Regents Living Environment Test Preparation Practice

    Lab Relationships And Biodiversity

    1
    2
    3
    4
    5

    Base your answers to questions 6 on the information below and on your knowledge of biology.

    Seriously, We’re Poisonous: Coloration Is An Honest Signal

    Of Toxicity In Poison Frogs

    The conspicuous [noticeable] colors of poisonous frogs serve as a warning to predators: Don’t eat me; I’m toxic. And a new study shows that in the case of at least one frog species, they aren’t bluffing–the more conspicuous the color, the more poisonous the frog. Researchers Martine Maan (University of Groningen, the Netherlands) and Molly Cummings (University of Texas) studied strawberry poison dart frogs, which are native to Panama and come in more than a dozen different color patterns that vary from region to region.…

    …Maan and Cummings tested the toxicity levels of 10 differently colored frog populations. Then using known properties of birds’ visual systems, the researchers estimated how each color pattern would look to a bird, an important frog predator. The results show that frogs with more conspicuous color patterns–as seen by birds–tended to be more toxic. The findings suggest that “birds can predict the toxicity of frogs by looking at their colors, possibly better than the frogs can themselves,” Maan said.…

    Source: http://www.ineffableisland.com/2012/01/seriously-were-poisonous-coloration-is.html

    6
    7
    8

    Base your answers to questions 9 on the information below and on your knowledge of biology.

    The sequences below represent the same portions of a DNA molecule from the same gene used by a student to study the relationship between two plant species. A biological catalyst that recognizes the CCGG site is used to cut the DNA molecules into pieces. The catalyst cuts the DNA between the C and G of the site.

    9
    10

    Base your answers to questions 11 on the chart below and on your knowledge of biology. The DNA Sequences chart shows a portion of the code for insulin in humans and cows. These DNA sequences are repeated in the Human Insulin and Cow Insulin charts.

    11

    Base your answers to questions 12 on the information and data table below and on your knowledge of biology.

    An investigation was carried out on four different plant species to determine which of three species was most closely related to an unknown plant species. The results of the investigation are shown in the data table below.

    labs, lab, relationships and biodiversity fig: lenv12014-examw_g19.png

    12

    Base your answers to question 13-14 on the Universal Genetic Code Chart below and on your knowledge of biology.

    labs, lab, relationships and biodiversity fig: lenv12015-exam_g30.png

    13-14
    15
    16