SC 139 - First Exam 2007

 

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.  By the most recent method, which would be used to determine a species?

_______     a. Breeding offspring of crosses to see if they're sterile
                  b. Comparing the earliest embryos
                  c. Checking fine details on anatomy
                  d. Observing reproductive behavior out in the natural environment
                  e. Checking the Wikipedia entry


2.  The classification approach that focuses on common ancestors is

_______     a. Cladistics                 b. Phylistics                 c. Systematics                d. Geneologistics                 e. Pretty boring



3.  According to Darwin's theories, the most important feature of an individual in an evolving population is

_______     a. Strength                 b. Survival                 c. Reproduction                d. Development of good traits                 e. Dental hygeine



4.  "Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" is a saying associated with

_______     a. Comparative embryology                 b. Analysis of fossils                c. Molecular clocks
                  d. Genetic expression                                        e. People with excessive vocabularies


5.  Which would be an example of divergent evolution?

_______     a. Turtles and snakes in the same group
                  b. Bats and butterflies in totally different groups
                  c. Similarities between a whale and a submarine
                  d. Any of these would be an example
                  e. An evolution which, y'know, is divergent



6.  One of the issues of a transmission microscope is

_______     a. Only single-celled specimens may be seen
                  b. Specimens must be transparent but still have visible details
                  c. It can only work properly with an electron beam
                  d. All of these are true
                  e. That it has a mission that's, uh, very trans-y



7.  Which is an example of spontaneous generation?

_______     a. Viruses causing disease                             b. Elephants becoming mammoths
                  c. Bones becoming fossils                            d. Stones becoming snails
                      e. Every generation likes to think it's more spontaneous



8.  As a cell's volume increases, what doesn't increase as fast but needs to?

_______     a. Surface area                 b. Nucleus volume                c. Cytoplasm                 d. Chromosomes                e. Credit score



9.  Darwin found that organisms on islands were the most different from mainland relatives if

_______     a. The islands had very different environments                      b. The mainland had many plant species
                  c. The mainland had fewer plant species                               d. The islands were fairly close to the mainland
                                                        e. They had a different cable tv system



10.  Which is an allowable species name?

_______     a. Greysius Anatomus                 b. lawius norderus                c. Desperatus housewivius
                  d. idolus Americanus                                e. I have got to get out of the house more...



11.  Organisms that are sort of "between" unicellular and multicellular:

_______     a. Colonial                 b. Pericellular                 c. Eukaryote                d. Prokaryote                 e. Indecisive




12.  Which process involves a homeogene?

_______     a. Reproductive behavior                 b. Digestive chemistry                c. Blood clotting
                  d. Leg placement                                    e. Homeys got a gene named after them?




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.  Give two facts about Alfred Russel Wallace that relate to the development of evolution theory.




2.  When Lyell developed the concept of uniformitarianism, what was he trying to explain?



3.  Explain what it means if two features are analogous but not homologous.





4.  Darwin's Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection was based on some obvious "givens" about Nature - what are two?




5.  A hypothesis can be tested with two very different processes - what are they?




6. Put these taxonomic groups in the proper order from largest to smallest: class, family, genus, kingdom, order, phylum, species, subclass.
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
7.  What exactly is meant by the "resolution limit" for a microscope?




8.  When a biologist believes that a group needs to be classified differently,
What can
they easily
do?
What are
they NOT
allowed to do?
9. What is a vestigial structure supposed to be?





10.  The two most common forms of microscope differ in their imaging beams - what are the two different beam types?



11.  The investigation of fossils almost immediately led to a concept that was, at the time, considered completely contrary to the Bible, although it isn't today at all. What was the concept?

 


12.  Briefly explain how PostModernism is applied to science.



 

13.  What is meant by the term artificial selection?





14.  Briefly explain what peer review is.






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.  Define these four terms associated with scientific method.
Artifacts:

Placebo:
Blind drug
trial:
Double-blind
drug trial:


2.  When Charles Darwin sailed around the world, ideas he already know would help in forming his evolutionary theories. What are four such ideas?












3.  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.
 



 



 



 



4.  What are the four statements of the Cell Theory?








5.  Lamarck left behind two different ideas that were wrong, but which had a lot of influence. Briefly explain (don't just give the "title"!) how each concept is supposed to work.








6.  According to Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection, give the steps between a change in the environment and the appearance of a new species.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Link to Answer Key

 

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.


The ancients classified animals into groups based mostly on a basis not longer really used today. What was it? Three Points.



Other than classification, what did Linnaeus study? Three Points.



In introductory biology, until recently only five Kingdoms were taught. Which was split off to be the sixth taught now? Three Points.



When Redi ran his first meat-and-maggot experiment, what did people say was wrong with the way he set it up? Three Points.



Peer review can have a negative effect. How? Three Points.



What was Leewenhoek able to do with magnification lenses? Three Points.



Who were Schleiden and Schwann? Three Points.




What was Thomas Malthus probably really worried about when he wrote about overpopulation effects in Nature? Three Points.



Where are the Galapagos Islands, where Darwin found his finches? Three Points.



Where did Wallace do most of his later field work? Three Points.



Embryos often show more resemblance to distant relatives than adults. Why is this true? Three Points.

 

 
 
 
 
     

 

Michael McDarby.

 

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