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Exam-style practice (harder): Biology multiple choice quiz

14 questions. Pick an answer and you'll see why right away. Options are shuffled each attempt, and the review at the end links each missed question to the dot point to revise.

  1. A student counts the plants in a set of quadrats: species A, 10 individuals; species B, 6; species C, 4.

    Using Simpson's diversity index, SDI=1−∑n(n−1)N(N−1)SDI = 1 - \frac{\sum n(n - 1)}{N(N - 1)}, what is the SDI of this sample, to two decimal places?

  2. Researchers capture and mark 40 frogs in a wetland, then release them. A week later they capture 50 frogs, of which 8 are marked.

    Using the Lincoln index, what is the estimated population, and how would the estimate be affected if some marks had rubbed off before the second capture?

  3. The table shows the energy stored in each trophic level of an ecosystem.

    Trophic level Energy (kJ m⁻² year⁻¹)
    Producers 20 000
    Primary consumers 2 400
    Secondary consumers 180

    Which statement is correct?

  4. A drought reduced the supply of small, soft seeds on an island, leaving mostly large, hard seeds. The beak depths of a finch population were measured before the drought and in the generation after it.

    Beak depth (mm) 7 8 9 10 11 12
    Before (% of birds) 5 20 40 25 8 2
    After (% of birds) 1 8 25 38 20 8

    Which option best describes the change?

  5. A population of 500 plants contains 320 with genotype AA, 160 with genotype Aa and 20 with genotype aa.

    What is the frequency of allele a?

  6. In a plant species, tall (T) is dominant to short (t), and purple flowers (P) are dominant to white (p). The two genes are on different chromosomes. A plant with genotype TtPp is crossed with a plant with genotype ttpp.

    What is the expected ratio of offspring phenotypes (tall purple : tall white : short purple : short white)?

  7. A mother has blood group A, the father has blood group B, and their first child has blood group O.

    Which statement is correct?

  8. Researchers find that a gene is not expressed in liver cells because the promoter region of the gene is heavily methylated.

    Which statement about this regulation is correct?

  9. A section of the template strand of a gene has the base triplet TAC.

    Which option gives the corresponding mRNA codon and the tRNA anticodon that pairs with it?

  10. A 900 base pair (bp) section of a gene is amplified by PCR and cut with a restriction enzyme. The normal allele contains one restriction site and is cut into 600 bp and 300 bp fragments. A mutant allele lacks the site. After gel electrophoresis, person X shows bands at 900 bp, 600 bp and 300 bp.

    Which conclusion is correct?

  11. In one year, a population of 4000 animals had 600 births, 250 deaths, 50 immigrants and 100 emigrants.

    What was the population growth rate for that year?

  12. A new volcanic island forms in the ocean. The first organisms to establish on the bare rock are lichens, followed years later by mosses, grasses and eventually shrubs.

    Which statement correctly describes this process?

  13. Ecologists want to estimate the abundance of plant species across a site that changes gradually from a creek bank to a dry hilltop.

    Which sampling method is most appropriate?

  14. A cladogram shows four living species. Species P branches off first. Next, species Q branches off. Species R and S branch from the final node as sister species.

    Which conclusion is supported by the cladogram?

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