Deck 14: Evolution and Natural Selection

Question 1

Darwin's main tenet of natural selection was that

A) only the oldest live to reproduce.
B) organisms can acquire advantageous adaptations as they encounter new habitats.
C) death limits population size and those individuals that produce the most offspring are more likely to survive.
D) every organism has the potential to produce more offspring than can survive and those individuals that are better suited to their environment are more likely to survive.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Darwin's finches and the studies by the Grants proved that

A) beak size adjusted within a given year depending on nutrition status.
B) differences in beak size were the result of natural selection and were inherited.
C) beak sizes were completely random and no pattern was determined.
D) beak sizes made no difference as to the food being eaten.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

In small populations,gene frequencies can change drastically by chance alone.This phenomenon is called

A) migration.
B) density-independent effects.
C) density-dependent effects.
D) genetic drift.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

In human infants,there has long been evolution toward having the highest survival rate at a 6-7 pound birth weight.This is an example of

A) directional selection.
B) disruptive selection.
C) stabilizing or balancing selection.
D) random chance.

Question 5

The purpose of the voyage of the HMS Beagle was to

A) discover new routes to the New World.
B) survey the living creatures on islands only.
C) map navigational routes around the coasts of South America.
D) search for gold.

Question 6

Darwin better understood the mechanism for natural selection after he read a book by ______________ on the rate of growth of populations.

A) Alfred Wallace
B) Charles Lyell
C) Thomas Malthus
D) Jean Lamarck

Question 7

Biochemical changes that occur in organisms through time can help us

A) infer relatedness.
B) construct molecular family trees.
C) understand how groups of organisms changed through time.
D) All of the choices are correct.

Question 8

Sizes of natural populations remain relatively stable over time because ___________ limits population numbers.

A) death
B) birth
C) immigration
D) emigration

Question 9

The notion that organisms that are more distantly related should have time to accumulate more biochemical differences than those more closely related can best be illustrated using

A) radioactive isotope dating.
B) gel electrophoresis.
C) the geologic time scale.
D) a molecular clock.

Question 10

Features that are similar in organisms that are not evolutionarily related are due to

A) similar selective pressures.
B) differing selective pressures.
C) chance alone.
D) directional mutation.

Question 11

The fossil record indicates that whales evolved from

A) hoofed mammals.
B) fish.
C) sharks.
D) dinosaurs.

Question 12

Darwin's evidence that evolution occurs included

A) the existence of fossils that closely resembled living specimens.
B) a distinctive distribution of plants and animals in lands with similar climates that were not physically connected.
C) unique but similar species on several nearby islands.
D) All of these were Darwin's evidence for evolution.

Question 13

In 1859,naturalist ______________ suggested an explanation for why evolution occurs.

A) Robert McKormick
B) Charles Darwin
C) Charles Lyell
D) Thomas Malthus
E) Peter Grant

Question 14

The differences in the 14 species of finches that inhabit the Galapagos Islands and Cocos Island are the result of

A) extinction.
B) population growth.
C) adaptive radiation.
D) convergent evolution.

Question 15

The Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is based on a number of assumptions.Which of the following is NOT one of those?

A) Mating occurs nonrandomly,and mates exert preferences.
B) The size of the population is large.
C) There is no migration.
D) There are no mutations.

Question 16

When only a very few individuals give rise to a new population in a new area of favorable habitat,the new population might possess different genotype frequencies for a certain trait than the larger population from which it separated.This effect is called the

A) mutation effect.
B) founder effect.
C) inbreeding effect.
D) outbreeding effect.

Question 17

In a certain population,the frequency of a dominant allele is represented by p = 0.7,and the frequency of the recessive allele is represented by 0.3.What is the frequency of the heterozygous genotype?

A) 1
B) 0.5
C) 0.42
D) 0.01

Question 18

The molecular evidence of how the cytochrome c gene changes with time suggests that this gene evolves

A) at a constant rate.
B) in spurts.
C) hardly at all.
D) more rapidly than any other gene.

Question 19

The final stimulus that convinced Darwin to publish his findings came from ______________ who had come to the same conclusion as Darwin from his own observations.

A) Thomas Malthus
B) Alfred Russell Wallace
C) John Henslow
D) Charles Lyell

Question 20

Over time,the same bones in different vertebrates were put to different uses.This falls under the category of

A) heterologous structures.
B) vestigial organs.
C) analogous structures.
D) homologous structures.

Question 21

The wings of bats,pterosaurs,and birds are examples of _________ evolution.

Question 22

Two closely related species that fail to recognize the courtship behavior of each other demonstrate _________________ isolation.

Question 23

The frequency of sickle-cell disease in Central African humans is an example of

A) directional selection.
B) disruptive selection.
C) stabilizing selection.
D) random chance.

Question 24

The evidence for evolution includes which of the following?

A) The fossil record.
B) The molecular record.
C) Anatomical record
D) All of the choices are correct.

Question 25

Until recently,selection favored the darker form of the peppered moth in areas affected by the industrial revolution.

Question 26

Darwin's 1859 book was entitled _____________.

Question 27

The finches,giant tortoises,and other organisms on the ___________________ Islands influenced Darwin's studies greatly.

Question 28

Much of the evolutionary history of vertebrates can be seen in the way in which their ________ develop.

A) digestive tracts
B) embryos
C) brains
D) appendages
E) eyes

Question 29

Two populations of flowers are separated by a mountain range and would not be capable of interbreeding.This is an example of

A) behavorial isolation.
B) mechanical isolation.
C) ecological isolation.
D) geographical isolation.

Question 30

Bees may pick up pollen of one species on a certain place on their bodies;if this area does not come into contact with the receptive structures of the flowers of another plant species,the pollen is not transferred.This is an example of

A) temporal isolation.
B) mechanical isolation.
C) ecological isolation.
D) geographical isolation.

Question 31

Two species of birds occur in the same area but occupy different habitats,and they do not mate.This is an example of

A) behavorial isolation.
B) mechanical isolation.
C) ecological isolation.
D) temporal isolation.

Question 32

______________ are created when the bodies of dead organisms are buried in the sediments or sand and mineralize over time.

Question 33

In pools below waterfalls,where predation is _____,male guppies are _____,whereas in pools above waterfalls where predation is ______,male guppies are ______.

A) low,more colorful,high,drab colored
B) low,drab colored,high,more colorful
C) high,drab colored,low,more colorful
D) high,more colorful,low,drab colored

Question 34

If two species of plants bloom during different seasons in the same habitat,this is known as

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

Question 35

Changes in DNA and genes are introduced into populations through ____________,the ultimate source of variation.

A) selection
B) genetic drift
C) mutation
D) migration

Question 36

All of the following are correct about Intelligent Design except

A) it is the same as Creationism.
B) it is scientifically testable.
C) it has been overwhelmingly rejected by the scientific community.
D) it describes biological systems as being irreducibly complex.

Question 37

In a large population of humans,4% of individuals exhibit the recessive phenotype.What percent of individuals are homozygous for the dominant phenotype?

A) 36%
B) 16%
C) 8%
D) 64%

Question 38

In a large population of flowers,the frequency of a trait's recessive allele is 0.4.What is the frequency of the trait's dominant allele?

A) 0.16
B) 0.6
C) 0.4
D) 0.36

Question 39

When selection operates to eliminate intermediate phenotypes,it is referred to as

A) directional selection.
B) disruptive selection.
C) stabilizing or balancing selection.
D) random chance.

Question 40

The bones of vertebrate forelimbs are similar because of descent from the same body part in a common ancestor.These forelimbs can be called __________________ structures.

Question 41

__________________ isolating mechanisms include improper development of hybrids and failure of hybrids to become established in nature.

Question 42

A __________ is a separate group of organisms incapable of interbreeding with other such groups.

Question 43

Selection that favors one extreme of the array of phenotypes is called _____________ selection.

Question 44

___________ causes evolutionary change when individuals move between populations and affect the genetic composition of the receiving population.

Question 45

Give two examples of nonrandom mating.

Question 46

__________________ isolating mechanisms lead to reproductive isolation by preventing the formation of zygotes.

Question 47

What is the process of natural selection?

Question 48

Why were people so upset about Darwin's ideas in On the Origin of Species?

Question 49

What does the fossil record tell us?

Question 50

In the Hardy-Weinberg equation p² + 2pq + q²,describe what genotype frequency is represented by each member of the equation.