Population Biology Exam Review
Course Introduction
Population Biology explores the dynamics of biological populations, focusing on the factors that influence their size, structure, and distribution over time and space. The course covers fundamental concepts such as population growth models, life history strategies, interspecific interactions (including competition, predation, and mutualism), and the genetic and evolutionary processes shaping populations. Students will also examine the impact of environmental variability, human activities, and conservation efforts on population viability, integrating theoretical models with empirical case studies to understand real-world applications in ecology and wildlife management.
Recommended Textbook
Evolution 1st Edition by Carl T. Bergstrom
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20 Chapters
742 Verified Questions
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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) Fisher's sex ratio model was put to test in a species of blue moon butterflies on the Samoan islands of Upolu and Savaii,where which of the following conditions existed?
A)The male:female sex ratio was the expected 1:1.
B)99% of the butterflies were female and only 1% were male.
C)Only the males were infected with the Wolbachia bacterium.
D)A and C
Answer: B
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Early Evolutionary Ideas and Darwins Insight
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Sample Questions
Q1) The approach known as catastrophism explains Earth's geological features appealing to
A)sudden catastrophic geological events.
B)large-scale geological events.
C)the same geological processes currently observable.
D)A and B
Answer: D
Q2) Building on the ideas first proposed by Hutton,Lyell aimed to explain Earth's geological features using an approach known as uniformitarianism,which depends on A)large-scale geological events.
B)the same geological processes currently observable.
C)geological processes operating over very long periods of time.
D)B and C
Answer: D
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Chapter 3: Natural Selection
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Sample Questions
Q1) Gene sharing is
A)one way that a new molecular function can arise.
B)another form of gene duplication.
C)is a form of molecular exaptation.
D)A and B
E)A and C
Answer: E
Q2) An exaptation is a
A)trait originally selected for one function but later co-opted for another.
B)trait of seemingly little importance.
C)gene that codes for beneficial effects in one environment and deleterious effects in other environments.
D)All of the above
E)None of the above
Answer: A
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5
Chapter 4: Phylogeny and Evolutionary History
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Sample Questions
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) 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) In what ways do the processes of reconstructing phylogenetic trees and mapping evolutionary events onto trees generate hypotheses?
Q4) What are the differences between rooted and unrooted phylogenetic trees?
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Chapter 5: Inferring Phylogeny
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Sample Questions
Q1) Arrange the following steps of bootstrap resampling in the correct order.
1)To assess the support for any feature of the original tree,the percentage of replicate trees that also display that feature are calculated.
2)Resampling is done from the original character matrix to create a collection of bootstrap replicate data sets.
3)A tree is constructed for the estimated phylogeny,based on the original character matrix.
4)The same tree-building methods used on the original character set are used to create a collection of bootstrap replicate phylogenies.
A)4,1,2,3
B)4,3,2,1
C)3,2,4,1
D)3,2,1,4
Q2) How many unrooted trees are possible for five species?
A)15
B)25
C)5
D)105
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Chapter 6: Transmission Genetics and the Sources of
Genetic Variation
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Sample Questions
Q1) You discover a new type of cell in a soil sample collected nearby.Upon microscopic examination,you observe that it possesses a single circular chromosome.From this,you conclude that it is probably a(n)
A)animal cell.
B)plant cell.
C)eukaryotic cell.
D)A and C
E)None of the above
Q2) DNA is tightly wound in a double helix for much of the time.Which of the following enzymes unwinds the double helix and begins transcription of RNA?
A)RNA polymerase
B)DNA polymerase
C)Transcriptase
D)RNA isomerase
E)Complementary isomerase
Q3) Mutations occur _________ with respect to fitness.
Q4) _________ are DNA triplets that specify a protein's amino acid sequence.
Q5) List the five functions of proteins.
Q6) 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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Sample Questions
Q1) Hardy and Punnett were two of the founders of which biological field of study?
A)Quantitative genetics
B)Qualitative genetics
C)Population genetics
D)Molecular genetics
E)None of the above
Q2) 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
Q3) What is the term for the condition in which the heterozygote is more fit than either homozygote?
Q4) 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?
Q5) 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) A founder event changes allele frequencies because A)only a subset of genes in the original population are observed in the founder population.
B)of random sampling of alleles from the original population.
C)of the coalescent process.
D)A and B
E)All of the above
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
Q3) What are the observed and expected heterozygosities in a population that has three genotypes with the following occurrences: f(A A )= 100,f(A A )= 25,f(A A )= 100.
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Chapter 9: Evolution at Multiple Loci
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Sample Questions
Q1) The observation of an offspring phenotype outside of the range of parental phenotypes is most likely due to
A)additive genetic effects.
B)mutation.
C)selection.
D)latent variation.
E)C and D
Q2) 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?
Q3) Why would we expect genotypic adaptive landscapes to have rugged contours?
Q4) Explain why a population may never reach its most fit phenotype.
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11
Chapter 10: Genome Evolution
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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) 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.
Q3) The McDonald-Kreitman test compares substitution rates
A)between and within species.
B)across two time scales.
C)across genes.
D)A and B
E)All of the above
Q4) 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.
Q5) What are transcription factors and how do they address the G-value paradox?
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Chapter 11: The Origin and Evolution of Early Life
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Sample Questions
Q1) Molecular mutualism is
A)an interaction of molecules that disrupts hypercycles.
B)an interaction of two species to the benefit of both.
C)replication of RNA by another enzyme.
D)an interaction of molecules that increases the replication of each other.
Q2) Why does understanding the origin of life require the collaboration of biologists,chemists,geologists,and atmospheric scientists?
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) 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) Why can't we use modern atmospheric conditions to infer the origin of life?
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Chapter 12: Major Transitions
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is a characteristic of an individual?
A)It is multicellular.
B)It forms a group.
C)It is an integrated and indivisible whole.
D)It is a eukaryote.
Q2) Which of the following is not a reason that volvocine algae are ideal for studying the evolution of individuality?
A)They transitioned to multicellularity relatively recently.
B)Within the group, there are multiple, separate transitions to germ and soma lines.
C)The group exhibits extensive variation in their degree of multicellularity.
D)They readily form aggregate slugs.
Q3) Consider a slime mold slug and a colony of Volvox carteri,both of which contain both soma and germ cells.Is a slug or a volvox colony an individual? Explain.
Q4) Which of the following is an advantage of the economy of scale?
A)Division of labor
B)Sexual reproduction
C)More individuals per group
D)Multicellularity
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Page 14
Chapter 13: Evolution and Development
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Sample Questions
Q1) 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.
Q2) Paedomorphosis may involve
A)acceleration or hypermorphosis.
B)progenesis or neoteny.
C)acceleration or neoteny.
D)progenesis or hypermorphosis.
Q3) Regulatory enhancers can be
A)added through evolution.
B)lost through evolution.
C)associated with specific body parts.
D)All of the above
Q4) If paedomorphosis via neoteny involves the retention of juvenile traits in adults,what is responsible for paedomorphosis via progenesis?
Q5) How can changes in genetic enhancers affect morphology?
Q6) What is meant by the colinearity of Hox genes?
Q7) Does all life evolve from simple to complex? Explain.
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Chapter 14: Species and Speciation
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Sample Questions
Q1) 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.
Q2) 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?
Q3) In which model of allopatric speciation is genetic drift a larger factor,and why?
Q4) What is the advantage of using DNA sequences from many genes to reconstruct the evolutionary history of humans?
Q5) 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?
Q6) How can reproductive isolation in plants be mediated through pollinators?
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Page 16
Chapter 15: Extinction and Evolutionary Trends
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Sample Questions
Q1) 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?
Q2) What effect of mass extinctions is described by the expression "dead clade walking"?
Q3) 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.
Q4) Which of the following scenarios may produce an active trend in evolutionary change? Briefly justify your answer.
A.The mechanic stability of the exoskeleton of a group of terrestrial arthropods imposes an upper limit on the body size of these organisms.B.The evolution of an endoparasitic lifestyle results in overall smaller body size as parasite species diversify to utilize small-bodied hosts,which are more common than large bodied hosts.
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Page 17
Chapter 16: The Evolution of Sex
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Sample Questions
Q1) 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?
Q2) Which of the following statements describes an element of the Fisher-Muller hypothesis for adaptive advantage of sexual reproduction?
A)Sex builds up linkage disequilibrium.
B)Sex slows down adaptive evolution by disrupting coadapted gene complexes.
C)Sex facilitates the combination of favorable mutations that originated in different individuals into advantageous genotypes.
D)Sex accelerates adaptive evolution.
E)C and D
Q3) Are there any costs when asexual organisms reproduce automictically as opposed to apomictically?
A)Yes, recombination may disrupt coadapted gene complexes.
B)Yes, recombination is the cause of the twofold cost of sex.
C)No, both are forms of asexual reproduction.
D)No, recombination will produce better adapted individuals.
E)C and D
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Chapter 17: Sexual Selection
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Sample Questions
Q1) A lek is a
A)permanent territory in songbirds.
B)mating location.
C)temporary arena in which males display to females.
D)group of sneaker males.
E)A and B
Q2) 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
Q3) Why is there a correlation between testis size and sperm competition in beetles?
Q4) What are the four major models of the evolution of female mate preferences?
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Chapter 18: The Evolution of Sociality
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Sample Questions
Q1) 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?
Q2) 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.
Q3) 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?
Q4) Allele X codes for a cooperative behavior among full siblings.Recipients of this behavior receive a benefit of 7 fitness units,and the behavior costs the donor 3 fitness units.Use Hamilton's rule to determine whether allele X will spread in the population.
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Chapter 19: Coevolution
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why do woodland star flowers likely abort flower heads with Greya moth eggs in geographic locations where other nonflower-feeding pollinators are present?
A)Greya moths do not pollinate woodland stars in locations with multiple pollinators.
B)Pollination by Greya is not essential for the reproduction of these woodland stars.
C)Pollen becomes limited, and woodland stars can no longer afford to lose pollen to Greya larvae.
D)B and C
Q2) Some species of tropical fireflies mimic the luminescent mating signals of females of a related species and will prey upon the males that have been attracted by the fake signal.How would you classify this behavior? Is it Batesian mimicry,Müllerian mimicry,a third form of mimicry,or no mimicry at all? Briefly justify your answer.
Q3) Define "obligate mutualism" in one sentence.
Q4) Define "cultural transmission" in one sentence.
Q5) Describe the mosaic theory of coevolution in your own words.Limit your answer to one sentence.
Q6) Name two forms of antagonistic coevolution.
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Page 21
Chapter 20: Evolution and Medicine
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Sample Questions
Q1) Explain how ectothermic animals can produce a fever response.Limit your answer to one sentence.
Q2) 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
Q3) Which of the following is a telltale sign that a cell is infected by RNA viruses?
A)It is dividing slower than uninfected cells.
B)It contains long segments of double-stranded RNA.
C)Its apoptosis pathway is up-regulated.
D)It has a lower rate of protein synthesis.
Q4) What two main factors are responsible for the asymmetry in the coevolutionary arms race between microbial pathogens and their multicellular hosts?
Q5) Can you think of examples,similar to the crossing pathways of food and air,in human anatomy or physiology that represent an "imperfect design" due to evolutionary history?
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Page 22