Exam 16: How Populations Evolve

Which of the following can cause evolutionary change in a small population?

Mutations are important because they

The fish in a certain population average 10 millimeters in length. Imagine that a population of predatory birds arrives in the area, but they cannot eat fish longer than 15 millimeters. After a decade, if the fish average 14 millimeters in length, what probably happened?

A flock of birds with various beak sizes migrates to a new island where their traditional food is not available. However, there are plants that produce a variety of large nuts, which can be eaten by birds with the largest beaks, and plants that produce a variety of small, soft seeds, which can be eaten by birds with the smallest beaks. Over time, this population divides into two species with large and small beaks. This is an example of

Imagine that one of the original four mice that escape from a research lab is blind due to a genetic defect. If the escaped mouse breeds and most of the mice born in subsequent generations are blind from birth, this is most likely a case of

Organisms that have the greatest reproductive success are considered the most evolutionarily fit.

The allele frequency of a population is the

Which of the following can evolve?

Environmental change causes the heritable variations in individuals that natural selection acts upon.