1. Living things change during their lives through _____. (1 point)
reproduction
growth and development
making responses
adaptation and organization
2. Which of the following are likely topics for a course in biology? (1 point)
Why does the Texas horned lizard squirt blood out of its eyes?
How is a banded pipefish able to hide in its environment of seaweeds?
What chemicals cause plant stems to lengthen or flowers to bloom?
all of these
3. A structured procedure for collecting information to test a hypothesis is a(n) _____. (1 point)
principle
theory
control
experiment
4. Knowledge gained by scientific research _____. (1 point)
can always be used to provide monetary benefits for humans
always raises social, ethical, and moral concerns
is never inherently good or bad
never results in data that can be applied to solve problems
5. The _____ consists of evaporation, precipitation, transpiration, runoff, and respiration. (1 point)
carbon cycle
phosphorus cycle
water cycle
nitrogen cycle
6. Before plants can reuse many organic materials, the materials must be broken down by _____. (1 point)
autotrophs
decomposers
heterotrophs
mutualism
7. An uncut lawn becomes a meadow and eventually a forest. This process is an example of _____. (1 point)
aphotic zones
primary succession
estuary
secondary succession
8. Ling feeds her guppies one-half teaspoon of fish food every day. The average guppy population in her aquarium over a four-month period is 38 guppies. She increased the food to one teaspoon per day. After a four-month period, the average population is 53 guppies.

When Ling increased the amount of food, what happened to the carrying capacity of the aquarium? (1 point)
It increased.
It decreased.
It remained the same.
It increased and then decreased.
9. Tropical rain forest and _____ biomes are both characterized by a thin layer of nutrient-poor topsoil that can support only shallow-rooted plants. (1 point)
taiga
desert
tundra
temperate forest
10. The effect of local population fluctuations in rapidly expanding suburbs may _____ schools, roads, and police and fire services. (1 point)
stress
reduce the need for
have no effect on
none of these
11. Instead of growing explosively, population growth tends to level off because the population reaches the _____ of a particular environment. (1 point)
doubling time
exponential growth
carrying capacity
linear growth
12. Which one of the following is NOT a cause of acid precipitation? (1 point)
sulfur dioxide from burning coal
nitrogen oxides from car exhaust
destruction of the ozone layer
all of the above
13. _____ is a branch of biology that focuses on the preservation of biodiversity. (1 point)
Ecology
Demography
Genetics
Conservation biology
14. A patch of wildife area may have different climate conditions around its perimeter. This is known as _____. (1 point)
edge effect
habitat fragmentation
habitat degradation
habitat loss
15. Carbon compounds that come from living organisms are called _____ compounds. (1 point)
water
organic
homogeneous
biological
16. Unlike carbohydrates and fats, proteins contain _____. (1 point)
nitrogen
carbon
hydrogen
oxygen
17. If a cell contains a nucleus, it must be a(n) _____. (1 point)
plant cell
eukaryotic cell
animal cell
prokaryotic cell
18. Because the phospholipid molecules and some proteins are free to move, the plasma membrane is said to be a ____. (1 point)
bilayer
solid
fluid mosaic
fatty acid
19. In a cell, the breakdown of molecules in order to release energy occurs in the _____. (1 point)
Golgi apparatus
ribosome
mitochondria
lysosome
20. Water moves out of a cell if the cell is placed in a(n) _____ solution. (1 point)
hypertonic
isotonic
hypotonic
passive