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SC 139 - First Exam 2001
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. Which is true?
___B___ a. Mutation is the only way to produce evolutionary change
b. Evolution works faster in things that reproduce quickly
c. Sexual reproduction always requires two parents
d. All organisms evolve at about the same pace
e. Why does none of this look familiar?
...Evolutionary rates depend upon how fast reproduction goes - shorter
generations = quicker overall changes - and how fast the environment
changes. The others, you're supposed to know, are just wrong.
2. Which term refers to a system to classify living things?
___C___
a. Relativism
b. Speciation
c. Taxonomy
d. Selection
e. Putting sticky notes on everything
...it's just a definition out of the notes...
3. Modern ideas see evolution as a process that changes what in a population?
___B___
a. Individuals
b. Traits
c. Offspring
d. Gene / allele proportions
e. TV viewing habits
...it works on individuals, gets passed on to offspring, and traits do
change,
but modern ideas look at the genetics of the population.
4. Species that do the same "job" in different ecosystems are called
___A___
a. Ecospecies
b. Habitat sympatrics
c. Homeospecies
d. Isospecies
e. Often by copyright lawyers of the original
...a definition right out of the notes...
5. Ancient fossils feel "rocky" because of
___B___
a. Their age
b. Minerals from ground water
c. Their original composition
d. Lava flow
e. Their marketability is better that way
...the minerals seep in over time...
6. Which would most likely be a product of homeogenes?
___D___
a. Reproductive behavior
b. Differences between two populations of the same species
c. Adult strength
d. Determination of front end and back end
e. They control slang terms after they're no longer trendy
...first, you need to know that homeogenes affect basic development in
an
embryo - only one choice is connected to that.
7. Which is an idea from Thomas Malthus?
___A___
a. Population has natural controls
b. Selective breeding can changes types of animals or plants
c. Traits picked up during life can be passed on to offspring
d. The world is much older than was previously thought
e. He originated many ideas about curing hiccups
...if all you remember is that Malthus is the "population
guy," that would be
enough to pick out the right choice..."c" is LaMarck and
"d" is Lyell.
8. Recombination occurs during
___C___
a. Fossil formation
b. Group migration
c. Sexual reproduction d. Classification
e. A combination that happening again
...it refers to the "mixing and matching" that genes do
9. Which would most likely give the most continuous fossil record?
___D___
a. Elephants
b. Ferns
c. Jellyfish
d. Clams
e. The fossil Napster site
...most fossils are from sediments of bodies of water, so water-living
is
a good feature, and only hard parts fossilize well, which gives us clams
over jellyfish.
10. Alfred Russel Wallace did most of his work where?
___B___
a. African jungle
b. Indonesian Islands
c. Australian desert
d. American mountains
e. Wherever the boss was watching
...it's where he was posted by the military.
11. The term that refers to the "jobs" that can be performed by living things
in an ecosystem:
___A___
a. Niche
b. Ecofunction
c. Adaptation
d. Selection slot
e. Where do they advertise these jobs?
...it's just one way to define it...
12. A small population migrates away from a large one. The gene pool of
that small group affects the possible alleles in their descendants.
This is called
___C___
a. Bottleneck effect
b. Gene pool limitation
c. Founder effect
d. Adaptive radiation
e. The ungrateful young punk process - eh, let 'em go!!
...just a definition out of the notes...
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. In general, what kind of effect is usually produced by mutations?
...because most DNA changes
have NO effect on the coded protein, that's the likeliest
answer. If you assume you have to talk about an effect, a BAD
effect is likeliest, as the mutation messes up the proper function
of the protein. Both are acceptable.
2. Briefly explain how punctuated evolution is supposed to work.
...sudden
burst of changes with long stable periods in between, reflecting
similar patterns in the environment.
3. What is the most current way to define a species?
...a
group where, under natural conditions, members breed only within that
group.
4. How can the environment produce a bottleneck effect?
...something happens to kill off a major part of a population.
5. Briefly explain why the cystic fibrosis allele is somewhat common in the population.
...it can
convey an advantage against some common diarrhetic diseases.
6. Give examples of two traits produced in unrelated species by convergent evolution.
...anything
where two unrelated species have very similar features used for doing
the same basic function (like wings in butterflies and birds, or
streamlining in bass and dolphins)
7. An important trait for evolution is genetic redundancy. What is that?
...it's
when a mutation produces an extra copy of a gene, which evolution
can "tinker" with without changing the purpose of the
original.
8. Briefly explain why similarities in embryo development exist in groups that have become
hugely different in all later forms. Why haven't the embryos changed too?
...the
earlier you change something's development, the more major the eventual
change and the less likely that it will be a good change.
9. What are two ways to figure out how old a layer of fossils is?
...there
are three - you can use the fossils present to tell (there's a
chart); you can use several different forms of radioactive
dating; you can guess from how deep it is.
10. Briefly explain why continental drift has had an impact on evolution.
...it has
isolated some groups and brought some previously-isolated groups
together.
11. When it was suggested that fossils were the remains of extinct animals, what accepted
view of the world, based on an older interpretation of the Bible, was suddenly at risk?
...all
living things were descended from the perfect forms of Eden and could
not die out.
12. What were two traits of the Galapagos Islands that made it a great place for Darwin
to form his ideas about evolution?
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It was quite some distance from the mainland (and the
islands were separate enough to have produced island-unique species)
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The climate there was quite different from
the mainland climate, which produced large changes in the types of
organisms that lived there. |
13. If a currently-living animal appears almost identical to ancient fossils, what is probably
true about that animal's microenvironment?
...it's
little "piece of the pie" is probable quite stable over
time - if the local conditions don't really change, species
well-adapted to them don't, either.
14. What is meant by "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny"?
...it's an
old idea that a developing embryo "replays" the
evolutionary history of its species.
15. What are two different types of molecules that can be used in comparative
biochemistry.
...there
are at least 3: DNA (or RNA), Proteins, and Metabolic
molecules.
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, in order, four steps that would occur between the death of an organism and its
being discovered as a fossil. (There are more than 4)
It needs to get to the bottom of a body of
water.
Its hard parts need to be covered
in sediments |
The layers of sediment need to build up and compact.
The layers need to pick up
minerals to harden the fossils. |
The fossil-bearing rocks need to be moved to the surface
(or the surface cut down to them).
The fossils have to be where
people will see them. |
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2. Answer the following for the process of asexual reproduction:
| Definition: Offspring
are genetic copies of the original. (Remember, this
has nothing to do with male/female or mating from a definition
standpoint)
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| Evolutionary
Any advantageous trait is exactly passed to offspring.
Advantage:
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| Evolutionary
Offspring, with no variation, are all equally vulnerable to
Disadvantage:
changes in the environment that could harm them.
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3. What are four of the points made in Darwin's Theory of Evolution by Natural
Selection? They do not have to be in any particular order.
There is variation among individuals in a population.
Some variation may produce survival /
reproductive advantages under certain conditions. |
More offspring are made than will survive
and reproduce.
The conditions / environment
determines which traits are an advantage at any given time. |
Offspring with advantages are more likely to
pass on traits, including advantageous ones.
Over time, advantageous traits will become more and more common in a
population. |
Eventually, the "average"
individual will be so different from its "average" ancestor
that it could be called a different species.
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4. Describe - don't just name! - four basically different types of isolation that can lead to
the development of new species.
Physically exist in different places
(geographic).
May exist in same place but move into different niche
(habitat). |
May exist in same place and do
similar job but use different time schedule for feeding
and/or breeding
(temporal). |
May develop different patterns for
choosing mates (behavioral).
May develop differences in structure of breeding
devices (mechanical). |
May develop incompatibility between
egg cell and sperm (gamete).
May reject zygote or embryo before it's fully
developed (zygote). |
5. Give the full definitions:
| Homologous but
Built from the same basic underlying forms but not serving
NOT Analogous -
the same purpose.
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| Analogous but
Doing the same thing but using different underlying forms.
NOT Homologous -
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6. What are four conditions that the Hardy-Weinberg Law insists are necessary to keep
allele proportions in a population constant over time? (There are more than 4)
No mutation.
Genes
don't enter or leave the population. |
Mating is random.
Population must be quite large. |
There is no selection of traits.
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BONUS QUESTIONS - No KEY; based upon class
attendance. Some older bonuses become required class information
in later years.
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.
There were several reasons why Charles Darwin spent much of the HMS Beagle's voyage
on land. For Two Points each, what were they?
The mountain range that the Adirondacks are part of a chain that goes north to end in what
eventual region? Three Points.
Why is it extremely uncommon to find dinosaur fossils in New York State? Three Points.
Explain how the "ticks" work for each type of "clock," for Three Points Each.
Carbon Dating:
Mitochondrial DNA:
Australia is somewhat close to Asia, but its animals are close relatives. Why haven't Asian
animals moved to Australia over the last several million years? Three Points.
In what way could cancer represent an absolute necessity to a species? Four Points.
What points on the study sheet (other than the stuff at the end that we didn't get to) did not
wind up being covered in class? Three Points each.
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