is to bring together the sperm and egg


The ____ are the most diverse group of plants living today


Which of the following is NOT an example of an angiosperm

pine trees

Flowering plants have evolved to attract animals to assist them in pollination. Which of the following animals is not a common pollinator of flowering plants?

bats, hummingbirds, moths, bumblebees

Why are insectivorous plants (plants that eat insects) most common in boggy areas?

because insects tend to live in boggy areas

The cell wall of fungi is made of _____


Of the group mentioned below, the fungi are most closely related to:


Which of the following is NOT a correct statement about microbes?

Microbes are not genetically diverse

Which of the following is NOT one of the kingdoms included within the Eukarya domain?


Bacteria reproduce by ____, which creates ____ exact daughter cell clones of the original parent cell

binary fission; two

Which of the following statements about the archaeal genome is correct?

The archaeal genome is primarily composed of genes that cannot be found in either of the other domains of life, making them unique

How did mitochondria originate in protists?

They derived from bacterial cells that were taken via in endocytosis and later specialized

The first eukaryotes were


The basic structure of a virus consists of:

Genetic information in the form of DNA or RNA enclosed within a protein coat

Viral DNA is replicated by:

using the host's metabolic machinery and energy

Many scientists do not consider viruses to be living organisms. Why is this?

Because they are dependent on their host's metabolic machinery for replication

Which of the following types of organisms is immune to viral infection?

Protists, Fungi, Birds, Plants

Prey reduce their risk of predation through physical and behavioral defenses. Which of the following is NOT a physical defense for the reduction of predation?

the spiciness of a jalepeno pepper

Keystone species

play an unusually important role in determining the species composition in a habitat

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