Deck 5: Biology in the Present: Living People

Question 1

What is the human prenatal stage made up of?

A)three trimesters over forty weeks
B)the entire period during which lactation is carried out
C)infancy,childhood,juvenile period,puberty,adolescence,and adulthood
D)the neonatal period,infancy,juvenile period,puberty,and adolescence

Answer 1

three trimesters over forty weeks

Question 2

How did Johann Friedrich Blumenbach influence the study of race?

A)He discovered the existence of three races not previously known.
B)He classified human skulls into five races.
C)He used blood types and skin colors to demonstrate that races are not valid categories.
D)He showed that skull shape changed over time,suggesting that racial categories were not valid.

Answer 2

He classified human skulls into five races.

Question 3

What have many studies,in keeping with R.C.Lewontin's work,shown about multiple biological traits?

A)Different biological traits tend not to correlate in frequency or distribution.
B)Most biological traits tend to correlate in frequency or distribution.
C)Humans have so little genetic variation that the study of multiple biological traits is not useful.
D)The study of multiple biological traits has demonstrated the existence of clear-cut races in humans.

Answer 3

Different biological traits tend not to correlate in frequency or distribution.

Question 4

What is the primary cause of the obesity pandemic?

A)the increased ability to produce and consume inexpensive,high-fat foods
B)a lack of physical exercise
C)a combination of lower calories and more exercise
D)the production of high-calorie,low-fat foods even though people still have a high exercise level

Question 5

What happens when epiphyses fuse to the diaphysis?

A)Long bone growth is slowed.
B)Full adult height is attained.
C)The adolescent growth spurt begins.
D)The diaphysis continues to grow,but the epiphyses stop growing.

Question 6

What does Allen's rule indicate that humans will have?

A)larger lungs in hot environments and smaller lungs in cold environments
B)smaller bodies in cold environments and larger bodies in hot environments
C)longer limbs in hot environments and shorter limbs in cold environments
D)taller bodies in cold environments and shorter bodies in hot environments

Question 7

Biological traits generally follow a geographic continuum,also called a cline.How does this relate to the concept of race?

A)Most traits are not bounded by supposed "racial" boundaries but rather vary between two points,such as the frequency of type-B blood changing gradually from eastern Asia to far-western Europe.
B)The cline is the scale against which variation is measured,from which we can derive the number of distinct races in a region.
C)The term clinal variation is another term for race or subspecies.
D)Most genetic traits sort people into a fixed number of race categories.Clines do not sort people this way but are very rare.

Question 8

How did Franz Boas challenge the study of race?

A)He strongly supported the race concept.
B)He created racial categories based on living populations in the United States.
C)He showed that U.S.-born children had the same head shapes as their immigrant parents,proving that races are innately stable.
D)He showed that U.S.-born children had different head shapes from their immigrant parents,demonstrating that races are not innately stable.

Question 9

What hypothesis resulted from David Barker's research?

A)Poor fetal nutrition increases the likelihood of death from stroke.
B)Low birth weight is correlated with death from coronary heart disease.
C)Small babies are more likely to be underweight as adults.
D)Poor health during the fetal period results in the reduced ability to maintain homeostasis.

Question 10

What does the postnatal stage include?

A)the first,second,and third trimesters
B)menarche and senescence
C)the growth or development of the deciduous teeth,motor skills,and cognitive abilities
D)the human growth cycle from the embryo stage

Question 11

Although Allen's and Bergmann's rules often explain body shape and morphology,we occasionally see variations from the excepted patterns.What does this sometimes indicate?

A)The long-term association between body shape and climate is an example of acclimatization.
B)Body shape and morphology do not reflect both evolutionary and developmental processes.
C)The association between body shape and morphology does respond to environmental stressors.
D)The association between body shape,morphology,and the environment is not a result of natural selection.

Question 12

R.C.Lewontin found that human "races" have no taxonomic significance.How did he demonstrate this?

A)He found that genetics have no influence on human appearance.
B)He showed that race categories accounted for a very small percentage of variation found across human populations.
C)He examined variation in human skull characteristics and found no evidence of races.
D)He carried out research that examined genetic diversity across different species of mammals.

Question 13

What marks sexual maturation or puberty?

A)menarche in girls
B)similar body size in boys and girls
C)a short-term rapid increase in brain growth
D)adult social roles

Question 14

C.Loring Brace argued that the modern-day race concept:

A)originated in the late eighteenth century when European taxonomists applied Linnaeus's methods to humans.
B)has been present throughout human history.
C)can be traced to the Renaissance,when seafaring travelers incorrectly interpreted apparent differences among far-flung people encountered from seaports around the world.
D)originated in ancient Egypt.

Question 15

Which of the following biological processes involves a reduction in homeostasis?

A)senescence
B)Wolff 's law
C)prenatal development
D)adult stage of development

Question 16

What do the long limb measurements of Turkana pastoralists indicate?

A)The population is on the continuum of variation observed in Allen's rule.
B)The population represents the variability that results from Wolff's law of skeletal replacement.
C)The population has body proportions that are not well adapted to warmer climates.
D)The population is well adapted for life at high latitudes,as Allen's rule predicts for pastoralist populations.

Question 17

What are examples of stressors during the prenatal stage?

A)a vegetarian diet of greens,fruits,and dairy products
B)smoking,alcohol,and drugs
C)heavy exercise like running and swimming
D)lack of exercise

Question 18

Infancy is the period that:

A)runs from the second month after birth to the end of lactation,usually by the end of the third year.
B)runs from three to seven years,generally postweaning.
C)is also called the "neonatal" period.
D)includes three months before birth and three months after birth.

Question 19

What did the American economist David Seckler incorrectly hypothesize?

A)Growth accelerates and decelerates according to various life stages.
B)Reduced food supplies cause shortness in height and poor general functioning.
C)There is a relationship between genes and the environment.
D)Shortness in height is a harmless adaptation to reduced food supplies.

Question 20

Children living at high altitudes develop a larger chest cavity by adulthood than children living at lower altitudes.What can be said about this adaptation?

A)This genetic adaptation arose in the population in which these children live,because of the relative lack of oxygen at this altitude.
B)Individuals who live at high altitudes temporarily develop greater lung volume and the ability to use oxygen more efficiently.
C)This ontogenetic adaptation occurred during a critical period of development and is not reversible.
D)This is a behavioral adaptation that involves lung-enhancing exercises and the eating of certain foods.It is not genetic.

Question 21

What does the maintenance of homeostasis involve?

A)the functioning of all levels of any organism's biology
B)the study of populations in their natural environments
C)the use of material culture to make living possible in certain settings
D)the replication of environmental conditions and human responses to those conditions

Question 22

Wolff 's law is the principle that

A)states that the lengths of limb bones are related to environmental conditions.
B)applies to the maintenance of the entire endocrine system.
C)states that after puberty there will be almost no further remodeling of bones.
D)refers to the homeostatic balance leading to bone mass being produced where it is needed and removed where it is not needed.

Question 23

In the days when races were thought to be valid,static categories,Johann Friedrich Blumenbach incorrectly categorized humans into the following races:

A)Negroids,Caucasoids,and Mongoloids
B)Mongoloids,Negroids,Inuit,and Caucasoids
C)Mongoloids,Malays,Ethiopians,American Indians,and Caucasoids
D)Mongoloids,Negroids,Malays,Europeans,and Caucasoids

Question 24

Which is a major contributor to the success of our species?

A)high fecundity
B)body variation
C)human adaptability
D)skin tone variation

Question 25

Hypoxia has been shown to be an agent of natural selection in that Tibetan women

A)at high altitudes had fewer surviving children.
B)with alleles for high oxygen saturation in their hemoglobin had more surviving children.
C)with alleles for high oxygen saturation in their hemoglobin had fewer surviving children.
D)have poor nutrition.

Question 26

Why is dark skin (a result of increased melanin production in equatorial peoples)likely a response to ultraviolet (UV)radiation?

A)because UV radiation can cause skin cancer
B)because UV radiation can cause hypoxia
C)because UV radiation can cause rickets
D)because UV radiation can cause hypothermia

Question 27

How do the Inuit and other cold-adapted populations compare to people with a history of living in temperate climates?

A)They have lower BMRs.
B)They consume more carbohydrates.
C)They reduce peripheral body temperatures to maintain core temperatures.
D)They have short limbs and wide bodies.

Question 28

At what level does genetic adaptation occur?

A)at the population level via natural selection
B)at the individual level during childhood
C)at the individual level throughout an individual's lifetime
D)through the use of material culture to make living possible in certain settings

Question 29

What kind of changes occur with functional adaptations?

A)important population-level genetic changes
B)adjustments at the individual level only occurring during childhood
C)adjustments that involve using material culture to make living possible in certain settings
D)biological adjustments within an individual's lifetime,including developmental adaptations and acclimatization

Question 30

How can homeostasis be studied indirectly?

A)by observing living populations as they engage in various activities in various settings
B)by experimentally manipulating or replicating environmental conditions and observing human responses
C)by identifying the genome of a given population of humans
D)by observing differences in such measures as body temperature across human groups

Question 31

For women with very low body weight,what can high amounts of exercise cause?

A)increased female fertility
B)increased ovarian function
C)reduced ability to conceive relative to women who do not exercise
D)higher rates of conception than in women who do not exercise

Question 32

What is melanin?

A)a pigment that is advantageous because it provides protection from solar radiation
B)a chemical that decreases the possibility of a tan
C)a pigment that occurs at high rates in individuals with light skin tone
D)a pigment that develops more with age

Question 33

Where did natural selection favor alleles for light skin?

A)Africa
B)Europe
C)South America
D)Australia

Question 34

What does adolescence include?

A)stability in physiology,behavior,and cognition
B)decline in function of tissue and many organs
C)eruption of dentition and increased brain growth
D)the development of secondary sex characteristics and interest in adult social,sexual,and economic behaviors

Question 35

At what level does developmental (or ontogenetic)adaptation occur?

A)at the individual level throughout an individual's lifetime
B)at the individual level during childhood
C)through the use of material culture to make living possible in certain settings
D)at the population level via natural selection

Question 36

At what level does cultural adaptation occur?

A)at the population level via natural selection
B)at the individual level during childhood
C)through the use of material culture or learned practices to make living possible in certain settings
D)usually in adults,not children

Question 37

What does sexual dimorphism refer to?

A)the onset of menarche
B)the reduction in bone growth rate with the fusion of epiphyses
C)the difference in sexual characteristics before versus after puberty
D)the difference in physical attributes of males and females

Question 38

What is a cause of rickets?

A)a lack of vitamin D
B)a lack of melanin
C)high UV exposure
D)severe air pollution

Question 39

How can homeostasis be studied directly?

A)by observing living populations as they engage in various activities in various settings
B)by experimentally manipulating or replicating environmental conditions and observing human responses
C)by identifying the genome of a given population of humans
D)by observing differences in such measures as body temperature across human groups

Question 40

At what level does acclimatization occur?

A)at the individual level throughout an individual's lifetime
B)at the individual level during childhood
C)through the use of material culture to make living possible in certain settings
D)at the population level via natural selection

Question 41

In humans,race is NOT a valid,biologically meaningful concept.Why?

Question 42

How does human life history (prenatal stage,infancy,childhood,juvenile stage,adolescence,adulthood,old age)determine the interaction between genes and environment?

Question 43

Discuss the obesity pandemic.Include current studies that demonstrate likely causes.

Question 44

Discuss Allen's and Bergmann's rules and how they affect human variation.Include the forces of evolution discussed in previous chapters to support your essay.

Question 45

How can variation in human skin color be used as an example of both functional and genetic adaptations?

A)Mutations in skin cells caused by exposure to the sun produce increased genetic variation passed on to offspring.
B)Vasodilation and vasoconstriction of the blood vessels under the skin adapt to the amount of sunlight.
C)Human skin may be dark because of tanning or because of the genetically controlled production of more melanin.
D)Individuals exposed to plentiful sunlight may at first tan but eventually develop genes that code for more melanin.

Question 46

Discuss how natural selection has likely influenced the evolution of skin color in humans.

Question 47

Discuss the origins of the race concept.Include early scientists and their views on human variation.

Question 48

What is the difference between a functional adaptation and a genetic adaptation and how might they relate to each other? Use an example to illustrate your point.