Deck 1: Introduction- Biology Today

Question 1

How does taxonomy assist biologists?

A) by providing easily remembered scientific names for organisms
B) by categorizing diverse items into smaller and smaller numbers of groups
C) by reducing life to its smallest common denominator, the cell
D) all of the above

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following is not recycled but is lost from ecosystems?

A) nitrogen
B) energy
C) magnesium
D) carbon

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The DNA of a eukaryotic cell is found within the ______.

A) archaea
B) nucleus
C) prokaryotic cell
D) insulin

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Relative to prokaryotic cells,eukaryotic cells are usually ______.

A) larger and more complex
B) smaller and simpler
C) larger and equally complex
D) smaller and more complex

Question 5

The human genome consists of about ______ chemical letters.

A) 300,000
B) 1 million
C) 3 billion
D) 300 billion

Question 6

What is biology?

A) the scientific study of life
B) the scientific study of the environment
C) the scientific study of DNA
D) the scientific study of ecosystems

Question 7

Which of the following structures can perform all the activities required for life?

A) DNA molecules
B) cells
C) organelles
D) nuclei

Question 8

Which domain(s)consist(s)of prokaryotic cells?

A) Bacteria only
B) Eukarya only
C) Archaea and Eukarya
D) Bacteria and Archaea

Question 9

Which kingdom of Eukarya consists primarily of unicellular organisms?

A) Plantae
B) Bacteria
C) Fungi
D) Protista

Question 10

What is a gene?

A) a type of eukaryotic cell
B) an organelle that houses DNA
C) a type of prokaryotic cell
D) a unit of inheritance

Question 11

Which of the following is not a property of life?

A) Populations of organisms rarely change over time.
B) Living things exhibit complex but ordered organization.
C) Organisms take in energy and use it to perform all of life's activities.
D) Organisms reproduce their own kind.

Question 12

Which of the following is a producer?

A) oak tree
B) earthworm
C) sun
D) cat

Question 13

Humans are ______.

A) producers
B) producers and consumers
C) consumers
D) producers and decomposers

Question 14

More than half of all known species are ______.

A) plants
B) insects
C) bacteria
D) vertebrates

Question 15

What are the two main processes that ecosystems depend upon?

A) speciation and evolution
B) nutrient recycling and energy flow
C) decomposition and nutrient recycling
D) sunlight and photosynthesis

Question 16

What name is given to the functional compartments of a cell?

A) genomes
B) nuclei
C) genes
D) organelles

Question 17

Taxonomy is the ______.

A) study of cells
B) naming and classifying of species
C) study of organisms and their interaction with the environment
D) study of genes

Question 18

In what way(s)is the science of biology influencing and changing our culture?

A) by helping us understand the relevance of evolution to human health
B) by revealing how mutations in genes can lead to disease
C) by providing new tools for forensic investigations
D) all of the above

Question 19

What are eukaryotic genes composed of?

A) RNA
B) organelles
C) RNA and DNA
D) DNA

Question 20

Humans are composed of ______ cells.

A) bacterial
B) eukaryotic
C) plant
D) prokaryotic

Question 21

Which of these would be a valid hypothesis?

A) Human history is determined by a series of supernatural events.
B) Humans should help in the conservation of other animal species.
C) Humans are controlled by forces beyond our understanding.
D) Humans and bacteria share a common genetic code.

Question 22

Which of these statements is correct?

A) Scientific ideas are subjected to repeated testing.
B) Science can be used to prove or disprove the idea that deities or spirits cause earthquakes and other natural disasters.
C) Science does not require observations that other people can confirm.
D) Only discovery science can lead to important conclusions about nature.

Question 23

Science is ______.

A) the inquiry-based effort to describe and explain nature
B) the search for truth
C) an organized set of principles for how to ethically and morally behave
D) all of the above

Question 24

You try to start your car,but it does not start.Which of these is a prediction?

A) My car's battery is dead.
B) If I recharge the battery, then my car will start.
C) My car is too old to function properly.
D) What is wrong with my car?

Question 25

Over a span of two decades,scientists measured changes in the beak size of a population of Galápagos ground finches.This ______.

A) provided evidence of natural selection in action
B) is an example of artificial selection
C) is an example of overproduction
D) led Darwin to his theory of evolution through natural selection

Question 26

You try to start your car,but it does not start.Which of these is a hypothesis?

A) My car's battery is dead.
B) If I recharge the battery, then my car will start.
C) My car is too old to function properly.
D) What is wrong with my car?

Question 27

Which of these is most closely associated with Darwin?

A) energy flow
B) ecosystem structure
C) the three domains of life
D) natural selection

Question 28

How do hypotheses differ from theories?

A) Theories are more comprehensive than hypotheses.
B) Theories must be testable; hypotheses do not need to be testable.
C) Hypotheses are educated guesses, and theories are tentative explanations.
D) Hypotheses are derived from experimentation, whereas theories are derived from observation.

Question 29

A newly discovered multicellular organism obtains food by digesting dead organisms.Such an organism is most likely a member of the kingdom ______.

A) Plantae
B) Fungi
C) Protista
D) Animalia

Question 30

A hypothesis is a(n)______.

A) tentative answer to a question
B) guess
C) observation
D) theory

Question 31

Members of the kingdom Plantae differ from members of the other kingdoms of Eukarya in that most members of the kingdom Plantae ______.

A) are decomposers
B) are unicellular
C) are consumers
D) produce their own food

Question 32

Discovery science is primarily based on ______.

A) hypothesis testing
B) deduction
C) experimentation
D) observation

Question 33

Which of the following are the proper components of the scientific method?

A) experiment, conclusion, application
B) question, observation, experiment, analysis, prediction
C) observation, question, hypothesis, prediction, experiment, results, conclusion
D) observation, question, opinion, conclusion, hypothesis

Question 34

What accounts for the different breeds of domesticated dogs?

A) overproduction
B) natural selection
C) competition
D) artificial selection

Question 35

What is the difference between discovery science and hypothesis-driven science?

A) Discovery science "discovers" new knowledge, whereas hypothesis-driven science does not.
B) Discovery science is based on deductive reasoning, whereas hypothesis-driven science is based on inductive reasoning.
C) Discovery science is mostly about describing nature, whereas hypothesis-driven science tries to explain nature.
D) Discovery science involves predictions about outcomes, whereas hypothesis-driven science involves tentative answers to specific questions.

Question 36

Unequal reproductive success ______.

A) can lead to a population being less well adapted to its environment
B) increases variation
C) does not affect the frequency of expression of traits in succeeding generations of a population
D) can lead to natural selection

Question 37

In a scientific experiment,the control group ______.

A) serves as a basis of comparison with the experimental group
B) is subjected to the factor whose effect is being tested
C) allows for the simultaneous testing of multiple variables
D) is required for the validity of discovery science

Question 38

The branch of biology that explains both the diversity and the unity of life is ______.

A) evolution
B) microbiology
C) taxonomy
D) genetics

Question 39

Which of these is required for natural selection to occur?

A) inheritance
B) unequal reproductive success
C) individual variation
D) all of the above

Question 40

What does adaptation mean in a biological context?

A) the way an individual's body adjusts to its environment
B) the accumulation of favorable variations in a population over time
C) the ability of organisms to alter their appearance under changing environmental conditions
D) all of the above

Question 41

Please use the following information to answer the following question(s).
The collared lizard is a species found in the Desert Southwest. Male collared lizards show considerable color variation, ranging from brightly colored to a very dull pattern. Your goal is to determine the function, if any, of male color patterns in collared lizards, using the scientific method. Your tentative explanation is that male color plays a role in attracting females for mating purposes. You predict that females will preferentially choose brightly colored males over dull-colored ones. To test this prediction, you observed the interactions of female collared lizards with their male counterparts. You selected males that were the same age and size, and that differed only in their coloration pattern. You placed equal numbers of the two types of male lizards, bright and dull, in aquariums, along with one female lizard per aquarium. Out of 350 aquariums observed, the female chose to mate with the brightly colored male 277 times, and the dull-colored male 70 times. In 3 instances, the females did not mate with either type.
Create a bar graph of your data, plotting the type of male (dull or brightly colored) on the x-axis. On the y-axis, plot the frequency with which each type of male was chosen by females. Using this graph, answer the following question(s).
Identify the experimental group of this case study.

A) brightly colored female lizards
B) brightly colored male lizards
C) dull-colored female lizards
D) dull-colored male lizards

Question 42

In the process of evolution by natural selection illustrated in the accompanying figure,which of the following is the mechanism or agent of natural selection?

A) artificial selection
B) selective breeding
C) selective predation
D) selective beetles

Question 43

Please use the following information to answer the following question(s).
The collared lizard is a species found in the Desert Southwest. Male collared lizards show considerable color variation, ranging from brightly colored to a very dull pattern. Your goal is to determine the function, if any, of male color patterns in collared lizards, using the scientific method. Your tentative explanation is that male color plays a role in attracting females for mating purposes. You predict that females will preferentially choose brightly colored males over dull-colored ones. To test this prediction, you observed the interactions of female collared lizards with their male counterparts. You selected males that were the same age and size, and that differed only in their coloration pattern. You placed equal numbers of the two types of male lizards, bright and dull, in aquariums, along with one female lizard per aquarium. Out of 350 aquariums observed, the female chose to mate with the brightly colored male 277 times, and the dull-colored male 70 times. In 3 instances, the females did not mate with either type.
Create a bar graph of your data, plotting the type of male (dull or brightly colored) on the x-axis. On the y-axis, plot the frequency with which each type of male was chosen by females. Using this graph, answer the following question(s).
Which of the following is the hypothesis of this case study?

A) Male collared lizards exhibit color variation.
B) Dull males are less likely to be eaten by predators.
C) A function of male coloration is to attract females.
D) Males prefer brightly colored females.

Question 44

Please use the following information to answer the following question(s).
The collared lizard is a species found in the Desert Southwest. Male collared lizards show considerable color variation, ranging from brightly colored to a very dull pattern. Your goal is to determine the function, if any, of male color patterns in collared lizards, using the scientific method. Your tentative explanation is that male color plays a role in attracting females for mating purposes. You predict that females will preferentially choose brightly colored males over dull-colored ones. To test this prediction, you observed the interactions of female collared lizards with their male counterparts. You selected males that were the same age and size, and that differed only in their coloration pattern. You placed equal numbers of the two types of male lizards, bright and dull, in aquariums, along with one female lizard per aquarium. Out of 350 aquariums observed, the female chose to mate with the brightly colored male 277 times, and the dull-colored male 70 times. In 3 instances, the females did not mate with either type.
Create a bar graph of your data, plotting the type of male (dull or brightly colored) on the x-axis. On the y-axis, plot the frequency with which each type of male was chosen by females. Using this graph, answer the following question(s).
"Male collared lizards show considerable color variation." This is a(n)______.

A) hypothesis
B) conclusion
C) observation
D) result

Question 45

Using the branching tree of life for bears depicted in the accompanying figure,choose from among the following bear species the one that is most distantly related to the sun bear.

A) brown bear
B) sloth bear
C) spectacled bear
D) giant panda

Question 46

Please use the following information to answer the following question(s).
The collared lizard is a species found in the Desert Southwest. Male collared lizards show considerable color variation, ranging from brightly colored to a very dull pattern. Your goal is to determine the function, if any, of male color patterns in collared lizards, using the scientific method. Your tentative explanation is that male color plays a role in attracting females for mating purposes. You predict that females will preferentially choose brightly colored males over dull-colored ones. To test this prediction, you observed the interactions of female collared lizards with their male counterparts. You selected males that were the same age and size, and that differed only in their coloration pattern. You placed equal numbers of the two types of male lizards, bright and dull, in aquariums, along with one female lizard per aquarium. Out of 350 aquariums observed, the female chose to mate with the brightly colored male 277 times, and the dull-colored male 70 times. In 3 instances, the females did not mate with either type.
Create a bar graph of your data, plotting the type of male (dull or brightly colored) on the x-axis. On the y-axis, plot the frequency with which each type of male was chosen by females. Using this graph, answer the following question(s).
Is it reasonable to conclude (i.e.,is it supported by the data)that female collared lizards prefer more brightly colored male lizards over dull-colored males?

A) Yes, this conclusion is supported by the data.
B) No, this conclusion is not supported by the data.
C) The data do not clearly indicate a preference one way or the other.
D) None of the above choices are correct.

Question 47

Antibiotic resistance evolves in bacteria because ______.

A) the presence of antibiotics favors bacteria that already have genes for resistance
B) farmers do not use enough antibiotics in animal feed
C) the antibiotics create resistance genes in bacteria
D) none of the above

Question 48

Please use the following information to answer the following question(s).
The collared lizard is a species found in the Desert Southwest. Male collared lizards show considerable color variation, ranging from brightly colored to a very dull pattern. Your goal is to determine the function, if any, of male color patterns in collared lizards, using the scientific method. Your tentative explanation is that male color plays a role in attracting females for mating purposes. You predict that females will preferentially choose brightly colored males over dull-colored ones. To test this prediction, you observed the interactions of female collared lizards with their male counterparts. You selected males that were the same age and size, and that differed only in their coloration pattern. You placed equal numbers of the two types of male lizards, bright and dull, in aquariums, along with one female lizard per aquarium. Out of 350 aquariums observed, the female chose to mate with the brightly colored male 277 times, and the dull-colored male 70 times. In 3 instances, the females did not mate with either type.
Create a bar graph of your data, plotting the type of male (dull or brightly colored) on the x-axis. On the y-axis, plot the frequency with which each type of male was chosen by females. Using this graph, answer the following question(s).
Dull-colored males were part of the ______.

A) observation group
B) control group
C) experimental group
D) predicted group