Exam 15: Principles of Evolution

Assume it is possible to remove continuous cores of rock from Earth that are 3,000 feet long and contain fossils. What would the theory of evolution by natural selection predict about the fossils found in such cores as they are examined from top to bottom?

If a woman learns to speak many languages, her children will inherit fluency in many languages.

The amino acid sequences of human and chimpanzee hemoglobin are almost identical, yet they differ considerably from the sequence of the hemoglobin of dogs. This fact

Which geologist described the age of the Earth as "eternal"?

Who proposed the geological theory of catastrophism?

A bat's wing and a sheep's front leg are structures.

Fossils include rocks and sediments that

Strong evidence for the common ancestry of all vertebrates is

The human upper arm bone (the humerus) is structurally similar to the upper wing bone of a bat. The structural similarity is an example of

Observations of a wide variety of vertebrate embryos suggest that

The wings of insects and bats are structures.

Dolphins (which are mammals) and sharks (which are fish) have stiff dorsal fins projecting from their backs that help them maneuver through water. These relationships of structures to each other are best described as

Some of Darwin's most important discoveries were based on studies of birds and tortoises that he observed in

Boa constrictors have tiny pelvic girdles and leg bones inside their bodies. Because these structures are nonfunctional "evolutionary baggage," they are called

Who suggested that giraffes developed their long necks over time by stretching?

How does Lamarck's proposed method of evolution differ from Darwin's?

A population of grasshoppers in the Kansas prairie has two color types: green and brown. Typically, the prairie receives enough rainfall to maintain healthy, green grass. Assume a bird species that eats grasshoppers moves into the prairie. How will this affect the natural selection of the grasshoppers? How might this change in a drought year, when the grass turns brown?