All About Biology Quiz

Question: What special ability sets geckos apart from other lizards?

Answer: Geckos can climb absolutely smooth vertical surfaces and even run across ceilings, setting them apart from other lizards.

Question: A voyage on which ship inspired Darwin to write On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859)?

Answer: The HMS Beagle was the British naval vessel aboard which Charles Darwin served as naturalist on a voyage to South America and around the world, inspiring his On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859).

Question: What is a sea cucumber?

Answer: The sea cucumber is any of 1,200 species of marine invertebrates of the class Holothuroidea, related to starfish.

Question: The name of which life-form is derived from the Latin word for “mushroom” but also applies to yeast and mold?

Answer: The term fungi applies not only to mushrooms but to all of the large and diverse group of plantlike organisms to which the mushrooms belong.

Question: Which of these crabs is largest?

Answer: The Tasmanian crab (Pseudocarcinus gigas) and the giant crab of Japan (Macrocheira kaempferi) are two of the largest known crustaceans.

Question: What is another name for the so-called sea wasp, which can be extremely dangerous to humans?

Answer: The box jellyfish is also called the sea wasp and occurs widely from Queensland northward to Malaysia. It is dangerously venomous; a sting can cause death within a few minutes.

Question: What is another name for harvestmen, a group of arachnids that look like spiders but are not?

Answer: Harvestmen are also called daddy longlegs.

Question: People get sick from eating salmonella, but what is it?

Answer: Salmonella is a bacteria that sickens people when they ingest contaminated food or water.

Question: Embryos grow into the shape of a complete organism via the differentiation of cells, tissues, and organs. What is this process called?

Answer: Morphogenesis is the shaping of an organism by embryological processes of differentiation of cells, tissues, and organs and the development of organ systems according to the genetic "blueprint" of the potential organism and in response to environmental conditions.

Question: What is the largest geographic biotic unit?

Answer: The biome is the largest geographic biotic unit. Consisting of communities with similar life-forms and environmental conditions, each biome is named for the dominant type of vegetation, such as grassland or coniferous forest.

Question: Plankton is the name given to all the organisms in water that exist in a drifting, floating state. What type of plankton is the primary food source, either directly or indirectly, of all sea organisms?

Answer: Oceanic phytoplankton are the primary food source, directly or indirectly, of all sea organisms.

Question: What are the building blocks of proteins?

Answer: Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Although more than 100 amino acids occur naturally, only 20 are commonly used in protein synthesis; these are the same in all living organisms, from protozoans to plants and animals.

Question: What substance acts as a catalyst for biological reactions in living organisms?

Answer: An enzyme acts as a catalyst in living organisms, regulating the rate at which chemical reactions proceed without itself being altered in the process.

Question: What term is given to the emission of light by living organisms such as a fireflies or bacteria?

Answer: Bioluminescence is the emission of light by an organism or by a test-tube biochemical system derived from an organism. It could be the ghostly glow of bacteria on decaying meat or fish, the shimmering phosphorescence of protozoans in tropical seas, or the flickering signals of fireflies.

Question: What are produced in response to foreign substances called antigens?

Answer: Antibodies are produced in response to substances called antigens. A wide range of substances are regarded by the body as antigens, including disease-causing organisms and toxic materials such as insect venom.

Question: Chlorella algae has been studied as a food source because it is rich in which nutrients?

Answer: Chlorella algae has been studied as a food source because it is rich in proteins.

Question: Which lizard jumps into water to escape predators?

Answer: The iguana jumps into the water to escape predators. The best-known species is the common iguana (Iguana iguana), which occurs from Mexico southward to Brazil and reaches a maximum length of 1.8 metres (6 feet). Its body is green, and the tail has brown bands that form rings. Its food consists largely of tender leaves and fruits.

Question: Which American biologist popularized sociobiology, the study of the genetic basis of the social behaviour of all animals, including humans?

Answer: The American biologist Edward O. Wilson popularized sociobiology, the study of the genetic basis of the social behavior of all animals, including humans. He pioneered sociobiology through his research on ants.

Question: Which group of organisms shares certain morphological and physiological characteristics with animals, plants, or both?

Answer: Protists share certain morphological and physiological characteristics with animals or plants or both.

Question: A squid and an octopus are both cephalopods with eight arms, but how is a squid different from an octopus?

Answer: A squid has two long tentacles in addition to its eight arms, while octopuses have only their eight arms.

Question: A scientist comparing the shape of a whale’s flippers to a fish’s fins is engaged in the same specialized branch of biology as the scientist comparing the wings of birds to the wings of bats. What is the name of this biological specialty?

Answer: Morphology is the study of the size, shape, and structure of animals, plants, and microorganisms and the relationships of their parts. The term refers to the general aspects of biological form and arrangement of the parts of a plant or an animal.

Question: In which biological laboratory technique are fragments of tissue from an animal or plant transferred to an artificial environment where they can continue to survive and function?

Answer: Tissue culture is a method of biological research in which fragments of tissue from an animal or plant are transferred to an artificial environment in which they can continue to survive and function.

Question: What is a state of lowered body temperature and depressed metabolic activity that hummingbirds and some insects, reptiles, and mammals enter?

Answer: Torpor is a state of lowered body temperature and depressed metabolic activity assumed by many animals, including hummingbirds and some insects, reptiles, and mammals, in response to adverse environmental conditions, especially cold and heat.

Question: What is a cowrie?

Answer: A cowrie is any of several marine snails.

Question: What is the name of the dormant state in which an animal’s body temperature decreases and heartbeat and breathing rate slow down?

Answer: Hibernation is a state of greatly reduced metabolic activity and lowered body temperature adopted by certain mammals as an adaptation to adverse winter conditions. The term hibernation is commonly applied to all types of winter dormancy in vertebrate animals.

Question: What is the maintenance of a relatively constant internal environment known as?

Answer: Homeostasis is the self-regulating process by which biological systems tend to maintain internal stability while adjusting to changing conditions.

Question: Some flagellates are animal-like and some are plantlike, but all belong to which group of organisms?

Answer: The flagellates exhibit the greatest diversity of nutrition among the protozoans, some of which are animal-like and others plantlike.

Question: Which do not reproduce via parthenogenesis (reproduction without fertilization)?

Answer: Butterflies do not reproduce via parthenogenesis, the development of a new individual from an unfertilized gamete. Often referred to as unisexual reproduction, parthenogenesis has been observed in almost every major invertebrate group.

Question: Which vitamin is water-soluble as opposed to fat-soluble?

Answer: Vitamin C, also called ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble, carbohydrate-like substance that is involved in certain of the metabolic processes of animals.

Question: Which continent are the only two species of venomous lizards found on?

Answer: There are only two species of venomous lizards, and they are both found in North America. One of them is the Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum), named for the Gila River basin and found in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Its poisonous relative, the Mexican beaded lizard (Heloderma horridum), is slightly larger (to 80 cm) and darker.

Question: How many pairs of chromosomes are found in the human body?

Answer: Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes.

Question: Which animal is a carnivorous scavenger?

Answer: The hyena is any of three species of coarse-furred, doglike carnivores found in Asia and Africa. They are noted for their scavenging habits.

Question: Which American biologist and geneticist deduced that the sex of an individual is determined by a particular chromosome?

Answer: Nettie Maria Stevens, an American biologist and geneticist, was one of the first scientists to find that sex is determined by a particular chromosome. In 1905, after experiments with the Tenebrio molitor beetle, she published a paper in which she announced her finding that the chromosomes known as X and Y were responsible for the determination of the sex of an individual.

Question: Who proved that contamination with microorganisms, rather than mere exposure to air, is responsible for food spoilage and disease?

Answer: Louis Pasteur disproved the theory of spontaneous generation (the concept that bacterial life arose spontaneously), a question which at that time divided scientists into two opposing camps. By means of simple and precise experiments, including the filtration of air and the exposure of unfermented liquids to the air of the high Alps, he proved that food decomposes when placed in contact with germs present in the air, which cause its putrefaction, and that it does not undergo transformation or putrefy in such a way as to spontaneously generate new organisms within itself.

Question: Which of these amino acids, first isolated from gelatin, is the simplest?

Answer: Glycine is the simplest amino acid, obtainable by hydrolysis of proteins. Sweet-tasting, it was among the first amino acids to be isolated from gelatin.

Question: What is the history of the evolution of a species or group?

Answer: Phylogeny is the history of the evolution of a species or group, especially in reference to lines of descent and relationships among broad groups of organisms.