BIOL 3301 EXAM QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
LATEST UPDATE (GRADED A+)
Which of the flowing is not a major argument in the lethal battles regarding the teaching of creationism
and intelligent design in the US public schools?
Young earth creationism
The earth was created by a supernatural being 6024 years ago and the process took six days. The
preceding description best fits which type of creationism?
False
All ethical decisions should be made using well designed scientific experiments that are able to
distinguish between universal values and refute ideas that may be damaging to society.
Artificial selection and natural selection are both operating on the same fundamental principles and
so have equal potential for selective force, usually artificial selection changes traits more quickly
because there is less variability of the selective environment.
Which of the following beat describes the different forces of selection at work during natural and
artificial selection?
Theory
A coherent body of work made up of many related hypotheses that have been rigorously tested and
revised
Model
A generalized mathematical construct that helps to explain and predict related patterns on the physical
world
Hypotheses
An idea regarding how the physical world works based on observations
A biological population is
a group of individual organisms of the same species among which there is gene flow
What three components must a population have for evolution via natural selection to be possible?
Variation, genetic connection between genotype and variation, differential success of some phenotypes
Phylogenetic tree
The historical connections between species of eukaryotic organisms are best represented by a
Alfred Wallace
Independently came up with the same basic theory of evolution as Darwin
, Aristotle
Created the first known classification of organisms and placed them in a ladder-like progression called
the "scala naturae"
Hutton and Lyell
Theory of Uniformitarianism, we can explain past events by invoking the same natural laws that we
observe and measure today
August Weismann
Germ Plasm theory, demonstrated that only changes to germ line can be passed to subsequent
generations
Spontaneous generation
is the idea that organism can readily be derived from inorganic material.
Classification
The process of placing named species of organisms into hierarchical groups such as families and orders
The diversity of life on earth today is due only to variational processes such as natural selection and
genetic drift.
False
What was the insight of Thomas Malthus that helped to inspire Darwin's ideas about evolution via
natural selection?
Human population growth will inevitably outstrip our ability to produce good and other resources to
support that population.
What are the two main differences between Darwin's and Lamarck's ideas about how evolution has
led to the great diversity of life on earth?(mark both correct answers)
Darwin hypothesized a common origin of all life, but Lamarck thought all species originated
independently from one another; Darwin outlined natural selection within variable populations as the
main mechanism of evolution, while Lamarck described the inheritance of individually acquired
phenotypic traits as the main mechanism.
Briefly describe a manipulative (not purely observational) experiment that you could perform to
provide data to help decide between Darwin's ideas and Lamarck's ideas.
Cut off the tails of mice and then allow them to reproduce; then measure the lengths of their offspring's
tails. Repeat this process for many generations.
What was the main insight of Mendelian genetic and what major "problem" of natural selection did it
explain?
The mechanism of trait inheritance from one generation to the next which explained how genetic
diversity could be maintained despite many generations of reproduction.
LATEST UPDATE (GRADED A+)
Which of the flowing is not a major argument in the lethal battles regarding the teaching of creationism
and intelligent design in the US public schools?
Young earth creationism
The earth was created by a supernatural being 6024 years ago and the process took six days. The
preceding description best fits which type of creationism?
False
All ethical decisions should be made using well designed scientific experiments that are able to
distinguish between universal values and refute ideas that may be damaging to society.
Artificial selection and natural selection are both operating on the same fundamental principles and
so have equal potential for selective force, usually artificial selection changes traits more quickly
because there is less variability of the selective environment.
Which of the following beat describes the different forces of selection at work during natural and
artificial selection?
Theory
A coherent body of work made up of many related hypotheses that have been rigorously tested and
revised
Model
A generalized mathematical construct that helps to explain and predict related patterns on the physical
world
Hypotheses
An idea regarding how the physical world works based on observations
A biological population is
a group of individual organisms of the same species among which there is gene flow
What three components must a population have for evolution via natural selection to be possible?
Variation, genetic connection between genotype and variation, differential success of some phenotypes
Phylogenetic tree
The historical connections between species of eukaryotic organisms are best represented by a
Alfred Wallace
Independently came up with the same basic theory of evolution as Darwin
, Aristotle
Created the first known classification of organisms and placed them in a ladder-like progression called
the "scala naturae"
Hutton and Lyell
Theory of Uniformitarianism, we can explain past events by invoking the same natural laws that we
observe and measure today
August Weismann
Germ Plasm theory, demonstrated that only changes to germ line can be passed to subsequent
generations
Spontaneous generation
is the idea that organism can readily be derived from inorganic material.
Classification
The process of placing named species of organisms into hierarchical groups such as families and orders
The diversity of life on earth today is due only to variational processes such as natural selection and
genetic drift.
False
What was the insight of Thomas Malthus that helped to inspire Darwin's ideas about evolution via
natural selection?
Human population growth will inevitably outstrip our ability to produce good and other resources to
support that population.
What are the two main differences between Darwin's and Lamarck's ideas about how evolution has
led to the great diversity of life on earth?(mark both correct answers)
Darwin hypothesized a common origin of all life, but Lamarck thought all species originated
independently from one another; Darwin outlined natural selection within variable populations as the
main mechanism of evolution, while Lamarck described the inheritance of individually acquired
phenotypic traits as the main mechanism.
Briefly describe a manipulative (not purely observational) experiment that you could perform to
provide data to help decide between Darwin's ideas and Lamarck's ideas.
Cut off the tails of mice and then allow them to reproduce; then measure the lengths of their offspring's
tails. Repeat this process for many generations.
What was the main insight of Mendelian genetic and what major "problem" of natural selection did it
explain?
The mechanism of trait inheritance from one generation to the next which explained how genetic
diversity could be maintained despite many generations of reproduction.
