BIO 1M03 Comprehensive Exam Questions and Answers with Complete Solution Graded (A+)

BIO 1M03 Comprehensive Exam Questions and Answers with Complete Solution Graded (A+) 1. Darwin described evolution using the phrase "descent with modification." Please select the response that describes most accurately from a modern perspective what the phrase entails. A) Evolution takes a long time - it is a gradual process - and produces decent results. B) Evolution is a natural phenomenon that is ongoing, changing individuals even today. C) Closely related species are similar at the genetic, developmental, and structural levels. D) Populations living today are identical to populations that lived in the past. - Closely related species are similar at the genetic, developmental, and structural levels. Please select the response that presents the most-accurate statement. A) Mycobacterium tuberculosis populations can evolve drug resistance over time. B) Evolution by natural selection involves variation among individuals. C) If all individuals in a population were to survive equally effectively, then natural selection would operate to favour individuals who produce the most offspring. D) Between 1976 and 1978, a finch population in the Galápagos Islands adapted to drought conditions. E) All other responses are correct. - All other responses are correct. Imagine that you were conducting fieldwork on Daship Island, whereon temperature had started to increase year after year; please select the response that states whether evolutionary biologists would expect natural selection to operate as a consequence from this change and explains most accurately why. A) Yes, because mutations would be expected to occur more frequently in hotter environments. B) Yes, because traits that allow individuals to survive and reproduce more effectively in hotter environments would be expected to increase in frequency. C) No, because the environment always is changing, so the increase in temperature would constitute nothing new. D No, because the only change that might manifest would be for organisms from other, colder environments to move to the hotter conditions on the island. E) Yes, because individuals would be expected to adapt to the hotter conditions and pass traits acquired during th - Yes, because traits that allow individuals to survive and reproduce more effectively in hotter environments would be expected to increase in frequency. A two-allele locus known as gene hackman is studied in a snail population that is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The frequency for the dominant phenotype is 99%. The frequency for q is A) 0.9 B) 0.81 C) 0.18 D) 0.1 E) 0.01 - 0.1 Sediment analysis shows that some areas in Cootes Paradise formerly were connected by streams; those particular streams dried up over the past decade, leaving microscopic 'water-bears' populations in 'suspended animation;' after being revived, individuals from the populations were mated with each other and produced offspring with equivalent fitness to their parents, so were assigned to the same taxon. Please select the response that presents the most-appropriate process or concept to explain the observation. A) vicariance B) dispersal C) biological species concept D) morphological species concept E) phylogenetic species concept - biological species concept Please consider the cartoon that is presented below and state, by providing a name, whose view on organisms is presented and, by providing one word, what type of thinking it involved; you might, for instance, put name: Plato thinking: typological name: ______________ thinking: ______________ - Darwin/Wallace population Darwin described evolution with the phrase "descent with modification." Please select the response that describes most accurately from a modern perspective what the phrase entails. A) Evolution takes a long time - it is a gradual process - and produces decent results. B) Evolution is a natural phenomenon that is ongoing, changing individuals even today. C) All species are identical at the genetic, developmental, and structural levels. D) Populations living today are related (genetically) to populations that lived in the past, but they are non-identical. - Populations living today are related (genetically) to populations that lived in the past, but they are non-identical. BIOLOGY 1M03 student Kate Selegshun (Nate's sister) observes that females in a water bear species prefer males that have much longer stylets (mouth parts) and all males have much longer stylets than do females. This process underlying the observed pattern most likely involves: Question options: a)sexual selection. b)-93 c)remedied by applying urine. d) disassortative mating. e) assortative mating. - sexual selection BIOLOGY 1M03 student Nate Selegshun observes that short-spined females in a sea urchin species prefer males that are characterised by short spines and long-spined females prefer long-spined males. The phenomenon is known as: Question options: a) disassortative mating. b) inbreeding. c) sexual selection. d) assortative mating. e) genetic surfing. - assortative mating. Imagine a human population wherein Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection were common and several alleles were to reside at the locus for gene Simmons, which affects resistance to HIV infection; one allele, S4, were to confer highest resistance; and you were to genotype many individuals. Please predict by selecting the most-accurate response how observed genotype frequencies would compare to genotype frequencies expected under Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium conditions. A) Because human populations are so large, genotypes automatically would be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium proportions. B) Too few S4 homozygotes would be present. C) More heterozygous than homozygous genotypes containing S4 must be present. D) Allele S4 would be present at a greater frequency than expected under Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. E) The frequency for allele S4 would equal p4. - Allele S4 would be present at a greater frequency than expected under Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. In human populations, birth weight depends partially on alleles that occur at multiple gene loci, and babies with intermediate weights are characterised by the greatest survival likelihoods, as Doc Roc informed his sisters after they had given birth to heavy would-be lawyers. Please select the response that summarises the most-likely outcome from natural selection operating on human baby birth weight. Question options: a)Average birth weight would remain the same; total phenotypic variation would remain the same; allele frequencies would remain unchanged. b)Average birth weight would increase; total phenotypic variation would decrease; allele frequencies would change. c)Average birth weight would decrease; total phenotypic variation would remain the same; allele frequencies would remain unchanged. d)Average birth weight would remain the same; total phenotypic variation would increase; allele frequencies would remain - Average birth weight would remain the same; total phenotypic variation would decrease; allele frequencies would change. BIOLOGY 1M03 student Evan Lushon (Eve's brother) analyses a gene locus in two distinct squirrel populations, occupying adjacent territories on McMaster University campus; population 1 contains many individuals and is characterised by large genetic diversity; population 2 contains few individuals, all homozygous for an allele that is absent in population 1. The process underlying the observed pattern most likely involves: Question options: a) urination. b) founder events followed by genetic drift c) founder events. d) a population bottleneck that separated a single large population into two. e) a genetic bottleneck in population 2. - a genetic bottleneck in population 2. Imagine a population wherein two alleles for the B gene locus were found in the following genotype proportions: B1B1 = 0.33 B1B2 = 0.33 B2B2 = 0.33 Please select the response that presents the expected frequencies for genotypes B1B1; B1B2; B2B2, respectively, in the population assuming that the population could be described as being 'in' Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Question options: a) 0.216; 0.497; 0.286 b) 0.073; 0.394; 0.533 c) 0.333; 0.333; 0.333 d) 0.250; 0.500; 0.250 e) 0.370; 0.330; 0.300 - 0.250; 0.500; 0.250 Please consider the wings in bats and birds and select the most-correct response about them. Question options: a) Their wings and insect wings are homologous. b) Their wings are homologous; their limbs represent homoplasy. c) Both have highly modified hand and finger bones; these modifications are homologous. d) Their wings would be represented on a cladogram as two independent character states. e) Both their wings and limbs represent homoplasy. - Their wings would be represented on a cladogram as two independent character states. Please select the response that explains best why a hard-core population geneticist would discount self-reproduction as an evolutionary mechanism. Question options: a) It occurs rarely. b) It has no effect on allele frequencies. c) It reduces fitness. d) It fails to violate the assumptions on which the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium principle is predicated. e) It has no effect on genotype frequencies. - It has no effect on genotype frequencies.