Course Introduction
Comparative Biology
Textbook Exam Questions
Comparative Biology explores the similarities and differences in the structure, function, and evolution of living organisms across different taxa. By examining a diverse range of life forms from microbes to mammals students gain insight into the fundamental principles that unify biological systems, as well as the unique adaptations that differentiate species. The course emphasizes comparative analysis as a tool to understand evolutionary relationships, physiological mechanisms, and ecological interactions, equipping students with the skills to critically evaluate scientific data and appreciate the broad diversity of life on Earth.
Recommended Textbook
Evolution 1st Edition by Carl T. Bergstrom
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Page 2
Chapter 1: An Overview of Evolutionary Biology
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Sample Questions
Q1) During the observations of a species of blue moon butterflies on the Samoan islands of Upolu and Savaii,99% of the butterflies were originally female and only 1% were male,but in only five years the male:female sex ratio had returned to nearly the expected 1:1.What caused this?
A)Wolbachia lost the ability to kill male butterflies.
B)Evolutionary changes in the butterflies allowed the butterflies to suppress the male-killing effect of Wolbachia.
C)All of the above
D)None of the above
Answer: B
Q2) How has artificial selection been used to shape the characteristics of food producing plants?
Answer: Answers will vary but should include increasing harvest yields and may include characteristics such as increased palatability or nutritional value.
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3
Chapter 2: Early Evolutionary Ideas and Darwins Insight
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Q1) Charles Darwin's grandfather Erasmus Darwin,an English physician and philosopher,
A)argued that all life developed from what he called a single living filament.
B)wrote a book called Zoonomia.
C)argued that humans descended from another primate species and once walked on all fours.
D)All of the above
Answer: D
Q2) The rediscovery in 1900 of Mendel's now famous experiments from the 1850s and 1860s initially
A)solved the argument about whether natural selection acted in a slow way on small genetic changes or in a sudden, saltational manner.
B)added fuel to the argument about whether natural selection acted in a slow way on small genetic changes or in a sudden, saltational manner.
C)All of the above
D)None of the above
Answer: B
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Chapter 3: Natural Selection
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Sample Questions
Q1) Considering the phylogenetic evidence that feathers evolved prior to flight,what might have been the original function of feathers?
A)Heat retention
B)Facilitating tactile sensation
C)Waterproofing
D)Shielding from sunlight
E)All of the above
Answer: E
Q2) Researchers studying variations in oldfield mouse coat color found that the light coat color of many beach populations was due to a
A)mutation in the Mc1R protein, which reduces the ability of a-MSH to bind.
B)mutation in the regulatory region of the Agouti gene, which increases ASP expression.
C)reduction in eumelanin production.
D)All of the above
Answer: D
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Chapter 4: Phylogeny and Evolutionary History
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Q1) Divergent evolution occurs when
A)closely related populations or species diverge from one another because natural selection operates differently on each of them.
B)two or more populations or species become more similar to each other because they are exposed to similar selective conditions.
C)Both of the above
D)None of the above
Q2) Assume you are an evolutionary biologist who is using coat coloration in several closely related species to reconstruct their evolutionary history.If you find that the coat color trait is symplesiomorphic,what can you do to resolve the species' evolutionary relationships?
Q3) The study of phylogeny rests on our observation of traits,which may include A)anatomical features.
B)genetics sequences.
C)embryological processes.
D)All of the above
Q4) In what ways do the processes of reconstructing phylogenetic trees and mapping evolutionary events onto trees generate hypotheses?
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Chapter 5: Inferring Phylogeny
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Sample Questions
Q1) How many unrooted trees are possible for five species?
A)15
B)25
C)5
D)105
Q2) For extinct taxa
A)the fossil record is the primary source of data for constructing phylogenetic trees. B)one would expect allied extant taxa from the same location to be very different. C)it makes sense to use an ad hoc explanation of how natural selection produced changes in a lineage, even when it is uncertain how the biotic and abiotic environment changed over time.
D)A and C
E)B and D
Q3) Why do some evolutionary biologists have philosophical concerns about using distance methods to construct evolutionary trees?
Q4) Why is phylogenetic inference a difficult and computationally intensive problem? What solution do evolutionary biologists use to address this problem?
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Chapter 6: Transmission Genetics and the Sources of
Genetic Variation
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Q1) In a tetraploid animal,how many copies of each homologous chromosome will be found in its gametes following meiosis?
Q2) If an RR flower is red,an Rr flower is pink,and an rr flower is white,what percentage of the offspring from a cross between an RR individual and an Rr individual will be red?
A)0
B)25
C)50
D)75
E)100
Q3) All of the offspring from a cross between an RR plant and an rr plant will be A)dominants.
B)recessives.
C)homozygotes.
D)heterozygotes.
E)None of the above
Q4) Before pre-mRNA is converted to mRNA,a process known as _________ occurs.
Q5) Mutations occur _________ with respect to fitness.
Page 8
Q6) Identify the three most common parts of a protein-coding eukaryotic gene.
Q7) How many different amino acids can be used in the construction of proteins?
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Chapter 7: The Genetics of Populations
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Q1) Mating preferences drive assortative mating
A)all of the time.
B)none of the time.
C)some of the time.
D)every other time.
E)in selfing plants.
Q2) As the value of F increases,so does the frequency of A)homozygotes.
B)heterozygotes.
C)dominant alleles.
D)recessive alleles.
E)None of the above
Q3) Which of the following model organisms is not expected to achieve Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?
A)Fruit fly
B)Nematode worm
C)Bacteria
D)Mouse
E)Zebrafish
Q4) Name three predictions generated from the Hardy-Weinberg model.
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Evolution in Finite Populations
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Sample Questions
Q1) Consider a collection of 50 distinct alleles,each at equal frequency in a population.The time before the first coalescent event will be shortest if A)Ne = 100
B)Ne = 100,000,000
C)Ne = 100,000
D)Ne = 1,000,000,000.
Q2) If neutral mutations occur at the rate of 0.5 per individual per generation,the rate of neutral substitutions per generation in that population will equal
A)2Ne × 0.5.
B)(1/2Ne) × 0.5.
C)2Nekn × 0.5.
D)0.5.
E)None of the above
Q3) It's well known that different lineages experience different mutation rates,even at the same locus.Consider two species,1 and 2,that experience mutations rates of m < m ,with populations sizes of N < N .Which species would you expect to have a lower frequency of heterozygotes at a neutral locus? Explain your reasoning.
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Chapter 9: Evolution at Multiple Loci
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Q1) What is the largest possible value that linkage disequilibrium can reach if all allele frequencies are 0.5?
A)0.25
B)0.5
C)0.75
D)1
E)None of the above
Q2) Explain why a population may never reach its most fit phenotype.
Q3) In Lake Malawi cichlid fish,one can observe two color variants,Black Barred (BB)and Orange Blotch (OB).Sex in these fish is not determined by a sex chromosome but by a gene on an autosome,which produces either males or females.Both of these phenotypes are controlled by one biallelic locus each.OB females have a selective advantage in terms of their survivability: The OB phenotype allows females to blend into their background.OB males have a selective disadvantage because their reproductive coloration is disrupted and they have little mating success.How would this process influence the association of alleles at the color locus and sex determining locus?
Q4) Without using mathematical symbols,explain the difference between broad- and narrow-sense heritability,including why one is more relevant to evolutionary studies.
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Page 11
Chapter 10: Genome Evolution
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Q1) The C-value paradox is
A)the lack of correlation between genome size with organismal complexity.
B)resolved by the identification of noncoding DNA.
C)resolved by the discovery of linkage disequilibrium.
D)A and B
E)All of the above
Q2) The exon theory of genes states that A)genes consist solely of exons.
B)introns are deleterious and are purged from the genome.
C)introns lead to recombination errors.
D)many current genes arose through the rearrangement of exons.
E)introns disrupt protein structure.
Q3) Describe a haplotype block.
Q4) While sequencing a bacterial genome,a researcher notes that G is more common on the leading strand than the lagging strand.This is an example of what phenomenon?
Q5) Consider two species,one of which has an effective population size that is five orders of magnitude greater than the other.In which species would you expect to see a smaller genome size? Explain your reasoning.
Q6) Explain how horizontal gene transfer is different than sexual reproduction.
Page 12
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Chapter 11: The Origin and Evolution of Early Life
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Sample Questions
Q1) Ribozymes are
A)capable of replicating RNA.
B)capable of copying RNA into DNA.
C)proteins.
D)RNA enzymes.
Q2) Deletion experiments of E.coli have determined the minimal set of metabolic pathways.When these pathways were compared to a closely related species,W.glossinidia,an endosymbiotic organism that obtains resources from its host,researchers found that
A)the gene sets match perfectly.
B)E. coli was more specialized and had fewer metabolic pathways.
C)W. glossinidia had fewer metabolic pathways.
D)the genomes were not comparable.
Q3) What is most critical for understanding the minimal gene set and the origin of life?
A)The number of genes
B)The functions of the genes
C)The stable environments of bacteria with the most reduced genomes
D)The identity of genes involved in fatty acid/lipid metabolism to understand the origin of cell membranes
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Page 13
Chapter 12: Major Transitions
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Q1) A somatic cell is
A)a body cell that is responsible for growth and maintenance.
B)a cell specialized for reproduction.
C)one of the cells that produces spores in slime mold fruiting bodies.
D)a cell that has four membranes around it.
Q2) Why must cheaters be identifiable in group living at any level (e.g.,multicellularity or social groups)?
Q3) In what way are single-celled slime mold amoebas and individual honeybees (social insects that live in colonies)alike?
A)Signals cause them to aggregate, though they usually live alone.
B)They are both examples of loss of complexity.
C)Individuals always live in groups.
D)Some individuals give up independent replication in the larger group.
Q4) Why do groups offer protection in foraging?
A)Large groups draw the attention of predators.
B)Predator targeting increases with group size.
C)The probability of a predator attack increases.
D)Many eyes detect predators more quickly.
Q5) Why does genetic imprinting inhibit parthenogenesis?
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Chapter 13: Evolution and Development
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Q1) How can natural selection lead to the loss of a gene duplication?
Q2) If paedomorphosis via neoteny involves the retention of juvenile traits in adults,what is responsible for paedomorphosis via progenesis?
Q3) Does all life evolve from simple to complex? Explain.
Q4) How can changes in genetic enhancers affect morphology?
Q5) What evidence suggests that MADS-box genes are older than flowers?
Q6) Crabs have claws on their front legs and many sets of walking legs (which lack claws)on segments posterior to the claws.Crabs can regenerate legs if they are lost.A walking leg was removed and tissue from the claw was transplanted onto the stump.If homeobox genes are responsible for the differentiation of leg types,what would you predict would happen to the stump? What might be an analogous experiment from the chapter?
Q7) Paralogs may
A)have additive effects, increasing the amount of gene expression.
B)have new effects.
C)divide a function with the parental gene.
D)All of the above
E)None of the above
Q8) What is meant by the colinearity of Hox genes?
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Chapter 14: Species and Speciation
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Q1) A small population of a species invades an island where the species is not found.The population subsequently diverges from the ancestral population and becomes a new species.This is an example of
A)the dumbbell model of allopatric speciation.
B)the peripheral isolate mode of allopatric speciation.
C)sympatric speciation.
D)parapatric speciation.
Q2) Which of the following is not a prezygotic isolating mechanism?
A)Habitat isolation
B)Temporal isolation
C)Hybrid inviability
D)Behavioral isolation
E)Gametic incompatibility
Q3) If the population of the last common ancestor of humans,chimpanzees,and gorillas was very large,and humans split from chimpanzees very quickly after the gorilla lineage diverged,how might this influence the relationship between gene trees and species trees in this clade?
Q4) What is the advantage of using DNA sequences from many genes to reconstruct the evolutionary history of humans?
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Chapter 15: Extinction and Evolutionary Trends
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Q1) Which of the following observations would be expected if an infectious disease were a contributor to amphibian decline?
A)Amphibian decline occurs simultaneously at many points throughout the entire range of amphibian populations.
B)Amphibian decline correlates with habitat alteration.
C)When transplanted into declining populations, individuals from nondeclining populations show the same symptoms as in-decline individuals.
D)Symptoms of in-decline individuals can be cured by medication.
E)C and D
Q2) What is a sink population?
A)A large panmictic population comprising all members of a species
B)A metapopulation
C)A local population that would likely decline to extinction without immigration
D)A local population in which emigration rate exceeds immigration rate
E)A and B
Q3) What effect of mass extinctions is described by the expression "dead clade walking"?
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Chapter 16: The Evolution of Sex
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Q1) In a population that is polymorphic for sexual/asexual reproduction,a sexually transmitted disease has just eliminated most of the sexually reproducing individuals.When you expose samples of asexuals and sexuals from this population to harsh environmental conditions in the lab,you discover that the sexual individuals are worse at adapting to the new environment than the asexual individuals.(Note that your lab population is free from the sexually transmitted disease.)Which of the following statements is a likely explanation for your results?
A)All asexually reproducing strains independently acquired the same beneficial mutation that offset the advantage of the sexuals.
B)The bottleneck caused by the disease resulted in the fixation of many alleles in the sexually reproducing population.
C)Asexuals are favored under harsh environmental conditions.
D)The results support standard evolutionary theory.
E)B and C
Q2) You catalog all obligate asexual species within a family of insects and notice that asexual species are rare,and they are all members of genera that consist predominantly of sexual species.You conclude that the asexual species tend to be short lived.Why?
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Chapter 17: Sexual Selection
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Q1) Part of the courting behavior of male jumping spiders consists of drumming the ground with their legs.Studies have shown that leg drumming decreases the longevity of the spiders.Why might male leg drumming have evolved in jumping spiders?
Q2) To study sperm competition in beetles,you sample a population that is effectively monogamous,as chances of meeting more than one mating partner in nature are extremely low.In the lab,you pair multiple individuals to create a polygamous mating system,but you also maintain a monogamous control line.Would you expect sperm competition in the polygamous line to increase,decrease,or remain the same relative to the monogamous control line (assuming there was heritable variance for this trait in the population)?
Q3) Name one direct benefit that females may receive from a particular mate choice.
Q4) _________ first proposed sexual selection as an evolutionary mechanism.
A)Maynard-Smith
B)Darwin
C)Aristotle
D)Fisher, Haldane, and Wright
Q5) What prediction of the runaway model that is never predicted for the good genes model may help to distinguish between the models in natural populations?
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Chapter 18: The Evolution of Sociality
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following equations illustrates the correct relationship?
A)Indirect fitness + Direct fitness = Inclusive fitness
B)Inclusive fitness + Direct fitness = Indirect fitness
C)Indirect fitness + Inclusive fitness = Direct fitness
D)Direct fitness - Inclusive fitness = Direct fitness
Q2) Assume that the cost of fighting is four times greater than the benefit gained from the resource that is being fought over.What is the probability with which an individual should play dove in the mixed Nash equilibrium of the hawk-dove game?
Q3) In an analysis of independent contrast,researchers found that fetuses in polyandrous species of primates had faster growth rates than those in monogamous species.What did the researchers conclude from these results?
A)Fetuses develop faster to "make room" for offspring from a different male.
B)Extracting more resources from the mother maximizes offsprings' inclusive fitness in polyandrous species.
C)Fast fetal growth rates are always optimal.
D)Fetal growth rates represent phylogenetic constraints and are unrelated to mating systems.
Q4) Name the three familial conflicts.
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Page 20
Chapter 19: Coevolution
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Q1) Assume that the transmission of antibiotic-producing bacteria that live as mutualists with leaf cutter ants is strictly vertical (i.e.,bacteria are only transmitted from queens to their offspring).What would you expect the topology of a phylogeny for the bacteria to look like relative to the phylogeny of their ant partners?
A)The topologies should not correspond more than would be expected under a random model.
B)The topologies should closely correspond to one another.
C)The topologies should correspond less than would be expected under a random model.
D)Deep nodes will correspond, but not nodes that are located toward the tips of the tree.
Q2) Name two forms of antagonistic coevolution.
Q3) Provide one likely cost and one likely benefit for each of the mutualistic partners in the Iridomyrmex ant and imperial blue butterfly caterpillar relationship.
A.Benefit for ants:
B.Cost for ants:
C.Benefit for caterpillars:
D.Cost for caterpillar:
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Chapter 20: Evolution and Medicine
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Q1) Define pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs),and explain why they are crucial to our body's immune response against pathogens.Limit your answer to two sentences.
Q2) Imagine two populations of snails that are polymorphic for sexual reproduction.In each of the two populations,several asexual lineages and a panmictic,sexually reproducing subpopulation of snails are living in the same environment.Several years ago,a new pathogen was detected in the first population.This pathogen is transmitted predominantly between parents and their offspring,but on occasion,it is also transmitted horizontally between unrelated individuals.The pathogen is now infecting both sexual and asexual individuals.Since the introduction of the pathogen,the formerly stable ratio of sexual to asexual snails has shifted significantly in favor of the sexually reproducing individuals.At the same time,the second population became infected with a pathogen that is almost always transmitted horizontally.In the second population,no shift in the ratio of sexuals to asexuals has been observed.Speculate on why the difference in transmission between the two pathogens may have shifted the proportion of sexual reproduction in the first but not in the second population.Limit your answer to one or two sentences.
Q3) Ask a question about fever at each of Tinbergen's four levels (1,2,3,and 4)of explanation.Limit your answer to one sentence for each level.
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Page 22