Exam 19: Speciation and the Origins of Biological Diversity

The offspring of two individuals of different species that interbreed are known as ____________________.

When a brightly colored guppy population is placed in an area containing many predators, the population changes in only a few generations to one containing only guppies with drab, dull colors that blend into their environment. This is an example of how natural selection can

Even though humans are causing the extinction of large numbers of species, the process of speciation should replace them within a few decades.

Speciation as a result of geographic isolation generally occurs at a ____________________ rate than speciation as a result of polyploidy.

The faster a cheetah can run, the more likely it is to capture its prey. Cheetahs with longer legs are able to run faster than those with shorter legs. Although the existing cheetah population shows a variety of leg lengths, cheetah legs are not continuing to increase in length from one generation to the next. Which of the following is a possible explanation?

Which of the following is responsible for the nearly perfect match in color pattern between a species of praying mantis (an insect)and the leaves on which it rests?

Sympatric speciation always follows allopatric speciation.

Using reproductive isolation as a method of defining a species is not useful for

The two squirrel species shown in the figure below arose from the same ancestor. The Kaibab squirrel lives on the north rim of the Grand Canyon and Albert's squirrel lives on the south rim. Which is the most likely explanation for their speciation?

The Eastern skunk cabbage, which blooms in very early spring, produces chemicals that smell like decaying meat. This plant has probably become adapted to mate with the assistance of

A farmer sprays a field with an herbicide that kills most of the weeds he finds. Could the weeds develop resistance to the herbicide over the course of a growing season?

Bacteria reproduce asexually so scientists classify them based on

The experiment diagrammed in the image below could lead to the reproductive isolation of fruit fly populations.

Populations within a species are connected by

For the quality of an adaptation to improve over time, _____ must already exist within the population.

A large population of animals is split in two by a physical barrier. Over time, the genetic makeup of the two resulting populations becomes more and more different, until each population becomes a separate species. This is an example of

In the figure below, two populations of one species of fruit flies were raised for several generations on different nutrients (starch and maltose). Then the members of the two populations were reintroduced and the mating frequencies of flies from the two different populations were recorded. Which of the following is true?

A biological species is a group of interbreeding populations that is ____________________ isolated from other species of organisms living in the same region.

The fact that Neandertal genes were found in the modern human genome suggests that these two species interbred at some point creating human-Neandertal ____________________.

Sympatric speciation requires geographic isolation of populations.