Deck 27: Evolution of Life

Question 1

Transitional forms are seen in the fossil record that link

A) reptiles and birds.
B) amphibians and reptiles.
C) fish and amphibians.
D) reptiles and mammals.
E) Transitional fossils have been found in all of these groups.

Answer 1

E

Question 2

All the members of a single species that occupy a particular area and are able to interbreed are a

A) subspecies.
B) gene pool.
C) population.
D) domain.
E) community.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Consider that the rock outcrops at the surface of the land in your neighborhood are Permian. What would be true if you dig downward?

A) You may find dinosaur fossils below.
B) You may find fossils of first flowers.
C) The Mesozoic layers will be present underneath.
D) A road cut in your area would reveal exactly the same species of fossils as a road cut through a Permian layer in Asia.
E) You may find fossils of the first reptiles or jawed fishes below.

Answer 3

E

Question 4

The extinction of the dinosaurs has been associated with

A) a virus leading to disease and massive loss of life.
B) dinosaurs preying upon each other until they became extinct.
C) a meteor impact at the end of the Cretaceous era that caused major cooling.
D) new chemicals and ions in the environment which caused dinosaurs to become sterile.
E) mammals who were more adapted and more able to acquire similar resources.

Question 5

Mass extinctions

A) are the result of humans damaging the natural environment.
B) are the result of humans exploiting wildlife and using pesticides.
C) occurred in cycles when organisms fail to evolve.
D) have occurred about 4 or 5 times in fossil record.
E) require life to evolve again from protocells.

Question 6

Which pairing of occurrence and date is correct?

A) origin of invertebrates-630 million years ago
B) origin of eukaryotic cells-2.1 billion years ago
C) origin of prokaryotic cells-3.5 billion years ago
D) chordate evolution-545 million years ago
E) All of the answers are correctly paired.

Question 7

Which of the following describes the absolute dating method?

A) Lower rock layers are older than surface layers.
B) Common assemblages of indicator fossils occur in layers with primitive layers lower.
C) Radioisotopes decay at constant rates and the ratio of isotopes-to-stable elements provides an approximate age to a fossil.
D) The number of homologous features shared between two fossils indicates their age.
E) The age of a fossil can be determined by the number of continents on which it has been found.

Question 8

The age of the earth is estimated to be about

A) 1 million years old.
B) 4 million years old.
C) 1 billion years old.
D) 2.5 billion years old.
E) 4.6 billion years old.

Question 9

Fossil evidence from what organism supports the idea of continental drift?

A) Archaeopteryx
B) Glossopteris
C) Euphorbia
D) Ambulocetus
E) Basilosaurus

Question 10

Homologous structures such as the bones in wings, flippers, and arms are most closely concerned with

A) comparative anatomy.
B) biogeography.
C) the fossil record.
D) comparative embryology.
E) comparative biochemistry.

Question 11

Anatomical features that are fully developed and functional in one group of organisms but reduced and functionless in a similar group are termed

A) vestigial.
B) homologous.
C) analogous.
D) polygenic.
E) sympatric.

Question 12

Cytochrome c is a molecule used in the electron transport chain of many organisms. Data regarding differences in the amino acid sequence of cytochrome c show that the sequence in a moth differs from a turtle by 15 about amino acids, while a moth differs from a human by about 30 amino acids. Therefore,

A) this is sufficient evidence to prove the moth is related more to the human than the turtle.
B) turtles evolved before moths.
C) there is no evolutionary relationship between moths, snakes, and humans.
D) in addition to anatomical similarities and fossil data, this provides additional evidence for determining the relatedness between these organisms.
E) biochemical information is not relevant to the evolution of organisms.

Question 13

Prokaryotes evolved about

A) 1 million years ago.
B) 4 million years ago.
C) 1 billion years ago.
D) 3.5 billion years ago.
E) 4.6 billion years old.

Question 14

The ________ is the total number of alleles of all the gene loci in all the members of a population.

A) genetic drift
B) gene flow
C) gene pool
D) adaptive radiation
E) community

Question 15

Which evidence for evolution includes impressions of plants and animals pressed into sedimentary rock?

A) fossil record
B) biogeography
C) comparative anatomy
D) comparative embryology
E) comparative biochemistry

Question 16

Which line of evidence developed after Charles Darwin developed his theory of evolution?

A) comparative anatomy.
B) biogeography.
C) the fossil record.
D) geography.
E) biochemistry.

Question 17

Africa, Asia, South America, and Antarctica share some patterns of primitive (fossil) plants and early reptiles, but do not have similar mammal populations. This therefore

A) casts serious doubts upon the theory of continental drift and fused land masses.
B) is an unsolved puzzle probably due to the random nature of biological evolution.
C) suggests that a pattern of land bridges existed at different times in geological history.
D) suggests that the earlier plants and reptiles evolved while continents were joined but mammals radiated into diverse groups after separation.
E) suggests that the mammals evolved earlier while continents were joined but plants and reptiles radiated into diverse groups after separation.

Question 18

Almost all living organisms use DNA, ATP, and enzymes. This is an example of evolution based on

A) the fossil record.
B) biogeography.
C) comparative anatomy.
D) comparative embryology.
E) biochemistry.

Question 19

What evidence would be studied by a biogeographer?

A) continental drift or the movement of tectonic plates over time
B) amount of genetic similarity among current populations
C) ocean currents and wind patterns
D) ranges of animals and ability to migrate
E) All of the answer choices describe evidence that would be studied by a biogeographer.

Question 20

Archaeopteryx is a fossil that clearly seems to be an intermediate form between dinosaurs and birds. Fossils like Archaeopteryx are termed

A) missing links.
B) stepping stones.
C) transitional links.
D) intermediates.
E) species links.

Question 21

A variety of genotypes and phenotypes in a population is useful because it

A) makes life more interesting.
B) allows the species to survive if the environment changes.
C) means that the gene pool is constant and unchanging.
D) makes genetic drift an unlikely occurrence.
E) will lead to nonrandom mating.

Question 22

Social research indicates that a person is most likely to marry someone from the same village or city, or a high school or college classmate. Therefore, the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium does not apply well to human populations because

A) there is a lack of gene flow.
B) the populations are small.
C) mating is nonrandom.
D) this increases genetic drift.
E) natural selection is occurring.

Question 23

Which of the following contributes to evolution?

A) mutations
B) gene flow
C) genetic drift
D) natural selection
E) All of the answer choices describe agents of evolution.

Question 24

If all the conditions of the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium are met

A) then a population becomes better adapted to an unchanging environment.
B) then a population becomes better adapted to a changing environment.
C) this indicates allele frequencies are changing but the population is not adapting.
D) there is no evolution because the allele frequencies remain the same.
E) there is no evolution because the allele frequencies in the population are changing.

Question 25

If the frequency of the dominant gene is 0.7, what is the frequency of the recessive gene?

A) 0.7
B) 0.49
C) 0.27
D) 0.3
E) 0.14

Question 26

When a natural disaster kills off a large proportion of the population, resulting in a severe reduction in the gene pool, it is called

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

Question 27

A student proposes that left-handedness is a recessive trait. A survey of a class of 36 students finds that 27 (0.75) are right-handed and 9 (0.25) are left-handed. Using the Hardy-Weinberg formula, what would the expected genotype and allele frequencies be in this theoretical population?

A) 0.75 right-handed homozygous dominant and 0.25 recessive homozygous for 3-to-1 right- to left-handed alleles in the population
B) 0.25 right-handed homozygous, 0.50 heterozygous, and 0.25 recessive homozygous for a 3-to-1 right- to left-handed alleles in the population
C) 0.25 right-handed homozygous, 0.50 heterozygous, and 0.25 recessive homozygous for a 0.5 allele frequency for each allele
D) 0.50 right-handed homozygous, 0.25 heterozygous, and 0.25 recessive homozygous for a 0.5 allele frequency for each allele
E) They cannot be estimated using these limited data.

Question 28

Which of the following mechanisms can disrupt genetic equilibrium?

A) founder effect
B) differential reproduction
C) genetic drift
D) natural selection
E) All of the answer choices describe mechanisms that can disrupt genetic equilibrium.

Question 29

The idea that population growth is kept in check because an environment can support only a limited number of people was formulated by

A) Stanley Miller.
B) Charles Lyell.
C) Thomas Malthus.
D) Charles Darwin.
E) Alfred Wallace.

Question 30

Which of the following is the only source of new variation in a population?

A) gene flow
B) genetic drift
C) mutation
D) nonrandom reproduction
E) natural selection

Question 31

The equation, p² + 2 pq + q² = 1.0, describes

A) the process of evolution.
B) the size of a population.
C) the rate of speciation of species p and q.
D) genotypic frequencies of a nonevolving population.
E) evolution of a population.

Question 32

Genetic drift

A) is more likely to occur in a large population than in a small population.
B) may lead to an allele becoming fixed in a population.
C) increases the number of heterozygotes in a population.
D) has no impact of the allele frequencies of a population.
E) reduces the chances of mutation in a population.

Question 33

Which statement describes the bottleneck effect?

A) It is a form of gene flow.
B) It occurs when an extreme phenotype is favored.
C) It occurs when the founding members of a population contain a tiny fraction of the alleles found in the original population.
D) It occurs when a population is subjected to near extinction.
E) It occurs due to nonrandom mating.

Question 34

The random alteration in a sequence of DNA nucleotides that provides a new variant of a gene is

A) a gene mutation.
B) a polymorphism.
C) genetic drift.
D) disruptive selection.
E) stabilizing selection.

Question 35

The Amish of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, have a higher frequency of an unusual form of dwarfism than the population at large. This is probably due to

A) natural selection.
B) bottleneck effect.
C) founder effect.
D) vestigial structures.
E) industrial melanism.

Question 36

What is the term used to describe the accumulation of small changes in the gene pool of a species over time?

A) genetic drift
B) founder effect
C) microevolution
D) directional selection
E) mutation rate

Question 37

Changes in the allele frequencies of a gene pool due to the random meeting of gametes during fertilization is called

A) mutations.
B) genetic drift.
C) gene flow.
D) nonrandom mating.
E) natural selection.

Question 38

Lamarck's proposal of the inheritance of acquired characteristics included the idea that

A) the continual stretching of giraffe's necks to reach leaves led to longer necks.
B) local catastrophes cause mass extinctions of species.
C) species are only produced through special creation.
D) species are fixed and unchanging over time.
E) organisms are acted on by the environment.

Question 39

In a population, freckles is inherited as a dominant trait. Individuals that are homozygous recessive lack freckles. If 1% of the population lacks freckles, and the population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium at this locus, what percentage of the next generation will lack freckles?

A) None, since it is a recessive condition.
B) 1%
C) 2%
D) 50%
E) 99%

Question 40

The Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium requires

A) no new mutations.
B) no migration of alleles into or out of the population.
C) a large population size.
D) a sexually reproducing population that mates randomly.
E) All of the answer choices are conditions that must be met for a population to be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.

Question 41

Which of the following agents of evolutionary change results in adaptation?

A) mutation
B) genetic drift
C) gene flow
D) nonrandom mating
E) natural selection

Question 42

Many fireflies have flash patterns unique to their species and use them to identify other members of their species. This is an example of

A) geographical isolation.
B) ecological isolation.
C) behavioral isolation.
D) physiological isolation.
E) temporal isolation.

Question 43

How is variation maintained in population?

A) Heterozygotes serve as a reservoir of recessive alleles.
B) Mutation generates new alleles.
C) Recombination and independent assortment during gametogenesis creates variation.
D) Gene flow brings in new alleles.
E) All of the answer choices describe ways that variation is maintained within a population.

Question 44

Movement of alleles between populations is called

A) mutations.
B) genetic drift.
C) gene flow.
D) nonrandom mating.
E) natural selection.

Question 45

Two populations of insects interbreed, producing fertile offspring. Due to glacial activity, the two populations become isolated. Many years later, the populations are reunited but they no longer mate at the same time, nor can they produce fertile offspring. These insects

A) began as one species and therefore remain one species.
B) were originally two species and remain two species.
C) were originally two species but are now one species.
D) were originally one species but are now two species.
E) The number of species cannot be determined from the information given.

Question 46

During sympatric speciation

A) evolution occurs at a very rapid rate.
B) phenotypic differences disappear between subpopulations.
C) reproductive isolation between subpopulations occurs without geographic isolation.
D) a geographic separation occurs between certain subpopulations which leads to reproductive isolation.
E) mutation rates are unusually high, leading to reproductive isolation between two subpopulations.

Question 47

Which organisms on the Galápagos Islands were most important in the development of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection?

A) rabbits
B) flowering plants
C) finches
D) fish
E) bats

Question 48

In grassy fields, light-banded British land snails escape bird predators. In forested areas, the snails with darker shells have the advantage. What type of selection is at work?

A) disruptive
B) directional
C) stabilizing
D) sexual
E) a combination of directional and disruptive

Question 49

What information is contained in the branches of a cladogram?

A) a current species and its descendants
B) a recent common ancestor and two outgroups
C) a recent common ancestor and all of its descendants
D) all of the potential ancestors of a group
E) all species classified in a particular genus

Question 50

Which of the following is true about natural selection?

A) It acts on genotypes rather than phenotypes.
B) It assures the survival of each fit individual.
C) It favors the survival of young with adaptive characteristics.
D) It always selects for more complex forms.
E) It always selects for forms that are a mutated variation.

Question 51

Which statement is true about nonrandom mating?

A) Inbreeding is a form of nonrandom mating.
B) A tall man preferentially marrying a tall woman is an example of nonrandom mating.
C) Nonrandom mating violates the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.
D) The strongest male winning the opportunity to mate with his choice of females is an example of nonrandom mating.
E) All of the answer choices are true statements about nonrandom mating.

Question 52

Which type of natural selection occurs when an intermediate phenotype is favored?

A) disruptive selection
B) directional selection
C) stabilizing selection
D) drift selection
E) adaptive radiation

Question 53

For natural selection to act on a population, there must be

A) variation among members of the population.
B) more offspring born than the environment can support.
C) some members of the population that have greater reproductive success.
D) variation that is heritable.
E) All of the answer choices describe requirements for natural selection.

Question 54

Which of the following describes allopatric speciation?

A) Gene flow between subpopulations minimizes differences in their gene pools.
B) A single population suddenly divides into two reproductively isolated groups without being geographically isolated.
C) A geographic separation occurs between subpopulations leading to reproductive isolation.
D) Wide phenotypic differences that appear between subpopulations due to variation in their environments.
E) Subpopulations that are geographically isolated but still able to interbreed.

Question 55

Which of the following would scenarios could result in reproductive isolation?

A) Fruit flies on one Hawaiian island live for hundreds of generations and do not come in contact with fruit flies on another island except when blown there by rare tropical storms.
B) One brood of the 17-year cicada emerged in 1987 (and will do so every 17 years) and lives a few months as adults; another brood emerged in 1992 (and will do so every 17 years); the larvae of both feed side by side on tree roots.
C) A lion and a tiger mate in the artificial confines of a zoo, but the offspring is infertile.
D) Two populations of crickets are indistinguishable in physical features, but the females in each group only approach males singing songs specific to their species.
E) All of the answer choices could lead to reproductive isolation.

Question 56

If there is gene flow between two adjacent populations of the same species, they will

A) have similar gene pools.
B) become genetically isolated from each other.
C) develop into different species.
D) experience directional selection.
E) merge into one population.

Question 57

Lamarck's ideas on evolution were adopted by some Russian scientists, including Lysenko. Russian textbooks printed Lysenko's assertion that workmen who develop strong muscles from working in the mines would produce children who would be born stronger. Which of the major elements of evolution by natural selection is violated by this assertion?

A) Organisms vary in traits.
B) Acquired characteristics are inherited.
C) More young are born than can survive.
D) Some individuals are better adapted to the environment.
E) The environment selects for phenotype.

Question 58

According to the evolutionary theory

A) evolution explains the unity of life.
B) evolution explains the diversity of life.
C) all living things are descended from a common ancestor.
D) adaption leads to diversity.
E) All of the answer choices describe aspects of the theory of evolution.

Question 59

Which type of natural selection increases the frequency of one extreme phenotype?

A) directional
B) diversifying
C) stabilizing
D) disruptive
E) nonrandom

Question 60

Inbreeding within a population is an example of

A) mutations.
B) genetic drift.
C) gene flow.
D) nonrandom mating.
E) natural selection.

Question 61

Summarize the four main observations that make up Darwin's theory of natural selection.

Question 62

There are two species of larkspur that have two different size flowers; Delphinium decorum has large, fully opened flowers and Delphinium nudicaule has small bud, like flowers. These two species are both fertilized by insects, but they cannot be fertilized by the same type of insect because the smaller flower of D. nudicaule will not permit larger insects to reach the nectar of the flower and the larger flower of the D. decorum is typically fed on by larger insects. Which type of isolating mechanism would this be?

A) postzygotic isolation
B) temporal isolation
C) behavioral isolation
D) habitat isolation
E) mechanical isolation

Question 63

The model of evolution that proposes rapid periods of speciation followed by long periods of stasis is known as

A) genetic drift.
B) phyletic gradualism.
C) sympatric speciation.
D) punctuated equilibrium.
E) the biological species concept.

Question 64

Name the isolating mechanisms that exist within nature and indicate which ones are prezygotic and which ones are postzygotic.

Question 65

The difference between phyletic gradualism and punctuated equilibrium is that

A) phyletic gradualism is specific to eukaryotes and punctuated equilibrium is specific to prokaryotes.
B) punctuated equilibrium states that speciation can occur in a relatively short period of time, while phyletic gradualism states that speciation occurs gradually over vast periods of time.
C) phyletic gradualism states that speciation can occur over a relatively short time period, while punctuated equilibrium states that speciation requires vast periods of time.
D) the fossil record only supports phyletic gradualism.
E) the fossil record only supports punctuated equilibrium.

Question 66

The American toad and the Fowler's toad are closely related species whose ranges overlap. The American toad mates in the early part of summer, while the Fowler's toad mates later in the season. What type of reproductive isolating mechanism keeps these toads separate species?

A) postzygotic isolation
B) temporal isolation
C) behavioral isolation
D) habitat isolation
E) mechanical isolation

Question 67

If a population goes from an allele frequency of 0.12 A & 0.88 a to 0.23 A & 0.77 a in the course of seven generations, we can conclude the population is evolving.

Question 68

Taxonomy is the branch of systemic biology that studies the evolutionary relatedness among groups of organisms.

Question 69

Lake Tanganyika, the oldest of the Great Ancient Lakes in East Africa, harbors about 250 species of cichlid fish which evolved from a single ancestor into a diverse group of species that each exploits the resources of the lake environment in a different way. The evolution of one species of cichlid into many species within Lake Tanganyika is an example of

A) adaptive radiation.
B) convergent evolution.
C) disruptive selection.
D) stabilizing selection.
E) allopatric speciation.

Question 70

Which of the following is used by phylogeneticists specifically when constructing a cladogram?

A) shared derived characteristics
B) homologous structures
C) morphological data
D) convergent evolution
E) DNA sequences

Question 71

All living organisms share characteristics such as DNA, the molecule that passes information between generations; metabolic processes like glycolysis; and the ability to utilize specific energy sources. This is thought to be due to

A) a common ancestor.
B) limited environmental stimuli.
C) the presence of transitional forms.
D) postzygotic isolation.
E) prezygotic isolation.

Question 72

List the five conditions required for a population to be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.

Question 73

Phylogeny refers to the

A) development of an organism.
B) evolutionary history of a species.
C) taxonomic hierarchies of cladistics.
D) reproductive isolation of species.
E) naming of organisms.

Question 74

According to the proposed three-domain system,

A) archaea and eukarya are more closely related than either is to the bacteria.
B) archaea and bacteria are more closely related than either is to the eukarya.
C) bacteria and eukarya are more closely related than either is to the archaea.
D) all three groups arose separately.
E) All three groups are equally related.

Question 75

Within the field of systematic biology, scientists use the characteristics of living and fossil organisms to infer the evolutionary relationships among organisms.

Question 76

According to Lamarck, which variable would have the greatest influence on the evolution of an organism?

A) the environment
B) the genetics of the individual
C) Both the environment and genetics are equally responsible for the evolution of an organism.
D) Neither the environment nor the genetics of an organism play a role in its evolution.
E) A creator would determine the evolution of an organism.

Question 77

If you were assigned the task of constructing a cladogram representing the evolutionary relationship between amphibians, turtles, lizards, snakes, crocodiles, birds, and mammals, what feature could you use as the shared derived trait?

A) presence of a beak
B) presence of hair
C) give birth to live young
D) four limbs
E) production of milk to nourish their young

Question 78

Which piece of evidence did Darwin observe during his 5-year journey aboard the HMS Beagle?

A) A South American species of finch is most likely the ancestor of the Galápagos Island finches.
B) Species do not change over time.
C) The environment can change the phenotype of an organism and this is heritable.
D) All species share the same basic genetic blueprint.
E) The earth is approximately 4.6 billion years old.

Question 79

The three-domain system is primarily based on

A) molecular data showing eukaryotes are much more closely related than previously thought.
B) structural data showing eukaryotes are far more diverse than previously thought.
C) molecular data showing prokaryotes are far more diverse than previously thought.
D) new biogeographical data showing prokaryotes are far more diverse than previously thought.
E) new classification concepts that have shown everything except molecular data to be irrelevant.