Ecology and Evolution
Mock Exam
Course Introduction
Ecology and Evolution is a foundational course that explores the interrelationships between organisms and their environments, as well as the processes driving the diversity of life on Earth. Students will investigate ecological principles governing population, community, and ecosystem structure and function, alongside evolutionary mechanisms such as natural selection, genetic drift, and speciation. The course integrates theory and real-world examples to illustrate how ecological and evolutionary dynamics shape the structure of biological communities and influence patterns of biodiversity over time. Through lectures, case studies, and discussions, students develop a comprehensive understanding of how organisms adapt to their environments and the ecological consequences of evolutionary change.
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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Q1) Artificial selection has been used to shape the behavior of farm animals such as the chicken and domestic animals such as the dog.Evolutionary behaviorists believe that natural selection also has affected the appearance and behavior of the domestic dog.Provide a short explanation of how this may have happened. Answer: Artificial selection, also known as selective breeding, has been used by humans to intentionally breed animals with specific traits for thousands of years. This process has been used to shape the behavior of farm animals like chickens and domestic animals like dogs. For example, dogs were originally domesticated from wolves, and through artificial selection, humans were able to breed dogs with specific traits such as loyalty, intelligence, and herding abilities.
Evolutionary behaviorists believe that natural selection has also played a role in shaping the appearance and behavior of domestic dogs. Over time, dogs that exhibited certain behaviors or physical traits that were beneficial to humans were more likely to survive and reproduce, passing on those traits to future generations. This natural selection process has contributed to the wide variety of dog breeds we see today, each with their own unique behaviors and physical characteristics that have been shaped by both artificial and natural selection.
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Chapter 2: Early Evolutionary Ideas and Darwins Insight
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Q1) Darwin's tree of life metaphor
A)linked species in varying degrees of similarity according to their historical pattern of descent.
B)described the branching historical relationships among all living things.
C)applied to both the history and pattern of life's diversity.
D)All of the above
Answer: D
Q2) Greek philosophers,including Aristotle,developed a keen appreciation for the study of natural history.Which of the following contributions to the study of natural history did Aristotle make?
A)His book, Physics and Natural History of Animals
B)Distinguishing among 500 species of birds, mammals, and fishes
C)Proposing a taxonomy of nature-a classification system of life
D)All of the above
Answer: D
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4
Chapter 3: Natural Selection
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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) Genes affect traits
A)in only one environment
B)by producing a norm of reaction.
C)by coding for them.
D)All of the above
Answer: B
Q3) Natural selection is a process by which
A)the characteristics of individuals change over time.
B)the characteristics of populations change over time.
C)Both of the above
D)None of the above
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: Phylogeny and Evolutionary History
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Q1) Which of the following terms is used for a situation in which the derived trait has arisen recently and appears in only one of the two most related species or populations,while the two most distantly related groups share the same trait?
A)Homology
B)Homoplasy
C)Synapomorphy
D)Symplesiomorphy
Q2) The study of phylogeny predominantly aims to A)understand the branching relationships of populations as they give rise to descendant populations over time.
B)uncover evidence for natural selection.
C)provide a theoretical basis for Darwin's idea of a branching pattern of descent with modification.
D)All of the above
Q3) What are the differences between rooted and unrooted phylogenetic trees?
Q4) 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?
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Chapter 5: Inferring Phylogeny
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Q1) 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
Q2) Once we have used character data to infer a tree,how can we be certain this tree is correct?
A)We cannot; we can only estimate a "best fit."
B)We can test statistical confidence certain features of the tree are correct.
C)In most cases, we can ascertain whether our tree is correct with 95% confidence.
D)All of the above
E)None of the above
Q3) Does the Fitch algorithm indicate the most likely character states for the ancestral node?
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Chapter 6: Transmission Genetics and the Sources of
Genetic
Variation
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Q1) If the wrong protein is produced,it may
A)affect DNA expression.
B)alter cellular structure.
C)influence development.
D)A and B
E)All of the above
Q2) After following populations of E.coli for 1150 generations,Sandra Trindale and her colleagues noted that most mutations are _________.
Q3) RNA that directs protein synthesis is called
A)ribosomal RNA.
B)microRNA.
C)messenger RNA.
D)transfer RNA.
E)translation RNA.
Q4) How many different amino acids can be used in the construction of proteins?
Q5) In a tetraploid animal,how many copies of each homologous chromosome will be found in its gametes following meiosis?
Q6) Before pre-mRNA is converted to mRNA,a process known as _________ occurs.
Q7) Mutations occur _________ with respect to fitness.
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Chapter 7: The Genetics of Populations
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Q1) The null model for population genetics is
A)Newton's first law.
B)the competitive exclusion model.
C)cell theory.
D)the endosymbiosis theory.
E)the Hardy-Weinberg model.
Q2) Inbreeding depression is caused by
A)a reduction in fitness caused by deleterious recessives.
B)random mating.
C)mutation-selection balance.
D)A and B
E)All of the above
Q3) When Takata et al.2002 examined allele and genotype frequencies at the myoglobin locus in a Japanese population,the observed and expected genotypic frequencies were very similar.Had they been very different,what could one conclude about this locus in this population?
Q4) Pacific salmon hatch in streams and grow up out in the Pacific Ocean.At the end of their life,they mate once then die.Assuming that not all salmon survive life in the ocean and that those who do survive produce equal numbers of offspring,this would be an example of _________ selection.
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Evolution in Finite Populations
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Q1) Imagine that,of three species,it is known that species 1 and 3 were separated 10 million years ago,based on geologic measurements.Genetic analysis at a neutral locus indicates that these species differ by 100 substitutions.If there are 10 substitutions separating species 1 and 2,approximately how long ago did these species diverge?
A)0.1 million years ago
B)1 million years ago
C)10 million years ago
D)100 million years ago
E)Cannot be determined based on the information provided
Q2) Consider a population with a constant size,N = 5000,that experiences a mutation rate of 0.00005,with an initial F value of 0.15.What is the probability that two alleles selected at random from the offspring of this population will be identical by descent?
A)0
B)0.15
C)0.30
D)0.40
E)None of the above
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Chapter 9: Evolution at Multiple Loci
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Q1) Consider two loci (A,B)each with two alleles (Aa,Bb).The frequency (f)of A is known to be 0.3,the frequency (f)of b is known to be 0.25,and the coefficient of linkage disequilibrium (D)between loci A and B is known to be 0.15.What is the expected haplotype frequency of h B? Please show your work.
Q2) Why would we expect genotypic adaptive landscapes to have rugged contours?
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) Which of the following can generate linkage disequilibrium?
A)Drift
B)Selection
C)Mutation
D)Migration
E)All of the above
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Chapter 10: Genome Evolution
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Q1) Prokaryotes may have
A)one single circular chromosome.
B)many circular chromosomes.
C)one single linear chromosome.
D)A and B
E)All of the above
Q2) When comparing recombination rates between a dog,with a genome size of 2410 Mb,and a mustard weed,with a genome size of 100 Mb,which would you expect to have a larger recombination rate per kilobase? Explain your answer.
Q3) A limitation of examining Ka/Ks ratios is that they
A)are sensitive to demographic changes.
B)cannot be used in introns.
C)can only detect positive selection.
D)cannot detect drift.
E)None of the above
Q4) In a 100 bp stretch of a gene,a researcher counts 25 nonsynonymous substitutions,30 synonymous substitutions,and 65 nonsynonymous sites.What type of selection is operating on this gene sequence? Show your work.
Q5) Describe a haplotype block.
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Chapter 11: The Origin and Evolution of Early Life
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Q1) Give an example of a modern hypercycle.
Q2) When life first evolved the oceans were
A)hotter and there was more oxygen than today.
B)hotter and there was less oxygen than today.
C)cooler and there was more oxygen than today.
D)cooler and there was less oxygen than today.
Q3) Ribozymes are
A)capable of replicating RNA.
B)capable of copying RNA into DNA.
C)proteins.
D)RNA enzymes.
Q4) Encapsulation of a hypercycle would not be favored when
A)the costs of a membrane exceed the benefits of the cycle.
B)the membrane provides a defensive mechanism.
C)natural selection favors mutations in component members.
D)RNA components act through molecular mutualism.
Q5) What is the evolutionary relationship between mutation rates and DNA proofreading and repair?
Q6) What does the abbreviation LUCA stand for and what is it?
Q7) Why might life be much older than LUCA?
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Chapter 12: Major Transitions
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Q1) The product of the regA gene in Volvox carteri suppresses the production of chloroplast proteins.The production of these chloroplast proteins causes cells to grow.When the regA gene is expressed
A)cells grow large and become germ cells.
B)cells stay small and become somatic cells.
C)cells grow flagella and become germ cells.
D)flagella growth is suppressed and cells become soma.
Q2) According to the endosymbiotic theory,early eukaryotes acquired the mitochondrion from a symbiotic bacterium.What happened to the bacterial genes?
A)All of the bacterial genes were lost.
B)All of the bacterial genes were transferred to the nuclear genome.
C)All of the bacterial genes still exist and comprise the mitochondrial genome.
D)All of the bacterial genes still exist and comprise the chloroplast genome.
E)Some bacterial genes were transferred to the nucleus, some were lost, and some comprise the mitochondrial genome.
Q3) Why does genetic imprinting inhibit parthenogenesis?
Q4) Explain how the transition to eukaryotic cells,through endosymbiosis,resulted in the loss of an individual's ability to reproduce independently.
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Chapter 13: Evolution and Development
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Q1) If paedomorphosis via neoteny involves the retention of juvenile traits in adults,what is responsible for paedomorphosis via progenesis?
Q2) By transferring neural crest cells from a duck to a quail and vice versa,Schneider and Helms demonstrated that
A)neural crest cells influence the development of beaks.
B)beaks influence fitness traits.
C)homeobox genes are conserved across species.
D)gene duplication causes a difference in beak shape.
Q3) What is meant by the colinearity of Hox genes?
Q4) With recapitulation,a somatic trait can appear
A)earlier in development or a reproductive trait later in development.
B)earlier in development or a reproductive trait earlier in development.
C)later in development or a reproductive trait later in development.
D)later in development or a reproductive trait earlier in development.
Q5) What is a paralog?
A)A homeobox gene
B)A homologous gene
C)An enhancer gene
D)A duplicate of an existing gene
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Chapter 14: Species and Speciation
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Q1) In the past,many hominins coexisted,such as Paranthropus robustus and Paranthropus boisei.Imagine that these species were not prezygotically isolated and occasionally formed hybrids.Why might sterility or inviability of hybrids be limited to one sex? In which sex would this occur,and what pattern does this represent?
Q2) The evolutionary species concept defines a species as A)a group that forms a lineage with a distinct evolutionary fate from other lineages. B)phenotypically similar individuals or populations. C)groups of actually or potentially interbreeding populations that are reproductively isolated from other such groups. D)the smallest monophyletic group distinguished by a shared derived character.
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) How does the evolutionary species concept differ from the phylogenetic species concept?
Q5) In which model of allopatric speciation is genetic drift a larger factor,and why?
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Page 16
Chapter 15: Extinction and Evolutionary Trends
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Q1) The earliest Homo sapiens fossils are about 200,000 years old.Could you use radiocarbon dating to determine the age of fossils from that period? Briefly justify your answer.
Q2) Data on extinction rates pre- and post-mass extinction rates suggest that the extinction rate remains elevated for some time after the mass extinction event.Which of the following statements is a plausible explanation for this observation?
A)The negative effects of the original cause for the mass extinction persist after the original event.
B)Although not completely extinct, many surviving species are confined to small geographic ranges that make them vulnerable to local extinction events.
C)High mortality led to the loss of genetic diversity in survivors.
D)Adaptive radiations after mass extinctions produce new predators and competitors that led to the extinction of mass extinction survivors.
E)All of the above
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) What is the consequence of a deleterious mutation becoming fixed in a population?
A)Muller's ratchet will automatically move an additional turn.
B)Recombination cannot remove the mutation.
C)Mating between unrelated individuals can produce offspring that do not carry the mutation.
D)Muller's ratchet may move an additional turn.
E)B and D
Q2) Why do pathogens tend to evolve faster than their hosts?
Q3) Which of the following systems lends itself best to the study of the environmental factors that lead to the maintenance of sexual reproduction?
A)Cyclical parthenogenetic populations that follow highly predictable seasonal patterns independent of environmental changes
B)Obligate sexual species taxa, such as most birds
C)Species that are polymorphic for sexual/asexual reproduction, and show the same proportion of sexual reproduction in all environments
D)Populations that respond to environmental changes with a change from asexual to sexual reproduction
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18
Chapter 17: Sexual Selection
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Q1) Experiments for testing the good genes model of sexual selection are notoriously difficult.One problem is separating environmental factors associated with a particular father (e.g.,brood care by father)from the effect of a father's genetics.Which of the following experimental designs resolves this problem?
A)Randomize the offsprings' environment by transplanting offspring to nests of different fathers.
B)Obtain very large sample sizes to factor out fathers' environmental influence.
C)Use genetically identical fathers.
D)This problem cannot be solved. Only species in which the father contributes nothing but its genes.
E)A, B, and C
Q2) Which of the following factors should make females the choosier sex?
A)Eggs are expensive and rare compared to sperm.
B)Females tend to invest more time and energy in gestation time and/or brood care.
C)Female quality never plays a role in male mating decisions.
D)Males and females show about the same variation in quality.
E)A and B
Q3) Why is there a correlation between testis size and sperm competition in beetles?
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Chapter 18: The Evolution of Sociality
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Q1) Among which of the following groups of organisms is cooperation via reciprocal altruism most likely to evolve (assuming all else is equal)?
A)Birds from across a species' range that congregate for a short time at a resting spot during migration
B)Short-lived, immobile tidal organisms that are in constant contact with one another and have a high mortality via predation
C)Female tigers that each inhabit their own large home range
D)Primates in a social group that frequently interact with the same individuals
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) Why does conflict arise between different alleles at the same locus even though they are part of a single individual's genome?
Q4) Imagine you are studying horns in male deer,and you hypothesize that horns are costly honest signals that help to prevent male fights.What three predictions should you use to test your hypothesis?
Q5) Name the three familial conflicts.
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Page 20
Chapter 19: Coevolution
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Q1) The apple host race (or biotype)of the Rhagoletis pomonella fruit flies evolved after apples were colonized by individuals of R.pomonella's hawthorn race (hawthorn is the original host of R.pomonella).If the two R.pomonella races become two different species over time,would this represent an example for cospeciation? Briefly justify your answer.
Q2) Why do we distinguish between inter- and intraspecific mutualism?
A)This distinction is for historical reasons only.
B)Mutualistic partners in the same species are part of the same gene pool, but this is not the case for intraspecific mutualisms.
C)The mutualistic partners do not benefit equally in interspecific mutualism.
D)Only intraspecific mutualism gives the opportunity for cheating.
Q3) Which of the following is an example of Batesian mimicry?
A)Paper wasps and yellow jackets that both have black and yellow stripes
B)Defenseless spiders that look like ants
C)Crab spiders that mimic the color of flowers on which they live
D)Heliconius butterfly species that share warning patterns and that are both unpalatable
Q4) How can cultural transmission of male songs facilitate the early stages of species formation in Darwin's finches?
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Chapter 20: Evolution and Medicine
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Q1) What two main factors are responsible for the asymmetry in the coevolutionary arms race between microbial pathogens and their multicellular hosts?
Q2) 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.
Q3) Which part of the immune system's "learning system" is responsible for maintaining life-long immunity against measles after a measles infection?
A)Somatic recombination
B)Affinity maturation
C)Clonal expansion
D)Retention of responding cells
Q4) Explain how ectothermic animals can produce a fever response.Limit your answer to one sentence.
Q5) Many wild mushrooms make delicious food,but some are highly toxic and can result in a fatal meal.Apply the principle of asymmetric harm to mushroom identification,and recommend a strategy for mushroom identifiers.
Q6) What combination of the characteristics of Huntington's disease puzzled J.B.S.Haldane?
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