Biology

Question 1

Who published his theory of evolution in the 1859 book On the Origin of Species?

Answer 1

Charles Darwin

Question 2

What general term is used for the large dry oily seeds or fruit of some plants which are usually edible?

Answer 2

Nuts

Question 3

In which process do plants convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars and oxygen using energy from sunlight?

Answer 3

Photosynthesis

Question 4

Which acid formed when milk goes sour also builds up in muscles during strenuous exercise?

Answer 4

Lactic Acid

Question 5

What term is given to the chemical processes occurring within a living cell or organism that are necessary for the maintenance of life?

Answer 5

Metabolism

Question 6

Which portmanteau word refers to the whole hereditary information of an organism that is encoded in the DNA – the human version was sequenced in 2001?

Answer 6

Genome

Question 7

Used as an artificial replacement for lost kidney function which process removes waste and excess water from the blood?

Answer 7

Dialysis

Question 8

Also known as dextrose which sugar circulates in the blood of animals as blood sugar?

Answer 8

Glucose

Question 9

What is the science of defining groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics and giving names to those groups?

Answer 9

Taxonomy

Question 10

What is the name of the Austrian monk who carried out experiments on pea plants and is regarded as the founder of genetics?

Answer 10

Gregor Mendel

Question 11

Which term was first coined by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel in 1866 who defined it as “the comprehensive science of the relationship of the organism to the environment”?

Answer 11

Ecology

Question 12

What term is given to the study of the microscopic structure of tissues?

Answer 12

Histology

Question 13

By which process is water absorbed by plants usually through the roots and evaporated into the atmosphere from the plant surface mainly from the leaves?

Answer 13

Transpiration

Question 14

Female sex chromosomes have two copies of the X chromosome while male sex chromosomes have one X chromosome and one of which other chromosome?

Answer 14

Y

Question 15

What name is given to any organism such as bacteria that lacks nuclei and other complex cell structures?

Answer 15

Prokaryote

Question 16

RNA acts as a messenger between DNA and ribosomes and is also responsible for making proteins. What do the initials RNA stand for?

Answer 16

Ribonucleic Acid

Question 17

What chemical substance is produced and released into the environment by an animal for example to indicate the availability of the female for breeding?

Answer 17

Pheromone

Question 18

Derived from the Greek word for “wood” which type of transport tissue in vascular plants transports water from roots to shoots and leaves?

Answer 18

Xylem

Question 19

Which protein makes up 80% of the proteins in cow’s milk?

Answer 19

Casein

Question 20

What term is used for the movement of water across a semipermeable membrane from an area of low solute concentration to an area of high solute concentration?

Answer 20

Osmosis

Question 21

James Watson and Francis Crick realised that the molecules of DNA were of what structure (two-word answer required)?

Answer 21

Double Helix

Question 22

Named after a character in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass which evolutionary hypothesis proposes that organisms must constantly adapt evolve and proliferate simply to survive?

Answer 22

Red Queen Hypothesis

Question 23

Which process transforms one diploid cell into four haploid cells and forms the basis of sexual reproduction?

Answer 23

Meiosis

Question 24

What term used both in zoology and in botany literally means “giving live birth”?

Answer 24

Viviparity

Question 25

Leucine lysine and methionine are three of the “essential” types of which group of acids?

Answer 25

Amino Acids

Question 26

The Latin word for “whip” what name is given to the tail-like projections that protrude from the cell body of microorganisms and aid in locomotion?

Answer 26

Flagella

Question 27

What name is given to a plant that derives moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and grows on another plant but is not parasitic on it?

Answer 27

Epiphyte

Question 28

What name is given to the breathing pores on the surface of a plant's leaves?

Answer 28

Stomata

Question 29

What term is defined as the maximum population size of the species that the environment can sustain indefinitely given the food habitat water and other necessities available in the environment?

Answer 29

Carrying Capacity

Question 30

Which Russian scientist led a campaign against genetics in the Soviet Union from the 1930s to the 1960s and developed a theory of genetics which suggested that environment can alter the hereditary material?

Answer 30

Trofim Lysenko

Question 31

Also known as the citric acid cycle what series of chemical reactions used by all aerobic organisms to generate energy is named after a German-born biochemist?

Answer 31

Krebs Cycle

Question 32

Representing a single ‘branch’ on the ‘tree of life’ what term is used for a group of organisms that consists of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants?

Answer 32

Clade

Question 33

Haemocyanin is a protein that transports oxygen throughout the bodies of some invertebrate animals and contains two atoms of which metal?

Answer 33

Copper

Question 34

Responsible for fatal brain diseases such as CJD which microscopic protein particle is similar to a virus but lacks nucleic acid?

Answer 34

Prion

Question 35

What term is used for plants that have no persistent woody stem above ground?

Answer 35

Herbaceous

Question 36

Auxins are one of the five classes of which chemicals that regulate plant growth?

Answer 36

Hormones

Question 37

What name is given to a flowering plant with two embryonic seed leaves that usually appear at germination?

Answer 37

Dicotyledon

Question 38

Which domain of single-celled organisms were originally classified as bacteria but their membranes are made of molecules that differ from those in other life forms?

Answer 38

Archaea

Question 39

What name is given to an organism that cannot fix carbon and uses organic carbon for growth?

Answer 39

Heterotroph

Question 40

The Latin word for “sewer” what is the name of the orifice that serves as the only opening for the digestive reproductive and urinary tracts of certain animal species?

Answer 40

Cloaca

Question 41

Who won a Nobel Prize in 1933 for his discoveries concerning the role played by the chromosome in heredity by studying mutations in the fruit fly?

Answer 41

Thomas Hunt Morgan

Question 42

What name is given to the process of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms?

Answer 42

Apoptosis

Question 43

ATP is a coenzyme that is used to transport energy to cells for biochemical processes. What do the initials ATP stand for?

Answer 43

Adenosine Triphosphate

Question 44

Which waxy steroid with the chemical formula C27H46O is an essential structural component of mammalian cell membranes?

Answer 44

Cholesterol

Question 45

What is the name of the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean or a lake?

Answer 45

Benthic Zone

Question 46

In zoology what word describes organisms that do not possess a means of self-locomotion and are normally immobile e.g. barnacles?

Answer 46

Sessile

Question 47

Named after an English naturalist what form of mimicry refers to a situation where a harmless species has evolved to imitate the warning signals of a harmful species directed at a common predator?

Answer 47

Batesian

Question 48

What name is given to the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among individuals or groups of organisms?

Answer 48

Phylogenetics

Question 49

The first synthetic cell known as Synthia was created in 2010 at an Institute named after which American biotechnologist?

Answer 49

Craig Venter

Question 50

Probably the last entry in any Dictionary of Biology what is the science that studies the process of fermentation?

Answer 50

zymology (Or zymurgy)