SC 139 - First Exam 2003

Answer Key

 

MULTIPLE CHOICE.

On the line to the left, place the letter of the choice that best answers the question.
Three Points Each. NOTE: "e" answers are never the correct answer.

1. An electron microscope has what advantage over a light microscope?

___C___      a. It is less expensive                                b. It is simpler to use
   
                     c. It has much better resolution              d. Specimen preparation in easier
   
                                 e. Well, it must be heavier than a light microscope...

                        ...it can clearly see / resolve much smaller objects.

 

2. As cells get bigger, they run into difficulties connected to their

___B___      a. Reproduction             b. Surface area              c. Movement 
                    d. Nucleus   
                                             e. Self esteem

                        ...it can't easily "keep up" with increases in volume.

 

3. Which would probably have the most complete fossil record?

___B___      a. Butterflies                 b. Clams                 c. Dinosaurs
   
                     d. Trees                             e. Shouldn’t that be "fossil CD"?

                        ...something that lives in water and has major hard parts.

 

4. The central process of the scientific method is

___B___      a. Theories             b. Controlled experiments            c. Perfect logic 
                    d. Broad agreement
               e. Wearing lab coats and pocket protectors

                        ...it's the preferred testing method around which everything is built.

 

5. Uniformitarianism is a basic idea about

___D___      a. How traits get passed on                     b. How organisms evolve
                    c. Microscope lens sequences                 d. The Earth’s distant past
   
                                             e. How to invent really long words

                        ...it's the idea that the past world is pretty much like the present-
                            day one, and any changes occur very slowly.

 

6. A human windpipe has reinforcing rings, like a vacuum cleaner hose; like the hose, 
                            it keeps air suction from pulling the tube shut. The
windpipe and 
                            the hose are

___A___      a. Analogous but not homologous
   
                     b. Homologous but not analogous
   
                     c. Both homologous and analogous
   
                     d. Neither homologous nor analogous
   
                     e. Two things you don’t want caught in a closing door

                        ...they do the same thing, but are not built of the same stuff.

 

7. Which was an element of Francisco Redi’s experiments on spontaneous generation?

___A___      a. Maggots                     b. Iguanas                    c. Pea plants 
                    d. Cork   
             e. Ummm...generation, of a spontaneous nature-?

                        ...does rotten meat turn into maggots...?

 

8. Colonial describes

___D___      a. Darwin’s theory of movement to islands
                    b. How genes and alleles interact
   
                     c. The development of scientific method
   
                     d. Unicellular organisms that act multicellular
   
                     e. Those bloody Americans to a Londoner

                        ...they get together and take on different jobs (colonies can also have
                            multicellular members, but that doesn't matter here)

 

9. In the statement, "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny," the ontology is

___C___      a. Evolutionary development                         b. A sort of replay
                    c. Embryological development                      d. Fossilization
                    e. Not a word I want to learn - I’ve learned enough useless words

                        ...the rest of it amounts to "replays its evolutionary history"

 

10. Which is an allowable species name?

___C___      a. Generalis Hospitalis                     b. jerrius springerus  
                   
c. Regius philbinus                          d. judgi Judyi
   
                             e. Man, I’ve got to get out of the house more...

                        ...follows the capitalization rules.

 

11. A structure found in plant cells but not in animal cells:

___A___      a. Cell wall                     b. Nucleus                     c. Chromosome
   
                     d. Cell membrane                         e. Chewy nougat

                        ...helps give plants their rigid structure (not so good for mobile
                            animals).

 

12. In hybrid form, the allele for cystic fibrosis helps carriers to resist

___C___      a. Tuberculosis             b. Malaria              c. Diarrhea diseases 
                    d. Sickle-cell anemia
      e. Sorry, don’t really want to make a joke about cystic fibrosis

                        ...it affects membrane pumps that affect control of water - diarrheal diseases
                            cause unusual water losses.

 

SHORT ANSWER. 

Answer any eight of the following questions for 4 Points Each.
Note: if you answer more than eight, only the first eight will be corrected.
You can get partial credit on these answers.

1. What are two different things that can be compared in order to find evolutionary connections between types of organisms?  There are more than two.

BASIC ANATOMY
FOSSIL HISTORY
EMBRYO ANATOMY

METABOLIC MOLECULES
SEQUENTIAL MOLECULES (DNA, RNA, OR PROTEINS)

2. What is meant by the term artificial selection?

      ...the individuals who get to breed are chosen by humans.

3. What is the current biological definition of a species?

      ...a group that only breeds within that group under natural conditions.

4. What’s the main distinction between prokaryotes and eukaryotes? Be sure to include which one has what.

      ...eukaryotes have nuclei, prokaryotes do not.

5. What is the general function of homeogenes?

      ...they are used to produce basic layout in early embryos.

6. The oldest forms of classification (as in Ancient Greek old) tended to put types into groups according to what two characteristics?

PLANTS?

ANIMALS?

7. Briefly describe two different ways that the age of fossils can be determined

LAYER ANALYSIS

RADIOACTIVE DATING

8. Why is it useful to section a specimen?

      ...the microscope's imaging beam can get through a section and show the inside.

9. What is meant by a punctuated evolutionary pattern?

      ...quick periods of change with long stable periods between.

10. When a biologist has a disagreement about how a group is classified...

They are allowed      Put a group somewhere else on the classification levels.
to do...

But they are NOT     Change the name of the group.
allowed to do...

11. What are confounding factors?

      ...influences on the results of an experiment that are not the variable.

12. Put these taxonomic groups in the proper order from smallest to largest: class, family, genus, kingdom, order, phylum, species, subfamily.

SPECIES

GENUS

SUBFAMILY

FAMILY

ORDER

CLASS

PHYLUM

KINGDOM

13. With what aspect of biology history were Malpighi, Hooke, and Leewenhoek associated?

      ...DEVELOPMENT OF MICROSCOPES.

14. Explain why it was once thought that species could not have gone extinct in the past.

      ...as folks then read the Bible, it implied that Eden's animals were somehow imperfect.

15. Technically, what is a gene?

      ...a code for a type of protein.

 

LONG ANSWER.

Answer any four of the following questions for Eight Points Each.
Note:
if you answer more than four, only the first four will be corrected.
You can get partial credit on these answers.

1. What are the four parts of the Cell Theory?

ALL LIVING THINGS ARE MADE UP OF AT LEAST ONE CELL

CELLS ONLY COME FROM OTHER, RELATED CELLS

THE SMALLEST THING THAT CAN BE CONSIDERED ALIVE IS A CELL

ALL CELLS ARE MORE SIMILAR THAN THEY ARE DIFFERENT 

2. Explain (don’t just label!) the two major ideas about evolution that are connected to Lamarck.

Improvements come as parents pass on traits they have developed during their lifetimes.

Evolution is about continual improvement - new is better than old.

3. What are four different materials that can surround an organism and eventually produce a fossil?

SEDIMENTS

SAND

SAP

VOLCANIC ASH

MUD TAR

4. For four of the five Kingdoms of living things described in the course, give the name of the Kingdom and then give a combination of typical features that makes each Kingdom completely distinct from all the others (including the fifth).  There are SIX now.

ARCHAEA

Prokaryotes found in extreme environments

MONERA

Common prokaryotes

PROTISTA

Eukaryotes, single-celled or some simple multi-celled

PLANTAE

Eukaryotes, multi-celled, photosynthetic (food makers)

ANIMALIA Eukaryotes, multi-celled, food absorbed from internal spaces
FUNGI Eukaryotes, multi-celled, food absorbed through outer surface

5. Thomas Malthus:

Basic ideas were about:    Natural Controls of Populations

3 Different Limiting Factors:                          Disease

Famine

Conflict / War

6. Give a simple progression, according to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection, from the beginning to the end here - (You can answer the question correctly and not have the same number of steps as the number of lines here).

The environment around a population changes.

 Those individuals most suited to the new conditions tend to survive and reproduce.

The next generations reflect those traits that have helped their parents survive.  Old traits not suited to new conditions become more rare.

Over time, the basic "type" of organism in the population becomes a type well-suited to the new environment.

The new "type" is significantly different from the old species.

 

The population can now be considered a new species.

NO KEY FOR BONUS QUESTIONS.

Answer as many as you are able. Wrong answers will not result in points being lost from the main exam. You can get partial credit on these answers.

For Three Points Each, answer about Carolus Linnaeus -

Real name? 

Nationality?

Other biological specialty?

What technological limitation led partly to how cladistics works? Three Points.

 

 

Electron microscopes must have a vacuum inside them. Why? Three Points.

 

 

About how long ago did Darwin live and work? Three Points.

 

 

Darwin disliked the use of "survival of the fittest" to describe Evolution by Natural Selection. Why? Three Points.

 

 

What is it about Indonesia that made it such a good place to develop ideas about evolution? Three Points.

 

 

For Three Points each -

What is a vestigial structure usually defined as?

 

What do they often turn out to be?

 

 

Why have some organisms evolved ways not to evolve? Three Points.


 
     

Michael McDarby.

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