Regents Living Environment Test Preparation Practice

    Extinction

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    Base your answers to questions 3 on the information below and on your knowledge of biology.

    The Galapagos pink land iguana, Conolophus marthae (C. marthae), is native to only one of the Galapagos Islands. Its entire range is currently limited to Wolf Volcano on Isabella Island. The iguana was first discovered on this island in 1986. Genetic studies of the animal began sometime later, and it was identified as a species separate from other iguana populations on the Galapagos in 2009. Its population might have been as high as 100 in 1986, but now there might be as few as 10 of the animals left alive.

    Other evidence indicates that this species could have diverged from another line of iguanas about 5.7 million years ago. After that, the other line of iguanas diverged into two other species, C. pallidus and C. subcristatus.

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    Base your answers to questions 11 on the information and data table below and on your knowledge of biology.

    Moose-killing Winter Ticks

    Moose habitat is determined by temperature. Moose prefer areas where the average summer temperature is around 15°C and does not exceed 27°C for too long. The reason for this temperature dependency: Moose cannot sweat.

    Besides the cooling effect of water, which moose are almost always near, aquatic environments provide them with a good supply of food, and in the past, have protected them against biting insects. However, the North American moose population is facing a new threat: a parasite called the winter tick. These ticks lodge themselves in the animal’s fur and hold on through the winter, sucking the animal’s blood. Many infected moose end up dying of exhaustion and weakness as a result of the large number of ticks feeding on them.

    Ticks are most active during dry days in the fall. Adult ticks that drop off moose in the spring and land on snow cover have a poorer survival rate. Climate change can be predicted to improve conditions for winter ticks due to longer and warmer falls, and earlier snowmelt in the spring.

    Surveys of the moose population in northeastern Minnesota have recorded the change shown below in the moose population between 2005 and 2013.

    labs, lab, appendix A, laboratory check list, scientific inquiry, data organization, plot and interpretation fig: lenv62018-examw_g18.png

    Directions: Using the information in the data table, construct a line graph on the grid below, following the directions below.

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    Base your answers to questions 12 on the information and diagram below and on your knowledge of biology. The diagram represents the evolutionary relationships among many organisms.

    evolution, extinction fig: lenv62018-examw_g20.png

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    Base your answers to questions 13 on the diagram below and on your knowledge of biology. The diagram represents an evolutionary tree.

    evolution, new species formation and evolution fig: lenv82019-examw_g25.png

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