Biology Practice Test #5

1. A scientist found that the results of an experiment did not support her hypothesis. If she is following proper scientific procedure, what should she do next?

Discard those results and repeat the experiment.

Accept the hypothesis and exclude data that does not fit.

Reject the hypothesis and assume it is incorrect.

Create a new hypothesis and a new experiment to test it.

2. The graph provides information about the size of 1 rabbit population over 30 generations.

What most likely happened shortly after the 10th generation to cause the change in population between Points A and B?

A fatal disease infected the rabbits.

Area farmers set traps for coyotes.

The average temperature decreased by 0.5 oC.

The average monthly rainfall increased by 0.25 in.

3. Dr. Hansen performs an experiment testing the effectiveness of different cough syrups. Identify the independent variable in the experiment.

Type of cough syrup

Flavor of the cough syrup

Number of people taking each cough syrup

Number of days people take each cough syrup

4. After learning about viruses in Biology class, Sam decides to have his cat vaccinated against feline leukemia virus. According to cell theory, are viruses, such as feline leukemia, considered living things?

Yes, because they can reproduce.

Yes, because they are composed of cells.

No, because they cannot adapt to their environment.

No, because they are not composed of cells.

5. Which sequence is in order from the simplest level of organization to the most complex?

Muscle, erythrocyte, lipid, mitochondrion, carbon

Carbon, lipid, erythrocyte, mitochondrion, muscle

Muscle, mitochondrion, lipid, erythrocyte, carbon

Carbon, lipid, mitochondrion, erythrocyte, muscle

6. Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope used to determine the age of ancient objects composed of organic matter. Carbon-12 and carbon-13 are other isotopes of carbon. The number of what subatomic particles varies among these carbon isotopes?

Electrons

Neutrons

Photons

Protons

7. As part of an experiment, a student adds 10 mL of 5% hydrochloric acid solution to 100 mL of a non-buffered, colorless solution of sugar. What is the most likely result?

The concentration of hydroxide ions (OH-) will increase.

The concentration of hydrogen ions (H+) will increase.

The pH will not change.

The pH will increase.

8. A Paramecium lives in an environment that is hypotonic to its cytoplasm. how does the Paramecium maintain homeostasis under these conditions?

It expels excess water using contractile vacuoles.

It expels excess sodium using the sodium-potassium pump.

It absorbs additional water through osmosis.

It absorbs additional sodium through facilitated diffusion.

9. After Harrison adds a chemical to cells growing in a test tube, proteins accumulate in the cells' endoplasmic reticula. The chemical prevents movement of proteins from the endoplasmic reticulum to which organelle?

Golgi apparatus

Lysosome

Mitochondrion

Ribosome

10. What is the purpose of mitosis?

To produce 2 cells, each with 1 complete set of chromosomes

To produce 2 cells, each with half the normal number of chromosomes

To produce 4 cells, each with 1 complete set of chromosomes

To produce 4 cells, each with half the normal number of chromosomes

11. While investigating yeast respiration, a researcher detects ethanol in the yeast culture. Which molecules does the yeast culture also contain?

Lactic acid and ATP

Oxygen and lactic acid

Carbon dioxide and ATP

Oxygen and carbon dioxide

12. Red blood cells have a salt content of 0.9%. When a microbiologist places red blood cells in pure water, osmosis occurs. What net movement of a substance occurs in this instance of osmosis?

Water molecules move out of the cells.

Water molecules move into the cells.

Salt ions move out of the cells.

Salt ions move into the cells.

13. Which is the LEAST likely trait of an organic molecule?

The molecules may exist as isomers.

The backbone is linear, cyclic, or branched.

Ionic bonds are present between the atoms.

Functional groups, such as alcohols, are present.

14. Cosmetics often contain glycerol (C₃H₈O₃), which has three identical functional groups. Which type of bond holds these functional groups together?

Covalent

Hydrogen

Intermolecular

Ionic

15. What trait of an ATP molecule enables it to store energy for use by cells?

Its small size

Its solubility in water

Its ability to form hydrogen bonds

Its phosphate-phosphate bond

16. What combine with sugar and a phosphate group to form a nucleotide?

Amino acid

Deoxyribose

Glycerol

Nitrogenous base

17. Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) is a sex-linked recessive trait that affects the nervous system. In one family, the father, mother, daughter, and elder son do not have ALD, while the younger son has ALD. Who must be a carrier of the ALD allele?

Father

Mother

Daughter

Elder son

18. Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease in which mucus accumulates in the lungs and digestive system of affected individuals. Males and females must inherit 2 alleles with this mutation to have the disease. What is the mode of inheritance of cystic fibrosis?

Autosomal dominant

Autosomal recessive

Sex-linked dominant

Sex-linked recessive

19. Which event of meiosis reveals the mechanism for understanding Mendel's laws of segregation and independent assortment?

Chromosome number is reduced during telophase I so gametes have half the standard number of chromosomes.

The arrangement of homologous chromosomes during metaphase I varies from cell to cell.

Centromeres break apart during anaphase II so that sister chromatids can move to opposite poles of the cell.

DNA is replicated during interphase before chromosomes condense and become attached to kinetochores.

20. During what phase of meiosis does nondisjunction occur?

Metaphase I

Anaphase I

Prophase II

Metaphase II

21. Keisha passes a local dairy farm that has many brown cows, but only a few white cows. A dominant allele produces brown hair in cows and a recessive allele produces white hair. Which characteristic of any brown cow can Keisha identify?

The genotype of both of the cow's parents.

The genotype of the cow's hair color.

The phenotype of both of the cow's parents.

The phenotype of the cow's hair color.

22. What process of natural selection favors the extreme phenotypes of a trait and eliminates intermediate phenotypes?

Directional selection

Disruptive selection

Random selection

Stabilizing selection

23. According to fossil evidence, whales evolved from 4-legged ancestors. The modern baleen whale has forelimbs, but inspection of its skeleton reveals only tiny vestigial hind limbs. What is the best explanation for this loss of hind limbs in the baleen whale?

The hind limbs adapted into flippers to help the whale swim faster.

Random chance and genetic drift led to the reduction in size of hind limbs.

Whales with shorter hind limbs swam faster than those with longer hind limbs.

Some whales lost longer hind limbs to predators and passed that trait to their offspring.

24. Which criterion is NOT necessarily true of a trait that has evolved through natural selection?

It is heritable.

It varies among individuals.

It increases individuals' life spans.

It influences individuals' reproductive success.

25. What accounts for genetic biodiversity existing in modern multicellular organisms?

Mutations in gametes are passed to offspring.

Protein mutations cause DNA changes, creating new species.

Genetic mutations form when similar species mate and reproduce.

Somatic cell DNA mutations create new phenotypes in the population.

26. Lazzaro Spallanzani and Louis Pasteur both performed experiments hoping to disprove spontaneous generation. What conditions existed in Pasteur's experiment that did not exist in Spallanzani's?

Air could enter the flasks, but no microorganisms could enter.

No air could enter the flasks, but microorganisms could enter.

Neither air nor microorganisms could enter the flasks.

Both air and microorganisms could enter the flasks.

27. In pea plants, purple flowers are dominant to white flowers and tall stems are dominant to short stems. If two heterozygotes for both height and flower color are crossed, what is the probability of having short stemmed pea plants with purple flowers?

9/16

1/4

3/16

1/16

28. In addition to the reproductive system, which body system is most directly essential to the production of gametes and offspring?

Circulatory

Endocrine

Immune

Nervous

Endocrine system produces hormones that are needed to produce gametes (ex: testosterone & estrogen).

Explanation

Endocrine system produces hormones that are needed to produce gametes (ex: testosterone & estrogen).

29. Plant cells contain both a cell wall land a cell membrane. What is the composition of the cell wall and where is it located in relation to the cell membrane?

Cellulose, inside the cell membrane

Cellulose, outside the cell membrane

Glucose, inside the cell membrane

Glucose, outside the cell membrane

30. Thylakoid membranes within chloroplasts contain chlorophyll. The Calvin cycle occurs in the stroma of the chloroplasts. How are the processes occurring within the Calvin cycle and the thylakoid membrane connected?

The Calvin cycle uses high-energy molecules formed within the thylakoid membrane to convert carbon dioxide into sugar molecules.

The Calvin cycle uses sugar molecules formed within the thylakoid membrane to generate high-energy molecules.

The processes in the thylakoid membrane use sugar molecules formed during the Calvin cycle to generate high-energy molecules.

31. Hummingbirds transfer pollen from one flower to another while feeding. What plant structure contains the pollen?

Carpel

Petal

Sepal

Stamen

Pistil = female part which produces the ovum
Stamen = male part which produces the sperm contained in pollen

Explanation

Pistil = female part which produces the ovum
Stamen = male part which produces the sperm contained in pollen

32. Which group(s) contain organsims that can be classified as primary producers?

Monerans only

Protists only

Monerans and protists

Viruses and monerans

In addition to plants, algae (protists) and some bacteria (monerans) are autotrophs (a.k.a. producers).

Explanation

In addition to plants, algae (protists) and some bacteria (monerans) are autotrophs (a.k.a. producers).

33. The presence of what cellular structure distinguishes a plant cell from an animal cell?

Cell membrane

Chloroplast

Mitochondrion

Nucleus

34. In a classic study of population growth, G.F. Gause obtained data on growth rates of 2 species of Paramecium, a common ciliate protozoan. The 2 species grew in separate cultures. The graph shows his results.

According to these data, which is the most accurate comparison of the 2 species' growth rates.

Both show exponential growth, but P. caudatum has a higher rate of increase.

Both show logistic growth, but P. caudatum has a higher rate of increase.

P. caudatum shows exponential growth, but P. bursaria shows logistic growth.

P. bursaria shows exponential growth, but P. caudatum shows logistic growth.

35. A flagellated protozoan lives within the intestines of a termite and helps it digest wood. What type of relationship most likely exists between the protozoan and the termite?

Competitive

Mutualistic

Parasitic

Predatory

36. If a football field in the taiga is abandoned, which group of organisms will most likely be part of the resulting climax community?

Apple tree, deer, and wolf

Cactus, snake, and hawk

Grass, mouse, and coyote

Pine tree, moose, and bear

37. When a new volcanic island forms, the pioneer species is the first species to successfully inhabit the island. Which organism is the most likely candidate for a pioneer species?

A seagull hatched from an egg laid on the island

A palm tree grown from a coconut that washed onto shore

Lichen spores deposited on rocks by the wind

Insect larvae carried on a piece of driftwood

38. In the following food chain, assuming that the producer contains 180,000 J of energy, how much energy would be able to be transferred to the tertiary consumer? Plant --> Mouse --> Snake --> Owl --> Fungus

180 J

18, 000 J

1, 800 J

18 J

39. Lions and tigers both belong to genus Panthera., Cheetahs belong to the genus Achinonyx. Scientists group these 3 types of cats together at the next taxonomic level. What is the most specific taxonomic level that lions, cheetahs, and tigers share?

Class

Family

Kingdom

Order