List of practice Questions

The table below provides a list of study questions (P, Q, R) and statistical tests (i, ii, iii).

Which one of the following options correctly matches the study question to the most appropriate statistical test?

Fungus S infects elm trees and fungus T infects chestnut trees, and both kill their hosts within a year of infection. A forest with equal density of elm and chestnut trees is colonized by both pathogenic fungi. A 100 years later, the elm tree population has declined and the chestnut trees have become extinct. Which one of the following mechanisms would NOT contribute to this outcome?

Figure F shows how predation rate changes with increasing prey density.
Which one of the figures represents the per capita death rate of prey under the conditions of F?
 

Many insect species carry the endosymbiotic bacteria Wolbachia, which are maternally inherited. Wolbachia persist over time in these insect hosts by increasing the fitness of the infected host. This increased host fitness can lead to the fixation of Wolbachia in the host population, wherein all individuals carry it. Which one of the following statements describes a process that would NOT allow Wolbachia to become fixed in the host population?
Newts produce tetrodotoxin (TTX), a poison that targets sodium ion channels, for defense against their predators, garter snakes. Several species of garter snakes are resistant to newt TTX due to specific known amino acid substitutions in garter snake sodium channels. Which one of the following is best-suited to identify whether this adaptation in garter snakes has a single origin or multiple independent origins?
The origin and proliferation of which one of the following organisms was responsible for the ‘Great Oxidation Event’?
In a population of 534 blue sheep, there are two alleles, P and Q, at an autosomal locus. Allele P has a frequency of 30%. The number of sheep with the QQ genotype is 262. Assuming that this population is at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, the expected percentage of sheep with the PQ genotype in the population is:
In a lake with a large population of fish, there are 4 blue fish for every red fish. Every fish has an equal probability of being caught. If you dip a net into this lake and pick up 4 individuals at random, the probability that you will get 2 fish of each colour is:
Which one or more of the following functions do insects directly perform in ecosystems?
During migration, which one or more of the following do birds use for long-distance navigation?
Fish schools in coral reefs can comprise multiple species that swim and forage together. Which one or more of the following options describe(s) potential fitness benefit(s) to individuals in a mixed-species group?
Mayflies lay eggs in water. Their nymphs (immature life stage) are aquatic and adults are terrestrial. Some mayflies perceive dry, paved parking lots as waterbodies and lay eggs there that do not survive. In this situation, which one or more of these statements is/are correct?

Match the following geographic regions to the mammals that are native to those regions.


 

In this figure, the rectangle (P) depicts the range of temperature and rainfall in which a plant species can survive and propagate. The circle (Q) demarcates the range of temperature and rainfall in which this plant species is actually found. Which one of the following statements about P and Q is accurate for this plant species?


 

Local communities are comprised of a subset of species from the regional species pool. Which one of the following processes is LEAST likely to cause species composition of local communities to differ from one another?
The species richness of trees increases from North to South in the Western Ghats, and from South to North in the Andes. Which one of the following can be an explanation for these patterns?
High water temperatures can cause coral bleaching, which often leads to coral death. In coral reefs that experience repeated bleaching, there can be substantial algal growth on dead coral, eventually leading to an algal dominated ecosystem. Such a transformation is known as
Across trophic levels, energy flows from producers to primary consumers, and from primary consumers to secondary consumers. Which one of the following options best represents the percentage of energy that is transferred from producers to secondary consumers?
Certain species of ibex and weevils depend on the same food source. A study finds that the removal of ibex results in an increase in the number of weevils, but the removal of weevils does not affect the ibex. Which one of the following options best describes this interaction?
Fossils of most of the modern animal phyla first appeared over a short period of time. In which one of the following geological time periods did this occur?
Which one of the following is an example of a cell type found only in a single phylum?
A bird eats two types of worms, P and Q, picking them randomly. Which one of the following describes the kind of probability distribution of the number of worms of type P eaten by the bird in a day?
The hippocampus is a region of the brain whose size is positively correlated with navigation and spatial mapping ability in birds and mammals. Which one of the following observations would NOT be consistent with this statement?
A butterfly species in a homogenous forest patch starts exhibiting assortative mating, such that spotted individuals always mate with each other and plain individuals always mate with each other. This trait is heritable, and spotted parents always produce spotted offspring and plain parents always produce plain offspring. Which one of the following forms of speciation could this prezygotic reproductive barrier most likely lead to?
Lizards that produce many eggs often have a shorter lifespan than those who produce fewer eggs. Which one of the terms below describes the relationship between the number of eggs and lifespan?