Exam 16: The Origin of Species

A single species of finch from South America was displaced to a new habitat in the Galápagos Islands and evolved rapidly into several new species as it exploited the new resources. What occurred in these Darwin's finches?

The biological species concept is based on the tendency of individuals in one group to avoid breeding with individuals outside their group. This phenomenon is referred to as ________.

What happens when two populations become geographically separated from each other and then genetic divergence occurs?

From an evolutionary perspective, explain how three species of large, flightless birds (ostriches, rheas, and emus)came to occupy the widely separated landmasses of Africa, South America, and Australia.

Organisms from two separate species can look anatomically similar. True or False?

Populations that were once considered separate species are sometimes reassigned to the same species because:

Two species of garter snakes live in the same geographic area. One lives mainly in water and the other mainly on land, so they rarely encounter each other and do not interbreed. What type of isolation is this?

For new species to develop, there must be ________ of the populations.

When some hybrid organisms do not live long, it is an example of:

Since the Pleistocene ice age, deserts have been gradually forming in the southwestern United States. As the original lakes and rivers of this area shrank into isolated streams, ponds, and springs, the fishes living in them developed a strong potential for:

Gametic incompatibility is an example of:

Which statement BEST describes the reproductive isolation between populations of Rhagoletis flies found on apple and hawthorn trees?

In what type of habitat, or under what types of environmental conditions, would you expect adaptive radiation to occur?

When offspring are infertile after breeding occurs between individuals of different species, the genetic identities of the two populations are protected by:

Polyploidy is an important mechanism of speciation in animals. True or False?

There are currently many similar-looking but different species on either side of the Isthmus of Panama. They most likely resulted from:

The elaborate courtship rituals of many bird species help to preserve their genetic isolation through:

If a hybrid is unable to produce sperm because meiosis does not proceed correctly, gene flow between the populations is restricted by:

Two fossils may be assigned to different species if:

Which species is least likely to become extinct?