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According to the theory of biological evolution, most present-day species of organisms*
Caffeine is a compound found in the seeds of many different plants, such as coffee beans, cola nuts, and cacao beans (the source of chocolate). The presence of this chemical in all three types of plants suggests that these plants*
Scientists at Penn State have sequenced the DNA of the extinct woolly mammoth. The data suggested that the woolly mammoth was more closely related to present-day elephants than previously believed.
Which statement could account for the similarities between the woolly mammoth and present-day elephants?*
Base your answers to questions 4 on the information below and on your knowledge of biology.
Fossil Footprints
Scientists examined a trail of fossil footprints left by early humans in soft, volcanic ash in Eastern Africa. A drawing of the trail of footprints is shown below. Each footprint is represented as a series of lines indicating the depth that different parts of the foot sank into the volcanic ash.
The type of information directly provided by these fossil footprints is useful because it*
In 2007, scientists broke open a fossil of a dinosaur bone and found some preserved tissues. Analysis showed that some proteins in these tissues are very similar to proteins found in modern chickens. The conclusion that these dinosaurs are related to modern chickens is based on*
Evidence that best supports the theory of biological evolution was obtained from the*
Natural selection and its evolutionary consequences provide a scientific explanation for*
Scientists who have examined the fossil record have noted that some species have changed very little over long periods of geologic time. The lack of change in such organisms is most likely because*
The fossil record of ancient life forms provides scientific evidence of*
Base your answers to questions 10 on the diagram below and on your knowledge of biology. The diagram shows the evolutionary history of several plant species.
Identify one type of molecular evidence that could have been used to determine the evolutionary relationships illustrated in the diagram. [1]*
Base your answers to questions 11 on the information below and on your knowledge of biology.
Pocket Mice
Pocket mice are small rodents that feed mainly at night and are preyed upon by owls, hawks, and snakes. Scientists studied pocket mice living on dark volcanic rock in both New Mexico and fifty miles away in Arizona. They recorded their data in the chart below.
Dark fur color in pocket mice is the result of a mutation. Scientists analyzed the sequence of bases in the gene known to play a role in fur color and discovered that the mutation was identical in both the New Mexico and Arizona mouse populations. Explain how it is possible for these two different populations to have identical gene sequences for dark fur color. [1]*
Base your answers to questions 12 on the information below and on your knowledge of biology.
Bye – Bye Bananas?
The world’s most popular type of banana is facing a major health crisis. According to a new study, a disease caused by a powerful fungus is killing the Cavendish banana, which accounts for 99% of the banana market around the globe. The disease, called tropical race 4 (TR4), has affected banana crops in southeast Asia for decades. In recent years, it has spread to the Middle East and the African nation of Mozambique. Now experts fear the disease will show up in Latin America, where the majority of the world’s bananas are grown. …
…Once a banana plant is infected with TR4, it cannot get nourishment from water and nutrients, and basically dies of thirst. TR4 lives in soil, and can easily end up on a person’s boots. If the contaminated boots are then worn on a field where Cavendish bananas are grown, the disease could be transferred. “Once a field has been contaminated with the disease, you can’t grow Cavendish bananas there anymore,” Randy Ploetz [scientist] says. “The disease lasts a long time in the soil.”…
…But Cavendish [banana] is also particularly vulnerable to TR4. The banana is grown in what is called monoculture. “You see a big field of bananas and each one is genetically identical to its neighbor” Ploetz says. “And they are all uniformly susceptible to this disease. So once one plant gets infected, it just runs like wildfire throughout that entire plantation.”…
Source: http://www.timeforkids.come/new/bye-bye-bananas/3311666
Explain why the entire Cavendish banana crop worldwide is particularly vulnerable to the TR4 fungus. [1]*
Base your answers to questions 13 on the information and photograph below and on your knowledge of biology.
A Close Relative of the Elephant
A hyrax is an animal that has been called a rock rabbit and looks like a guinea pig. Fossil records show that hyraxes first appeared on Earth approximately 37 million years ago. As they evolved, some became mouse-sized, while some were the size of a horse. Some eventually adapted to marine life and are related to manatees, and some became grazers and are related to elephants.
Identify one type of molecular evidence that could have been used to develop this mammalian evolutionary tree, and describe one specific way that the evidence could have been used to construct the tree. [1]
Evidence: ________________________________________*
Base your answers to questions 14 on the passage below and on your knowledge of biology.
Most animal fossils include hard body parts such as teeth and bones. Until recently, scientists had little hope that soft tissue could be preserved in the bones. A team of scientists has removed soft tissue containing a collagen protein from the leg bone of a 68-million-year-old fossil from a dinosaur, Tyrannosaurus rex. The technique of mass spectrometry was used to identify the sequences of certain molecules in several small fragments of the dinosaur collagen protein.
The molecular sequences were compared to those of modern animals. The scientist found that the collagen protein of the Tyrannosaurus rex more closely resembled the collagen protein found in modern chickens than that in some other modern animals.
State one kind of evidence that would support the conclusion that birds evolved from dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex. [1]*
Base your answer to question 15-19 on the information below and on your knowledge of biology.
New varieties of organisms have resulted from human activities. These organisms have often led to problems in modern society. Two of these new varieties are listed below.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria Pesticide-resistant insects
Select one of these varieties and discuss a problem associated with the development of this new variety of organism. In your answer, be sure to:
• identify the variety you selected
• identify one biological process by which a population of this variety may develop resistance [1]
• describe how this process is involved in the production of a population of resistant organisms [1]
• identify one problem caused by this resistance [1]
• state one solution to this problem [1]
• identify one possible negative effect of this solution [1]
Variety: ________________________________*
