BSCI 207 Final Exam Essentials: Real Questions, Clear Answers. UPDATED 2025/26
About This Final Exam Resource:
This BSCI 207 Final Exam Study Guide is designed to help students master the complex topics of
Organismal Biology. From evolution and energy use to system design and physiological adaptation,
this guide includes verified exam-style questions, clear explanations, and a concise review of the most
important concepts. Whether you’re cramming or reviewing week-by-week, this resource will help you
finish strong.
A crab living in an estuary is essentially an osmoregulator. Match the action on the left with the correct
condition on the right: - ✔✔-gills take in water by osmosis: during low tide
urine is concentrated and of small amount: during high tide
crab consumes water and salt from food: during either tide
skinless wanter by osmosis: during high tide
A human baby's head seems really big compared to an adult. Which of the following is the most accurate
explanation for why that is? - ✔✔-The baby's head does actually grow substantially, but it does so more
slowly than the body as a whole. This is negative allometry.
A lungfish has both gills and lungs. - ✔✔-- the gills utilize unidirectional flow
- the lungs utilize bidirectional flow
- the lungs utilize positive pressure breathing
A number of characteristics evolved multiple times within the protostomes. Which of the following
probably evolved only once? - ✔✔-cephalization
Although they are not evolutionarily homologous, you might consider the eye of a drosophila convergent
to the eye of a chick. Which of the following facts might help strengthen that argument? - ✔✔-Drosophila
express eyeless gene which is a similar gene to Pax6 in vertebrate eye development
An organism that uses inorganic molecules to produce its energy and which can directly fix carbon from
simple inorganic carbon molecules would be: - ✔✔-a chemolithoautotroph
Animal cloning has continued to improve after the experiments on Dolly the sheep such that many other
animals can be cloned. If we took a skin cell from a dog with a long haired coat and combined it with an
,enucleated (no nucleus) egg cell from a dog with a short haired coat and then raised the embryo in a
surrogate mother with a wire haired coat, what kind of coat with the resulting puppy have? - ✔✔-long
haired
Animals fulfill their oxygen needs by having oxygen move by __________ to the lungs, by __________
into the blood stream, by ___________ to an organ in the body, and by __________ into the cells of that
tissue. - ✔✔-bulk flow, diffusion, bulk flow, diffusion
Antibiotics can be used to fight pathogens. Which of these is NOT a possible mechanism: - ✔✔-
strengthen cell wall integrity
As animals went from unicellular protists to multicellular animals, they changed in a number of ways.
Select which of these is a reason we might say that sponges are the same as unicellular or colonial
protists. - ✔✔-The digest food by intracellular phagocytosis, Flagellated cells work together to generate a
current, They don't have any germline cells (i.e. gonads).
Assign the group on the left with the trait on the right (words can be used more than once): - ✔✔-
angiosperms: heterosporous
bryophytes: homosporous
gymnosperms: heterosporous
pteridophores: homosporous
ATP is a great source of energy that enable organisms to do work. What kind(s) of work is it used for? -
✔✔-It phosphorylates metabolites to perform chemical work and proteins to perform physical work.
Below are ways that fungi can feed. - ✔✔-mutualistic, parasitic, saprobic
Birds and mammals independently evolved several major innovations. Which is NOT one of those
innovations? - ✔✔-Low metabolic rate
Carl Woese studied the phylogenetic relationships using the rRNA gene because there weren't many
morphological characters that could distinguish different prokaryotic groups. - ✔✔-true
, Cephalochordates have "gill" slits. What are they used for? - ✔✔-feeding
Chondrichthyes means "cartilage fish". How does this group, including sharks, differ from its more recent
bony fish cousins? - ✔✔-They have cartilagenous bones while bony fish have mineralized bones
Chytrid fungi show some of the features typical of fungal opisthokonts. This includes (pick all that apply)
- ✔✔-having a posterior flagella, having chitin in their cell wall, absorptive heterotrophs
Compare the relative diffusion coefficient of oxygen in the following three habitats in Yellowstone
National Park:
A. cold spring
B. hot spring
C. hot, thick, muddy slurry of mud pot
Assuming the temperature of the hot regions are close to 350 K and the cold spring is around 290 K.
Assuming the viscosity of the slurries in the mud pots is 2x that in spring water. - ✔✔-B>A>C
Consider the locations in the body and the partial pressures of oxygen. Where does the oxygen partial
pressure in the blood decrease the most? - ✔✔-body tissue
Crabs utilize gills on land and in the water. What structural modifications does that most likely require? -
✔✔-some internal structure to keep gills from collapsing in air
Cyanobacteria had a major impact on the earth's early atmosphere. - ✔✔-true
Determine which of the following experiments are embryology versus developmental genetics. - ✔✔-
Moving the ZPA from the posterior side to the anterior side: embryology
Trying to determine which gene is mutated in a drosophila missing its wings: Developmental
geneticsMoving a patch of skin from the eye imaginal disc to the wing imaginal
disc:EmbryologyMutating a gene that is known to be important for limb development: Developmental
genetics
Determine which of these experimental results are true or false. - ✔✔-- knocking out bicoid results in a
headless drosophila: true
About This Final Exam Resource:
This BSCI 207 Final Exam Study Guide is designed to help students master the complex topics of
Organismal Biology. From evolution and energy use to system design and physiological adaptation,
this guide includes verified exam-style questions, clear explanations, and a concise review of the most
important concepts. Whether you’re cramming or reviewing week-by-week, this resource will help you
finish strong.
A crab living in an estuary is essentially an osmoregulator. Match the action on the left with the correct
condition on the right: - ✔✔-gills take in water by osmosis: during low tide
urine is concentrated and of small amount: during high tide
crab consumes water and salt from food: during either tide
skinless wanter by osmosis: during high tide
A human baby's head seems really big compared to an adult. Which of the following is the most accurate
explanation for why that is? - ✔✔-The baby's head does actually grow substantially, but it does so more
slowly than the body as a whole. This is negative allometry.
A lungfish has both gills and lungs. - ✔✔-- the gills utilize unidirectional flow
- the lungs utilize bidirectional flow
- the lungs utilize positive pressure breathing
A number of characteristics evolved multiple times within the protostomes. Which of the following
probably evolved only once? - ✔✔-cephalization
Although they are not evolutionarily homologous, you might consider the eye of a drosophila convergent
to the eye of a chick. Which of the following facts might help strengthen that argument? - ✔✔-Drosophila
express eyeless gene which is a similar gene to Pax6 in vertebrate eye development
An organism that uses inorganic molecules to produce its energy and which can directly fix carbon from
simple inorganic carbon molecules would be: - ✔✔-a chemolithoautotroph
Animal cloning has continued to improve after the experiments on Dolly the sheep such that many other
animals can be cloned. If we took a skin cell from a dog with a long haired coat and combined it with an
,enucleated (no nucleus) egg cell from a dog with a short haired coat and then raised the embryo in a
surrogate mother with a wire haired coat, what kind of coat with the resulting puppy have? - ✔✔-long
haired
Animals fulfill their oxygen needs by having oxygen move by __________ to the lungs, by __________
into the blood stream, by ___________ to an organ in the body, and by __________ into the cells of that
tissue. - ✔✔-bulk flow, diffusion, bulk flow, diffusion
Antibiotics can be used to fight pathogens. Which of these is NOT a possible mechanism: - ✔✔-
strengthen cell wall integrity
As animals went from unicellular protists to multicellular animals, they changed in a number of ways.
Select which of these is a reason we might say that sponges are the same as unicellular or colonial
protists. - ✔✔-The digest food by intracellular phagocytosis, Flagellated cells work together to generate a
current, They don't have any germline cells (i.e. gonads).
Assign the group on the left with the trait on the right (words can be used more than once): - ✔✔-
angiosperms: heterosporous
bryophytes: homosporous
gymnosperms: heterosporous
pteridophores: homosporous
ATP is a great source of energy that enable organisms to do work. What kind(s) of work is it used for? -
✔✔-It phosphorylates metabolites to perform chemical work and proteins to perform physical work.
Below are ways that fungi can feed. - ✔✔-mutualistic, parasitic, saprobic
Birds and mammals independently evolved several major innovations. Which is NOT one of those
innovations? - ✔✔-Low metabolic rate
Carl Woese studied the phylogenetic relationships using the rRNA gene because there weren't many
morphological characters that could distinguish different prokaryotic groups. - ✔✔-true
, Cephalochordates have "gill" slits. What are they used for? - ✔✔-feeding
Chondrichthyes means "cartilage fish". How does this group, including sharks, differ from its more recent
bony fish cousins? - ✔✔-They have cartilagenous bones while bony fish have mineralized bones
Chytrid fungi show some of the features typical of fungal opisthokonts. This includes (pick all that apply)
- ✔✔-having a posterior flagella, having chitin in their cell wall, absorptive heterotrophs
Compare the relative diffusion coefficient of oxygen in the following three habitats in Yellowstone
National Park:
A. cold spring
B. hot spring
C. hot, thick, muddy slurry of mud pot
Assuming the temperature of the hot regions are close to 350 K and the cold spring is around 290 K.
Assuming the viscosity of the slurries in the mud pots is 2x that in spring water. - ✔✔-B>A>C
Consider the locations in the body and the partial pressures of oxygen. Where does the oxygen partial
pressure in the blood decrease the most? - ✔✔-body tissue
Crabs utilize gills on land and in the water. What structural modifications does that most likely require? -
✔✔-some internal structure to keep gills from collapsing in air
Cyanobacteria had a major impact on the earth's early atmosphere. - ✔✔-true
Determine which of the following experiments are embryology versus developmental genetics. - ✔✔-
Moving the ZPA from the posterior side to the anterior side: embryology
Trying to determine which gene is mutated in a drosophila missing its wings: Developmental
geneticsMoving a patch of skin from the eye imaginal disc to the wing imaginal
disc:EmbryologyMutating a gene that is known to be important for limb development: Developmental
genetics
Determine which of these experimental results are true or false. - ✔✔-- knocking out bicoid results in a
headless drosophila: true
