Exam 16: How Evolution Works

Evolution can cause so many changes among individuals of two populations of the same species that eventually the members of the two populations are no longer able to _______ with each other, thus forming a new species.

_______ are the preserved remains of formerly living organisms.

In the figure below, the region indicated by the arrow is the only modern-day location of the freshwater lungfish. Fossils of the ancestors of the lungfish, however, have been found all over the world (dots throughout map). What does the distribution of these fossils indicate?

Evolution is

Which of the following is not likely to contribute to evolution within a population?

Nonheritable genetic changes can cause evolution within a population.

The diversity of life on Earth is a result of

The wings of a bird and the wings of a bat both form from the front appendages (arms).The bird wing is covered by feathers and the bat wing consist of a thin layer of skin stretched between the "finger" bones. Are the wings of the bird and bat homologous or analogous?

Continental drift is the _______ of Earth's land masses through geologic time.

Certain weeds have become resistant to the pesticides that were used to kill them. Which of the following choices is the best explanation for this phenomenon?

Individuals evolve, not populations.

Mutations occur _______ rather than in a predictable manner that ensures the survival of an individual.

Convergent evolution occurs when natural selection causes distantly related organisms to

Human and fish embryos share a number of features. Why is this?

During a windstorm, a tree falls on the population of wildflowers shown in the figure below. Most of the flowers die (as indicated by the tombstones in the second row). The survivors go on to reproduce. What will the next generation of this wildflower population look like?

Natural selection

Evolution can be described as

Evolutionary changes on a large scale are called ______________.

A population of mice lives along a river. Some mice cross the river to establish a new population. Eventually, due to genetic changes, these two groups of mice can no longer interbreed. This is an example of

The Lycopodium plant evolved before the breakup of Pangaea. Sequoia trees evolved after Pangaea split into separate land masses. Which plant would you expect to have the widest distribution across the modern continents?