Organismal Biology Exam Bank
Course Introduction
Organismal Biology explores the structure, function, diversity, and evolution of multicellular organisms, focusing primarily on plants and animals. The course covers the physiological mechanisms organisms use to survive, grow, and reproduce in varied environments, and examines how form and function are adapted to ecological niches. In addition to understanding the evolutionary relationships among major groups, students will investigate life cycles, developmental processes, and the integration of systems within whole organisms. Laboratory and field components are designed to enhance skills in observation, experimentation, and data analysis.
Recommended Textbook
Evolution 1st Edition by Carl T. Bergstrom
Available Study Resources on Quizplus
20 Chapters
742 Verified Questions
742 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/study-set/2178
Page 2
Chapter 1: An Overview of Evolutionary Biology
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/43401
Sample Questions
Q1) If chimpanzee and human genomes differ only about 1.3% at the level of DNA base pairs,how can we explain the dramatic differences in appearance,behavior,cultures,etc.,between humans and chimps?
A)There is a correlation between increased rates of divergence with known functions of alleles in humans and chimps.
B)Natural selection has been acting on clusters of genes associated with both survival and reproduction in humans and chimps.
C)Important differences exist in the expression of genes in humans and chimps.
D)Two of the above can explain the differences.
Answer: C
Q2) Fisher's sex ratio model was put to test with a species of blue moon butterflies on the Samoan islands of Upolu and Savaii.Which of the following statement regarding that study are true?
A)Originally, 99% of the butterflies were female and only 1% were male.
B)By 2006, the male:female sex ratio had returned to the expected 1:1.
C)By 2006, only the males were infected with the Wolbachia bacterium.
D)A and B
Answer: D
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 3
Chapter 2: Early Evolutionary Ideas and Darwins Insight
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
43 Verified Questions
43 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/43402
Sample Questions
Q1) 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
Q2) Archbishop James Ussher calculated the age of Earth based on the Old Testament.He estimated that the creation of the world took place
A)on exactly October 23, 4004 B.C.
B)within a century of 3900 B.C.
C)between 75,000 and 2-3 million years ago.
D)an inconceivably long time ago.
Answer: A
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
4
Chapter 3: Natural Selection
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
45 Verified Questions
45 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/43403
Sample Questions
Q1) When evolutionary biologists study the process of natural selection,they focus on A)what drives mutations.
B)how a trait of interest changes over time.
C)how a trait of interest remains constant over time.
D)A and B
E)B and C
Answer: E
Q2) The antagonistic pleiotropy hypothesis proposes that
A)separate genes code for beneficial effects in one environment and deleterious effects in other contexts.
B)the same gene(s) that code for beneficial effects also code for deleterious effects in other contexts.
C)mutational accumulation explains fitness declines over generations within a constant environment.
D)None of the above
Answer: B
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 5
Chapter 4: Phylogeny and Evolutionary History
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
43 Verified Questions
43 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/43404
Sample Questions
Q1) Analogous traits are found in two or more species because A)some evolutionary process (usually natural selection) has independently fashioned similar traits in each species.
B)those traits are from a common ancestor.
C)Both of the above
D)None of the above
Q2) A trait that is similar in one or more species even though it was not present in their common ancestor is called a A)homology.
B)synapomorphy.
C)homoplasy.
D)symplesiomorphy.
Q3) Which of the following statements about pedigrees and phylogenies is true?
A)Both show the splitting and the recombining of branches or lineages over time.
B)A pedigree tells us about the ancestry of individuals, whereas most phylogenies tell us about the ancestry of populations.
C)Both expand as one looks backward in time.
D)All of the above
Q4) What are the differences between rooted and unrooted phylogenetic trees?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 6
Chapter 5: Inferring Phylogeny
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
47 Verified Questions
47 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/43405
Sample Questions
Q1) How many unrooted trees are possible for a six-species tree and a seven-species tree,respectively?
A)6 and 7
B)15 and 25
C)105 and 945
D)More than there are stars in the universe
Q2) How many unrooted trees are possible for five species?
A)15
B)25
C)5
D)105
Q3) How many different unrooted tree arrangements are possible for a phylogenetic tree relating four species?
A)Three
B)Four
C)Two
D)Seven
Q4) Why do some evolutionary biologists have philosophical concerns about using distance methods to construct evolutionary trees?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 7
Chapter 6: Transmission Genetics and the Sources of
Genetic Variation
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
43 Verified Questions
43 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/43406
Sample Questions
Q1) What protein is used to organize DNA within a chromosome?
Q2) The law of independent assortment states that
A)characters are blended in hybrid offspring.
B)purple flowered plants will never produce white flowered offspring.
C)the allele passed down to the next generation at one locus is independent of the allele passed down at a second locus.
D)alleles from two separate loci, once combined in a hybrid, cannot be separated in future reproductive events.
E)all individuals have more than two copies of every gene.
Q3) A plant inherits a regulatory element that increases the production of red pigment in its flowers.This type of regulatory element is known as an _________.
Q4) For the DNA sequence 5'-ACG TTA -3',what would be the complementary RNA sequence?
A)5'-TGC AAT-3'
B)5'-UGC AAU-3'
C)5'-TAA CGT-3'
D)5'-UAA CGU-3'
E)5'-ATT GCA-3'
Q5) List the five functions of proteins.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 8
Chapter 7: The Genetics of Populations
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
42 Verified Questions
42 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/43407
Sample Questions
Q1) At an underdominant locus,how will allele frequencies change through time?
A)The homozygote with the greatest fitness advantage will have its allele fixed.
B)A balanced polymorphism of both alleles will be maintained at a stable equilibrium.
C)The homozygote with the lowest fitness advantage will have its allele lost.
D)One or the other allele will be lost depending on their initial frequencies.
E)Both alleles will be lost.
Q2) What is the term for the condition in which the heterozygote is more fit than either homozygote?
Q3) 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.
Q4) In the island model of migration,under what condition(s)will the allele frequencies in an island population be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium ?
Q5) List five assumptions of the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.
Q6) Name three predictions generated from the Hardy-Weinberg model.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 9
Chapter 8: Evolution in Finite Populations
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
38 Verified Questions
38 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/43408
Sample Questions
Q1) Greater prairie chickens,large birds related to grouse,once maintained population sizes of hundreds of thousands on the North American Great Plains.As more and more of the native grassland was converted to farms,the number of greater prairie chickens declined,and the species nearly went extinct due to loss of habitat.Assume that a locus segregating for two alleles,A and a,each with a frequency of 0.5,existed in greater prairie chickens before the reduction of habitat.Further,assume that this species was fragmented into genetically isolated populations,containing very limited numbers of individuals.What effect on allele frequencies would one expect to find in the greater prairie chicken populations after the losses and fragmentation of habitat?
Q2) Population bottlenecks occur when
A)a large number of genetically diverse individuals found a new population.
B)population size dramatically increases.
C)a consistently large population experiences a brief period of small size.
D)drift in consistently small populations become fixed for a single allele.
E)inbreeding is high.
Q3) How are the neutral theory of molecular evolution and the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium similar?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 10
Chapter 9: Evolution at Multiple Loci
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
39 Verified Questions
39 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/43409
Sample Questions
Q1) Selection can generate novel phenotypes by
A)drift causing the creation of a new phenotype.
B)increasing the probability of novel allele combinations.
C)linkage disequilibrium and selective sweeps.
D)B and C
E)None of the above
Q2) 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.
Q3) A species of lotus produces a nearly continuous spectrum of flower colors,ranging from white to deep red.The color of the flower is determined by 10 loci,each with two codominant alleles.What concept does this example illustrate?
Q4) If recombination between locus A and locus B is 0.15,and the initial value of linkage disequilibrium is 0.20,what will the value of linkage disequilibrium be after one generation of recombination? Show your work.
Q5) Explain why one cannot compare the estimated heritability of intelligence tests from different populations from the United States.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 11
Chapter 10: Genome Evolution
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
38 Verified Questions
38 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/43410
Sample Questions
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) 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
Q3) Why are transposons considered selfish genetic elements?
Q4) Describe a haplotype block.
Q5) 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.
Page 12
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 11: The Origin and Evolution of Early Life
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
42 Verified Questions
42 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/43411
Sample Questions
Q1) Why might life be much older than LUCA?
Q2) Which of the following was not a source of molecules in the prebiotic soup?
A)Meteorites
B)Prebiotic soup reactions
C)Comets
D)DNA
Q3) In early cell evolution,why would natural selection favor division into equal-sized daughter cells?
A)Splitting into two equal parts is the most energetically efficient method.
B)Two daughter cells is the most efficient way to reproduce sexually.
C)Splitting into two daughter cells is more efficient for horizontal gene transfer.
D)Hypercycles can be maintained by splitting into two.
Q4) Why does understanding the origin of life require the collaboration of biologists,chemists,geologists,and atmospheric scientists?
Q5) 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.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 13
Chapter 12: Major Transitions
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
42 Verified Questions
42 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/43412
Sample Questions
Q1) Why does genetic imprinting inhibit parthenogenesis?
Q2) Give an example of differentiation of tasks at the individual level and an example at the group level.
Q3) Explain how the transition to eukaryotic cells,through endosymbiosis,resulted in the loss of an individual's ability to reproduce independently.
Q4) Draw a graph that illustrates the relationship between foraging ability and group size where group living is beneficial.On the same graph,draw a line of the relationship if group living was not beneficial.
Q5) 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.
Q6) Which of the following is a benefit of multicellularity for slime mold amoebas?
A)Self-sacrifice for other amoebas
B)Ability to move quickly
C)Sexual reproduction
D)Ability to feed on bacteria
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 14
Chapter 13: Evolution and Development
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
39 Verified Questions
39 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/43413
Sample Questions
Q1) 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?
Q2) If paedomorphosis via neoteny involves the retention of juvenile traits in adults,what is responsible for paedomorphosis via progenesis?
Q3) MADS-box genes affect
A)only flowers.
B)segmentation in animals.
C)leaves, roots, and flowers.
D)early development.
Q4) What is meant by the colinearity of Hox genes?
Q5) The idea that life evolves from simple to complex began with A)Darwin.
B)William Bateson.
C)the ancient Greeks.
D)J. F. Meckel.
E)Etienne Serres.
Page 15
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 14: Species and Speciation
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
37 Verified Questions
37 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/43414
Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following does not contribute to the evidence for the out-of-Africa hypothesis?
A)The gradual divergence of Homo sapiens in different locations
B)The rapid replacement of other hominins by Homo sapiens approximately 100,000 years ago
C)Coalescence
D)The existence of greater mitochondrial diversity in Africa
E)The interbreeding of humans and Neanderthals
Q2) A cline is a(n)
A)temporal gradient in the frequency of genotypes and phenotypes.
B)spatial gradient in the frequency of genotypes and phenotypes.
C)area of resource competition.
D)area of assortative mating.
Q3) 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
Q4) How can reproductive isolation in plants be mediated through pollinators?
Page 16
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 15: Extinction and Evolutionary Trends
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
25 Verified Questions
25 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/43415
Sample Questions
Q1) 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
Q2) Describe how mean and variance of a trait value change in the absence of an evolutionary trend as a lineage diversifies.Use +,-,or = to indicate an increase,a decrease,or no change,respectively.You can use one,two,or all of the symbols to describe the possible changes in both mean and variance.Mean: Variance:
Q3) You are a paleontologist studying the fossil marine fauna immediately after the K-T mass extinction.You find ammonite fossils in the post-K-T layer even though ammonites are believed to have vanished in the K-T extinction.You submit your sensational findings to a journal,but one of the reviewers questions your claim of ammonite survival.He points to the fact that your ammonite fossil was found in rock that shows extensive burrowing activity by benthic organisms.Why does the reviewer question your conclusion?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 17
Chapter 16: The Evolution of Sex
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
32 Verified Questions
32 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/43416
Sample Questions
Q1) What are coadapted gene complexes?
A)Genes that are located on the same chromosome
B)Codominant alleles
C)Favorable combinations of alleles at different loci
D)Any epistatic interaction between different loci
E)A and C
Q2) During bacterial conjugation,small circular chromosomes of DNA,called plasmids,are transferred from one bacterial cell to another.Why does this mechanism not fit the common definition of sexual reproduction?
A)No new offspring is produced.
B)No new allelic combinations are formed.
C)The cell receiving the plasmid does not contain genetic material from both parents.
D)The plasmid can recombine with the recipient cell's chromosome.
Q3) 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?
Q4) Does Muller's ratchet apply to both apomictic and automictic asexual populations?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 18
Chapter 17: Sexual Selection
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
23 Verified Questions
23 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/43417
Sample Questions
Q1) Why is there a correlation between testis size and sperm competition in beetles?
Q2) The red deer population on the Isle of Rum off Scotland has been extensively studied over several decades.One of the findings was that the variance of breeding success in males was much higher than the variance of breeding success in females.Which of the following statements explains this difference in variance?
A)Average male breeding success was higher than average female breeding success.
B)Red deer have a polygynous harem mating system.
C)Female access to nutrient resources is more reliable.
D)Males show a greater variance in fertility than females.
Q3) 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
Q4) Name one direct benefit that females may receive from a particular mate choice.
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?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 19
Chapter 18: The Evolution of Sociality
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
31 Verified Questions
31 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/43418
Sample Questions
Q1) Under what circumstance is there a mixed Nash equilibrium for the hawk-dove game?
A)When the cost of fighting equals the benefit of a victory
B)When the cost of fighting is greater than the benefit of a victory
C)When the strategy of the other player is unpredictable
D)When all members of the population play hawk exclusively
Q2) Calculate the coefficient of relatedness for the following relationships in a haplodiploid hymenopteran species:
A)Sister to full sisters
B)Sister to brother
C)Brother to sister
Q3) Is haplodiploidy a necessary condition for the evolution of eusociality?
A)Yes, true eusociality is found only in the hymenoptera.
B)Yes, eusociality can only evolve when indirect fitness is as high as occurs between haplodiploid sisters.
C)No, true eusociality is also found in organisms that do not have a haplodiploid genetic system.
D)No, coefficients of relatedness between sisters are never 0.75 because there are always multiple fathers.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 20
Chapter 19: Coevolution
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
26 Verified Questions
26 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/43419
Sample Questions
Q1) Define "cultural transmission" in one sentence.
Q2) Name two forms of antagonistic coevolution.
Q3) Why does cultural transmission have the potential to be faster than genetic transmission? Limit your answer to one sentence.
Q4) 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.
Q5) 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
Q6) Briefly define the three modes of cultural transmission: vertical cultural transmission,horizontal cultural transmission,and oblique cultural transmission.
Q7) Define "obligate mutualism" in one sentence.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 21
Chapter 20: Evolution and Medicine
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
27 Verified Questions
27 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/43420
Sample Questions
Q1) Why is there no lifelong vaccine protection against flu as there is by a measles vaccine?
A)The variety of flu strains is too great to be captured by a single vaccine.
B)Flu can escape host immunity by evolving new variants that re-infect hosts.
C)The flu is too virulent to effectively vaccinate against.
D)The antigenic memory against flu has a short half-life.
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) Name three methods that pathogens use to subvert their host's immune system.
Q4) What is the likely phylogenetic explanation for the crossing of food and air pathways in humans?
A)A connection between the two previously separated pathways evolved to allow for an alternative air intake in case of a "stuffy nose."
B)Lungs evolved from pouches in the digestive system.
C)Access to odor receptors in the nose allowed for assessing food quality before swallowing.
D)A connection between both pathways allowed for a more efficient swallowing mechanism.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 22