1. Which chemical bonds are involved in base pairing in DNA?

a. Covalent bonds
b. Ionic bonds
c. Hydrogen bonds
d. Van der Waals attractions
e. Polar bonds

2. Which statement about thermogenesis is CORRECT?

a. Aerobic metabolism by ectotherms produces no heat.
b. Birds and mammals must contract their muscles to produce metabolic heat.
c. All of the free energy released by mitochondrial oxidation is coupled to the production of ATP.
d. In mammals, shivering is under voluntary control.
e. Some mammals have tissues called brown adipose tissue (or brown fat) that are specialized for
rapid heat production.

3. Which of the following conditions must apply for a behaviour pattern (such as eggshell removal
behaviour in black-headed gulls) to evolve by natural selection?
i. Individuals with the behaviour pattern must vary in their ability to produce offspring.
ii. The behaviour pattern must be heritable.
iii. Part of the variability in the behaviour pattern must be influenced by the environment.
iv. Individuals must vary in the behaviour pattern.
v. The behaviour pattern must confer greater fitness than other behaviour patterns.
a. i, ii, and iv
b. i, ii, and v
c. ii, iii, and iv
d. ii, iv, and v
e. iii, iv, and v
4. What process is used to transport glucose into animal cells?
a. Active transport
b. Facilitated diffusion
c. Endocytosis
d. Osmosis
e. Exocytosis

5. A science student observed an animal cell under a light microscope using a 100X objective. Which
of the following organelles could NOT be observed by the student?
a. Lysosomes
b. Peroxisomes
c. Mitochondria
d. Ribosomes
e. Centrosomes

6. A geneticist produced four plants with sickle-shaped pods and seven plants with crescent-shaped
pods by crossing two plants of the same species. A review of the literature revealed that pod shape in
this plant species is controlled by a single, completely dominant gene. What is the most accurate
conclusion that the geneticist can make about the genotype of the parental plants?
a. One parent was homozygous dominant and the other was homozygous recessive.
b. Both parents were heterozygous.
c. One parent was homozygous recessive and the other was heterozygous.
d. Since this result fits neither a 3:1 nor 1:1 distribution further crosses are required to collect more
data.
e. One parent was homozygous dominant and the other was heterozygous.

7. Why is photosynthetic CO2 fixation dependent on light?

a. ATP and NADPH are required for the regeneration of ribulose bisphosphate (RuBP).
b. The conversion of RuBP and CO2 to 3-phosphoglycerate (3PG) requires ATP.
c. Phosphenolpyruvate (PEP) regeneration requires NADPH.
d. The movement of CO2 from the air into the leaf requires ATP.
e. RuBP carboxylase requires a photostimulant to oxidize RuBP.

8. Which of the following is an example of a negative feedback system?

a. The more you scratch, the more it itches, so the more you scratch.
b. As blood sugar levels increase, insulin is released, signalling cells to take up sugar.
c. During childbirth, the pressure of the baby’s head on the cervix causes the release of a hormone
signal that increases the strength of contraction in the birth canal.
d. Pressure on the car brake during a quick stop causes forward momentum on the driver, causing
an increase in pressure on the brake.
e. Application of a depolarizing drug to a neuron brings the membrane to threshold potential which
opens voltage-gated Na+ channels.
9. A scientist created a chemical that specifically inhibits mitochondrial electron transport. Which
effect would be observed when the chemical is added to an animal cell?
a. A stimulation of ATP synthesis.
b. An increase in the pH of the matrix.
c. A decrease in O2 consumption.
d. A stimulation of proton pumping.
e. An increase in FADH2 consumption.

10. An evolutionary biologist carefully studies two populations of orchids, one from New Brunswick and
one from Nova Scotia. She wants to know whether the two populations belong to the same species or
to two different species. What is the best way to determine if they are two different species?
a. Show that they both have the same pollinator.
b. Grow orchids from the two populations in a greenhouse and show that they can interbreed.
c. Demonstrate that orchids from the two populations preferred different habitats.
d. Identify morphological differences between orchids from the two populations.
e. Map the distribution of the two orchids and find areas where they co-exist but do not interbreed.

11. A taxonomist found an organism while hiking through a tropical rainforest. Upon close examination,
he determines that the organism has chitin and acquires nutrients through absorption. The organism
most likely belongs to the ?
a. Protista
b. Bacteria
c. Animalia
d. Fungi
e. Plantae

12. Which statement about photosynthesis is FALSE?

a. Plants and green algae use water as a source of electrons in photosynthesis.
b. Cyclic electron transport results in the production of oxygen.
c. RuBP carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) can add O2 to the Calvin (Calvin-Benson) cycle.
d. In the light, the pH of the stroma increases.
e. Photophosphorylation involves coupled reactions.

13. An ecologist randomly sampled a large population of deer mice and found that 910 were black and
90 were white. Black coat colour is controlled by a dominant allele and white coat colour is
controlled by a recessive allele. Assuming that the population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium,
what is the number of heterozygous individuals in this population?
a. 700
b. 300
c. 490
d. 210
e. 420
14. The graph below illustrates a light response curve for a C4 plant such as sugarcane. If the rate of
respiration is 15 moles of CO2 evolved per m2 per hour, what is the rate of net gas exchange at the
rate of gross photosynthesis at the point of irradiance indicated by the symbol X?

a. 15 moles of CO2 evolved per m2 per hour.

b. 5 moles of CO2 evolved per m2 per hour.
c. 0 moles of CO2 taken up and evolved
per m2 per hour.
d. 5 moles of CO2 taken up per m2 per hour.
e. 10 moles of CO2 taken up per m2 per hour.

15. An individual’s fitness is best measured by:

a. its ability to compete with other individuals for key resources.
b. its resistance to disease and parasites.
c. its ability to survive relative to other individuals.
d. how early it can begin to reproduce.
e. its relative contribution to the gene pool of the next generation.

16. Which statement about protein synthesis is CORRECT?

a. A mutation that suppresses the formation of small nuclear RNA (snRNA) would increase the
average size of mRNAs.
b. Transcription factors act at the level of the ribosome during protein synthesis.
c. Introns contain tRNA sequences that fuse with rRNA to form spliceosomes.
d. Redundancy of the genetic code means that a single codon can code for more than one amino
acid.
e. Inosine can bond with uracil but not with adenine or cytosine.

17. In a laboratory experiment, a scientist applies a drug that opens sodium channels to a neuron. Two
millilitres of the drug barely brings the membrane to threshold potential, at which time the scientist
removes the drug by washing it away. After the neuron returns to stable resting potential, 10 ml of
the same drug is applied. Which statement about the experiment is most likely to be CORRECT?
a. The first application of the drug will not produce an action potential, as it is washed away
quickly.
b. No action potential will be produced because opening sodium channels will hyperpolarize the
membrane.
c. The action potential produced by the second application of the drug will be much greater than
the first.
d. The second application will not produce an action potential because the neuron is still in its
refractory period.
e. Both applications will produce action potentials of similar magnitude.
18. Which animal would produce a nitrogenous waste product with the lowest solubility in water?
a. Butterfly
b. Shark
c. Frog
d. Polar bear
e. Freshwater fish

19. In the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, the white-eye allele is X-linked and recessive. What would
be the outcome of a cross between a white-eyed female and a red-eyed male?
a. The result would depend on the genotype of the parents.
b. All females will be red-eyed and all males will be white-eyed.
c. All males will be white-eyed and females will have a 1:1 red-eye to white-eye distribution.
d. Any combination of sex and eye colour is possible.
e. Female to male distributions and red-eye to white-eye distributions will be 1:1, independent of
one another.

20. In terrestrial plants, most of the water used in photosynthesis is acquired from the soil and
transported to the leaves. Which of the following best describes the pathway that a molecule of water
would follow upon entering the root?
a. Cortex ÿ endodermis ÿ xylem ÿ epidermis
b. Xylem ÿ epidermis ÿ cortex ÿ endodermis
c. Epidermis ÿ cortex ÿ endodermis ÿ xylem
d. Endodermis ÿ epidermis ÿ xylem ÿ cortex
e. Cortex ÿ xylem ÿ epidermis ÿ endodermis

21. Which statement best explains why bumblebees do not require respiratory pigments?
a. They have a small surface area to volume ratio.
b. They have low metabolic rates.
c. They have a counter-current gas exchange mechanism.
d. They have an open circulatory system.
e. They have a system to deliver air directly to tissues.

22. A study of a freshwater community revealed the following food chain:

Phytoplankton ÿ zooplankton ÿ perch ÿ trout ÿ
osprey
The amount of energy in phytoplankton in this community is 1,000,000 joules. How much of this
energy would most likely appear in the tertiary consumer given a 10% efficiency transfer between
trophic levels?
a. 100,000 joules
b. 10,000 joules
c. 1,000 joules
d. 100 joules
e. 10 joules
23. What elements are directly responsible for separating chromatids at the beginning of
anaphase in mitosis?
a. Centrioles
b. Centromeres
c. Kinetochore microtubules
d. Nuclear membranes
e. Nucleoli

24. In large aquatic systems, such as the Great Lakes of North America, environmental
contaminants like DDT would be most concentrated in which animal?
a. Herring gull eggs
b. Zooplankton
c. Perch (medium-sized fish)
d. Minnows (small-sized fish)
e. Zebra mussels

25. Certain indigenous tribes in the Amazon tip the darts of their blowguns with poison
derived from frogs. These frogs are often brilliantly coloured and easy to spot in the
forest. What is this an example of?
a. Batesian mimicry
b. Warning colouration
c. Müllerian mimicry
d. Cryptic colouration