SC 135 - First Exam Fall 2009

Links connect to relevant parts of the online book.


MULTIPLE CHOICE.  

On the line to the left, place the letter of the choice that best answers the question.
Three Points Each. NOTE: "e" answers are never the correct answer.



                1.  The typical pathway of energy in a food chain:

_______ a. Consumers, decomposers, producers            b. Producers, decomposers, consumers            c. Producers, consumers, decomposers
              d. Decomposers, producers, consumers                            e. Red Bull, jittery student, you don't want to know...



                2.  Which confounding factor would be most associated with postmodernism?

_______ a. Experimenter bias             b. Statistical error            c. Outside interference             d. Null hypothesis
                                                e. One with a post in it (but a modern one)



                3.  Fossils are generally used to compare

_______ a. Analogies             b. Homologies             c. Emergent properties                d. Genera             e. Stock portfolios



                4.  In modern science, peer review usually involves

_______ a. Research supervisors                 b. Journal editors            c. Laboratory colleagues             d. Fellow students            e. Bad habits



                5.  Which relationship "chain" is correct?

_______ a. Tissues are in cells which are in organs            b. Organs are in cells which are in tissues            c. Organs are in tissues which are in cells
              d. Cells are in tissues which are in organs                            e. Is it okay if I run screaming from the room?



                6.  Which would be a direct observation?

_______ a. You see a cell through a microscope            b. You hear a bird but can't see it            c. You read about a bright light seen in the sky last night
              d. You listen to a friend's story about how a skunk smells                            e. You meet Steven Spielberg?




                7.  Which term is applied as "your idea is wrong"?

_______ a. Negative proof             b. Confounding factor            c. Null hypothesis             d. Anti-conclusion            e. A slap upside the head



                8.  In a test of new drugs, all test groups get the same basic treatment in order to figure in the

_______ a. Double blind             b. Treatment effect             c. Patient effect            d. Placebo effect             e. Most ways to divert money



                9.  ATP is

_______ a. An energy-carrying molecule             b. A light-capturing molecule            c. A genetic coding molecule             d. All of these
                                                                                    e. Something people put in their cars



                10.  Two isotopes of the same element would have

_______ a. Different proton numbers but the same neutron numbers                    b. Different neutron numbers but the same proton numbers
              c. The same neutron and proton numbers                                             d. Different neutron and proton numbers
                                                                    e. The amazing ability to annoy everybody



                11. Which experiment's main weakness is that its evidence is anecdotal?

_______ a. A young gorilla is taught sign language                                             b. A drug test control group is totally untreated
              c. A field test of 100 elk is impossible to run a control for                    d. A confounding factor is known but completely ignored
                                                        e. My particular study approach for this question



                12. If the terms of an experimental set-up are not clearly defined, the experiment will not have

_______ a. A control             b. A variable            c. Any evidence             d. Reproducibility            e. That proper coolness factor





SHORT ANSWER.

Answer any eight of the following questions for 4 Points Each.
Note: if you answer more than eight, only the first eight will be corrected.
You can get partial credit on these answers.

1.  What is the current, most generally accepted definition of what makes a group a species?

 



2.  What are the two basic categories of experimental models?
3.  What are two different features a proton would have?
 
4.  Put this list in order so that each level contains the previous one - community, ecosystem, population.
1 2 3
5.  What are the energy sources for -
PHOTOSYNTHESIS?


CHEMOSYNTHESIS?
6.  What defines a colonial organism (unicellular or otherwise)?



7.  In general, what are the two different ways that biological hypotheses get tested?
 
8.  Briefly explain how a molecular clock is supposed to work.
 




9.   Put the following groups in order from the largest to the smallest: Class, Family, Genus, Kingdom, Order, Phylum, Species, Suborder, Superclass.
1 4 7
2 5 8
3 6 9
10.  What does "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" mean?





11.  What has the strongest driving influence on Natural Selection? (What part of "Nature"? )




12.   In the history of Kingdom-based classification,
Which Kingdom
was eventually
dropped?		 Which was the
first Kingdom to
split from the basic
two?
13.   Why is the fossil record for many groups fairly incomplete?
 





14.  In an experiment, what is an artifact?
 




15.  What are two reasons why embryos retain similarities that adults do not?

 

LONG ANSWER.

Answer any four of the following questions for Eight Points Each.
Note: if you answer more than four, only the first four will be corrected.
You can get partial credit on these answers.

1.   What are four basic features that all living things are supposed to have?
 

 

 


 


2.   Give the following for asexual reproduction -
BASIC DEFINITION

ADVANTAGE
compared to sexual		  

 

 

DISADVANTAGE
compared to sexual		  

 

 

3.  Name four of the Six "Basic" Kingdoms, and for each list enough traits to make it clearly different from the other five.






4.  When biologists are trying to decide whether viruses are truly alive, these are important:

Two traits viruses have IN COMMON with all living things.


 



Two traits all living things should have that all viruses do not.




5.  Give two different rules that apply to each in binomial nomenclature:
FIRST
WORD

 

  
SECOND
WORD

 

  
ENTIRE
NAME

 

  
6. Answer the following about classic Scientific Method:
Two features a good

hypothesis should have
 

  
Role served by the

experimental variable
 

  
Purpose of the

control test
 

  
7.  What are four features that science in general (NOT specifically just scientific method) should have?

 
 

 


Link to Answer Key

BONUS QUESTIONS.

Answer as many as you are able. Wrong answers will not result in points being lost from the main exam. You can get partial credit on these answers.



For 2 Points each, what general types of organisms are often decomposers?




What was thought to be the confounding factor in Redi's first experimental set-up? Three Points.



Give one reason why intelligent design is not thought to be science. Three Points.



What is usually done with qualitative data in science? Three Points.



What did Haeckel do wrong? Three Points.




What other area has strongly adopted aspects of postmodernism? Three Points.




What used to be the common language of science? Three Points.




What was Linnaeus' field of study, other than classification? Three Points.



Give an example of convergence. Three Points.




What forms does nuclear radiation take? Two Points each.

 

 


  
     

Michael McDarby.

SC 135

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