BIOL 361 - SAMPLE LECTURE EXAM QUESTIONS

IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT THE 2007 MID-TERM EXAMINATION:

1) NOTE WHICH ROOM IS THE PROPER ONE FOR YOU

2) PLEASE BRING A #2 SOFT-LEAD PENCIL

3) THE MID-TERM EXAM WILL COVER ALL OF DR. PALMER'S MATERIAL.

4) THE MID-TERM EXAM WILL CONSIST OF THREE PARTS IN THE PROPORTIONS INDICATED BELOW

PART I (50%) SAMPLE MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS (2 marks each, allow 25 min)

NOTE: ANSWER ALL MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS ON THE OPTICAL SCORING SHEETS. USE THE EXAM SHEETS ONLY FOR YOUR OWN PERSONAL NOTES.

For each statement below, indicate the one choice that yields the single best answer.

(Note the different forms a multiple choice answer may take).

1) The world's oceans:
a) formed from gases released by molten rocks on the early earth.
b) were known to be salty well before the earliest prokaryotic organisms evolved.
c) covered a significantly greater portion of the earth's surface at the time the earliest metazoans evolved than they do now.
d) All of the above.
e) (a) and (b) but not (c).

2) Who among the following were librarians at the Library of Alexandria in Egypt:
a) Eratosthenes.
b) Hipparchus.
c) Aristotle.
d) All of the above.
e) (a) and (b) but not (c).

3) For explorers of the late 1700's to determine their longitude reliably they needed:
a) to know the precise positions of stars.
b) to know Greenwich Mean Time very accurately.
c) to keep very accurate records of their direction and speed.
d) All of the above.
e) (a) and (b) but not (c).

4) The region of the earth's crust that underlies the oceans is:
a) thinner than that of the continents.
b) younger than that of the continents.
c) continually being destroyed along deep-ocean trenches.
d) All of the above.
e) (a) and (b) but not (c).

5) If you evaporate 1 kilogram of normal, open-ocean seawater, you will recover about ______ grams of salt.
a) 10.
b) 15.
c) 25.
d) 35.
e) 45.

6) Compared to river water, seawater:
a) contains a higher proportion of sodium and chloride ions.
b) contains a lower proportion of calcium and silica ions.
c) contains a higher concentration of nearly all ions.
d) All of the above.
e) (a) and (b) but not (c).

7) Increasing the temperature of seawater:
a) decreases the viscosity.
b) increases the solubility of ions.
c) increases the solubility of gases.
d) All of the above.
e) (a) and (b) but not (c).

8) The period and frequency of a wave are:
a) independent of one another.
b) reciprocals of one another.
c) both a function of wave height.
d) All of the above.
e) (a) and (b) but not (c).

9) Water particles in a deep-water wave:
a) move in flat elliptical circles.
b) move in circular orbits.
c) do not move: only the wave force moves.
d) All of the above.
e) (a) and (b) but not (c).

10) The Coriolis effect:
a) causes moving objects to deflect to the left in the nouthern hemisphere.
b) causes moving objects to deflect to the right in the southern hemisphere.
c) only affects objects moving towards or away from the poles.
d) None of the above.
e) (a) and (b) but not (c).

11) Thermohaline currents:
a) may be caused by temperature differences.
b) may be caused by salinity differences.
c) contribute significantly to deep ocean currents.
d) All of the above.
e) (a) and (b) but not (c).

12) The compensation depth:
a) always lies above the critical depth.
b) varies among different types of phytoplankton.
c) depends on the depth to which vertical mixing occurs.
d) All of the above.
e) (a) and (b) but not (c).

13) Which type of light is absorbed most quickly by seawater?
a) blue.
b) green.
c) yellow.
d) violet.
e) red.

14) The upper layer of the ocean, within which light is still bright enough to be detected by vertebrate photoreceptors, is called the _______ zone.
a) photic.
b) euphotic.
c) disphotic.
d) supraphotic.
e) epi-oceanic.

15) Diurnal, vertical migration in the open ocean:
a) was first reported by the Challenger expedition.
b) occurs in both crustaceans and fishes.
c) sometimes extends over hundreds of meters in a single day.
d) All of the above.
e) (a) and (b) but not (c).

16) Oxygen in the deep sea is replenished primarily by:
a) outgassing.
b) chemosynthesis.
c) thermohaline currents.
d) None of the above.
e) (a) and (b) but not (c).

17) Tidal amplitude at a given latitude is:
a) generally higher on shores of the Pacific Ocean compared to the Atlantic Ocean.
b) greatest during the months of the equinoxes than at other months during the year.
c) greater in the northern hemisphere than in the southern hemisphere.
d) All of the above.
e) (a) and (b) but not (c).

18) The mixed, semi-diurnal tide typical of many temperate latitudes arises in part due to the:
a) elliptical orbit of the moon around the earth.
b) elliptical orbit of the earth around the sun.
c) inclination of the earth's axis.
d) All of the above.
e) (a) and (b) but not (c).

19) Because of their lower surface-to-volume ratio, larger intertidal invertebrates:
a) are more able to survive extremes of temperature and desiccation.
b) are less likely to be dislodged by waves.
c) are less able to survive low oxygen stress.
d) All of the above.
e) (a) and (b) but not (c).

20) On rocky shores, the upper vertical limit to species distributions is typically set by:
a) interactions with other organisms.
b) the ability to feed when the tide is low.
c) the ability to survive physical stresses.
d) All of the above.
e) (a) and (b) but not (c).

PART II (40%) SAMPLE FILL-IN-THE-BLANK QUESTION.
(2 marks per item unless noted otherwise, allow 20 min)

21)  The explorer who participated in three
     circumnavigations of the globe before 1800
     and whose maps of the Pacific were used
     in World War II was:                     ___________________________________

22)  The bonds that give water most of its
     unusual properties are called:           ___________________________________

23)  The three most significant groups of  a) ___________________________________
     pelagic phytoplankton are:
                                           b) ___________________________________
 
                                           c) ___________________________________

24) Although tide tables were available for the Thames River in London by 1213 AD,
    a physical mechanism for tides was not known until approximately _________ AD.

25)  Maximum amplitude tides during a month
     are called                               ___________________________________

PART III (10%) SAMPLE LONG ANSWER QUESTION.
(10 marks, allow 5 min)

26) Using a labelled diagram, illustrate the significant features of the earth's atmospheric circulation patterns.

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Copyright (c) 2007 by A. Richard Palmer. All rights reserved.
(revised Jan. 31, 2007)