Deck 17: The Evolution of Life

Question 1

All the following traits are heritable in humans except

A)shape of lips.
B)hair color.
C)eye color.
D)hair length.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which scientist led Darwin to his great idea about the cause of evolutionary change by observing that human populations grow much faster than available food supplies and that famine was an inevitable feature of human existence?

A)Charles Darwin
B)Charles Lyell
C)Thomas Malthus
D)Jean Baptiste Lamarck

Answer 2

C

Question 3

If the females of a songbird species prefer to mate with more brightly colored males, and you know this trait is heritable, you would expect

A)sexual selection to occur.
B)males to evolve to become more brightly colored.
C)brightly colored males to survive better in the population.
D)both A and B

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The endosymbiotic theory suggests that the following eukaryotic structures were derived from prokaryotes living inside early eukaryotes:

A)the nucleus.
B)the nucleus, mitochondria, and chloroplasts.
C)the mitochondria and chloroplasts.
D)all eukaryotic organelles, but not the nucleus.

Question 5

Which of the following statements regarding the origin of life is false?

A)Life originated on an Earth whose atmosphere contained no oxygen.
B)Miller and Urey generated amino acids and many other organic molecules by shooting electric sparks through a model of Earth's early atmosphere.
C)The first genes were probably made of DNA, not RNA.
D)When certain lipids are added to water, they spontaneously form structures that resemble cell membranes.

Question 6

Which scientist played an important role in the history of biology for promoting the idea that species changed over time (although he attributed this change over time to an incorrect mechanism)?

A)Charles Darwin
B)Charles Lyell
C)Thomas Malthus
D)Jean Baptiste Lamarck

Question 7

If we compare closely related rabbit species in tropical and arctic environments, we would expect the tropical species to be ________ in size and to have ________ legs.

A)larger; longer
B)larger; shorter
C)smaller; longer
D)smaller; shorter

Question 8

A population of beetles in which some individuals are blue and some individuals are green evolves because the green individuals survive better, and so leave more offspring. This mechanism of evolution is known as

A)natural selection.
B)mutation pressure.
C)genetic drift.
D)gene flow.

Question 9

Each of the following adaptations are related to acquiring mates except

A)camouflage in peppered moths.
B)the peacock's brilliant feathers.
C)the "rib-bit" calls of frogs.
D)deer antlers.

Question 10

Compared to the tropical sun bear, the polar bear has

A)a smaller body.
B)a higher surface-area-to-volume ratio.
C)a lower surface-area-to-volume ratio.
D)none of the above

Question 11

A population of beetles in which some individuals are blue and some individuals are green evolves by chance because more alleles of one color are transmitted to the next generation than alleles of the other color. This mechanism of evolution is known as

A)natural selection.
B)mutation pressure.
C)genetic drift.
D)gene flow.

Question 12

Unusual structures found in a Martian meteorite

A)are thought, potentially, to be fossils of bacteria.
B)include what appear to be living bacterial spores.
C)resemble the chloroplasts of plant cells.
D)show that life on Earth most likely originated on Mars.

Question 13

A population of bats evolves because organisms from a separate bat population move into the population. This mechanism of evolution is known as

A)natural selection.
B)mutation pressure.
C)genetic drift.
D)gene flow.

Question 14

The work of ________ finally convinced the scientific world that life did not arise through spontaneous generation.

A)Louis Pasteur
B)Antony van Leeuwenhoek
C)Charles Darwin
D)Jean Baptiste Lamarck

Question 15

The number of arms humans have is

A)heritable but not variable.
B)variable but not heritable.
C)both heritable and variable.
D)neither heritable nor variable.

Question 16

Which of the following statements about peppered moths is false?

A)In polluted areas, dark moths were more common than light moths.
B)In the countryside, light moths were more common than dark moths.
C)After pollution control laws were passed, dark moths became more common than light moths in urban areas.
D)Bernard Kettlewell's experiments suggested that bird predation was responsible for evolution in peppered moth coloration.

Question 17

Humans are

A)heterotrophs.
B)autotrophs.
C)chemoautotrophs.
D)archaeans.

Question 18

All the following traits are variable in humans except

A)hair color.
B)number of fingers.
C)length of right index finger.
D)length of neck.

Question 19

The cyanobacteria were

A)chemoautotrophs.
B)responsible for introducing substantial amounts of oxygen into Earth's atmosphere.
C)the earliest known prokaryotes.
D)a group of heterotrophic bacteria.

Question 20

Natural selection may favor traits that help organisms

A)survive.
B)acquire mates.
C)successfully raise offspring.
D)all of the above

Question 21

When a donkey mates with a horse, a mule is produced. However, mules are sterile. This is an example of

A)allopatric speciation.
B)sympatric speciation.
C)speciation by hybridization.
D)a postzygotic reproductive barrier.

Question 22

What are three different hypotheses for how Earth accumulated the organic molecules necessary for life to evolve?

Question 23

How do vestigial organs provide evidence of evolution?

Question 24

Why does natural selection make populations more adapted to their environments?

Question 25

Which of these statements regarding biogeography is false?

A)Despite their similarities, new world tropical forests and old world tropical forests are occupied by different sets of living organisms.
B)Closely related species tend to be found close together, suggesting they evolved in one place and then spread.
C)Island species are usually most closely related to species found on the closest mainland.
D)Islands tend to be occupied by many land animals, but few or no flying ones.

Question 26

Two species of insects do not interbreed because their sexual organs will not fit together. This is an example of

A)allopatric speciation.
B)sympatric speciation.
C)a prezygotic reproductive barrier.
D)a postzygotic reproductive barrier.

Question 27

The formation of the isthmus of Panama, dividing the Pacific Ocean from the Caribbean Sea, resulted in many instances of

A)allopatric speciation.
B)sympatric speciation.
C)gene flow.
D)polyploidy.

Question 28

An example of artificial selection is the

A)breeding of corn from teosinte.
B)observation that some snakes retain tiny, incomplete hind legs.
C)evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
D)fact that all mammalian limbs are made up of the same set of bones.

Question 29

Which statement regarding human evolution and our hominid relatives is false?

A)In some hominids, males were significantly larger than females in body size.
B)Homo erectus was the first species to migrate out of Africa and into Europe and Asia.
C)Neanderthals interbred with modern humans, but disappeared as modern humans spread.
D)Modern human anatomy appeared at the same time as modern human cultural traits.

Question 30

Which of the features below was the first to appear in hominids?

A)a large brain
B)tool-making
C)language
D)an upright posture

Question 31

The fossil bird Archaeopteryx

A)suggests that birds and dinosaurs were designed to fit into different kinds of habitats and then placed there.
B)had feathers, but not wings.
C)is not a remnant of a living organism, but just an unusual rock formation.
D)has characteristics that support the hypothesis that birds evolved from dinosaur ancestors.

Question 32

Two species of frogs do not interbreed because one species breeds in March and the other species breeds in May. This is an example of

A)allopatric speciation.
B)sympatric speciation.
C)a prezygotic reproductive barrier.
D)a postzygotic reproductive barrier.

Question 33

What is the difference between a prezygotic reproductive barrier and a postzygotic reproductive barrier? Provide an example of each.

Question 34

The evolution of a large number of species, each adapted to a distinct way of life, from a single ancestor describes

A)allopatric speciation.
B)polyploidy.
C)adaptive radiation.
D)sympatric speciation.

Question 35

Explain why species found in cold habitats tend to be larger than related species found in hot habitats.