Deck 15: Evolution

Question 1

Charles Darwin's voyage aboard HMS Beagle took

A) one year.
B) two years.
C) three years.
D) four years.
E) five years.

Answer 1

E

Question 2

Charles Darwin used the term "natural selection" to contrast the evolutionary process in natural populations with the process of ________ followed by plant (and animal) breeders.

A) artificial selection
B) asexual propagation
C) grafting
D) hybridization
E) horticulture

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Changes within chromosomes may occur through which of the following?

A) deletion
B) translocation
C) inversion
D) a change in one or more nucleotide pairs
E) All of these answers are correct.

Answer 3

E

Question 4

Darwin joined the crew of the HMS Beagle as the ship's

A) doctor.
B) naturalist.
C) navigator.
D) geologist.
E) psychologist.

Question 5

Organic evolution

A) is a change in an individual over its lifetime.
B) describes the changes that a culture undergoes over time.
C) describes the variation observed in a population of individuals during one time frame.
D) is a term synonymous with epigenetics.
E) is the accumulation of genetic changes in a population of living organisms over many generations.

Question 6

Evolutionary biology provides the framework that links the different areas in biological science because ________.

A) it explains the unity of life
B) it explains the diversity of life
C) it allows biologists to understand how change occurs at the molecular level
D) it allows biologists to explain the origin and function at the ecosystem level
E) All of the answer choices explain the central role of evolution in biological science.

Question 7

Invasive species such as kudzu and Johnson grass have the potential to disrupt natural communities because ________.

A) in a new location there are no "natural enemies" to reduce their invasive potential
B) most reproduce asexually and can produce new individual adapted to their new home
C) they have deep root systems that compete with established plants
D) they grow rapidly and so put more energy and food resources into growing and not into reproduction
E) they put more energy and resources into defense against a new set of pests and predators, so don't reproduce as rapidly

Question 8

The impact of evolution on agricultural research is demonstrated by management practices that ________.

A) lead to development of new pesticides
B) lead to production of genetically uniform hybrid seeds such as hybrid corn
C) guide the effort to identify new food sources for people
D) lead to monoculture crop production
E) agricultural entomologists are developing to delay the evolution of insecticide resistance in insect pest species

Question 9

A person who repeatedly is exposed to direct sunlight, and therefore has a darker skin, will produce offspring with darker skin. This illustrates the theory of

A) natural selection.
B) inheritance of acquired characteristics.
C) convergent evolution.
D) incomplete dominance.
E) speciation.

Question 10

In the field of evolutionary medicine, researchers apply the process of natural selection to understand, and eventually prevent, the evolution ________.

A) of pathogenic bacteria resistant to all known antibiotics
B) and development of new antibiotics
C) of sterile techniques in medical labs
D) of non-pathogenic bacteria
E) None of these answers is correct.

Question 11

Two contemporary biologists, raised and educated in Victorian England, both arrived at the same conclusions about evolution at the same time. One of these men was Charles Darwin and the other one was ________.

A) John Henslow
B) Alfred Russel Wallace
C) Thomas Malthus
D) Robert Fitzroy
E) Charles Lyell

Question 12

The evolutionist Jean Baptiste Lamarck proposed the theory of

A) incomplete dominance.
B) creationism.
C) inheritance of acquired characteristics.
D) competition between individuals.
E) natural selection.

Question 13

During Charles Darwin's lifetime, the earth was thought to be about

A) 15 million years old.
B) 1 million years old.
C) 100,000 years old.
D) a few thousand years old.

Question 14

A biological revolution started in 1859 when Charles Darwin published

A) Vestiges on Creation.
B) Essays on Population Growth.
C) On the Nature of Things.
D) On the Origin of Species.
E) The Monkey Puzzle.

Question 15

Charles Darwin's book On the Origin of Species was first published in

A) 1921.
B) 1859.
C) 1837.
D) 1799.
E) 1886.

Question 16

Which of the following did NOT revolutionize thinking about the mechanism of evolution?

A) Realization that diversity of forms in nature required a new blueprint (set of genes) for every new species.
B) Discovery of genes residing on chromosomes and elucidation of meiosis and mitosis.
C) Rediscovery of Mendel's laws of inheritance.
D) Darwin's proposal of natural selection as a plausible mechanism for evolution.
E) Realization that gene expression is under the control of very similar regulatory genes.

Question 17

The voyage of HMS Beagle took Charles Darwin to

A) Africa and Madagascar.
B) India and Ceylon.
C) China and Japan.
D) Malaysia and Indonesia.
E) Australia and South America.

Question 18

As Darwin was working on his notes and the theory of evolution, his thoughts about how evolutionary change could occur were influenced by a concept he had read in an essay written in 1798 by ________.

A) Alfred Wallace.
B) Norman Borlaug.
C) Jean Baptiste Lamarck.
D) Malthus.
E) Theophrastus.

Question 19

Evolutionary biologists, teamed up with anthropologists and medical researchers, have identified over ________ species of plants that have been used by humans as medicines.

A) 20
B) 1,000
C) 5,000
D) 20,000
E) 250,000

Question 20

Which of the following provides evidence in support of evolution?

A) form and ecology of living organisms
B) structure and relationships of organic molecules
C) the fossil record
D) geographical distribution of organisms
E) All of these answers are correct.

Question 21

Hybridization between two closely related species followed by doubling of all sets of chromosomes results in a/an ________ that is ________. [first word fills in the first blank; second word, the second blank.]

A) allopolyploid; sterile
B) autopolyploid; fertile
C) allopolyploid; fertile
D) autopolyploid; sterile
E) triploid; sterile

Question 22

Reproductive isolation may occur as a result of which of the following?

A) geographical isolation
B) soil factors
C) a mutation resulting in a different flowering time
D) failure of embryos to develop
E) All of these answers are correct.

Question 23

The least complex fossils generally are found in the oldest geological strata.

Question 24

Permanent change in a given plant population does not occur unless

A) inheritable variation develops.
B) the plants are pruned.
C) the plants are fertilized.
D) hormones are applied to the plants.
E) there are major climatic changes.

Question 25

Modern theories of evolution recognize that mutation, recombination of genes through hybridization, and polyploidy (at least in plants) are essential to allowing the development of a new species.

Question 26

In modern theories of evolution, which process does NOT play a role in evolution?

A) asexual reproduction
B) isolation
C) pollination (in seed plants)
D) mutation
E) formation of zygotes

Question 27

Approximately half of present-day plant species are believed to have originated in the past by which of the following events?

A) the proliferation of recessive genes
B) an increase in organismal sterility
C) ultraviolet radiation
D) polyploidy
E) None of these answers is correct.

Question 28

The type of reproductive isolation that occurs when two species mate, but only produce sterile offspring is referred to as ________.

A) geographic isolation
B) pre-zygotic isolation
C) post-zygotic isolation
D) ecological isolation
E) pollination exclusion

Question 29

No permanent change in a population occurs unless there is/are

A) polyploidy.
B) inheritable variation.
C) mutator genes present.
D) introgression.
E) absence of dominance in at least one generation.

Question 30

When a piece of one chromosome becomes attached to another, it is called translocation.

Question 31

The current distribution of eastern and western species of redbud (Cercis sp.) is an example of ________.

A) a pre-zygotic barrier leading to reproductive isolation
B) a post-zygotic barrier
C) the impact of mutations
D) sympatric distribution
E) ecological isolation

Question 32

The development from a single gene pool of two gene pools that are different enough to prevent interbreeding usually comes about as a result of

A) mutation alone.
B) hybridization.
C) introgression.
D) apomixis alone.
E) geographic or other isolation.

Question 33

Isolating mechanisms, besides that of geography, include which of the following?

A) failure of hybrids to survive or breed
B) failure of embryos to develop
C) climate
D) different flowering times
E) All of these answers are correct.

Question 34

Most mutations are harmful to the cell in which they occur.

Question 35

Which of the following can play a role in the development of new species from populations with a common ancestry?

A) soils
B) reproductive isolation
C) mechanical isolation
D) chemical isolation
E) All of these answers are correct.

Question 36

A theory that states that major evolutionary changes have taken place in spurts is referred to as

A) scientific creationism.
B) neo-Darwinism.
C) punctuated equilibrium.
D) Lamarckianism.
E) adaptive radiation.

Question 37

Genetic drift can bring about evolutionary changes but only in populations of very large size.

Question 38

Natural selection is based on all of the following aspects EXCEPT

A) variation exists within populations.
B) the fittest individuals leave the most offspring.
C) there is differential reproductive success within populations.
D) the mechanism of evolution is the inheritance of acquired characteristics.
E) more offspring are produced than can be supported by the resources of the environment.

Question 39

Which of the following is NOT involved in Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection?

A) overproduction
B) variation and inheritance
C) mutation
D) survival and reproduction of the fittest
E) struggle for existence

Question 40

Analogous features such as spines and fleshy stems of American cacti and African euphorbias are examples of ________, adaptation to similar environmental conditions.

A) common ancestry
B) convergent evolution
C) reproductive isolation by polyploidy
D) sympatric speciation
E) post-zygotic barrier leading to reproductive isolation

Question 41

One aspect of Darwin's theory was that living organisms are unchanging, appearing today exactly as their ancestors have always appeared.

Question 42

Deletions, translocations, and inversions are chromosomal changes that lead to mutations.

Question 43

Apomixis requires a special form of meiosis.

Question 44

The majority of mutations are favorable to the adaptation of organisms to their environment.

Question 45

In addition to his work on natural selection, Charles Darwin is recognized as the pioneer of scientific naming.

Question 46

New species cannot develop without geographical isolation.

Question 47

Lamarck is best known for his theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics.

Question 48

Sterile hybrids may reproduce by asexual means.

Question 49

Individuals producing the greatest number of viable offspring are said to be the most fit.

Question 50

A triploid individual that has three sets of identical chromosomes is called a autoploid.

Question 51

Survival of the fittest meant to Darwin that those individuals best able to survive a cold winter, for example, would leave less offspring than those organisms that entered a dormant condition in winter.

Question 52

Gene flow occurs when a strong wind blows significant number of seeds from one population into a second population.

Question 53

Darwin spent his time aboard the sailing vessel HMS Beagle as the ship's medical doctor.

Question 54

One key to the origin of new species is geographic isolation.