Deck 17: How Evolution Works

Question 1

Peppered moths are generally light in color and blend into the trunks of the trees they live on. Populations of peppered moths found in areas where soot has blackened the tree trunks are dark in color. This example demonstrates

A)artificial selection.
B)natural selection.
C)genetic drift.
D)vestigial coloration.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

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

A)The weeds have become different species.
B)The pesticides evolved so that they are no longer useful against the weeds.
C)Continental drift caused the evolution of weed resistance in the pesticides.
D)Natural selection acted on the genetic variability present in the weeds' genomes.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following processes does not contribute to the generation of genetic variation within a population?

A)independent assortment
B)crossing-over
C)segregation of alleles
D)random fusion of sperm and egg

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Natural selection tends to

A)increase the commonality of characteristics that enhance survival and reproduction.
B)decrease the number of individuals in any given population.
C)lead to an increase in genetic drift.
D)decrease the likelihood of adaptation.

Question 5

Jean-Baptiste Lamark proposed that changes in the traits of a population are a result of traits acquired during the lifetime of an organism being inherited by that organism's offspring. What is wrong with this proposal?

A)Only changes in the DNA sequence of an organism can be inherited. Traits acquired throughout life generally do not involve DNA.
B)The environment chooses which traits are necessary for survival rather than the individual.
C)Changes in a species occur at the individual level rather than the population level.
D)The inheritance of acquired traits would not lead to speciation because it would cause all of the individuals in a population to become more similar.

Question 6

Prior to the industrial revolution, scholars believed that the Earth was only 6,000 years old. What evidence first suggested that this might not be the case?

A)Scientists developed techniques to accurately determine the age of fossils.
B)Researchers saw bacteria undergoing natural selection at a rapid rate in the laboratory.
C)Geological studies showed that the slow action of rivers, glaciers, earthquakes, and volcanoes shape the Earth's surface over long periods of time.
D)Scholars observed that new species could evolve rapidly through artificial selection.

Question 7

Evolution can be described as

A)predesigned change in the genetic characteristics of a population of organisms over time.
B)sudden shifts in the genetic characteristics of an individual in a population.
C)a change in the genetic characteristics of a population of organisms over time.
D)isolation of populations due to geologic forces.

Question 8

Genetic variation is based on

A)the inheritance of alleles accumulated during the lifetime of an individual.
B)differences in DNA sequences between the individuals in a population.
C)the accumulation of mutations in somatic cells (as opposed to gametes).
D)the formation of new combinations of alleles during asexual reproduction.

Question 9

Evolutionary changes occur when _____ acts upon populations containing individuals with genetic differences.

A)continental drift
B)natural selection
C)weather
D)mutation

Question 10

Genetic drift refers to _____ events that affect the survival and reproduction of individuals in a population.

A)chance
B)predictable
C)cryptic
D)geological

Question 11

Biological evolution can be defined as

A)the process of direct observation.
B)adaptations to common descent.
C)the unchanging nature of life on Earth.
D)the change in a population's genetic characteristics over time.

Question 12

A group of scientists proposed that mammals with fur that contrasts with their background are hunted more by predators than mammals with fur that blends in with their background. After running several experiments, the scientists publish the following data. These graphs

A)support the hypothesis because dark-colored mice are attacked more often in both light and dark environments.
B)support the hypothesis because dark-colored mice were attacked more in light environments and light-colored mice were attacked more in dark environments.
C)do not support the hypothesis because although dark-colored mice are captured more often in light environments, they are also captured more often in dark environments.
D)do not support the hypothesis because light-colored mice are attacked more often in both light and dark environments.

Question 13

During gene flow,

A)chance events alter the gene pool of a population.
B)new individuals contribute their alleles to the gene pool of a population.
C)alleles that make an individual more successful move from one population to another.
D)crossing-over creates new combinations of alleles during gamete formation.

Question 14

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

A)mutation
B)natural selection
C)genetic drift
D)unchanging environment

Question 15

A hurricane could cause genetic drift by

A)increasing the mutation rate of a population.
B)randomly killing more males than females in a population.
C)randomly killing more individuals of one genotype than another in a population.
D)relocating a population to a different habitat.

Question 16

For a population to evolve, there must be genetic differences between organisms in that population. These differences arise by

A)mutation.
B)a change in an organism's behavior.
C)natural selection.
D)common descent.

Question 17

Natural selection

A)is the principle cause of extinctions.
B)is the principal cause of evolutionary change.
C)occurs only in gametes.
D)cannot occur without genetic drift.

Question 18

The difference between microevolution and macroevolution is that

A)macroevolution examines changes in frequency of alleles in a population, whereas microevolution focuses on speciation.
B)microevolution focuses on changes in the gene pools of populations, whereas macroevolution focuses on changes that give rise to new species and groups of species.
C)microevolution is applied to small organisms that undergo only asexual reproduction, whereas macroevolution applies to larger, multicellular organisms that undergo sexual reproduction.
D)microevolution refers to changes that occur in organisms over millions of years, whereas macroevolution refers to physical changes that occur to Earth's surface over the same time period.

Question 19

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?

A)Half of the flowers will be gray and the other half will be white.
B)All of the flowers will be white.
C)All of the flowers will be gray.
D)Three quarters of the flowers will be gray and one-quarter will be white.

Question 20

The main conclusion Darwin reached after his return from the Galapagos Islands was that

A)animals from the Galapagos are like those from China.
B)the animals living on the Galapagos were common in England.
C)animals do not evolve over time.
D)species of animals change over time.

Question 21

A species of cave beetle that lives in total darkness is blind but has remnants of what looks like eyes. These "eyes" are

A)vestigial.
B)homologous.
C)analogous.
D)convergent.

Question 22

The genus Lycopodium includes plants that evolved before the breakup of Pangaea. The genus Sequoiadendron (Sequoia trees)evolved after Pangaea split into separate landmasses. Which genus would you expect to have the widest distribution of living representatives across the modern continents?

A)Lycopodium
B)Sequoiadendron
C)Both should be equally distributed.
D)Both should be extinct.

Question 23

Convergent evolution occurs when natural selection causes distantly related organisms to

A)evolve into the same species despite the fact that they are members of separate populations.
B)merge into one continuous population because of reversals in continental drift.
C)evolve both analogous and homologous characteristics.
D)evolve similar structures in response to similar environmental challenges.

Question 24

Which of the following is not homologous to any of the others?

A)the wing of a bat
B)the flipper of a whale
C)the leg of a grasshopper
D)the arm of a human

Question 25

One of the reasons scientists have had so much difficulty finding a cure for HIV/AIDS is that the HIV virus is quick to evolve resistance to the drugs used to treat it. What is the most likely mechanism for this type of evolution?

A)Certain versions of the virus are slower to die in the presence of a drug than others. Those viruses may survive drug treatment and pass their genes to their offspring.
B)Every time an HIV drug is taken, it randomly kills off most but not all virus particles. Those that survive repopulate the body of their host.
C)Although all copies of a particular strain of the HIV virus are identical, some are better at "hiding" in regions of the body that drugs cannot reach, and those viruses "teach" their offspring where to hide.
D)Some versions of the HIV virus produce chemicals that break down the drugs before they can harm the virus.

Question 26

Which of the following statements about evolution is true?

A)Evolution only results in the addition of traits to existing organisms.
B)Evolution only results in the loss of traits from existing organisms.
C)Evolution can result in the addition or loss of traits in existing organisms.
D)Evolution has nothing to do with the addition or loss of traits.

Question 27

The number of different types of organisms found on Earth is a result of

A)continental drift.
B)Darwin's theories.
C)speciation.
D)common descent.

Question 28

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

A)speciation.
B)genetic drift.
C)artificial selection.
D)creationism.

Question 29

Both insects and humans evolved jointed legs to allow locomotion on land. These structures are considered analogous because insects and humans

A)stopped evolving at different times in Earth's history.
B)evolved from different ancestors.
C)cannot breed.
D)faced different environmental challenges during evolutionary time.

Question 30

The following diagram shows the bone structure of a whale flipper and a bat wing. Which of the following suggests that these two structures are homologous rather than analogous?

A)Both the flipper and the wing contain five fingerlike bone projections.
B)The flipper is formed from the entire front appendage of the whale, but the wing is only formed from the hand part of the front appendage of the bat.
C)The bones that form the five fingerlike projections in the flipper have much thicker bones than the bones that form these projections in the bat.
D)The flipper of the whale contains more bones than the wing of the bat.

Question 31

The fossil record

A)proves that all known species of organisms appeared at the same time.
B)contains strong evidence that major new groups of organisms arose from previously existing organisms.
C)indicates that humans date back as far as the first indications of life.
D)has often been artificially created by evolutionary biologists.

Question 32

Convergent evolution produces

A)genetic drift.
B)lines of common descent.
C)homologous characteristics.
D)analogous characteristics.

Question 33

Flounder (a type of fish)generally match the color of the sandy bottoms they inhabit. Their color allows them to hide from other organisms that might eat them. This is an example of

A)speciation.
B)adaptation.
C)continental drift.
D)guided mutation.

Question 34

Speciation can occur when

A)gene flow is common between two populations.
B)a mutation occurs in an individual.
C)two populations are geographically isolated from each other for a long period of time.
D)the gene pools of two populations of a species remain identical for five or more generations.

Question 35

The hands of a human and the hands of a chimpanzee are similar in structure because humans

A)and chimpanzees share a recent common ancestor.
B)evolved from chimpanzees.
C)and chimpanzees evolved from different organisms that lived in similar environments.
D)artificially selected for chimpanzees with hands during domestication.

Question 36

The fact that small, nonfunctioning hind legs are found in the skeletons of many snakes suggests that snakes

A)are in the process of evolving legs.
B)evolved from organisms with legs.
C)are really populations of lizards with severe mutation in limb development.
D)evolved from eels (snakelike fish).

Question 37

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 consists of a thin layer of skin stretched between the "finger" bones. Are the wings of the bird and bat homologous or analogous?

A)homologous because they evolved from the same body part
B)analogous because birds' flight requires feathers and bats use skin; both are wings, but they evolved differently
C)both; they are homologous because they both evolved from a front appendage, but analogous because they evolved differently
D)neither, because birds and bats do not share a recent common ancestor

Question 38

Two different species may have similar features because of

A)genetic drift.
B)the fossil record.
C)artificial selection.
D)descent from a common ancestor.

Question 39

Evolution is

A)not supported by scientific evidence.
B)strongly supported by scientific evidence.
C)not supported by the fossil record.
D)too obscure to study.

Question 40

Pangaea is

A)the process of continental drift.
B)the combined fossil record of ancient species.
C)an ancient, giant continent.
D)the result of natural selection.

Question 41

How do we know that dinosaurs had lice?

A)Dinosaur fossils show clear evidence of louse eggs and bites.
B)Lice are found only in birds and mammals. The common ancestor that lice evolved on must have been the common ancestor of these two groups, a dinosaur.
C)Dinosaur DNA has been found in the guts of fossilized lice.
D)The DNA of both mammalian and bird lice contains sequences that are unique to dinosaur DNA. Lice can only have obtained these sequences if they lived on dinosaurs.

Question 42

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

A)Humans and fish share a common ancestor.
B)Embryos of all organisms, plant and animal, look alike.
C)Mutations in human and fish embryos have caused them to look alike.
D)Humans and fish have exactly the same genes, but as they develop, different genes are turned on in fish than in humans.

Question 43

Some finches on the Galápagos Islands eat insects, an unusual food for finches to eat. These finches

A)could not survive if they were moved from their island.
B)learned their habits from local birds.
C)switched to insects because they tasted better than their usual food.
D)fill roles that birds other than finches would fill in other places.

Question 44

Genetic variation within a population is the result of the expression of the different ____________________ of a gene.

Question 45

Which of the following statements regarding the evolutionary history of an organism is false?

A)Predictions of evolutionary relatedness based on fossil records often agree with predictions based on continental drift.
B)Predictions of evolutionary relatedness based on fossil evidence often agree with those based on protein sequences.
C)Predictions of evolutionary relatedness based on DNA usually contradict those based on anatomical evidence.
D)Predictions based on DNA sequences provide the strongest evidence that two organisms are related.

Question 46

While mutation increases genetic variation by adding new alleles to a population, ____________________ during gamete formation increases variation by creating new combinations of already existing alleles.

Question 47

Continental drift is the ____________________ of Earth's landmasses through geologic time.

Question 48

Humans simulate the process of natural selection when they use _____ to develop new varieties of crop plants that better meet the needs of farmers.

A)artificial selection
B)cytochrome c
C)habitat changes
D)continental drift

Question 49

Approximately 200 million years ago, ____________________, the giant land mass shown in the figure below, began to split up into the continents we know today.

Question 50

An example of evolution that has been readily observed is

A)a chameleon changing colors as it moves from a leaf of one color to a leaf of another color.
B)increased resistance of bacteria to an antibiotic that is used to kill them.
C)chimpanzees learning sign language.
D)humans teaching dogs to obey certain commands.

Question 51

The result of ____________________ over evolutionary time spans is that alleles that allow organisms to survive and reproduce at a higher rate than other individuals become more common in the population.

Question 52

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

Question 53

When comparing certain amino acid sequences in the protein hemoglobin of humans to those of other animals, scientists found that baboons had 7 amino acids that were different than the human protein, dogs had 10 amino acids that were different than the human protein, gorillas had 1 amino acid that was different than the human protein, and lemurs had 8 amino acids that were different than the human protein. Which of these animals is most closely related to humans?

A)baboon
B)dog
C)lemur
D)gorilla

Question 54

The origin of numerous species of Galápagos finches from one original species is an example of

A)gene cascades.
B)mass extinctions.
C)adaptation and speciation.
D)genetic drift and emigration.

Question 55

A(n)____________________ is a characteristic of an organism that improves the performance of that organism in its environment, thus improving its reproductive success.

Question 56

Evolutionary changes on a small scale are called ____________________.

Question 57

____________________ are the preserved remains of formerly living organisms.

Question 58

Some whales have teeth as embryos but do not as adults. What is the most likely explanation of this phenomenon?

A)Whales are in the process of evolving teeth.
B)Whale teeth appear as the result of a frequently occurring mutation.
C)Whales evolved from organisms that have teeth.
D)The allele for teeth is unusually common in some whale populations.

Question 59

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.

Question 60

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?

A)When Pangaea separated to form our continents, the living ancestors of the lungfish were separated. When they died, some of them formed fossils in their new lands.
B)The same species of lungfish evolved on all of Earth's major landmasses after continental drift had stopped.
C)The ancestors of the lungfish existed on Pangaea. After they died, some were fossilized. Their fossils were separated by continental drift.
D)Lungfish were much more successful in the climates of North America than they were in the climates of South America.

Question 61

Humans bred cows specialized for milk production by allowing female cows that produce large quantities of milk to mate only with male cows with mothers that also produced large quantities of milk. This is an example of ____________________ selection.

Question 62

Examine the figure below. According to this figure, the cytochrome c genes of ____________________ and humans have the least similar DNA sequences.

Question 63

Humans have a reduced tailbone and the muscles to move a tail. This evidence indicates that we descended from an ancestor that had a tail.

Question 64

The domestication of agricultural crops, such as corn and wheat, provide evidence for evolution.

Question 65

The proteins and DNA of organisms that share a recent common ancestor are ____________________ [more or less] similar than the proteins and DNA of organisms that do not share a recent common ancestor.

Question 66

Early scholars recognized that species change over time either due to chance or due to changes imposed by the environment.

Question 67

Scientists who believe in evolution are never religious.

Question 68

Vestigial organs have important functions in many organisms.

Question 69

In the phrase survival of the fittest, the term "fittest" refers to the individual with the greatest physical strength.

Question 70

Scientists disagree on whether evolution occurs.

Question 71

Individuals in a given population are genetically identical.

Question 72

The fossils of organisms that existed when the continents were connected are distributed across ____________________ [more or fewer] continents than the fossils of organisms that evolved after the continents separated.

Question 73

The human pubic louse evolved from the species of louse that is found exclusively in ____________________ .

Question 74

Chimpanzees could carry a species of lice that evolved from the gorilla louse.

Question 75

Individuals evolve, not populations.

Question 76

Continental drift predicts that fossils of species that evolved after Pangaea split apart should be found on only one or a few present-day continents.

Question 77

Nonheritable genetic changes can cause evolution within a population.

Question 78

According to the evolutionary tree below, the most closely related ancestor of modern dogs is the coyote.

Question 79

Based on the diagram below, you would predict that the allele for dark-colored mice would become more common over time in the barrier island mouse population.

Question 80

Darwin's ideas on natural selection were accepted immediately, thus showing that correct ideas are recognized and accepted as soon as they are presented.