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The three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) is a small fish found in both marine and freshwater environments. Marine stickleback populations consist mostly of individuals with pronounced pelvic spines, as shown in Figure 1. Individuals in freshwater stickleback populations, on the other hand, typically have reduced pelvic spines, as shown in Figure 2. Each figure shows an image of a stickleback fish with a genetic structure below it. The left figure is labeled Figure 1. Marine stickleback. A long Pelvic Spine on the fish is labeled. The genetic structure below the fish contains three enhancers, a promoter, and a gene. From left to right, the Enhancer Sequences are labeled Hindlimb, Pituitary, and Jaw. To the right of the Enhancer Sequences is a Promoter with an arrow moving up and to the right, over the top of the Pitx1 gene. The right figure is labeled Figure 2. Freshwater stickleback. A short Pelvic Spine on the fish is labeled. The genetic structure below the fish contains three enhancers, a promoter, and a gene. From left to right, the Enhancer Sequences are labeled Hindlimb, Pituitary, and Jaw. The Hindlimb enhancer is crossed out with an X, and it is labeled Disabled Due to Mutation. To the right of the Enhancer Sequences is a Promoter with an arrow moving up and to the right, over the top of the Pitx1 gene. As represented in Figure 1 and Figure 2, the phenotypic difference between marine and freshwater sticklebacks involves Pitx1, a gene that influences the formation of the jaw, pituitary gland, and pelvic spine. Enhancer sequences upstream of the Pitx1 genetic locus regulate expression of the Pitx1 gene at the appropriate times and in the appropriate tissues during development. Previous studies have found that a mutation in the hindlimb enhancer interferes with the formation of a pronounced pelvic spine. A mutation that affects Pitx1 gene function in all tissue types is most likely to be at which of the following genetic loci?

Which of the following statements best supports the claim that organisms share fundamental processes as a result of evolution?

In the Florida Everglades, Burmese pythons are an invasive species. They were introduced into southern Florida in 1992. These pythons feed on many of the native Florida species, establishing the pythons as the top predator in the environment. By the year 2000, their population had increased dramatically. Figures 1 and 2 display data collected by ecologists studying the results of the Burmese python invasion. Figure 1 shows counts of animals collected from nighttime road surveys in southern Florida, which are used to estimate population size. Figure 2 shows data collected from mosquitoes captured from the wild. DNA sequencing was used to identify the species of blood that the mosquitoes had in their stomachs, identifying various hosts used by the mosquitoes. The categories are labeled along the horizontal axis as follows: White-Tailed Deer, Raccoon, Coyote, Cotton Rat, and Rabbit. Each category has two bars indicated on it, which are each labeled 1996 and 2011 respectively. Each bar has an error range indicated. The vertical axis is labeled Number Observed, per 100 kilometers of road, and the numbers 0 through 3, in increments of 1, are indicated. The data for each bar is presented as follows. Note that all values are approximate. White-Tailed Deer. 1996, 2.7, plus or minus 0.3. 2011, 0.8, plus or minus 0.4. Raccoon. 1996, 1.2, plus or minus 0.2. 2011, 0. 4, plus or minus 0.2. Coyote. 1996, 1.2, plus or minus 0.4. 2011, 0.7, plus or minus 0.3. Cotton Rat. 1996, 0.65, plus or minus 0.2. 2011, 2.5, plus 0.5, minus 0.1. Rabbit. 1996, 1.7, plus or minus 0.3. 2011, 1.3, plus or minus 0.25. Figure 1. Comparison of observations of selected mammals in 1996 and 2011. The horizontal axis is labeled Year, and the years 1979 and 2016 are indicated. The vertical axis is labeled Host Use, in percent total bloodmeals, and the numbers 0 through 90, in increments of 10, are indicated. The 4 line segments are each determined by two points, and are labeled as follows: Cotton Rat, Human, White-tailed deer, and Raccoon. Each line segment is described as follows. Note that all values are approximate. All line segments begin in 1979 and end in 2016. The Cotton Rat line segment is above the Human line segment and crosses the White-tailed deer line segment. The Human line segment crosses the White-tailed deer and Raccoon line segments. The White-tailed deer line segment is above the Raccoon line segment. The line segment labeled Cotton rat begins at the point 1979, comma 15 percent, and moves upwards and to the right to end at the point 2016, comma 80 percent. The line segment labeled Human begins at the point 1979, comma 0 percent, and moves upwards and to the right to end at the point 2016, comma 10 percent. The line segment labeled White-tailed deer begins at the point 1979, comma 30 percent, and moves downwards and to the right to end at the point 2016, comma 2 percent. The line segment labeled Raccoon begins at the point 1979, comma 10 percent, and moves downwards and to the right to end at the point 2016, comma 0 percent. Figure 2. Change in host preference by Culex cedecei between 1979 and 2016. Numbers do not add up to one hundred percent because these represent a subset of all the host species. In 1996, the native Culex cedecei mosquitoes in southern Florida preferentially took blood meals from white-tailed deer and raccoons. It was predicted that changes in host population size would alter these host preferences. Additionally, it is known that cotton rats are often infected by the Everglades virus, which normally exists in animals, but is capable of infecting humans. Ecologists predict that increased feeding on cotton rats by C. cedecei may significantly increase the tendency of this virus to infect humans. Based on the data, which of the following most accurately matches a potential change with its predicted effects on the southern Florida ecosystem?

Ants and treehoppers (small, herbivorous insects) are often found living on the same plants. Treehoppers feed on sugary plant sap and excrete excess sugar, which ants collect and eat. A scientist measured the reproductive success of the treehoppers by recording how many young treehoppers were alive on plants. Some of the plants lacked ants; other plants were populated by ants throughout the experiment. The results are presented in the graph below. plants with ants and plants without ants. The vertical axis is labeled “Number of young treehoppers per plant” and ranges from 0 to 90. The horizontal axis shows dates from 01-Jul through 19-Aug. Two lines are plotted on the graph. The line for plants without ants is shown with black square markers and remains relatively flat, starting at approximately 40 treehoppers on 01-Jul and maintaining similar values around 40 through 22-Jul, then gradually declining to approximately 30 by 19-Aug. The line for plants with ants is shown with gray diamond markers and also starts at approximately 40 treehoppers on 01-Jul. This line remains flat at around 40 through 22-Jul, then increases sharply to approximately 60 on 29-Jul, rises further to approximately 80 on 05-Aug, peaks at approximately 82 on 12-Aug, and then declines to approximately 68 on 19-Aug. The two lines overlap during the first four time points, then diverge dramatically after 22-Jul, with the plants with ants showing much higher treehopper populations than plants without ants. Based on these results, what type of species interaction is most likely occurring between the ants and the treehoppers?

Paleoclimatic analysis has generated a claim that there is a possible correlation between an extinction event around 29 million years ago that allowed grasslands to become abundant and the adaptive radiation of several groups of butterflies. Which of the following proposes the best alternative hypothesis for the claim?

The lac operon in E. coli consists of genes that code for enzymes necessary for the breakdown of lactose. When lactose is absent, the operon is inactive because a repressor protein binds to a specific site in the lac operon. When lactose is present, lactose molecules bind to the repressor protein, causing the repressor protein to dissociate from the binding site. In the absence of glucose (a preferred energy source for bacteria), the protein CAP binds to a regulatory site near the lac promoter to activate transcription of the lac operon. The following symbols represent the macromolecules involved in regulation of the lac operon. The key indicates that an unshaded circle represents “Repressor,” two shaded hexagons connected by a line represent “Lactose,” an unshaded triangle represents “C A P,” an unshaded oval represents “R N A, polymerase,” and a squiggly line indicates “m R N A.” In the diagrams below, the horizontal line represents the lac operon and the bent arrow represents the transcription start site of the lac operon. Which of the following diagrams best represents the scenario in which lactose is available to the cell and glucose is absent?

Figure 1 illustrates a process that occurs in a certain group of organisms. The Spliceosome is represented by a circle. A line begins to the left of the circle and that section of line is labeled Exon 1. The line moves into the circle, dips down below the circle, then curves back up into the circle, leaves the circle from the right side and at that point that section of line outside the circle is labeled Exon 2. An arrow points upward and to the right from the right end of the line to Spliced Exons that represent the combined 2 ends of the lines outside of the circle labeled Exon 1 and Exon 2. Moving back to the circle, an arrow points downward and to the right from the circle to the Removed Intron and that line represents the rest of the line that had started inside the circle and then dipped down below the circle and then curved back up into the circle. Figure 1. Model of spliceosome activity Which of the following best predicts the importance of this process?

A biologist spent many years researching the rate of evolutionary change in the finch populations of a group of islands. It was determined that the average beak size (both length and mass) of finches in a certain population increased dramatically during an intense drought between 1981 and 1987. During the drought, there was a reduction in the number of plants producing thin-walled seeds. Which of the following best describes the mechanism behind the change in beak size in the finch population?

Some cells release active signaling proteins when membrane-bound precursor proteins are cleaved by proteolytic enzymes. The signaling proteins can then bind to receptors on the surface of a target cell, thereby activating an intracellular signaling pathway and eliciting a response from the target cell. This mechanism of activating receptor-binding signaling proteins has been observed in a variety of organisms from bacteria to humans. Many of the enzymes responsible for proteolysis of membrane-bound precursor proteins have been isolated and characterized. Which of the following questions would be most appropriate to investigate whether the proteolytic enzymes are evolutionarily conserved among species?

All of the following are examples of prezygotic genetic isolating mechanisms EXCEPT: