Biology STAAR Practice Review

Front

The cladogram shows the evolution of land plants as indicated by fossil records. Which discovery would challenge the validity of this cladogram?

• A large aquatic vascular plant about 200 million years old
• A species of algae that has existed for less than one million years
• A moss species that has existed for less than 380 million years
• A fossil of a fern more than 425 million years old

Back

A fossil of a fern more than 425 million years old

Front

Why have ant populations been able to inhabit so many different environments?

Back

adapt to a variety of habitats and food sources

Front

Two populations of mice living in the same forest are separated by a large water-filled ditch. After a rainstorm, flooding brings several mice from one population to the other population. When the mice from the first population reproduce with members of the second population, what is the likely outcome?

Back

The offspring in the second population will have greater genetic variety.

Front

Which body systems are directly responsible for regulating nodes and protecting the body from harmful materials in tissue fluid?

Back

Immune and lymphatic systems

Front

Taxonomic classification is important to marine biologists because it provides a way to -

Back

identify marine organisms and find evolutionary relationships between them

Front

When a person is suddenly cut by a sharp object, a nervous impulse is sent along a sensory neuron to the spinal cord. The impulse is immediately transmitted through motor neurons to produce a response. Which of the following correctly identifies and describes this response?

Back

It is a reflex response that causes various muscles to contract in order to move away from the object.

Front

Why did the grass tips of the experimental group bend toward the light?

Back

Light sensors in the grass tips simulated a hormone in the shoot system.

Front

What is the purpose of the cellular process involving a DNA strand modeled in the image?

Back

Transcribing information in the DNA sequence for use by the cell

Front

The energy pyramid shows the energy made available by producers. (View Image)
Base on the energy flow between trophic levels in an energy pyramid, how much energy would be expected to be found at the secondary consumer level in this pyramid?

Back

100 joules

Front

Nitrogenous bases are located on both strands of the DNA double helix. What is the significance of the nitrogenous bases?

Back

The order of nitrogenous bases determines the order of amino acids in the proteins synthesized.