Lets Check Your Knowledge About Biology Flashcards

Which of the following is not recycled but is lost from ecosystems?

A) carbon

B) nitrogen

C) energy

D) magnesium
E) sodium

What are the basic units of life?

A) cells

B) DNA molecules

C) organelles

D) A, G, C, and T
E) nuclei

What will happen if you do NOT (properly) finish your antibiotic prescription?

A) You will become sick again within one or two weeks.

B) You will promote the evolution of bacteria resistant to that antibiotic.

C) You will save money by saving the pills for future use.

D) You will become immune to that antibiotic.
E) Nothing will happen.

Which of the following provides evidence that humans and bacteria share a common genetic code?

A) Bacterial DNA is composed of the same four letters as human DNA.

B) A bacterial cell has a nucleus.

C) Bacteria contain DNA.

D) Bacteria are able to express human genes.
E) Bacterial cells are about the same size as mitochondria.

A newly discovered multicellular organism feeds on organic waste. Such an organism is most likely a

member of the kingdom ______

A) Eukarya
B) Fungi

C) Plantae

D) Protista
E) Animalia

The level of classification of life that is more inclusive than kingdom is ______.

A) family

B) domain

C) phylum

D) order
E) class

Which of these is required for natural selection to occur?

A) unequal reproductive success

B) individual variation

C) overreproduction

D) inheritance
E) all of the above

Which domain(s) consist(s) of prokaryotic cells?

A) Eukarya only

B) Bacteria and Archaea

C) Archaea only

D) Archaea and Eukarya
E) Bacteria only

Relative to prokaryotic cells, eukaryotic cells are ______.

A) smaller and simpler

B) smaller and more complex

C) larger and more complex

D) smaller and equally complex
E) larger and equally complex

Which of the following is a producer?

A) dog

B) house plant

C) earthworm

D) cat
E) sun

In what way(s) is the science of biology influencing and changing our culture?

A) by helping us evaluate environmental issues and the impacts of human actions

B) by helping us evaluate environmental issues and the impacts of human actions

C) by providing new tools that can be used in forensics

D) all of the above
E) none of the above

What accounts for the different breeds of domesticated dogs?

A) genetic drift

B) creation

C) artificial selection

D) natural selection
E) overreproduction

All of the organisms and nonliving components of a particular environment are referred to as

a(n)______.

A) community

B) biome

C) population
D) cell
E) ecosystem

Science is ______.

A) the search for truth

B) an organized set of principles for how to ethically and morally behave

C) the explanation of phenomena based on supernatural causation

D) the explanation of structures and processes based on verifiable observations and measurements
E) all of the above

Which of these statements is correct?

A) Scientific ideas are subjected to rigorous and repeated testing.

B) Science does not require verifiable observations.

C) In science there are absolute truths.

D) Science and religion are equally valid explanations of natural phenomena.
E) In science, hypotheses need not be testable.

A hypothesis is a(n) ______.

A) observation

B) theory

C) tentative explanation

D) guess
E) fact

Which of these is a hypothesis?

A) My car will not start.

B) My car is too old to function properly.

C) If my car does not start and I recharge the battery, then my car will start.

D) What is wrong with my car?
E) My car's battery is dead.

How do hypotheses differ from theories?

A) Hypotheses are educated guesses, and theories are tentative explanations.

B) Hypotheses are derived from experimentation, whereas theories are derived from observation.
C) Theories must be testable; hypotheses do not need to be testable.

D) Theories are more comprehensive than hypotheses.
E) Hypotheses are more generally stated than theories.

Which of the following are most likely to be homologous?

A) wings of a butterfly and wings of a sparrow

B) the wings of a dragonfly and the wings of a hawk

C) the forelimb of a dog and the forelimb of a cat

D) the forelimb of a dog and the hindlimb of a cat
E) the mouth of a mosquito and the beak of a hummingbird

The first basic idea of evolutionary adaptation can be traced back to _____.

A) Darwin

B) Larmark

C) ancient Greeks about 2,500 years ago

D) Buffon
E) Aristotle

What does Darwinian fitness measure?

A) physical health

B) population size

C) reproductive success

D) longevity
E) physical strength

Which of the following is most likely to lead to the evolution of two different species?

A) directional selection

B) bottleneck effect

C) anagenesis

D) disruptive selection
E) stabilizing selection

During his trip on the Beagle, Darwin found that ______.

A) plants and animals living in temperate regions were most similar to each other, regardless of the

continent on which they were found

B) fossils found on a particular continent were clearly not related to the plants and animals living on

that continent today

C) plants and animals living on a continent seemed more closely related to each other than to plants
and animals living in similar regions on other continents

D) plants and animals were similar on every continent and in every type of region
E) none of the above

Natural selection results in ______.

A) increased genetic variation

B) an increase in the size of a population

C) offspring adapted to their current environment

D) offspring better adapted to a future environment
E) a decrease in the size of a population

While on the Beagle, Darwin was influenced by a book by Charles Lyell that suggested that Earth was

______ and sculpted by geologic processes that ______ today.

A) old . . . continue

B) young . . . continue

C) young . . .no longer occur

D) old . . . no longer occur
E) none of the above

What is genetic drift?

A) the entry of alleles into a population due to immigration

B) changes in the gene pool of a population due to differential reproductive success

C) a change in allelic frequencies due to mutation

D) the loss of alleles from a population due to emigration
E) chance changes in the gene pool of a small population

Which one of the following statements is true?

A) Organisms evolve structures that they use most often.

B) Natural selection works on variation already present in a population.

C) Exposure to antibiotics causes bacteria to change and become resistant.

D) Sexual recombination decreases variation.
E) None of the statements are true.

What did Darwin find in South America that suggested that the Andes mountains were gradually lifted

up over millions of years?

A) dinosaur bones in the Amazon basin

B) sea snail fossils high up in the Andes mountains

C) impressions of ocean waves at the top of a mountain
D) bird fossils at the top of mountains in Argentina

The West Nile virus is more of a concern on the North American continent than in Europe. This is

because ______.

A) in North America, the mosquito species that spreads the West Nile virus is a blend of two species

that remain distinct in Europe and thus do not bite both birds and people

B) in Europe, the mosquito species that spreads the West Nile virus has evolved mechanisms to kill

the virus inside the mosquito before transmitting it to people

C) in Europe, the mosquito species that spreads the West Nile virus does not feed on birds or people

D) the mosquito species that spreads the West Nile virus is not found in Europe
E) the West Nile virus has never made it to Europe

According to island biogeography, the farther an island is from the mainland, the ______.

A) larger the island

B) smaller the island

C) higher the rate of colonization

D) lower the rate of colonization
E) fewer the number of endemic species

Macroevolution includes ______.

A) the origin of new species

B) the origin of evolutionary novelty

C) explosive diversification following some evolutionary breakthrough

D) mass extinctions
E) all of the above

Nonbranching evolution ______.

A) increases biological diversity

B) results in speciation

C) occurs only in plants

D) often results in mass extinctions
E) is also called linear evolution

Homology is evidence of ______.

A) stasis

B) convergent evolution
C) punctuated evolution

D) common ancestry
E) paedomorphosis

Biological species consist of groups of ______.

A) phyla

B) populations

C) genera

D) individuals
E) families

Uranium-235, with a half-life of 713,000,000 years, decays to lead-207. If a rock sample is determined

to have one-quarter of the uranium-235 content it had when it formed, the age of the rock sample can

be estimated to be approximately ______ years old.

A) 28.5 billion

B) 1.4 billion

C) 713 million

D) 178 million
E) 178 billion

Which of the following is a species name?

A) sapiens

B) Nitzschia jouseae

C) diatom

D) Rhizosolenia
E) Sam

A period of mass extinction is often followed by ______.

A) nonbranching evolution

B) stasis

C) an asteroid impact

D) explosive diversification
E) global cooling

You are riding on your bike and stop pedaling, coasting along the road. Eventually, your bike slows down

and stops. What happened to the energy of your motion when your bike stopped?

A) It was converted back to chemical energy.

B) It was returned to the bicycle.

C) It was stored as kinetic energy.

D) It was released as heat.
E) It was used to chemically break down the tires.

What theory states that all living things are composed of cells?

A) Mendel's law

B) law of thermodynamics

C) cell theory

D) Hooke's rule
E) evolutionary theory

The region of an enzyme to which a substrate binds is called the ______ site.

A) denatured

B) substrate

C) enzymatic

D) conformational
E) active

Most human cells contain ______ chromosomes.

A) 36

B) 23

C) 18

D) 46
E) 2

The two basic types of cells are ______ and ______.

A) plant . . . animal

B) bacterial . . . protist

C) prokaryotic . . . eukaryotic

D) bacterial . . . animal
E) nerve . . . muscle

Glucose molecules provide energy to power the swimming motion of sperm. In this example, the sperm

are changing ______.

A) chemical energy into potential energy

B) kinetic energy into chemical energy

C) chemical energy into kinetic energy

D) kinetic energy into potential energy
E) none of the above

Which of the following energy transfers is (are) possible in living systems?

A) potential energy to kinetic energy

B) light energy to potential energy

C) chemical energy to kinetic energy

D) light energy to chemical energy
E) all of the above

What compound directly provides energy for cellular work?

A) DNA

B) fat

C) rubisco

D) ATP
E) C6H12O6

Usually, enzymes are ______.

A) phospholipids

B) fats

C) steroids

D) monosaccharides
E) proteins

Which one of the following is true?

A) An enzyme binds to its substrate at the enzyme's substrate site.

B) Enzymes are used up in chemical reactions.

C) Enzymes emerge changed from the reactions they catalyze.

D) Enzymes work generally on a broad range of substrates.
E) An enzyme's function depends on its three-dimensional shape.

Respiration is a reaction that involves which chemical process?

A) Reduction

B) Oxidation

C) NAD+ synthesis

D) Photosynthesis
E) Oxygen production

Which of the following best describes the role of electrons in respiration?

A) Electrons are moved "uphill" to create potential energy for the cell.

B) The production of excess electrons is the major source of energy for a cell.

C) Electrons link glucose molecules together into a chain.

D) The transfer of electrons from glucose to oxygen releases energy.
E) Electrons carry heat energy out of the cell.

The major fuel for cells is carbohydrates. The ultimate source of most carbohydrates in the environment

is _________.

A) proteins

B) respiration

C) photosynthesis

D) ATP
E) mitochondria

Which of the outputs of cellular respiration actually does work for the cell?

A) ATP

B) Carbon dioxide

C) Water

D) Heat
E) Electrons

What is the role of carbon dioxide in photosynthesis?

A) Photosynthesis uses carbon dioxide to make heat for the cell.

B) Photosynthesis links carbon dioxide molecules together to make sugars.

C) Photosynthesis breaks down carbon dioxide molecules to produce oxygen for the cell.

D) Photosynthesis produces carbon dioxide as a byproduct.
E) Photosynthesis uses carbon dioxide as a pigment to trap light (photons).

Which is the best description of the function that photosynthesis serves?

A) It converts light into carbon.

B) It converts light energy into kinetic energy.

C) It converts light energy into heat energy.

D) It converts light energy into chemical energy.
E) It converts light energy into oxygen that animals need to breathe.

Why is water required as a reactant in photosynthesis?

A) Water keeps the cell cool and thus counteracts the warming effect of the light.

B) It is the splitting of water that provides electrons for converting CO2 to sugar.

C) Water (chemical formula H20) is the source of the oxygen released during photosynthesis.

D) Water is required to keep the leaf tissue intact--without water the cells would shrink and interfere

with photosynthesis.
E) Water actually doesn't have an important role to play.

Why do the leaves of some trees turn from green to other colors (yellows, reds, oranges) in the autumn?

A) Cooler temperatures in the autumn cause the chlorophyll to change its basic color from green to

yellow (etc).

B) The tree grows a new set of (differently colored) leaves in the autumn, replacing the green leaves.

C) Insects that emerge in the autumn attack the leaves, and introduce chemicals that transform the

colors of the leaves.

D) The sun is lower in the sky in the autumn, and this changes the wavelengths of light that hit the

leaves.

E) Chlorophyll levels decrease, making it easier to see other colored pigments that are also present in
the leaves.