Fundamentals of Biology Practice Exam
Course Introduction
Fundamentals of Biology introduces students to the core concepts and principles that form the foundation of the biological sciences. The course covers essential topics such as cell structure and function, genetics, evolution, ecology, and the diversity of life. Emphasis is placed on understanding the chemical and molecular basis of life, energy transformation within organisms, mechanisms of inheritance, and the interactions between organisms and their environments. Through lectures, laboratory exercises, and discussions, students develop critical thinking skills and a comprehensive understanding of biological systems, preparing them for more advanced study in the life sciences.
Recommended Textbook
Biology Now 2nd Edition by Anne Houtman
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Page 2
Chapter 1: The Nature of Science
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Q1) Land biomes are most commonly defined by
A) their climate, physical characteristics, and dominant animal life.
B) only the dominant plant life in them.
C) the dominant plant life that influences the dominant animal life in them.
D) their climate and physical characteristics that influence the dominant plant life and, subsequently, animal life in them.
Answer: D
Q2) A researcher studying a group of individuals of the same species living and interacting in a shared environment is said to be working at the level of a A) biome.
B) biosphere.
C) community.
D) population.
Answer: D
Q3) A direct and repeatable observation of any aspect of the natural world can be considered a scientific ________.
Answer: fact
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Chapter 2: Evaluating Scientific Claims
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Q1) Which of the following would NOT be a situation where your own scientific literacy would be helpful in decision-making?
A) Should I send my child to a school that requires my child be vaccinated according to the vaccination schedule recommended by the Centers for Disease Control?
B) Should I pay to store umbilical cord blood when my baby is born?
C) Should I vote to support a new oil pipeline through a sensitive natural area?
D) Is the space travel in <i>Star Wars</i> really possible?
Answer: D
Q2) A scientific paper that combines results from several cohort studies and a case-control study would be considered a(n)________-analysis.
A) meta
B) beta
C) omega
D) pseudo
Answer: A
Q3) Peer-reviewed scientific journals,technical reports,conference proceedings,and dissertations are considered ________ literature.
Answer: primary
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4
Chapter 3: Chemistry of Life
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Sample Questions
Q1) How many electrons is the oxygen atom sharing?
A)0
B)1
C)2
D)4
E)8
Answer: C
Q2) Which of the following statements is true of proteins,carbohydrates,and nucleic acids?
A) All three are used to store genetic information.
B) None of these macromolecules mixes well with water.
C) Each of these molecules is built from a common set of monomers.
D) All of these molecules are primarily used as energy-storage molecules.
Answer: C
Q3) The class of macromolecules that do not form true polymers are the ________. Answer: lipids
Q4) The weak electrical attractions that form between two water molecules are called ________ bonds. Answer: hydrogen
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Chapter 4: Life Is Cellular
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Q1) The plasma membrane of some white blood cells contain ________ proteins that bind with proteins of cells such as bacteria that have invaded the human body.
A) channel
B) receptor
C) diffusion
D) carrier
Q2) Adenine (A),thymine (T),guanine (G),and cytosine (C)are the ________ building blocks for DNA; they are organized in different combinations to code for all of the proteins needed to accomplish everything the cell does.
A) carbohydrate
B) nucleotide
C) protein
D) lipid
Q3) Which of the following types of organisms are single-celled (unicellular)?
A) bacteria, yeast, and many protozoans
B) many fungi, some protozoans, and plants
C) plants and animals
D) many fungi, plants, and animals
Q4) All cells living today came from a preexisting ________.
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Chapter 5: How Cells Work
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Q1) The energy required for life processes must be extracted from an organism's A) nucleus.
B) environment.
C) predators.
D) biosynthesis.
Q2) List the energy carriers in a cell.Which of the energy carriers carries the most energy?
Q3) Defend the following statement by discussing the importance of the products of photosynthesis:
"The evolution of photosynthesis was an essential event for the evolution of life as we know it."
Q4) Which of these molecules carries the most energy?
A) ADP
B) ATP
C) NADH
D) NAD
Q5) In a popular video game individual blocks of material are used to build objects.
A)anabolic
B)catabolic
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Chapter 6: Cell Division
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Q1) An actively dividing cell has six chromosomes.How many sister chromatids are present within this cell at the end of G phase?
A) 0
B) 3
C) 6
D) 12
Q2) Sister chromatids are held together at a constriction point called a ________.
Q3) Cancers are groups of cells that divide rapidly and uncontrollably.Thus,cancer cells
A) are always in the G0 phase.
B) never enter the cell cycle.
C) have a relatively short G1 phase.
D) are stuck at the metaphase plate.
Q4) If a plant has a total of 18 chromosomes,how many chromosomes would be present in each of its gametes?
A) 36
B) 18
C) 9
D) 6
Q5) Cells spend the bulk of their time in the ________ stage of the cell cycle.
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Chapter 7: Patterns of Inheritance
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Q1) Which of the following expresses Mendel's law of segregation?
A) All dominant alleles of different genes divide into different cells from the recessive alleles.
B) Two alleles of a gene separate during meiosis and end up in different gametes.
C) When gametes form, the genes originally from one parent all end up in different gametes from the genes originally from the other parent.
D) Gametes with recessive alleles will fuse only with each other.
Q2) Mutations will affect the
A) genotype without affecting the phenotype.
B) phenotype without affecting the genotype.
C) genotype, which may affect the phenotype.
D) phenotype, which may affect the genotype.
Q3) Explain the relationship between the genotype and the phenotype of a given trait.
Q4) A Punnett square shows the possible ways that alleles combine to form________.
Q5) The genetic makeup of an organism,such as Gg,is its ________.
Q6) Most traits in humans involve complex inheritance where the trait is governed by the action of more than one ________.
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Chapter 8: Chromosomes and Human Genetics
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Q1) Ross is a genetic counselor working with a family that has lost a child to an unidentified illness.The family tells him there have been other children in the family history who have died after having the same symptoms.As Ross examines several generations of the family's pedigree,he notices that females are affected as frequently as males and that parents never exhibit the symptoms.This information leads him to think this disorder has a(n)________ mode of inheritance.
Q2) One chromosomal abnormality that is usually fatal is
A) a mutation in a gene.
B) an exchange of material between homologous chromosomes.
C) extra copies of sex chromosomes.
D) the addition of an extra autosomal chromosome.
Q3) During cell division a piece of a chromosome breaks off and reattaches to the same chromosome,but the piece is now in reverse order.How would this abnormality affect the chromosome?
A) An extra copy of the chromosome will be made to ensure normal function.
B) The inverted section will be deleted to prevent problems.
C) The chromosome will take on a circular configuration.
D) Genes in the section that was inverted could lose normal function.
Q4) What factors make it difficult to study human genetic disorders?
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Chapter 9: What Genes Are
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Q1) When looking at a single-stranded piece of DNA,
A) G will always be next to C.
B) G will always be next to G.
C) G will sometimes be next to T.
D) G will never be next to A.
Q2) The difference between the alleles of a single gene is
A) their DNA base sequences.
B) the way they are copied when the cell divides.
C) the type of lipid of which they are composed.
D) that they are not heritable.
Q3) Once replication in a DNA molecule is complete,each new DNA molecule contains
A) one old strand and one new strand.
B) the paired old strands and the paired new strands.
C) new DNA polymerase.
D) a new sequence of nucleotides.
Q4) The DNA primers used in polymerase chain reaction (PCR)are
A) identical to the entire base sequence of one strand of the DNA.
B) produced when a gene of interest is read by restriction enzymes.
C) attached to the gene of interest by polymerase.
D) complementary to DNA sequences at both ends of the DNA sequence of interest.
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Chapter 10: How Genes Work
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Sample Questions
Q1) In humans,the herbicide atrazine helps RNA polymerase bind to the promoter of the gene for the enzyme aromatase.As a result,
A) more mRNA for aromatase is produced.
B) less mRNA for aromatase is produced.
C) the production of aromatase is inhibited.
D) aromatase is degraded by other enzymes in the cell.
Q2) The mRNA molecules are broken down quickly in the cytoplasm.
A)Transcription is up-regulated.
B)Transcription is down-regulated.
C)Translation is up-regulated.
D)Translation is down-regulated.
Q3) Gene expression is
A) nonvariable for cells; it is the same for all cells of the same type.
B) highly variable; it changes for many different reasons throughout the life of a cell.
C) set by internal factors early in the life cycle of a cell and remains the same from that point forward.
D) set by external factors early in the life cycle of a cell and remains the same from that point forward.
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Chapter 11: Evidence for Evolution
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Q1) Grasshopper mice prey on venomous scorpions.Though the mice have some level of resistance to the scorpion venom,scorpions with more potent venom are better able to fend off attack by a grasshopper mouse.Over time,the population of scorpions all produce more potent venom.This is an example of ________ selection.
Q2) Whales and <i>Indohyus</i> share a more recent common ancestor than whales and fish.Which of the following is true?
A) Whales, fish, and <i>Indohyus</i> will all have the same amount of genetic similarities. B) Whales and <i>Indohyus</i> will have more similarities in their DNA than whales and fish.
C) Whales and fish will have more similarities in their DNA than whales and Indohyus.
D) Fish and <i>Indohyus</i> will have more similarities in their DNA than fish and whales.
Q3) Natural selection
A) is the principle cause of extinctions.
B) is the principle cause of evolutionary change.
C) occurs only in gametes.
D) cannot occur without genetic drift.
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Chapter 12: Mechanisms of Evolution
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Q1) When similar environmental pressures,such as permafrost in low-altitude tundra and permafrost in high-altitude alpine tundra,cause genetically distantly related organisms to evolve similar structures for survival and reproduction under similar conditions,________ has occurred.
Q2) Several related bird species live in a desert.One species is much smaller than the other species.This small species nests in holes in cacti.Because the bird is so small,it can easily squeeze between the spines of the cactus and create a well-protected nest.This is an example of
A) genetic drift.
B) mutation.
C) natural selection.
D) gene flow.
Q3) Gene flow between two populations
A) makes the genetic composition of the two populations more similar.
B) eliminates harmful alleles.
C) magnifies the effects of genetic drift.
D) creates genetic differences between the populations.
Q4) Natural selection and other mechanisms of evolution act upon the ________ that result from the novel genotypes produced by mutations.
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Chapter 13: Adaptation and Species
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Q1) Explain how a change in the depth,either a lengthening or shortening,of flowers that contain nectar eaten by a particular species of hummingbird would potentially lead to a change in the hummingbird.
Q2) Which of the following organisms would best be identified as a species using the biological species concept?
A) a population of mice living on a mountaintop where the nearest population of mice is 50 miles away
B) a bacteria found living in the human gut with thousands of other bacteria
C) dinosaurs identified by morphologically similar fossil remains located in a single valley in South America
D) a rare plant living in a remote location in Peru that reproduces asexually
Q3) In many predator-prey relationships,evolutionary change in the prey will result in evolutionary change in the predator,a phenomenon known as A) polyploidy.
B) allopatrism.
C) coevolution.
D) sympatric speciation.
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Chapter 14: The History of Life
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Q1) The appearance of eukaryotes may have been delayed until more ________ accumulated in Earth's atmosphere.
A) oxygen
B) nitrogen
C) carbon
D) sulfur
Q2) The evolutionary history of the protists remains unresolved,but it is being refined with the addition of DNA evidence.This is an example of how scientific
A) data may change our interpretation of an evolutionary tree without challenging our understanding of evolution.
B) data proves that a hypothesis regarding an evolutionary tree is true.
C) evidence proves that the theory of evolution is wrong.
D) evidence proves that the Protista did not share the same universal ancestor as the rest of the living organisms on Earth.
Q3) Identify key characteristics for kingdom Fungi and provide three examples of members of this kingdom.
Q4) When did photosynthesis evolve and how did it influence the evolution of life on Earth?
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Chapter 15: Bacteria and Archaea
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Q1) A water sample is taken from a mineral hot spring.The water is found to be highly acidic.Which of the following organisms is MOST likely to be living in this sample?
A) a eukaryotic rotifer
B) a bacterium typically found living in belly buttons
C) an archaean
D) a multicellular eukaryote
Q2) A prokaryotic cell and a eukaryotic cell are placed in an environment ideal for growth of both cells.After 24 hours it is observed that the prokaryote cell population is significantly higher than the eukaryote cell population.This has occurred because prokaryotes
A) use quorum sensing to inhibit growth of eukaryotes.
B) have a simpler structure, which allows more rapid reproduction.
C) were the earliest life-forms on Earth.
D) are single-celled and eukaryotes are all multicellular.
Q3) Explain how bacteria can incorporate a gene for antibiotic resistance from another bacterial cell.
Q4) Beginning with a single bacterium for generation 0,calculate the number of cells present at generation 4.
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Chapter 16: Plants, Fungi, and Protists
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Q1) domain Eukarya,kingdom Fungi
A)brown algae
B)liverworts and mosses
C)<i>Streptococcus thermophilus</i> (bacteria used in making yogurt)
D)zygomycetes (molds)
Q2) domain Bacteria
A)brown algae
B)liverworts and mosses
C)<i>Streptococcus thermophilus</i> (bacteria used in making yogurt)
D)zygomycetes (molds)
Q3) Jim is mowing the lawn and accidently runs over a large round object that seems to explode in a cloud of dust.Upon closer examination,he determines that the object was actually the club-shaped reproductive structure of an organism that has cells with cell walls but no chloroplasts,and the dust particles were actually spores.This organism is probably a ________ that belongs to kingdom ________.
A) basidiomycete; Fungi
B) ascomycete; Plantae
C) zygomycete; Fungi
D) basidiomycete; Plantae
Q4) Explain why/how fungal body form often makes fungi good decomposers.
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Chapter 17: Animals and Human Evolution
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Q1) Which of the following organisms displays bilateral symmetry?
A) sponges
B) jellyfish
C) bees
D) amoeba
Q2) How is mitochondrial DNA inherited in humans?
A) All mitochondrial DNA is inherited from the mother.
B) Fifty percent of mitochondrial DNA is inherited from the mother and 50 percent from the father.
C) All mitochondrial DNA is inherited from the father.
D) Only 75 percent of mitochondrial DNA is inherited from the father; the other 25 percent is inherited from the mother.
Q3) An animal that can be divided by just one vertical plane into two halves that mirror each other displays ________ symmetry.
Q4) Explain segmentation and its significance for an animal such as a lobster.
Q5) Compare and contrast the three types of mammals.
Q6) Members of the "human" branch of the ape family,including modern humans as well as our extinct relatives,are properly referred to as ________.
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Chapter 18: General Principles of Ecology
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Q1) Describe how burning fossil fuels can warm the planet.
Q2) Nonliving factors in the biosphere are called ________ factors.
Q3) How does deforestation in a tropical rainforest affect the water cycle?
Q4) The single most significant human-caused contribution (about 75 percent)to the worldwide increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide is
A) acid rain and the subsequent chemical reactions that release carbon dioxide from the soil.
B) nitrogen supplements that accelerate decompositional activity and recycle carbon before it can become sequestered in the soil.
C) the burning of fossil fuels and the subsequent emission of carbon dioxide.
D) deforestation and the subsequent decline in photosynthesis.
Q5) Increasing carbon sinks will ________ global warming and ________ climate change.
A) increase; decrease
B) increase; increase C) decrease; increase
D) decrease; decrease
Q6) Drought,species extinction,and melting of glaciers are all consequences of ________.
Page 20
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Chapter 19: Growth of Populations
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Q1) Which of the following situations illustrates a link between the effects of density-dependent and density-independent factors?
A) A flood causes a river to overflow and drown a herd of deer.
B) A drought occurs; a small herd of deer survives, whereas a larger herd in the same area perishes.
C) A population of deer increases to a size at which individuals are competing with each other to get enough food.
D) Density-dependent and density-independent factors cannot affect the same population of organisms at the same time.
Q2) Which of the following examples illustrates a cyclical fluctuation?
A) A new disease is introduced into a population of humans and 15 percent of the humans die.
B) A population of snowy owls decreases when weasel populations decrease.
C) A ban on the pesticide DDT precedes an increase in a bald eagle population.
D) A small population of lizards is introduced on an island and resources are unlimited.
Q3) Genetic modification of mosquitoes is designed to reduce the population ________ of mosquitoes.
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Chapter 20: Communities of Organisms
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Q1) Antibiotic therapy sometimes reduces the population of gut-inhabiting microorganisms.Bloating and diarrhea often follow until the populations reestablish themselves.This observation suggests that these microorganisms participate in a(n)________ relationship with humans.
A) competitive
B) exploitative
C) mutualistic
D) pathogenic
Q2) Communities change with respect to several timescales.An example of long-term change would be the
A) annual variability in population size.
B) presence or absence of a migrant species.
C) species composition of the community.
D) decline in prey abundance during a harsh winter.
Q3) Which of the following best describes the relationship of elk to a tree species such as aspen and cottonwood?
A) predation
B) mutualism
C) commensalism
D) competition
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Chapter 21: Ecosystems
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Q1) The amount of energy captured by photosynthetic organisms,minus the amount lost as heat from respiration and other life processes,is called ________.
Q2) Explain why only roughly 10 percent of the energy available in one trophic level is available in the next higher trophic level.
Q3) The shallowest but most productive of the aquatic biomes are ________.These tidal ecosystems exist where rivers flow into the ocean.
Q4) Between late 1997 and mid-2008,satellites observed that warmer-than-average ocean temperatures led to below-average chlorophyll concentrations in the oceans.This finding suggests that continued warming of Earth's oceans could lead to a(n)________ in net primary productivity in the oceans,and the oceans would,therefore,remove ________ carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. A) decrease; less B) increase; less C) decrease; more D) increase; more
Q5) Producers capture energy from the ________ and transform it into fuel energy that passes up the food chain as one organism eats another.
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