Chapter 1 Questions

3 September 2022
4.7 (114 reviews)
43 test answers

Unlock all answers in this set

Unlock answers (39)
question
Which of the following statements is true regarding evolution?
answer
Evolution is the process of change over time that has resulted in the array of organisms found on Earth.
question
Which of the following is not an accurate statement about biology?
answer
Biological inquiry is a cataloguing of all the processes and properties of life on Earth.
question
Which of the following is not a property associated with all living organisms?
answer
Disorder
question
Which of the following is an attribute of living things?
answer
They must be capable of acquiring adaptations through evolution.
question
Which of the following is NOT an attribute of living things?
answer
All living things require oxygen.
question
What is the appropriate term for an interacting group of individuals of a single type occupying a defined area?
answer
population
question
Emergent properties of living systems are properties that...
answer
are due to the arrangement and interactions of parts as complexity increases.
question
Which of the following statements best describes the phenomenon of "emergence"?
answer
The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
question
Which of the following systems does NOT display emergent properties?
answer
None of the listed responses is correct.
question
Which of the following can best be considered a biological system?
answer
a single liver cell, the biosphere, a pond
question
In an ecosystem, nutrients __________ and energy __________.
answer
are recycled... flows through
question
The energy used by most organisms for metabolism and growth ultimately comes from...
answer
the sun.
question
Which of the following is the fundamental unit of structure and function in living organisms?
answer
cell
question
What is the molecule that is responsible for both the unity and the diversity of life?
answer
DNA
question
How is the information encoded in DNA actually used by organisms?
answer
The information in DNA is transcribed to RNA and then usually translated into protein.
question
Which of the following domains is prokaryotic?
answer
Archaea
question
Which type of organisms within the domain Eukarya is composed of organisms that are generally unicellular (single-celled)?
answer
protists
question
Eukaryotic organisms that decompose dead organisms and absorb the nutrients are generally found in which kingdom?
answer
Fungi
question
Evolution tends to act at which of the following levels?
answer
population
question
Which of the following observations and inferences led Charles Darwin to his theory of natural selection as a mechanism for evolution?
answer
Darwin synthesized his theory of natural selection from all of the listed observations and inferences.
question
With evolutions as the core theme of biology, we can explain traits shared by organisms as evidence of __________ and traits that differ among organisms as evidence of __________.
answer
descent from a common ancestor... adaptation through natural selection
question
Experimentation is only one part of the process of scientific inquiry, but it is a very important step because it...
answer
allows rejection of hypotheses
question
Radon is a radioactive gas that seeps into homes from the soil. It is thought to be a cause of lung cancer. A research team investigates this hypothesis. The members of the team gather large amounts of data on basement radon concentrations and lung cancer rates and conclude that the more radon there is in a home, the more likely are people living in the home to develop lung cancer. After the study is published, other researchers criticize it by asserting that the studied neighborhoods with higher radon concentrations also have a higher percentage of older people and a higher percentage of cigarette smokers than the low-radon neighborhoods. Both advanced age and cigarette smoking increase the risk of lung cancer. This criticism, if correct, shows that the radon study suffered from...
answer
uncontrolled variables.
question
Which of the following statements most clearly demonstrates inductive reasoning?
answer
If the animals observed require organic molecules as nutrients, then it can be concluded that all animals require organic molecules as nutrients.
question
A team of scientists has devised a new chemical fertilizer that its members believe will increase crop yields. The team planted three garden plots with corn. The soil was similar in each, and equal amounts of water were applied to each plot. One plot was treated with a common commercial fertilizer, another was treated with the new fertilizer, and the third plot was not given any fertilizer. The experimenters measured yields as bushels of corn from each plot. The plot that did not receive fertilizer was the...
answer
control plot.
question
A hypothesis must be testable to be scientifically valid. Being testable and falsifiable means that...
answer
some conceivable observation or experiment could reveal whether a given hypothesis is incorrect
question
At which point in a study is a scientific investigator most likely to use deductive reasoning?
answer
in establishing a test of hypothesis
question
Which of the following is OUTSIDE the realm of scientific inquiry?
answer
addressing ethical dilemmas
question
A company was testing a new drug it thought would help decrease the risk of transmission of viruses from mother to fetus. In an experiment to test the compound, an investigator gave 400 pregnant female rats a small dose of the experimental drug and inoculated each with a type of virus known to cause disease in rats. At the same time, 400 other pregnant rats were given only the virus. Of the rat pups born to the females that received both the virus and the drug, 197 showed no symptoms of the disease; 205 rat pups born to the virus-only females showed symptoms. From these data, we can best conclude __________. t
answer
that the drug seems to have little effect on viral transmission at the dosage given.
question
The best method for determining whether bean plants require sodium is to...
answer
grow bean plants with and without sodium.
question
Repetition of an experiment...
answer
is necessary before conducting that a given set of results is correct.
question
Should an experiment test only one variable at a time? Why or why not?
answer
Yes, an experiment should test only one variable at a time. This ensures that the experimental outcome is clearly due to one identifiable factor.
question
A scientific theory is...
answer
a well-supported concept that has broad explanatory power.
question
All the organisms on your campus make-up...
answer
a community.
question
Which of the following is a correct sequence of levels in life's hierarchy, proceeding downward from an individual animal?
answer
nervous system, brain, nervous tissue, nerve cell
question
Which of the following is not an observation or inference on which Darwin's theory of natural selection is based?
answer
Poorly adapted individuals never produce offspring.
question
Systems biology is mainly an attempt to...
answer
understand the behavior of entire biological systems.
question
Protists and bacteria are grouped into different domains because...
answer
protists have a membrane-bounded nucleus, which bacterial cells lack.
question
Which of the following best demonstrates the unity among all organisms?
answer
the structure and function of DNA
question
A controlled experiment is one that...
answer
tests experimental and control groups in parallel.
question
Which of the following statements best distinguishes hypotheses from theories in science?
answer
Hypotheses usually are relatively narrow in scope; theories have broad explanatory power.
question
Which of the following is an example of qualitative data?
answer
The fish swam in a zigzag motion.
question
Which of the following best describes the logic of scientific inquiry?
answer
If my hypothesis is correct, I can expect certain test results.