SC 139 - First Exam 2006
 Answer Key

Links on Numbers go to relevant passages in the online textbook.

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.  The main reason why specimens are sectioned is to

___A___           a. Make them transparent
                        b. Keep them preserved
                        c. Make the separate pieces more easily analyzed
                        d. Put some in the experiment group and some in the control group
                        e. Fill the stadium evenly

                ...the imaging beam has to come through the specimen to make anything visible,
                        and slicing them thin allows this.

 

2.  In cells, membranes are mostly used for

___D___           a. Determining male and female                     b. Physical protection
                        c. Removing wastes                                      d. Isolating special chemical processes
                                                e. Showing off your fashion sense

                ...a membrane isn't much of a protective barrier, but with them chambers can be
                    isolated for particular processes, like digestion or respiration or photosynthesis.

 

3.  One of the most important aspects of both Darwin’s and Wallace’s data gathering:

___C___           a. It was done in the tropics                    b. It was done over a long period of time
                        c. It involved many islands                     d. They each used a large group of people
                                            e. They used very nice penmanship

                ...the islands were able to show comparisons that indicated what the effect of different
                    environments on the development of species might be.

 

4.  Convergent evolution has its best examples when features are

___B___           a. Analogous and homologous                        b. Analogous but not homologous
                        c. Homologous but not analogous                   d. Neither analogous nor homologous
                                                        e. Very, very convergey

                ...this is where unrelated species have features that do the same things (analogous)
                    but the features have developed from different basic structures (not homologous) -
                    similar features evolve to "solve" similar problems in unrelated groups.
                    Example:  spiders and birds each have types of lungs for breathing air, but the lungs
                    have evolved from very different internal structures.

 

5.  One of Darwin’s main inspirations for his ideas came from

___A___           a. Dog breeding                 b. Genetic studies                c. Dinosaur fossils
                        d. Embryo studies             e. His obsession with Victorian snack crackers

                ...nothing or almost nothing was known of the other things in Darwin's time,
                    but he knew that, by choosing which dogs get to reproduce, the nature of a dog
                    breed could change dramatically over time - he just found a way that Nature itself
                    selects for changes over time.

 

6.  Which is the best example of an experimental artifact?

                        a. Measurements are all taken in metric units
                        b. A special bee hive is made with a glass side for observation
___C___           c. Baboons are very aggressive because an observer has "spooked" them
                        d. When drugs are given, many subjects’ symptoms improve
                        e. Something known about Picasso and Monet

                ...an artifact is a result of the process of experimenting, but not a true experimental
                    result that's wanted -  a & b aren't results, and d is a true experimental result.
                    In c, "natural" behavior is being studied, but the process of observing is
                    changing the behavior.  (You're right, this is not a great question)

 

7.  What Robert Hooke called cells were specifically

___B___           a. Empty cell membranes                             b. Empty cell walls
                        c. A mixture of animal and plant cells            d. Mineral chambers
                                                      e. Just cubicles

                ...he looked at slices of cork, where the living cells have all died, leaving
                    the cell walls of plants behind.

 

8.  Resolution of a microscope could also be called

___B___           a. Magnification limit             b. Focusing limit            c. Specimen size limit
                        d. Cost                                 e. Um, Benjy-?

                ...once you've hit the resolution, you could keep magnifying, but the image would
                    not get any clearer.

 

9.  Which two structures are analogous but not homologous?

___B___           a. Car tire and horse’s neck            b. Shark’s tail and boat propeller
                        c. Human hand and bat wing          d. Grasshopper leg and spider web
                                        e. Student head and empty dumpster

                ...analogous:  do the same function; 
                        homologous:  have same underlying structure (like the hand and the wing).

 

10.  The apparent limitation on how big a cell can be is probably related to

___B___           a. Its overall shape                                 b. Its volume and surface ratio
                        c. If it’s multicellular or not                    d. Its nucleus or nuclei
                                                       e. Zoning laws

                ...increase in size makes the volume, with all of the chemistry, go up much faster
                    than the surface, where in-and-out flow of materials for chemistry happen.

 

11.  Without Alfred Russel Wallace, the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection
                might never have been

___D___           a. Developed             b. Translated into Danish            c. Applied to animals
                        d. Published              e. Annoying students all over the world

                ...Darwin had put off actually publishing, and was forced to when Wallace sent
                    his manuscript in.

 

12.  Which approach to classification is most concerned with the appearance of key features?

___A___           a. Cladistics                 b. Systematics                 c. Ontology
                        d. Phylogeny                             e. Key featurism

                ...match the term with the definition.

 

 

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.  Briefly explain how each would work in a human drug trial:
Blind          Patients don't know who is getting
Study:         placebos, but treating doctors do.		 Double-          Neither patients nor treating
blind               doctors know who is getting
Study:             the placebo.
2.  The two most common imaging (beam) systems for microscopes:
LIGHT ELECTRON
3.  What two discredited ideas are attributed to Lamarck?
Features developed during an individual's life could be passed on in their changed form to offspring (Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics) Evolution moves progressively toward perfection - there is a goal it works toward
4.  What were the third and fourth Kingdoms to break off of the original two Kingdoms of Life?  This is after Animals and Plants, the first two.

FUNGI (too many differences to leave them in the Plants)

 PROTISTA (originally included all single-celled organisms)
5.  What is the current best definition of a species?

        ...a group that, under natural conditions, only reproduces within the group.
                (In some ways, species are now defining themselves)

 
6.  Briefly explain why fundamentalists once believed that the idea of extinction was contrary to Scripture.

        ...although Man was created flawed, it was thought that the rest of Creation had to have been divinely / perfectly created - they could not therefore have gone extinct, which would only happen to imperfect creations.

 
7.  What are two different types of circumstances that may have led to mass extinctions?
Major Asteroid Impact 

Major Volcanic Eruption

 Major "natural" shifts in climate

Ice Ages
8.  Briefly explain how uniformitarianism was first applied to determine the approximate age of the Earth.

        ...using an understanding of how sediments build up today on the sea floor, it was calculated how long it would take to build up the depths of sedimentary rocks found around the world.

 
9.  Briefly explain the hypothesis of ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny.

        ...the evolution of a group is replayed in the group's stages as embryos.
              (for instance, it was thought that mammals - our group - go through fish and reptile stages
                    as embryos)
10.  Briefly explain how postmodernism has been applied to science.

        ...one must keep in mind that even science is influenced by the cultures and prejudices of the scientists doing and interpreting the work.  People may see what they expect more clearly than what's really there.
11.  What is the function of homeogenes?

        ...they help set up the basic early layout of an organism.

 
12.  Put these taxonomic groups in the proper order from smallest to largest: class, family, genus, kingdom, order, phylum, species, subfamily.  The order asked for is different from your notes!!!
1  Species 2  Genus 3  Subfamily 4  Family
5  Order 6  Class 7  Phylum 8  Kingdom
13.  What two rates together tend to determine the evolutionary rate?
Rate of environmental change  Rate of reproduction (turnover)
14.  Give the definition of colonial organism.

        ...many individuals that could live independently, but instead gather together and split up the various jobs, becoming an individual made up of individuals.

 
15.  In science, what is the most common form of peer review?

        ...most scientists encounter peer review when they go to publish their findings - many don't get opportunities for review from people in their own fields at many other times.

 

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 four different concepts or ideas that influenced Darwin’s development and publication of the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection?
Uniformitarianism - changes happen, but they happen slowly, at rates seen today.

Artificial Selection - Domestic breeds can be altered by choosing who gets to reproduce.

Fossils indicated that changes had occurred in species over time.

Malthus' list of how population levels are controlled - suggested what forces affect success in the wild.
Lamarck's ideas about how what offspring get from their parents can change species over time.
2.  For four of the six basic Kingdoms of Life, give the name of the Kingdom and enough features to clearly set that Kingdom’s members apart from those of the other five.
MONERA Single-celled, no nucleus (prokaryotes);  found in "normal" environments.
 ARCHAEA Single-celled, prokaryotes;  found in "extreme" environments.
 PROTISTA Mostly single-celled, with nucleus (eukaryotes);  if multi-celled, cells are mostly alike.
 PLANTAE Multi-celled eukaryotes;  photosynthetic  (this last isn't enough by itself, since photosynthesis is found in all of the single-celled Kingdoms).
ANIMALIA Multi-celled eukaryotes;  usually able to move;  food breakdown happens internally.
FUNGI Multi-celled eukaryotes;  usually don't move;  foor breakdown happens externally.
3.  Give the relevant steps between a change in environment and the production of a new species from a population there, according to Darwin’s theories.
Individuals with features better suited to the changed environment are more likely to survive and reproduce.
More and more individuals in the offspring generations will have traits well-suited to the changed environment.
Eventually, the features of a "typical" individual may be very different from the "typical" individual from before the environment changed.
The new "typical" individual may be so different from the ancestor "type" that it can be called a new species.
 
 

4.  Fill in:

Binomial nomenclature is the term given to rules about naming ___species_____.

What are three of those rules?

 The names are always two words.
  The two words, in English, are underlined or italicized.
  The first word is the Genus name.
  The first word is always capitalized.
  The second word means nothing by itself.

The second word is never capitalized.

The abbreviation uses the first initial and the second word.

5.  What are the four statements of the Cell Theory?
Everything alive is made up of at least 1 cell.
Cells only come from other, related cells.

The smallest thing that can be considered alive is the cell.
Cells of all things are more similar than different.

6.  What are four different starting circumstances that can lead to formation of fossils?
 Settle to the bottom of a body of water. Buried in volcanic ash.
 Covered in mud. Buried in sand.
Covered in pine sap.  

 

No answers 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.

Which of the original Greek "natural Kingdoms" did not include living things? Three Points.

 

Which is the biggest Kingdom, in terms of having the most individual organisms in it? Three Points.

 

When Redi ran his meat-and-maggot experiment, what did he have to change to satisfy his critics? Three Points.

 

What major problem made it difficult to increase the magnification abilities of glass lenses? Three Points.

 

Darwin’s father wanted him to continue the "family business." What did Daddy Darwin do (Two Points), and why didn’t Charles want to do it (Two Points)?

 

 

What are the two different types of iguanas found on the Galapagos Islands? Two Points each.

 

 

What are vestigial structures A) supposed to be (Three Points), and what else B) might they be (Three Points)?

A                                                                                     B

 

Why are there so few dinosaur fossils found in New York State? Three Points.

 

 

Radioactive carbon dating doesn’t work on anything over about 60,000 years old. Why not? Three Points.


 
     

 

Michael McDarby.

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