Regents Living Environment Practice Test 2023 Review with Answer Keys

Today’s whales and alligators both have pelvic and hind leg bones, yet these bones only function in alligators.

This similarity between whales and alligators supports the idea that

The diagrams below represent a response that occurs in the guard cells of a plant.

The changes in the guard cells’ activity illustrate

A multicellular organism has cells that perform various roles in that organism. This is most likely due to the

Antibodies produced against one pathogen infecting the human body may not work against a different pathogen because antibodies are

Photosynthesis and cellular respiration both involve the gases carbon dioxide and oxygen. Which statement best identifies how these gases are involved in the two processes?

Maintaining stability in an ecosystem most likely depends on

The photo below is of a magnified podocyte, a highly specialized cell that produces special proteins for filtering fluid in the human kidney.

The specialized function of this cell is most dependent on

A certain species of rough-skinned newt produces an extremely powerful toxin that helps prevent attacks by predators. However, one predator, the garter snake, can eat these newts without being affected by the toxin. Which statement best explains the resistance of garter snakes to the newt toxin?

Which substances usually stimulate an immune response?

Each winter in the Adirondack Mountains, some of the salt applied to roadways gets washed into lakes. The increase in salt levels in areas where frogs breed has resulted in more male frogs hatching than females

This is an example of

As energy moves through a forest ecosystem, it flows from

The removal of a short sequence of bases from a gene would most directly affect the

Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disease characterized by weakness of the skeletal muscles. It occurs when normal communication between nerve and muscle cells is interrupted. The weakness is likely due to

The brown anole is native to Cuba and the Bahamas. Males and females of the species share most of the same genes. They are the same size when they hatch out of their eggs. However, during the first year, the males grow to be three times larger than the females.

The most likely explanation for the differences in size between male and female anoles is that

Usually, snakes reproduce sexually. However, some female copperhead snakes sometimes produce offspring asexually without sperm from a male. Compared with snakes formed by sexual reproduction, the offspring of these asexually reproducing snakes

Tasmanian devils are predators found on the Tasman Peninsula of Australia. Their numbers were greatly reduced after two forms of contagious cancer appeared in the population. Scientists have found an effective cancer vaccine that has saved a number of adult Tasmanian devils

The beneficial effect of the vaccine will not be passed on to the Tasmanian devils’ offspring because the

If scientists wanted to study the physical characteristics of an extinct animal that once lived in a specific area, the best source of information would be to investigate

Cell membranes inside the cells that line the stomach pump hydrogen ions from areas of low concentration inside the cells to areas of higher concentration outside the cells. Which activity produces the ATP that makes this pumping possible?

The diagram below represents a food web.

Which statement best describes a relationship represented in the diagram?

Zebra mussels are aquatic animals found in many bodies of fresh water in New York State. These organisms are not native to North America. When these mussels first appeared, their populations increased rapidly, which led scientists to fear their potential impact on native species. Lately, it has been observed that the rate of population growth of the zebra mussels has decreased. A reason for this decrease may be

New York State is home to animals such as the Eastern chipmunk. Individuals within this species are not genetically identical.

This variability is primarily the result of

Scientists turned a specialized stomach cell from a mouse into a skin cell by activating a specific gene responsible for the production of skin cells. Which claim can be made, based on this evidence?

The endangered Everglade snail kite is a predatory bird which usually feeds on small snails. Conservationists feared the snail kite would face a greater decline when the Everglades was invaded by a species of larger snail that the birds had historically struggled to eat. But the snail kite population increased over several years, and the snail kites now have larger beaks and bodies.

This change in the snail kite can best be explained by

Cells possess structures that perform specific jobs. Which statement correctly pairs a cell structure with a function it performs in the cells?

Many animal populations living in a particular area would most likely

CRISPR/Cas9 is a powerful system that bacteria use to cut and remove DNA from invading viruses. Using CRISPR/Cas9, researchers have successfully corrected a disease-causing mutation for muscular dystrophy in laboratory mice. Correcting the harmful mutation using CRISPR/Cas9 is an example of

Which situation is an example of an organism responding to an abiotic factor?

Equine cloning can be used to produce performance horses. Although the horses are clones of each other, they may still exhibit slight differences in appearance.

The differences in the physical characteristics of the cloned horses are most likely the result of

An example of an activity that best contributes to maintaining homeostasis in an organism is a

Which two body systems provide humans with the raw materials necessary for their cells to release energy?

Base your answers to questions 1 and 2 on the information and diagram below and on your knowledge of biology.

Warming Water Leaves Fish Gasping for Air and Shrinking in Size

As fish grow into adulthood, their body mass increases and so does their demand for
oxygen. However, the gills, through which oxygen is obtained, do not increase in size at the
same rate as the body.

Scientists have observed that as the ocean waters become warmer, there is less dissolved
oxygen in the water. The result is that the average size of many fish species becomes smaller.

The most likely reason decreased levels of oxygen in the water result in a decrease in the body size of some fish species is

A student viewed a slide of an onion root tip with a compound light microscope. The photograph below represents what he saw

In order to observe whether or not this root tip was growing, the student should

The process of meiotic division in human males is represented below.

This process produces four sperm cells, each with

Base your answers to questions 7 through 9 on the information and diagram below and on your knowledge of biology.

The diagram provides information about some of the digestive enzymes produced by the human pancreas

Another important molecule not shown in the diagram is also produced by the pancreas. It functions to decrease glucose levels in the blood. This molecule is

Base your answers to questions 7 through 9 on the information and diagram below and on your knowledge of biology.

The diagram provides information about some of the digestive enzymes produced by the human pancreas

The end products resulting from the action of amylase would most likely be

Base your answers to questions 7 through 9 on the information and diagram below and on your knowledge of biology.

The diagram provides information about some of the digestive enzymes produced by the human pancreas

The activity of nuclease enzymes would most likely result in the release of

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck was a French naturalist who proposed the idea that modern-day organisms developed new characteristics through a process known as the inheritance of acquired traits. As more evidence became available, this theory was eventually replaced by Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. This modification of scientific knowledge illustrates that

Pikas are small mammals found in the grassland ecosystems of the Tibetan plateau. Pikas are prey for many of the predators also inhabiting the Tibetan grasslands, which serves as an important watershed for the area. This watershed drains large amounts of groundwater during the rainy season. Pikas have large burrow systems that help to quickly drain the groundwater. The burrows also serve as nesting sites for numerous bird species. Because they compete with livestock for grass, many people want the pikas totally removed from the Tibetan plateau

If the pika populations are completely removed from the grasslands of the Tibetan plateau, the most likely result will be that the grassland ecosystems will become

Base your answer to question 34 on the information below and on your knowledge of biology.

Fitness of Male Juncos

Animals communicate with each other in many ways. For example, many male birds have
bright colors to signal their fitness to females. Scientists hypothesized that female birds also
use their sense of smell to gather information about the fitness of their potential mates. To
test this, scientists gathered male juncos and determined the amount of a chemical produced
by the male birds that is sensed by the female birds. Scientists then collected data on the
number of offspring produced by each male during one breeding season. The results are
shown in the chart below.

Which conclusion is most valid, based on the data?

The graph below represents the interactions of two female reproductive hormones.

Based on the graph, which statement is correct regarding the interaction of the levels of estrogen and progesterone?

Base your answers to questions 1 and 2 on the information and diagram below and on your knowledge of biology.

Warming Water Leaves Fish Gasping for Air and Shrinking in Size

As fish grow into adulthood, their body mass increases and so does their demand for
oxygen. However, the gills, through which oxygen is obtained, do not increase in size at the
same rate as the body.

Scientists have observed that as the ocean waters become warmer, there is less dissolved
oxygen in the water. The result is that the average size of many fish species becomes smaller.

One human activity that most directly contributes to the decrease in the amount of oxygen present in ocean water is

The table below shows a section of messenger RNA for five species of similar organisms.

What is the DNA sequence that codes for the messenger RNA codons shown in Species X?

Using the Universal Genetic Code Chart, how many messenger RNA codons code for the amino acid leucine (LEU)?

Part D

A student conducted an experiment to determine the effect of exercising on breathing rate. The student measured the breathing rate of three classmates at rest and again after exercising for intervals of 30, 60, and 90 seconds. Her results are shown in the data table below

The purpose of checking the breathing rate before exercising is that it

Part D

Base your answer to question on the information below and on your knowledge of biology.

Comparisons between species can be done using both structural and molecular evidence. An example of using structural evidence is comparing

Part D

Base your answer to question on the information below and on your knowledge of biology.

Which two species of finch would be affected if a bird with a grasping beak that ate ants and beetles was introduced into their habitat?

Part B –2

Pepsin is a protein-digesting enzyme. It is produced inside cells that line the stomach
and then secreted into the stomach cavity, where it begins to work.

When first produced, the pepsin exists in an inactive form called pepsinogen. Pepsinogen
cannot work because it has an extra segment that keeps it from interacting with the proteins
it would normally digest.

When it is secreted into the stomach cavity, the acid there causes the pepsinogen
molecule to lose this extra segment, which changes it into the active pepsin that can begin
to digest food proteins

Which statement most accurately summarizes the function of pepsin?

Part B –2

The dependent variable in this study is the

Part B –2

The nutritional roles of the whitebark pine trees and the beetles are best described as

Deforestation is a major cause of soil loss. Without trees and other plants to hold the soil in place, it either washes or blows away. Governments, international organizations, and others are working to decrease the rate of deforestation. In addition to slowing the rate of soil loss, another potential benefit of this action would be

Which statement is an example of a hypothesis that can be tested through experimentation?