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WorksheetsPractice STAAR
Total questions: 66
Worksheet time: 33mins
The karyotype, or chromosomal profile, for humans is shown. A karyotype can be used to investigate genetic disorders.
The cell cycle skips G0 phase and repeats G1 phase.
Mitotic division is skipped, and the cell cycle proceeds to cytokinesis.
Mitotic division stops in metaphase and cannot proceed to anaphase.
The cell cycle skips S phase and proceeds to G2 phase.
A student produces a labeled drawing of a virus for a presentation. The student states that the capsid has a function similar to the nuclear membrane found in animal cells.
Both transport proteins throughout the structures.
Both provide energy for activities in the structures.
Both protect genetic information for the structures.
Both code for the proteins needed for reproduction of the structures.
A type of cellular transport is shown.
Active transport, because energy is being used to move molecules against the concentration gradient
Facilitated diffusion, because energy is being used to move molecules with the concentration gradient
Osmosis, because energy is not being used to move molecules with the concentration gradient
Endocytosis, because energy is not being used to move molecules against the concentration gradient
The diagram shows molecules that a mitochondrion uses and produces during a cellular process.
DNA
RNA
CHO
ATP
In a study of physical endurance, researchers observed significant increases in the heart rates and breathing rates of participants immediately after they engaged in strenuous exercise.
Which statement best explains the increase in the heart rate and the breathing rate during exercise?
The water concentration in the blood increases.
Body cells require increased oxygen as energy is expended.
Muscle cells increase in temperature and require fluid to reduce the temperature.
An increase in muscle activity causes increases in glucose levels in red blood cells.
In 1898 Friedrich Loeffler and Paul Frosch found evidence that the cause of the highly contagious hoof-and-mouth disease in livestock was a microscopic infectious particle. It was discovered that this particle requires a host cell to reproduce.
Which pathogen is most likely responsible for causing hoof-and-mouth disease in livestock?
A bacterium, because it is contagious
A fungus, because it infects livestock
A protist, because it is microscopic
A virus, because it requires a host cell to reproduce
Which table shows two steps of DNA replications?
Eight components present in nucleic acids are listed in the box.
1, 3, 5, and 6 only
3 and 5 only
2 and 4 only
3, 4, 7, and 8 only
Mice have two unlinked allele pairs that affect fur color. The table shows how allele pairs affect fur color. The term “agouti” describes fur with pigmentation that changes in each hair from the shaft to the tip, giving the fur a banded appearance. Mice with the aa allele pair are albino, regardless of the second allele-pair combination.
161
163
164
169
The inheritance pattern for an autosomal dominant trait is shown in the pedigree. Shaded symbols represent individuals that express the dominant trait.
I-1: aa
I-2: Aa
I-1: AA
I-2: Aa
I-1: Aa
I-2: aa
I-1: aa
I-2: AA
The model shows a mutation to a partial sequence of bases in a gene.
Deletion
Insertion
Substitution
Translocation
A segment of a DNA strand is shown.
A new predator of rabbits has been introduced within an ecosystem. This new predator runs faster than the native predators of rabbits.
Which statement describes what will most likely occur in the rabbit population due to the introduction of the predator?
The rabbits will mutate their genes and express genes that increase their speed.
Slower rabbits will develop stronger legs and pass this trait to their offspring.
Rabbits will mate and produce offspring with a different species that has faster runners.
Faster rabbits will survive and reproduce increasing the average speed of the rabbit population.
A dichotomous key for identifying fish is shown.
Glassy sweeper and squirrelfish
Glasseye snapper and spotted eagle ray
Spotted goatfish and bandtail puffer
Peacock flounder and glassy sweeper
The aye-aye lemur is a mammal that feeds mostly on insect larvae that live inside trees. The aye-aye lemur has a specialized middle finger that is long and thin. The aye-aye lemur moves along a tree branch and taps the branch with its specialized finger. When the aye-aye lemur hears a difference in the echo, it will tear open the bark with its teeth until the insect tunnel is exposed. The aye-aye lemur then uses its specialized finger to reach the insect larvae and remove it.
Limited availability of water
Competing for mates
Large numbers of natural predators
Food sources that are hard to find
This cladogram shows the evolutionary relationships among some mammals based on homologous structures.
Hippopotamuses are more closely related to cows than to javelinas.
Toothed whales are more closely related to mouse deer than to hippopotamuses.
Javelinas and pigs are more closely related than baleen whales and toothed whales.
Cows and mouse deer are more closely related than javelinas and pigs.
The San Marcos salamander, Eurycea nana, is a light reddish-brown translucent salamander about 2–5 cm in length. E. nana is found only in Spring Lake and a portion of the San Marcos River.
Which human activity would most likely decrease the ability of the salamanders to survive?
Increasing water consumption that decreases the flow of clean water from the springs that feed the river
Public transportation that reduces the number of automobiles that contribute to pollution runoff into the river
Tourism that helps fund the educational programs related to river ecosystem conservation
The addition of a new food source into the river that limits competition for resources
A partial Texas food web is shown.
Grasses and ants
Ants and grasshoppers
Grasshoppers and Texas cottonmouths
Texas cottonmouths and red-shouldered hawks
A biomass pyramid of an ecosystem is shown.
Organisms at higher trophic levels have less energy available to them than organisms at lower trophic levels.
Organisms at higher trophic levels require smaller habitats than organisms at lower trophic levels.
Organisms at lower trophic levels provide less energy than organisms at higher trophic levels.
Organisms at lower trophic levels outcompete organisms at higher trophic levels.
The diagrams show a partial food web containing Glyptapanteles wasp and the life cycle of this wasp.
Grassland ecosystems in Texas have evolved to depend on periodic fires to return nutrients to the soil and encourage plant reproduction. Humans have prevented fires in many of these grassland areas, resulting in plant and animal communities with little diversity. Wildlife biologists often recommend purposefully starting fires called prescribed burns, which are monitored and controlled, in grassland ecosystems every 3 to 4 years. These biologists observe greater diversity in plant and animal life in the years following a prescribed burn.
What natural processes are the biologists attempting to imitate?
Biomagnification
Succession
Population bottleneck
Species extinction
The ocean sunfish (Mola mola) is a large, flat fish that spends most of its time in deep water feeding mainly on jellyfish. Sunfish often have many species of copepods, small crustaceans, that bury their heads into the soft tissue of the sunfish. Sunfish will swim to the surface of the water and lie sideways, allowing seabirds to eat the copepods from their skin.
Seabirds: mutualism
Jellyfish: predation
Copepods: parasitism
Seabirds: parasitism
Jellyfish: commensalism
Copepods: predation
Seabirds: predation
Jellyfish: mutualism
Copepods: commensalism
Seabirds: commensalism
Jellyfish: parasitism
Copepods: mutualism
Gibberellins are hormones produced in the root tips of plants. The plant uses these hormones to stimulate the growth of shoots.
How are gibberellins able to affect other parts of the plant?
Gibberellins are absorbed through the stomata and attach to chloroplasts.
Gibberellins are transported through vascular tissues to other parts of the plant.
Gibberellins become concentrated within the tissues of the plant during mitosis.
Gibberellins become modified once they infect healthy cells and are later released to infect other cells.
The fuzzy millipede, Polyxenus fasciculatus, is found in Texas and is preyed upon by most species of ants. To protect itself against the ants, it ejects fibers from a tuft located at the tail end of its body. The tufts have hooks at the tips and barbs along their length that lock and interlink with the ant’s setae, small hairs that cover the body of the ant. When an ant attacks, the millipede flexes its back end toward the ant and wipes the tufts against it. As the ant attempts to remove the tufts, it entangles itself more, becoming immobilized.
Muscular and integumentary
Immune and muscular
Integumentary and endocrine
Endocrine and immune
A chart of some plant systems and functions is shown.
Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
Option 4
A feedback mechanism in the human body is shown.
The nervous and reproductive systems work together to stimulate the production of insulin.
The circulatory and endocrine systems work together to keep blood sugar levels constant.
The excretory and nervous systems work together to convert glycogen into glucose.
The immune and circulatory systems work together to circulate blood through the pancreas.
A table of four types of carbohydrates is shown.
Energy: glycogen and starch Structure: cellulose and chitin
Energy: cellulose and chitin Structure: glycogen and starch
Energy: chitin and glycogen Structure: cellulose and starch
Energy: cellulose and starch Structure: chitin and glycogen
Transmembrane proteins span the width of cell membranes. Four types of transmembrane proteins are shown in a section of cell membrane.
stop chemical reactions within the cell
synthesize molecules that signal other cells
help the cell interact with its external environment
remove large waste particles from the cytoplasm of the cell
Students are given data from an investigation that identified some of the chemical elements present in four different samples.
Sample 1
Sample 2
Sample 3
Sample 4
In cattle the allele for cloven hooves (H) is dominant over the allele for mule-foot hooves (h). The phenotype for each trait is shown in this picture.
0.25
0.5
0.75
1
A certain mutation in the gene for hemoglobin results in the red blood cells becoming sticky, rigid, and irregularly shaped. These irregularly shaped red blood cells block the flow of blood throughout the body. A single base mutation is responsible for these irregularly shaped blood cells.
Insertion
Deletion
Duplication
Substitution
A small town in the piney woods of East Texas has a soccer field composed of native grasses. The soccer field is mowed once a week.
What effect does continual mowing have on the ecology of the field?
Mowing increases the likelihood of nonnative species displacing native species.
Mowing increases the number of species found in the field.
Mowing causes different types of communities to form across the field.
Mowing maintains a low species diversity by inhibiting further succession.
The table lists some organisms found in a swamp ecosystem and their sources of energy.
Grass carp
American alligator
Eastern mud turtle
Great blue heron
Scientists have observed many types of tropical fish moving beyond their traditional ocean ranges into waters that have historically been more temperate. These fish compete for food with native fish, consuming much from the kelp forests and beds of sea grass.
The expansion of the ranges of tropical fish was most likely caused by —
agricultural runoff that contributes to dead zones in the ocean
global droughts that raise the salt concentration of ocean waters
the rising temperatures of ocean waters
acid rain pollution that lowers the pH of ocean waters
Enchanted Rock State Natural Area is located in Central Texas. Enchanted Rock is a dome of granite. The area contains four easily identifiable communities. The table describes characteristics of each type of community in the area.
Open oak woodland
Mesquite grassland
Floodplain
Granite rock
In North American forests, two species of birds, nuthatches and brown creepers, forage on the same trees for insects. Brown creepers feed on insects found near the bottom of the tree trunk, while nuthatches feed on insects in the top part of the tree.
The difference in foraging behavior most likely affects the nuthatches and brown creepers by —
allowing the birds to avoid many types of predators
reducing competition between the birds for resources
preventing the birds from interbreeding with each other
establishing dominance between the birds for nesting sites
A partial meadow food web is shown.
Aphid Bird Rabbit
Ladybug Fox Dragonfly
Frog Butterfly Berries
Mouse Snake Hawk
The diagram illustrates the activity of vesicles during a cellular process.
Which statement best explains the function of the vesticles
Delivering packaged materials to the Golgi apparatus for protein synthesis
Exchanging genetic information between the Golgi apparatus of separate cells
Extracting portions of the Golgi apparatus to be regenerated for growth within the cell
Transporting packaged molecules from the Golgi apparatus to be released out of the cell
In the 1880s, Louis Pasteur developed a method of weakening viruses. The weakened viruses could be injected into healthy individuals.
How is this method effective in fighting viral diseases?
The immune system develops antibodies in response to the weakened viruses.
The weakened viruses attach to unaffected viruses in the host and interrupt the viral reproductive cycle.
The rate of genetic mutation in the host is decreased due to the introduction of weakened viruses.
Weakened viruses are unable to enter the host organism.
The activities in the cell cycle occur during specific phases. In which phase of the cell cycle is DNA replicated?
Mitosis
G1 phase
G2 phase
S phase
An advertisement for a health supplement for dogs claims to build lean muscle and strengthen tendons and ligaments, as well as provide energy. Which two biomolecules must the supplement contain to provide these benefits?
Carbohydrates and lipids
Proteins and carbohydrates
Nucleic acids and carbohydrates
Lipids and nucleic acids
When mammals get an infection, their internal body temperature often rises 2 to 3 degrees Celsius. The body gets the energy it needs to react to an infection by —
increasing the rate of cellular division
decreasing the rate of glucose movement into the cell
increasing the rate of cellular respiration in mitochondria
decreasing the rate at which carbon dioxide is removed from the cell
Two biomolecules are shown.
Molecule X and Molecule Y are both carbohydrates.
Molecule X is a nucleic acid, and Molecule Y is a carbohydrate
Molecule X and Molecule Y are both nucleic acids.
Molecule X is a carbohydrate, and Molecule Y is a nucleic acid.
This model of the cell cycle includes two arrows that each represent a process in the cycle.
Arrow 1 represents prophase, and Arrow 2 represents interphase.
Arrow 1 represents mitosis, and Arrow 2 represents meiosis.
Arrow 1 represents interphase, and Arrow 2 represents mitosis.
Arrow 1 represents meiosis, and Arrow 2 represents prophase.
Which of these describes a difference between viruses and cells?
Cells contain protein, and viruses contain only carbohydrates
Viruses have flagella, and cells have only cilia.
Cells reproduce independently, and viruses require a host to reproduce.
Viruses have membranes made of proteins, and cells have membranes made of nucleic acid.
Plant roots have extensions called root hairs. These root hairs are important in the homeostasis of the plant.
Root hairs convert minerals into glucose for immediate use by cells.
Root hairs decrease the need for osmosis and diffusion in vascular tissue.
Root hairs prevent water loss in leaves through transpiration and gas exchange.
Root hairs increase the surface area of the roots for nutrient and water absorption.
A corn plant produces both male and female flowers. The male flower forms the tassel and the female flower forms the ear of corn. The silks that emerge from the ear are the stigma of the female flower. Each silk leads to an ovule that can become a corn seed.
More tassels than silks need to be present on the same plant.
Pollen grains must fall from tassels and land on the silks of the ear.
Pollen must be transported from the tassel to the silk through the phloem.
The tassels must come into direct contact with the silks of the ear.
Fruits grown in hot climates are usually less sweet than those grown in cooler temperatures. The high temperatures increase the rate of respiration in the plants, thus reducing the sugar content in some fruits.
Why does increased respiration in the leaves and stems reduce the sugar content in the fruits of a plant?
Chloroplasts move from the fruits to the leaves and stems to provide energy for respiration.
The flow of nutrients shifts from the phloem to the xylem, moving nutrients away from the fruits.
Sugars are moved from the fruits to the roots for storage.
Sugars produced in the leaves are used as an energy source instead of being stored in fruits.
Scientists can determine relatedness among organisms by comparing partial amino acid sequences. The table shows four partial amino acid sequences from four organisms.
Organism 1
Organism 2
Organism 3
Organism 4
A student used a microscope to study four members of the phylum Ciliophora. Members of this phylum move when propelled by hundreds of tiny cilia.
families
species
kingdoms
orders
The white cattail is a hybrid species of plant that is a result of the cross between the broad-leaved cattail and the narrow-leaved cattail. Over time, the white cattail has established itself in the wetlands of Midwestern states.
Which of these explains the success of the white cattail?
Favorable genes from parental generations provide advantageous characteristics to the hybrid species.
Hybridization produces offspring traits that allow different species to survive in extreme environments.
Inherited traits passed on from parental generations make hybrid species more susceptible to disease.
Hybrid species display more adaptations due to their reduced genetic diversity.
The relationships among different orders of millipedes are shown in the cladogram.
Stemmiulida is more closely related to Merocheta than Penicillata is to Merocheta.
Spirostreptida is more closely related to Glomerida than Sphaerotheriida is to Glomerida
Polyzoniida is more closely related to Glomeridesmida than Sphaerotheriida is to Glomeridesmida.
Merocheta is more closely related to Glomeridesmida than Glomerida is to Glomeridesmida.
The image shows part of the humerus bone in different genera of primates.
The primates lived in similar environments.
The primates shared a common ancestor.
The primates interbreed with similar organisms in a population.
The primates had diets that consisted of similar types of foods.
