Biology Quiz
Mitochondria, Mendel, mitosis and more: 15 questions on the science of living things.
Which part of the cell is known as its powerhouse because it produces most of the cell's energy?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Mitochondrion
Mitochondria carry out cellular respiration, breaking down glucose with oxygen to produce ATP, the molecule cells spend as energy currency. Hard-working muscle cells can contain thousands of them.
Mitochondria have their own DNA, inherited only from the mother, which suggests they were once free-living bacteria.
Which green pigment allows plants to capture light for photosynthesis?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Chlorophyll
Chlorophyll sits inside chloroplasts and absorbs red and blue light while reflecting green, which is why leaves look green. The captured energy drives the reactions that turn carbon dioxide and water into sugar.
In autumn chlorophyll breaks down, unmasking the yellow and orange carotenoid pigments that were in the leaf all along.
What is the name of the process in which organisms better suited to their environment survive and reproduce more?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Natural selection
Natural selection, described by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, is the process in which traits that help an organism survive and reproduce become more common over generations.
Darwin's finches on the Galápagos evolved different beak shapes to suit the foods available on each island.
Which gas do plants release as a by-product of photosynthesis?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Oxygen
Photosynthesis splits water molecules, and the oxygen atoms are released into the air while the hydrogen is used to build sugar. Nearly all the oxygen in the atmosphere was produced this way over billions of years.
Tiny ocean organisms called phytoplankton produce at least half of the oxygen on Earth, more than all the rainforests combined.
Mushrooms and yeasts belong to which kingdom of life?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Fungi
Fungi are neither plants nor animals: they cannot photosynthesize and instead absorb nutrients from their surroundings, often by digesting dead matter. Their cell walls are made of chitin, the same material as insect shells.
A honey fungus in Oregon's Blue Mountains spreads across roughly 2,400 acres (965 hectares) and is considered one of the largest living organisms on Earth.
In a food chain, what is a plant that makes its own food through photosynthesis called?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Producer
Producers, also called autotrophs, form the base of every food chain by converting sunlight into chemical energy. Herbivores that eat them are primary consumers, and the carnivores above them are secondary consumers.
Only about 10 percent of the energy at one level of a food chain passes to the next, which is why food chains rarely have more than five links.
Which structure is found in plant cells but not in animal cells?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Cell wall
Plant cells are surrounded by a rigid cell wall made of cellulose, which gives them their boxy shape and keeps plants standing upright. Animal cells have only a flexible membrane around them.
Plant cells also contain chloroplasts and a large central vacuole, two more features that animal cells lack.
Who is known as the father of genetics for his experiments with pea plants?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Gregor Mendel
Mendel, an Augustinian friar in Brno, bred tens of thousands of pea plants in the 1850s and 1860s and worked out the rules of dominant and recessive traits. His work was largely ignored until it was rediscovered in 1900.
Mendel chose peas partly because he could control pollination by hand and because traits such as seed color come in clear either-or forms.
In the classification of living things, which rank comes directly above genus?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Family
The ranks run kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species. Lions belong to the genus Panthera within the family Felidae, which also includes the domestic cat.
Many students remember the order of the ranks with the mnemonic King Philip Came Over For Good Soup.
What is the type of cell division that produces two genetically identical daughter cells?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Mitosis
Mitosis copies a cell's chromosomes and splits them equally into two identical cells, which is how your body grows and repairs itself. Meiosis instead halves the chromosome number to make sperm and egg cells.
The lining of your gut renews itself about every five days, one of the fastest rates of mitosis anywhere in the body.
What is the movement of water across a semipermeable membrane from a dilute to a more concentrated solution called?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Osmosis
Osmosis moves water, not solutes, toward the side with more dissolved particles until the concentrations balance. It is why salted slugs shrivel and why plant cells swell firm after watering.
Reverse osmosis forces water the other way through a membrane under pressure, the method used in many desalination plants.
Which part of a cell contains most of its DNA?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Nucleus
The nucleus holds the cell's chromosomes and controls its activities, acting as the command centre of a eukaryotic cell.
Mammal red blood cells lose their nucleus as they mature, leaving more room for oxygen carrying haemoglobin.
Which biome is marked by permafrost, very cold temperatures and no trees?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Tundra
Tundra covers the Arctic fringes and high mountains, where the ground stays frozen below the surface year round and only mosses, lichens and low shrubs survive. The taiga just to the south is coniferous forest.
Thawing permafrost releases methane and carbon dioxide that have been locked away for thousands of years, a growing concern for climate scientists.
What term describes an organism's observable traits, as opposed to its genetic makeup?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Phenotype
The phenotype is what you can see or measure, such as eye color or height, produced by the genotype interacting with the environment. Identical twins share a genotype but can differ in phenotype.
A karyotype is a picture of an organism's full set of chromosomes, used to detect conditions such as Down syndrome.
What is the scientific study of insects called?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Entomology
Entomology comes from the Greek entomon, meaning insect, and covers the more than one million insect species described so far.
Ornithology is the study of birds, herpetology covers reptiles and amphibians, and ichthyology is the study of fish.
Your results
More to explore
All Science quizzes →About the Biology Quiz
Biology is the story of life, from the mitochondria powering every one of your cells to the honey fungus in Oregon that spreads across more than 2,000 acres. Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, Gregor Mendel worked out the rules of inheritance with pea plants, and nearly all the oxygen you breathe was made by photosynthesis.
These 15 questions cover cells, photosynthesis, evolution, genetics, classification and ecosystems. The opening questions are familiar school biology, the middle section digs into cell division and taxonomy, and the closing questions on DNA base pairing and phenotypes will reward anyone who has studied the subject. Ideal for students, teachers and curious minds.
You will find 15 multiple choice questions here, each with four options. Difficulty: Medium. Most people finish in about 6 minutes, and every answer comes with a short explanation and one extra fact worth keeping.
How to play
Read the question and pick one of the four answers. The correct answer is revealed straight away with a short explanation, then press Next question to keep going. At the end you get your score out of 15 and a full review of your round. Play again any time and the questions arrive in a fresh order. There is no timer and no account.
Good to know before you play
Does this quiz overlap with the Human Body Quiz?
No. This one covers general biology such as cells, plants, evolution, genetics and ecosystems, while the Human Body Quiz focuses on anatomy.
What level is the biology?
Mostly secondary school level, with a few questions that reach into early college biology, such as DNA base pairing and the difference between genotype and phenotype.
Can I use these questions for a class or pub quiz?
Yes. Each question comes with a clear explanation and an extra fact, which makes them easy to read out and discuss.
Answer key: all 15 questions with explanations
- Which part of the cell is known as its powerhouse because it produces most of the cell's energy?
Mitochondrion Mitochondria carry out cellular respiration, breaking down glucose with oxygen to produce ATP, the molecule cells spend as energy currency. Hard-working muscle cells can contain thousands of them. Mitochondria have their own DNA, inherited only from the mother, which suggests they were once free-living bacteria. - Which green pigment allows plants to capture light for photosynthesis?
Chlorophyll Chlorophyll sits inside chloroplasts and absorbs red and blue light while reflecting green, which is why leaves look green. The captured energy drives the reactions that turn carbon dioxide and water into sugar. In autumn chlorophyll breaks down, unmasking the yellow and orange carotenoid pigments that were in the leaf all along. - What is the name of the process in which organisms better suited to their environment survive and reproduce more?
Natural selection Natural selection, described by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, is the process in which traits that help an organism survive and reproduce become more common over generations. Darwin's finches on the Galápagos evolved different beak shapes to suit the foods available on each island. - Which gas do plants release as a by-product of photosynthesis?
Oxygen Photosynthesis splits water molecules, and the oxygen atoms are released into the air while the hydrogen is used to build sugar. Nearly all the oxygen in the atmosphere was produced this way over billions of years. Tiny ocean organisms called phytoplankton produce at least half of the oxygen on Earth, more than all the rainforests combined. - Mushrooms and yeasts belong to which kingdom of life?
Fungi Fungi are neither plants nor animals: they cannot photosynthesize and instead absorb nutrients from their surroundings, often by digesting dead matter. Their cell walls are made of chitin, the same material as insect shells. A honey fungus in Oregon's Blue Mountains spreads across roughly 2,400 acres (965 hectares) and is considered one of the largest living organisms on Earth. - In a food chain, what is a plant that makes its own food through photosynthesis called?
Producer Producers, also called autotrophs, form the base of every food chain by converting sunlight into chemical energy. Herbivores that eat them are primary consumers, and the carnivores above them are secondary consumers. Only about 10 percent of the energy at one level of a food chain passes to the next, which is why food chains rarely have more than five links. - Which structure is found in plant cells but not in animal cells?
Cell wall Plant cells are surrounded by a rigid cell wall made of cellulose, which gives them their boxy shape and keeps plants standing upright. Animal cells have only a flexible membrane around them. Plant cells also contain chloroplasts and a large central vacuole, two more features that animal cells lack. - Who is known as the father of genetics for his experiments with pea plants?
Gregor Mendel Mendel, an Augustinian friar in Brno, bred tens of thousands of pea plants in the 1850s and 1860s and worked out the rules of dominant and recessive traits. His work was largely ignored until it was rediscovered in 1900. Mendel chose peas partly because he could control pollination by hand and because traits such as seed color come in clear either-or forms. - In the classification of living things, which rank comes directly above genus?
Family The ranks run kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species. Lions belong to the genus Panthera within the family Felidae, which also includes the domestic cat. Many students remember the order of the ranks with the mnemonic King Philip Came Over For Good Soup. - What is the type of cell division that produces two genetically identical daughter cells?
Mitosis Mitosis copies a cell's chromosomes and splits them equally into two identical cells, which is how your body grows and repairs itself. Meiosis instead halves the chromosome number to make sperm and egg cells. The lining of your gut renews itself about every five days, one of the fastest rates of mitosis anywhere in the body. - What is the movement of water across a semipermeable membrane from a dilute to a more concentrated solution called?
Osmosis Osmosis moves water, not solutes, toward the side with more dissolved particles until the concentrations balance. It is why salted slugs shrivel and why plant cells swell firm after watering. Reverse osmosis forces water the other way through a membrane under pressure, the method used in many desalination plants. - Which part of a cell contains most of its DNA?
Nucleus The nucleus holds the cell's chromosomes and controls its activities, acting as the command centre of a eukaryotic cell. Mammal red blood cells lose their nucleus as they mature, leaving more room for oxygen carrying haemoglobin. - Which biome is marked by permafrost, very cold temperatures and no trees?
Tundra Tundra covers the Arctic fringes and high mountains, where the ground stays frozen below the surface year round and only mosses, lichens and low shrubs survive. The taiga just to the south is coniferous forest. Thawing permafrost releases methane and carbon dioxide that have been locked away for thousands of years, a growing concern for climate scientists. - What term describes an organism's observable traits, as opposed to its genetic makeup?
Phenotype The phenotype is what you can see or measure, such as eye color or height, produced by the genotype interacting with the environment. Identical twins share a genotype but can differ in phenotype. A karyotype is a picture of an organism's full set of chromosomes, used to detect conditions such as Down syndrome. - What is the scientific study of insects called?
Entomology Entomology comes from the Greek entomon, meaning insect, and covers the more than one million insect species described so far. Ornithology is the study of birds, herpetology covers reptiles and amphibians, and ichthyology is the study of fish.
Browse other categories
Every category has its own quizzes, each with instant explanations.