Test 1 Biol 687 Microbial Ecology Spring 1992
Name____________________________
Multiple choice portion. 2 points each. More than one answer may be correct, all correct answers must be circled for complete credit.
1. Circle the important early microbiologists
a. Pasteur
b. Darwin
c. Koch
d. Plato
e. Leeuwenhoek
2. Circle the important early ecologists
a. Cowles
b. Odum
c. Oster
d. Freid
e. Lotham
3. Circle the important early microbial ecologists
a. Easterman
b. Winogradsky
c. Raphael
d. Beijernck
e. Mikrobactereconut
4. No bacteria form new genetic sequences of genes on chromosomes by
a. transformation, the process of taking pieces of DNA from dead and broken bacteria into living cells and incorporating that DNA into the bacterial chromosome.
b. changing the sequence of DNA on the bacterial chromosome when a transposon moves from one part of the chromosome to another.
c. crossing over between completely synapsed homologous chromosomes from two parental bacteria
d. transduction, the movement of a piece of chromosome form one bacterium to another inside a viral protein coat and incorporating that piece into the chromosome of the second cell.
e. conjugation of two bacteria to allow a plasmid to transfer a few genes from one bacterium into a second.
5. The advantage of recombination is that it
a. makes reproduction go faster
b. allows both the donor and the recipient of the recombined DNA to produce more offspring in that period of reproduction than an individual that reproduced by mitotic fission.
c. usually makes the new genetic individual resulting from recombination better fit to its environment than its parents were.
d. allows more offspring to fit and live in a complex biological environment.
e. allows more offspring to fit a live in a variable physical environment.
6. The following are morphologies of bacteria used in identification
a. coccus
b. streptococcus
c. diplococcus
d. sarcina
e. spirillum
7. Gram negative eubacteria have
a. teichoic acid
b. cellulose walls
c. no members that are chemolithotrophic
d. an inability to retain Gram's stain
e. peptidoglycan
8. Prochlorobacteria (Prochloron) has
a. Chlorophyll a and b.
b. nucleus.
c. Oxygenic photosynthesis.
d. mitochondria.
e. a symbiotic relationship with tropical orchids.
9. The second law of thermodynamics
a. does not apply to organisms.
b. means entropy tends to increase in a closed system.
c. constrains the maximum energy transfer possible per trophic level.
d. only works with sun-light.
e. is an abstract concept with no real application to the real world.
10. Important steps in chemotaxis include
a. reception
b. integration of information over space or time
c. adaptation to background levels of stimulation.
d. initiation or repression by the chemotactic signal
e. increasing or decreasing rates of reversals.
11. Briefly define:
photoautotroph (2)
chemoautotroph (2)
heterotroph (2)
12. When filtering pure water through a 0.2 m m pore sized filter, the flow rate is much lower than through a 3 m m pore sized filter. The surface area of the open pores is equal in both, why is the flow rate lower in the 0.2 m m filter and how does this relate to Reynolds number? (5)
13. Give the equations for photosynthesis and respiration. (5)
14. How can 16 S rRNA sequence information be used to indicate differences between species in the same genus as well as deep phylogenetic differences, such as between eubacteria and eukaryotes? (5)
15. List 4 eukaryotic organelles that may have arisen by serial endosymbiosis and pick 2 of these and briefly discuss the evidence which supports the idea of symbiotic origin of these organelles. (10)
16. Why is it difficult to establish the diversity (evenness and total number of species) of a microbial assemblage? (5)
17. Draw a diagram of a rotifer and label at least 5 body parts. (7)
18. Why do some people suggest that small cells should be favored in oligotrophic environments? (5)
19. Why do magnetotactic bacteria respond oppositely in the northern and the southern hemisphere? (5)
20. What competitive advantage do phycobilins give cyanobacteria, and how can these pigments alter the value of a ? (6)
21. Describe how cyanobacteria control synthesis of gas vacuoles to position themselves in the environment (6).
22. Briefly describe why the following do or do not result from a phase transition: Mud, icicle, tornado, magnet (8)
23. How can the notion of a generalized phase transition explain the origin of life? (7)