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SC139 - First Exam 1999
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. Fossilized bones often feel like rocks because of
_______
a. Replacement by lava
b. Compression within the earth
c. Minerals from groundwater replacing the bone
d. Advanced rotting processes
e. Manufacturing process at the factory where they're made
2. The appearance, in many different animal groups, of a "wormy" shape is due to
_______
a. Asexual reproduction
b. Divergent evolution
c. Sexual reproduction
d. Convergent evolution
e. An overall lack of imagination in lower creatures
3. The study of where and how living things are distributed around the world is
_______
a. Speciation
b. Biodistribution
c. Biogeography
d. Ecoevolution e. A good excuse for an exorbitant travel budget
4. Although the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection is considered to be
Darwin's, the first paper describing it was by Darwin and
_______
a. Alfred Russel Wallace
b. Thomas Malthus
c. Jean de Lamarck
d. His grandfather
e. Monica Lewinsky
5. It is often thought that genes code for "traits." They actually are a code for
_______
a. the Nucleus
b. Cells
c. Protein molecules
d. Body structure
e. Secret Swiss bank accounts
6. The human need for classifying - naming and putting into related groups - led to
_______
a. The Hardy-Weinberg Law
b. The concept of gene mutations
c. Identification of population control measures
d. The ability to connect fossils to currently-living species
e. The Spice Girls and the end of civilization
7. Situations where individuals with two "bad" alleles and individuals with two
"good"
alleles are both worse off than those with one of each:
_______
a. Mutational superiority
b. Hybrid vigor
c. Mixture adaptation
d. Genetic effect
e. This sounds like one of those horrible math word problems
8. Basic ideas of how populations are controlled in Nature were developed by
_______
a. Wallace
b. Malthus
c. Lamarck
d. Darwin
e. Someone with too much free time
9. What sorts of effects do gene mutations usually have?
_______
a. Bottleneck
b. Improvements on the original
c. Neutral or bad
d. Absolutely none
e. They're responsible for untold movies & TV shows
10. Occasionally, fossils are found from which original environment?
_______
a. Sand dunes & pine trees
b. Open grassland & rocky streambeds
c. Loose rocky hillsides & forests
d. Rain forests and volcanic slopes
e. Strip malls & parking lots
11. Two ecospecies would be
_______
a. Any two species in the same ecosystem
b. Filling the same niche in two different places
c. Filling the same niche in the same place at two different times
d. The same species in two different niches
e. Ummmm...Bouncing sounds off each other-?
12. Hermaphrodites would use what basic form of reproduction?
_______
a. Artificial
b. Asexual
c. Mutational
d. Sexual
e. Isn't that a bit personal?
13. Volcanic ash often figures in the fossilization of
_______
a. Footprints
b. Large animals
c. Plants
d. Soft parts
e. Primitive ash trays
14. Although the idea that the Earth has never changed since the beginning is no
longer accepted, an old idea that many people still believe is that
_______
a. Changes have halted
b. Changes are very slow and gradual
c. Overall changes have been small
d. All changes have been due to humans
e. Could you spare some change-?
15. Basic layout patterns in early development are controlled by
_______
a. Homeogenes b. Mutations
c. Molecular clocks
d. Redundancy
e. Some obscure government agency
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. When fitness is used as an evolutionary term, what exactly does it mean?
2. What is redundancy in genes, and why is it especially useful in evolution?
3. Many interesting animals have a poor fossil record with lots of "missing links." Why? (Don't
give an answer that just restates the first sentence.)
4. Reproductive success, over the long term, is a balance between two powerful forces - briefly
describe (that means do more than just name!) those two forces.
5. What are two different classes of molecules used in comparative biochemistry?
6. What are two different ways that a the age of a layer of fossil-bearing rock can be determined?
7. When fossils of strange unknown animals were identified a few centuries ago, what
fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible said that these couldn't be extinct animals - why "couldn't"
such things exist?
8. How do alleles fit into the modern form of Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection?
9. What happened, just after death, to most animals that became fossils?
10. What is the founder effect?
11. There are three basic "givens" whose truth must be accepted before the proposals of the Theory
of Evolution by Natural Selection make sense. What are two of those "givens?"
12. How did the development of different breeds of domestic animals and plants fit into
Darwin's idea of Evolution by Natural Selection?
13. Why are evolutionary changes less likely to appear in an early embryo than in an adult stage?
14. Briefly define (don't give an example) a sexual selection trait.
15. Most species of bears are black, brown, or gray. Why are polar bears white? (Bears are the
top-level predators in their ecosystems.)
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LONG ANSWER.
Answer any three of the following questions for Eight Points Each.
Note: if you answer more than three, only the first three will be corrected.
You can get partial credit on these answers.
1. Name and briefly describe four different types of isolation that can lead to new species.
2. Define in such a way that these apply generally to any sort of organisms that use them:
| Asexual
Reproduction:
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| Sexual
Reproduction:
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3. Briefly give the proposals (not the givens leading to them) of the Theory of Evolution by
Natural Selection. How does the environment produce new species?
4. There are five provisions in the Hardy-Weinberg Law that would keep a population genetically
stable. What are four?
5. Darwin was influenced by many ideas produced by others. Briefly explain how each of the
following ideas "shows up" in the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection.
Nature has ways to limit
populations.
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| Man can produce new breeds
of domestic organisms. |
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The Earth has been around
for a long time.
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Parents can pass traits on to
their offspring.
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6. Give the full definitions:
| Homologous but
NOT Analogous -
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| Analogous but
NOT Homologous -
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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.
Darwin often compared mainland organisms to nearby island organisms. One famous set of islands
he used were the Galapagos Islands, near which mainland? Four Points.
Where did Alfred Russel Wallace live and gather most of his observations (Three Points), and why
was it such a good place to gather evidence? (Four Points)
There are two good reasons why fossils are rarely found in solidified lava flows. For Four Points
each, what are they?
DNA from a structure outside the cell nucleus is used for many evolutionary studies. What
advantage does it have over DNA from the nucleus? Four Points.
Why was the Hardy-Weinberg Law so important to evolutionary theory? Four Points.
In what ways can the genes for schizophrenia be a good thing to possess? Four Points.
What terms or topics were addressed in the book's chapter and appeared in the study sheet, but were
skipped in class ? Three Points each.
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