Biology 108 Final Exam Questions with Correct Answers
Question 1:
What is microevolution?
Answer:
a change in a populations gene pool over a succession of generations, evolution changes in
species over relatively brief periods
Question 2:
What is macroevolution?
Answer:
major changes in the history of life; origin of new species and generated biological diversity
Question 3:
What is a species?
Answer:
a group of populations whose members possess similar anatomical characteristics and have
ability to interbreed
Question 4:
What is allopatric speciation?
Answer:
the formation of a new species in populations that are geographically isolated from one
another
Question 5:
What is sympatric speciation?
Answer:
the formation of a new species in populations that live in the same geographical area
Question 6:
What special circumstances are required to keep gene pools separated in sympatric speciation?
,Answer:
segregation of habitat; major alterations in mate recognition or behavior; genetic
incompatibility
Question 7:
Know the two models of the Pace of Speciation.
Answer:
Punctuated patter - proposed by Eldridge and Gould; species diverge in spurts of rapid change,
followed by long periods of stars; leads to prediction that the fossil record should show the
most drastic changes in appearance at time new species branch from parent species
Gradual pattern - envisioned by Darwin; slow and steady accumulation of small changes leads
to production of species over vast stretched of time; leads to the prediction that the fossil
record should show numerous forms in a continuous series of change from ancestral to
descendant species
Question 8:
What are pre-zygotic barriers? Know the 5 types.
Answer:
1. temporal isolation - mating of fertilization occurs at different seasons or times of the day
habitat isolation - populations live in different habitats and do not meet
behavioral isolation - little or no sexual attraction exists between populations mechanical
isolation - structural differences prevent fertilization
gametic isolation - female and male gametes fail to unite in fertilization
Question 9:
What are post-zygotic barriers? Know the 3 types.
Answer:
1. reduced hybrid viability - some species can hybridize but their offspring do not develop fully
or are frail and will not survive long enough to reproduce
reduced hybrid fertility - the hybrid offspring of a horse and a donkey is a mule which is sterile
hybrid breakdown - the rice hybrids at the left and right are fertile but the plants of the next
generation are small and sterile
Question 10:
What is ecology?
Answer:
the scientific study of the interactions between organisms and their environments
, Question 11:
What are abiotic factors? Know the 5 examples.
Answer:
the nonliving component of an ecosystem (light, water, wind, temperature, and rock and soil)
Question 12:
What are biotic factors? Know some examples.
Answer:
all the organisms i the area that make up the living components of the environment (plants,
animals, and fungi)
Question 13:
What are the four levels of ecology? Know what each is concerned with.
Answer:
1. organismal ecology - what range of temperatures can a ed salamander tolerate population
ecology - what factors affect the population density and growth
community ecology - how do predators such as this beech marten affect the diversity of
rodents in a community
ecosystem ecology - what processes recycle vital chemical elements such as nitrogen within a
savanna in Africa
Question 14:
a place where an organism lives; a specific environment in which an organism lives
Answer:
What is a habitat?
Question 15:
What are 3 types of adaptations that enable organisms to adjust to changes in their
environment?
Answer:
phycological response - birds puffing up to become fluffier in the cold
anatomical response - the branches of tree change positions because of the wind, dogs growing
a winter coat
behavioral response - humans putting on a coat before going into the cold, animal migration
because of temperature
Question 1:
What is microevolution?
Answer:
a change in a populations gene pool over a succession of generations, evolution changes in
species over relatively brief periods
Question 2:
What is macroevolution?
Answer:
major changes in the history of life; origin of new species and generated biological diversity
Question 3:
What is a species?
Answer:
a group of populations whose members possess similar anatomical characteristics and have
ability to interbreed
Question 4:
What is allopatric speciation?
Answer:
the formation of a new species in populations that are geographically isolated from one
another
Question 5:
What is sympatric speciation?
Answer:
the formation of a new species in populations that live in the same geographical area
Question 6:
What special circumstances are required to keep gene pools separated in sympatric speciation?
,Answer:
segregation of habitat; major alterations in mate recognition or behavior; genetic
incompatibility
Question 7:
Know the two models of the Pace of Speciation.
Answer:
Punctuated patter - proposed by Eldridge and Gould; species diverge in spurts of rapid change,
followed by long periods of stars; leads to prediction that the fossil record should show the
most drastic changes in appearance at time new species branch from parent species
Gradual pattern - envisioned by Darwin; slow and steady accumulation of small changes leads
to production of species over vast stretched of time; leads to the prediction that the fossil
record should show numerous forms in a continuous series of change from ancestral to
descendant species
Question 8:
What are pre-zygotic barriers? Know the 5 types.
Answer:
1. temporal isolation - mating of fertilization occurs at different seasons or times of the day
habitat isolation - populations live in different habitats and do not meet
behavioral isolation - little or no sexual attraction exists between populations mechanical
isolation - structural differences prevent fertilization
gametic isolation - female and male gametes fail to unite in fertilization
Question 9:
What are post-zygotic barriers? Know the 3 types.
Answer:
1. reduced hybrid viability - some species can hybridize but their offspring do not develop fully
or are frail and will not survive long enough to reproduce
reduced hybrid fertility - the hybrid offspring of a horse and a donkey is a mule which is sterile
hybrid breakdown - the rice hybrids at the left and right are fertile but the plants of the next
generation are small and sterile
Question 10:
What is ecology?
Answer:
the scientific study of the interactions between organisms and their environments
, Question 11:
What are abiotic factors? Know the 5 examples.
Answer:
the nonliving component of an ecosystem (light, water, wind, temperature, and rock and soil)
Question 12:
What are biotic factors? Know some examples.
Answer:
all the organisms i the area that make up the living components of the environment (plants,
animals, and fungi)
Question 13:
What are the four levels of ecology? Know what each is concerned with.
Answer:
1. organismal ecology - what range of temperatures can a ed salamander tolerate population
ecology - what factors affect the population density and growth
community ecology - how do predators such as this beech marten affect the diversity of
rodents in a community
ecosystem ecology - what processes recycle vital chemical elements such as nitrogen within a
savanna in Africa
Question 14:
a place where an organism lives; a specific environment in which an organism lives
Answer:
What is a habitat?
Question 15:
What are 3 types of adaptations that enable organisms to adjust to changes in their
environment?
Answer:
phycological response - birds puffing up to become fluffier in the cold
anatomical response - the branches of tree change positions because of the wind, dogs growing
a winter coat
behavioral response - humans putting on a coat before going into the cold, animal migration
because of temperature
