SC 139 - Second Exam 2006

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 bottleneck of bottleneck effect happens when

_______           a. Genes shift from chromosome to chromosome
                        b. A subgroup migrates away from a main group
                        c. A group almost goes extinct
                        d. Staging areas are used for a shift in habitat
                        e. Um, bottles get necks put on them-?

 

2.  When a gene-level DNA mutation happens, the results are usually

_______           a. Some improvement                             b. Bad or neutral
                        c. A new type of cell                              d. A change in a trait
                                        e. Kept secret by family members

 

3.  Animals and plants were a long time on land before they "solved" the last problem,
                    the one associated with

_______           a. Support                 b. Ice Ages                 c. Reproduction
                        d. Lack of nutrients                     e. Ugliness

 

4.  A layer of rusty sediments in the fossil record is an indication that what had just evolved
                    and "caught on" in a big way?

_______           a. Aerobic respiration                 b. Cells                 c. Fungi
                        d. Photosynthesis                             e. Junk sales

 

5.  Which are all autotrophs?

_______           a. Fungi             b. Plants             c. Animals            d. Bacteria
                                            e. NASCAR champions

 

6.  The Gaia hypothesis suggests that

                        a. Earth’s life helps to stabilize the planet’s temperature
                        b. Some cell parts were once independent organisms
_______           c. Only through mass extinction can true progress be made
                        d. Supernatural forces are involved in the history of Life
                        e. It’s a bad idea to put too many vowels together

 

7.  The organic molecules in primordial soup came from

_______           a. Plants             b. Fungi             c. Volcanos            d. Space dust             e. Catalogs

 

8.  Stromatolites are fossils of

_______           a. Bacterial clumps                     b. Bones                     c. Teeth
                        d. Tree trunks                                 e. What illuminates stroma

 

9.  In genetics, linkage is between

_______           a. A gene & a trait                              b. A gene & a protein
                        c. A gene & a chromosome                 d. A protein & a trait
                        e. What I don’t know & what the questions are asking

 

10.  Many causes of mass extinction work by

_______           a. Blocking sunlight in the atmosphere
                        b. Spreading disease from species to species
                        c. Causing very high temperatures
                        d. Changing the orbit of the Earth
                        e. Killing lots of stuff off

 

11.  Plants would not have been able to move onto land without

_______           a. Rich soil                                 b. Animals already there
                        c. Fungus symbionts                   d. Resistance to land-borne diseases
                                                e. A good real estate broker

 

12.  The "ticks" of the most-used  molecular clock are

_______           a. Chromosome changes                     b. Mitochondrial DNA mutations
                        c. Nuclear DNA mutations                  d. Recombination shifts
                                    e. Almost all with the digital read-out now

 

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 particular types of Early-Earth energy that might have helped primordial molecules to merge together?
 

 
2.  What is the Cambrian Explosion?

 

 
3.  In evolution, what is the definition of sexual selection?

 

 
4.  What is the hypothesis of panspermia?

 

 
5.  In order to be evolutionarily effective, asexual organisms must produce lots of offspring. Give two reasons why this greatly raises their survival odds.
 

 
6.  Photosynthesis may have begun as a combination of two abilities already in place. What were those two abilities?
 

 
7.  For a high chromosome number -
An
advantage		 A
disadvantage
8.  Define alternation of generations, without using those words (or verb forms of them).

 

 
9.  What are two things that a water organism does not require protection from, but a land organism must be able to deal with?
 

 
10.  Briefly explain the "plant problem."

 

11.  The hypothetical "Nemesis" -
What is
it supposed
to be?		 Why do people
think it might
exist?
12.  Give two fundamentally different examples of epigenetic traits.
 

 
13. What is meant by the terms type species or ecospecies? They mean the same thing.

 

 
14.  Briefly explain the genetic concept of hybrid vigor.

 

 
15.  What are hydrothermal vents, and where are they found?

 

 

 

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.  Give four examples of things from different general classes that can result in reproductive isolation of one group from another. So not terms or definitions, but specific types of examples of things that can happen to lead to isolation.
 

 

 
 

 

 
2.  What are four different conditions that a "Hardy-Weinberg population" must have?
 

 

 
 

 

 
3.  For the earliest "living" systems, give two basic requirements that have to be met for each of the two stages down below.
The first molecular "life"

 

 
  

Eventual, more "modern" life

 

 
 

4.  For the two likely "staging areas" from which organisms moved up onto the land, name each one and give one aspect of it that forced adaptations that would also be useful out of the water.
 

 

 
 

 

 

5.  For asexual reproduction, in general -
Definition - Advantage over
sexual reproduction -		 Advantage sexual
has over asexual -
 

 

 

 

    

6.  For each step in the theoretical development of Life on Earth, put them in chronological order, from earliest to latest, 1 - 8 in the boxes to the left.

Photosynthesis

Prokaryote
Cells

Molecular
Evolution

Movement onto Land

Cellular
Colonialism

Primordial
Soup

Aerobic
Respiration

Multicelled
Systems

7. Give four major groups of organisms that are considered land / terrestrial groups.
 

 
 

 

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.

Gregor Mendel worked out the rules of genetics using pea plants. Why did he use pea plants? Three Points.

 

There are three different types of genetic redundancy. Describe them, for Three Points each.

 

 

Since Hardy-Weinberg conditions often do not exist in nature, what is the value of the Hardy-Weinberg rule? Three Points.

 

What scientist is considered the originator of biogeography? Three Points.

 

What term from epigenetics is a popular term on the internet? Three Points.

 

What is the major problem that scientists have with Special Creation theories? Three Points.

 

 

Silicate clays may have been involved in the first Life’s beginnings. What about clays makes this a possibility? Three Points for each feature.

 

 

Where, locally, are some truly ancient fossils of early Earth life? Three Points.


 
     

Michael McDarby.

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