BIO 400 FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS | 2026 |
GUARANTEED PASS
The so-called Modern Synthesis was constructed by _____ in the approximate ______
period.
A. Theodosius Dobzhansky...1910-1920
B. Ernst Mayr...1950-1970
C. RA Fisher...1940-1960
D. Several people...1925-1945
E. Several people...1910-1915 - Answers -D
Which statement about the idea of evolution by natural selection is most correct?
A. Its genetic basis was not understood until the 1890s
B. It was considered a plausible idea when Darwin proposed it, but was not accepted
fully in biology until the 1940s
C. Darwin stole the idea without attribution from Patrick Matthews
D. The idea was first suggested to Darwin by Alfred Russel Wallace
E. Darwin had been playing with the idea since he was a medical student in Edinburgh -
Answers -B
Erasmus Darwin regarded vestigial structures in organisms as:
A. Puzzles posed to us by God
B. Evidence of divine creation
C. Having obscure functions we have not yet discerned
D. Proto-structures that later in evolutionary history would assume as valuable biological
function
E. Evidence of evolutionary descent - Answers -E
The Upas tree of legend
A. Is based on a real tree in Germany
B. Is based on an imaginary tree mentioned in the Bible
C. Confounds the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden with a rare flowering plant
discovered by John Mandeville during his travels
D. Is based on a real tree that makes a toxic sap
E. Is a botanical version of the sphinx legend - Answers -D
Which of the following was *not* a contribution of the lab of Thomas Hunt Morgan to the
study of genetics?
A. The use of mutations in identifying genes
B. The discovery of hybridization and segregation in plants
C. Genetics maps
D. Evidence that genetic information is 1-dimensional
E. Sex-linked traits - Answers -B
,The Pacific islands where Darwin saw most clearly the evidences of evolutionary
relationship ______ - Answers -Galapagos
Models which propose evolutionary changes in large jumps ______ - Answers -
Saltationist
Gregor Mendel's day job ______ - Answers -Monk
The insect that was the focus of work in Morgan's lab _____ - Answers -Fruit fly
The Piltdown fossils were accepted as genuine & significant among many British
scientists partly because
A. Charles Darwin was a respected human paleontologist at the University of Oxford
B. King George V gave his own personal endorsement of the reality of the finds
C. The fossils confirmed the "brain-led" hypothesis of human evolution which was
popular in Britain at the time
D. They suggested that early British people had a distinctly larger brain case than
people from France, where only Cro-Magnon remains had been found
E. Darwin, in the 19th century, had guessed that our species evolved in England -
Answers -C
Which book about science did Darwin value most when he was a student at
Cambridge?
A. Species Plantarum, by Linneaus
B. Natural History, by Buffon
C. Natural Theology, by Paley
D. Natural History, by Pliny
E. Principles of Geology, by Charles Lyell - Answers -C
Of the people on this list, who was most aware of Darwin's evolutionary thinking at an
early stage?
A. His grandfather
B. Asa Gray
C. Lord Kevin
D. Joseph Hooker
E. Robert Chambers - Answers -D
Mendel's attempt to repeat his results was directed down the wrong channel by
A. Nageli
B. Darwin
C. de Vries
D. Lyell
E. Huxley - Answers -A
, Upas tree: - Answers -Known as the Javan Tree of Death, and that name gave it
Biblical credibility
Tree of Life in Bible (Garden of Eden)
Everything has its opposite... so needed a Tree of Death
Killed people by emitting something
Upas tree was first mentioned by _____ & _____ in the _____th century - Answers -
Friar Oderich of Portenau
John Mandeville
12
Friar Oderich of Portenau: - Answers -1330
Oderich wrote down many observations
His manuscript was found by Mandeville, and copied his work & published it as his own
John Mandeville: - Answers -1355
Except that Mandeville didn't exist!
A nobleman was too poor to pay for his physician, so he gave him the manuscript as
payment and the physician published it
But on his deathbed, physician admitted that he made up the whole story; he himself
stole it from Oderich
The Upas tree in the 18th century: - Answers -European visitors to Java were told of an
arrow poison sap that was collected from a local tree
Not impossible to believe because many plants that exist are poisonous
In the absence of further solid information, many spectacular embellishments to the
Upas tree story accumulated: (3) - Answers -1. Dr. Englebert Kampfer
2. Rumphius of the Dutch East India Company
3. London Magazine
Dr. Englebert Kampfer: Upas tree - Answers -Wrote a book in 1712 called
*Amoenitates exoticae* (amusing exotic things)
The local people used to get criminals to collect the sap, because the tree was deadly to
approach; if the criminal lived, he was set free as a reward
Rumphius of the Dutch East India Company: Upas tree - Answers -1741
Poisonous gas emanates from the tree
You could only approach the Upas tree if all your skin was covered by fabric
No other plants grew near the tree
Dead birds littered the ground underneath it
London Magazine: Upas tree - Answers -1783
The danger zone had a radius of 12 to 14 miles
Criminals assigned to collect the sap were equipped with leather caps, protective
glasses and leather gloves
GUARANTEED PASS
The so-called Modern Synthesis was constructed by _____ in the approximate ______
period.
A. Theodosius Dobzhansky...1910-1920
B. Ernst Mayr...1950-1970
C. RA Fisher...1940-1960
D. Several people...1925-1945
E. Several people...1910-1915 - Answers -D
Which statement about the idea of evolution by natural selection is most correct?
A. Its genetic basis was not understood until the 1890s
B. It was considered a plausible idea when Darwin proposed it, but was not accepted
fully in biology until the 1940s
C. Darwin stole the idea without attribution from Patrick Matthews
D. The idea was first suggested to Darwin by Alfred Russel Wallace
E. Darwin had been playing with the idea since he was a medical student in Edinburgh -
Answers -B
Erasmus Darwin regarded vestigial structures in organisms as:
A. Puzzles posed to us by God
B. Evidence of divine creation
C. Having obscure functions we have not yet discerned
D. Proto-structures that later in evolutionary history would assume as valuable biological
function
E. Evidence of evolutionary descent - Answers -E
The Upas tree of legend
A. Is based on a real tree in Germany
B. Is based on an imaginary tree mentioned in the Bible
C. Confounds the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden with a rare flowering plant
discovered by John Mandeville during his travels
D. Is based on a real tree that makes a toxic sap
E. Is a botanical version of the sphinx legend - Answers -D
Which of the following was *not* a contribution of the lab of Thomas Hunt Morgan to the
study of genetics?
A. The use of mutations in identifying genes
B. The discovery of hybridization and segregation in plants
C. Genetics maps
D. Evidence that genetic information is 1-dimensional
E. Sex-linked traits - Answers -B
,The Pacific islands where Darwin saw most clearly the evidences of evolutionary
relationship ______ - Answers -Galapagos
Models which propose evolutionary changes in large jumps ______ - Answers -
Saltationist
Gregor Mendel's day job ______ - Answers -Monk
The insect that was the focus of work in Morgan's lab _____ - Answers -Fruit fly
The Piltdown fossils were accepted as genuine & significant among many British
scientists partly because
A. Charles Darwin was a respected human paleontologist at the University of Oxford
B. King George V gave his own personal endorsement of the reality of the finds
C. The fossils confirmed the "brain-led" hypothesis of human evolution which was
popular in Britain at the time
D. They suggested that early British people had a distinctly larger brain case than
people from France, where only Cro-Magnon remains had been found
E. Darwin, in the 19th century, had guessed that our species evolved in England -
Answers -C
Which book about science did Darwin value most when he was a student at
Cambridge?
A. Species Plantarum, by Linneaus
B. Natural History, by Buffon
C. Natural Theology, by Paley
D. Natural History, by Pliny
E. Principles of Geology, by Charles Lyell - Answers -C
Of the people on this list, who was most aware of Darwin's evolutionary thinking at an
early stage?
A. His grandfather
B. Asa Gray
C. Lord Kevin
D. Joseph Hooker
E. Robert Chambers - Answers -D
Mendel's attempt to repeat his results was directed down the wrong channel by
A. Nageli
B. Darwin
C. de Vries
D. Lyell
E. Huxley - Answers -A
, Upas tree: - Answers -Known as the Javan Tree of Death, and that name gave it
Biblical credibility
Tree of Life in Bible (Garden of Eden)
Everything has its opposite... so needed a Tree of Death
Killed people by emitting something
Upas tree was first mentioned by _____ & _____ in the _____th century - Answers -
Friar Oderich of Portenau
John Mandeville
12
Friar Oderich of Portenau: - Answers -1330
Oderich wrote down many observations
His manuscript was found by Mandeville, and copied his work & published it as his own
John Mandeville: - Answers -1355
Except that Mandeville didn't exist!
A nobleman was too poor to pay for his physician, so he gave him the manuscript as
payment and the physician published it
But on his deathbed, physician admitted that he made up the whole story; he himself
stole it from Oderich
The Upas tree in the 18th century: - Answers -European visitors to Java were told of an
arrow poison sap that was collected from a local tree
Not impossible to believe because many plants that exist are poisonous
In the absence of further solid information, many spectacular embellishments to the
Upas tree story accumulated: (3) - Answers -1. Dr. Englebert Kampfer
2. Rumphius of the Dutch East India Company
3. London Magazine
Dr. Englebert Kampfer: Upas tree - Answers -Wrote a book in 1712 called
*Amoenitates exoticae* (amusing exotic things)
The local people used to get criminals to collect the sap, because the tree was deadly to
approach; if the criminal lived, he was set free as a reward
Rumphius of the Dutch East India Company: Upas tree - Answers -1741
Poisonous gas emanates from the tree
You could only approach the Upas tree if all your skin was covered by fabric
No other plants grew near the tree
Dead birds littered the ground underneath it
London Magazine: Upas tree - Answers -1783
The danger zone had a radius of 12 to 14 miles
Criminals assigned to collect the sap were equipped with leather caps, protective
glasses and leather gloves
