Question 1

Darwin found that many of the species on the Galápagos islands

Accepted Answer

A) resembled species on the nearest mainland. 
B) resembled species from Australia. 
C) resembled species in Europe. 
D) were identical to South American species. 
A) resembled species on the nearest mainland. 
B) resembled species from Australia. 
C) resembled species in Europe. 
D) were identical to South American species. A

Question 2

Which of the following conditions would tend to make the Hardy- Weinberg equation more accurate for predicting the genotype frequencies of future generations in a population of a sexually reproducing species?

Accepted Answer

A) mutations that alter the gene pool 
B) a tendency on the part of females to mate with the healthiest males 
C) little gene flow with surrounding populations 
D) a small population size 
A) mutations that alter the gene pool 
B) a tendency on the part of females to mate with the healthiest males 
C) little gene flow with surrounding populations 
D) a small population size C

Question 3

Which of the following assumptions or observations is not part of Darwin's idea of natural selection?

Accepted Answer

A) Populations produce more offspring than their environment can support. 
B) Organisms compete for limited resources. 
C) Heritable traits that promote successful reproduction should gradually become more common in a population. 
D) Whether an organism survives and reproduces is almost entirely a matter of random chance. 
A) Populations produce more offspring than their environment can support. 
B) Organisms compete for limited resources. 
C) Heritable traits that promote successful reproduction should gradually become more common in a population. 
D) Whether an organism survives and reproduces is almost entirely a matter of random chance. D

Question 4

Which of the following best expresses the concept of natural selection?

Accepted Answer

A) inheritance of acquired characteristics 
B) differential reproductive success based on inherited characteristics 
C) change in response to need 
D) a process of constant improvement,leading eventually to perfection 
A) inheritance of acquired characteristics 
B) differential reproductive success based on inherited characteristics 
C) change in response to need 
D) a process of constant improvement,leading eventually to perfection

Question 5

Tay- Sachs is inherited as an autosomal recessive allele.Homozygous individuals die within the first few years of life.However,there is some evidence that heterozygous individuals are more resistant to tuberculosis.Which of the following statements about Tay- Sachs is true?

Accepted Answer

A) This situation is an example of disruptive selection. 
B) The allele for Tay- Sachs is selected against. 
C) This situation is an example of heterozygote advantage if tuberculosis is present in a population. 
D) Heterozygotes will be more fit than either homozygote regardless of environmental conditions. 
A) This situation is an example of disruptive selection. 
B) The allele for Tay- Sachs is selected against. 
C) This situation is an example of heterozygote advantage if tuberculosis is present in a population. 
D) Heterozygotes will be more fit than either homozygote regardless of environmental conditions.

Question 6

Which of the following disciplines has found evidence for evolution based on the native distributions (locations)of living species?

Accepted Answer

A) molecular biology 
B) paleontology 
C) comparative anatomy 
D) biogeography 
A) molecular biology 
B) paleontology 
C) comparative anatomy 
D) biogeography

Question 7

Mate- attracting features such as the bright plumage of a male peacock result from

Accepted Answer

A) disruptive selection. 
B) intrasexual selection. 
C) stabilizing selection. 
D) intersexual selection. 
A) disruptive selection. 
B) intrasexual selection. 
C) stabilizing selection. 
D) intersexual selection.

Question 8

Which of the following terms represents the frequency of heterozygotes in a population that is in Hardy- Weinberg equilibrium?

Accepted Answer

A) q 
B) 2pq 
C) q2 
D) p 
A) q 
B) 2pq 
C) q2 
D) p

Question 9

The sickle- cell allele produces a serious blood disease in homozygotes.Why doesn't natural selection eliminate this allele from all human populations?

Accepted Answer

A) In populations where endemic malaria is present,heterozygotes have an important advantage: They are resistant to malaria and therefore are more likely to survive and produce offspring that carry the allele. 
B) Natural selection is a positive force,so it does not eliminate alleles. 
C) Natural selection occurs very slowly,but elimination of the sickle- cell allele is expected to occur soon. 
D) Mutations keep bringing the allele back into circulation. 
A) In populations where endemic malaria is present,heterozygotes have an important advantage: They are resistant to malaria and therefore are more likely to survive and produce offspring that carry the allele. 
B) Natural selection is a positive force,so it does not eliminate alleles. 
C) Natural selection occurs very slowly,but elimination of the sickle- cell allele is expected to occur soon. 
D) Mutations keep bringing the allele back into circulation.

Question 10

Genetic drift resulting from a disaster that drastically reduces population size is called

Accepted Answer

A) gene flow. 
B) natural selection. 
C) the bottleneck effect. 
D) the founder effect. 
A) gene flow. 
B) natural selection. 
C) the bottleneck effect. 
D) the founder effect.

Question 11

Genetic differences between populations tend to be reduced by

Accepted Answer

A) mutation. 
B) gene flow. 
C) natural selection. 
D) the founder effect. 
A) mutation. 
B) gene flow. 
C) natural selection. 
D) the founder effect.

Question 12

Which of the following thinkers argued that much of human suffering was the result of human populations increasing faster than food supply,an argument that later influenced Charles Darwin's ideas of natural selection?

Accepted Answer

A) Gregor Mendel 
B) Jean- Baptiste Lamarck 
C) Thomas Malthus 
D) Charles Lyell 
A) Gregor Mendel 
B) Jean- Baptiste Lamarck 
C) Thomas Malthus 
D) Charles Lyell

Question 13

Which of the following statements would Darwin have disagreed with?

Accepted Answer

A) Species change over time. 
B) Descent with modification occurs by natural selection. 
C) Living species have arisen from earlier life forms. 
D) Descent with modification occurs through inheritance of acquired characteristics. 
A) Species change over time. 
B) Descent with modification occurs by natural selection. 
C) Living species have arisen from earlier life forms. 
D) Descent with modification occurs through inheritance of acquired characteristics.

Question 14

A lot of your DNA is inherited "junk": It doesn't code for any protein and has no known function in gene regulation.How do nucleotide sequences of "junk DNA" evolve?

Accepted Answer

A) They evolve through genetic drift and other chance processes. 
B) They evolve by gradually being eliminated from the gene pool. 
C) They evolve to be more useful by taking on new functions. 
D) They evolve through natural selection. 
A) They evolve through genetic drift and other chance processes. 
B) They evolve by gradually being eliminated from the gene pool. 
C) They evolve to be more useful by taking on new functions. 
D) They evolve through natural selection.

Question 15

Mothers and teachers have often said they need another pair of eyes on the backs of their heads.And another pair of hands would come in handy in many situations.You can imagine that these traits would have been advantageous to our early hunter- gatherer ancestors as well.According to sound evolutionary reasoning,what is the most likely explanation for why humans do not have these traits?

Accepted Answer

A) Because they actually would not be beneficial to the fitness of individuals who possessed them.Natural selection always produces the most beneficial traits for a particular organism in a particular environment. 
B) Because humans are a relatively young species.If we stick around and adapt for long enough,it is inevitable that the required adaptations will arise. 
C) Because these variations have probably never appeared in a healthy human.As tetrapods we are pretty much stuck with a four- limbed,two- eyed body plan; natural selection can only edit existing variations. 
D) Because every time they have arisen before,the individual mutants bearing these traits have been killed by chance events.Chance and natural selection interact. 
A) Because they actually would not be beneficial to the fitness of individuals who possessed them.Natural selection always produces the most beneficial traits for a particular organism in a particular environment. 
B) Because humans are a relatively young species.If we stick around and adapt for long enough,it is inevitable that the required adaptations will arise. 
C) Because these variations have probably never appeared in a healthy human.As tetrapods we are pretty much stuck with a four- limbed,two- eyed body plan; natural selection can only edit existing variations. 
D) Because every time they have arisen before,the individual mutants bearing these traits have been killed by chance events.Chance and natural selection interact.

Question 16

An elk herd is observed over many generations.Most of the full- grown bull elk have antlers of nearly the same size,although a few have antlers that are significantly larger or smaller than this average size.The average antler size remains constant over the generations.Which of the following effects probably accounts for this situation?

Accepted Answer

A) a bottleneck effect that resulted in low genetic diversity 
B) a high rate of gene flow 
C) stabilizing selection 
D) directional selection 
A) a bottleneck effect that resulted in low genetic diversity 
B) a high rate of gene flow 
C) stabilizing selection 
D) directional selection

Question 17

In populations of the greater prairie chicken in Illinois,genetic diversity was

Accepted Answer

A) lost through genetic drift and restored by gene flow. 
B) lost through genetic drift and restored by natural selection. 
C) lost through gene flow and restored by mutation. 
D) lost through mutation and restored by natural selection. 
A) lost through genetic drift and restored by gene flow. 
B) lost through genetic drift and restored by natural selection. 
C) lost through gene flow and restored by mutation. 
D) lost through mutation and restored by natural selection.

Question 18

According to this figure,which pair of organisms shares the most recent common ancestor?

Accepted Answer

A) lungfish and amphibian 
B) lizard and ostrich 
C) amphibian and lizard 
D) mammal and crocodile 
A) lungfish and amphibian 
B) lizard and ostrich 
C) amphibian and lizard 
D) mammal and crocodile

Question 19

Which of the following would most quickly be eliminated by natural selection?

Accepted Answer

A) a harmful allele in an asexual,haploid population 
B) a harmful recessive allele in a sexual,polyploid population 
C) a harmful recessive allele in a sexual,diploid population 
D) any harmful allele,regardless of the system of inheritance in a population 
A) a harmful allele in an asexual,haploid population 
B) a harmful recessive allele in a sexual,polyploid population 
C) a harmful recessive allele in a sexual,diploid population 
D) any harmful allele,regardless of the system of inheritance in a population

Question 20

A population of 1,000 birds exists on a small Pacific island.Some of the birds are yellow,a characteristic determined by a recessive allele.The others are green,a characteristic determined by a dominant allele.A hurricane on the island kills most of the birds from this population.Only ten remain,and those birds all have yellow feathers.Which of the following statements is true?

Accepted Answer

A) This situation illustrates the effect of a mutation event. 
B) The hurricane has caused a population bottleneck and a loss of genetic diversity. 
C) The ten remaining birds will mate only with each other,and this will contribute to gene flow in the population. 
D) Assuming that no new birds come to the island and no mutations occur,future generations of this population will contain both green and yellow birds. 
A) This situation illustrates the effect of a mutation event. 
B) The hurricane has caused a population bottleneck and a loss of genetic diversity. 
C) The ten remaining birds will mate only with each other,and this will contribute to gene flow in the population. 
D) Assuming that no new birds come to the island and no mutations occur,future generations of this population will contain both green and yellow birds.

Exam 13: How Populations Evolve

Darwin found that many of the species on the Galápagos islands

Which of the following conditions would tend to make the Hardy- Weinberg equation more accurate for predicting the genotype frequencies of future generations in a population of a sexually reproducing species?

Which of the following assumptions or observations is not part of Darwin's idea of natural selection?

Which of the following best expresses the concept of natural selection?

Tay- Sachs is inherited as an autosomal recessive allele.Homozygous individuals die within the first few years of life.However,there is some evidence that heterozygous individuals are more resistant to tuberculosis.Which of the following statements about Tay- Sachs is true?

Which of the following disciplines has found evidence for evolution based on the native distributions (locations)of living species?

Mate- attracting features such as the bright plumage of a male peacock result from

Which of the following terms represents the frequency of heterozygotes in a population that is in Hardy- Weinberg equilibrium?

The sickle- cell allele produces a serious blood disease in homozygotes.Why doesn't natural selection eliminate this allele from all human populations?

Genetic drift resulting from a disaster that drastically reduces population size is called

Genetic differences between populations tend to be reduced by

Which of the following thinkers argued that much of human suffering was the result of human populations increasing faster than food supply,an argument that later influenced Charles Darwin's ideas of natural selection?

Which of the following statements would Darwin have disagreed with?

A lot of your DNA is inherited "junk": It doesn't code for any protein and has no known function in gene regulation.How do nucleotide sequences of "junk DNA" evolve?

In populations of the greater prairie chicken in Illinois,genetic diversity was

According to this figure,which pair of organisms shares the most recent common ancestor?

Which of the following would most quickly be eliminated by natural selection?

Biology: Exploring Life

The Chemical Basis of Life

The Molecules of Cells

A Tour of the Cell

The Working Cell

How Cells Harvest Chemical Energy

Photosynthesis: Using Light to Make Food

The Cellular Basis of Reproduction and Inheritance

Patterns of Inheritance

Molecular Biology of the Gene

How Genes Are Controlled

Dna Technology and Genomics

The Origin of Species

Tracing Evolutionary History

Microbial Life: Prokaryotes and Protists

The Evolution of Plant and Fungal Diversity

The Evolution of Invertebrate Diversity

The Evolution of Vertebrate Diversity

Unifying Concepts of Animal Structure and Function

Nutrition and Digestion

Gas Exchange

Circulation

The Immune System

Control of Body Temperature and Water Balance

Hormones and the Endocrine System

Reproduction and Embryonic Development

Nervous Systems

The Senses

How Animals Move

Plant Structure,growth,and Reproduction

Plant Nutrition and Transport

Control Systems in Plants

The Biosphere: an Introduction to Earths Diverse Environments

Behavioral Adaptations to the Environment

Population Ecology

Communities and Ecosystems

Conservation Biology

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