Deck 7: Darwinian Evolution

Question 1

Comparing the body structures of organisms to find evidence of a shared evolutionary history is called ________.

A)outgrouping
B)relativistic physiology
C)comparative anatomy
D)analogous reconstruction

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Comparing DNA sequences to find evidence of a shared evolutionary history is called ________.

A)genomics
B)proteomics
C)differential relatedness
D)bioinformatics

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Individuals with variations that make them best suited to their environment will,on average,be more likely to ________.

A)evolve
B)change over time
C)survive and reproduce
D)be larger

Answer 3

C

Question 4

What prompted Darwin to publish his book decades after he began writing it?

A)He had completed the last of his experiments.
B)He had returned from his voyage around the world.
C)A colleague was about to publish a similar manuscript.
D)After years of searching,he finally found a publisher willing to accept it.

Question 5

Prior to the publication of Charles Darwin's book,On the Origin of Species,what was the prevailing public consensus regarding species evolution?

A)That species were permanent and unchanging
B)That species evolved through physical changes that led to success
C)That species evolved by means of natural selection
D)That species were modified over time,but did not change into new species

Question 6

Why or why is it not accurate to say that individuals evolve?

A)It is accurate because they are the ones that mechanisms of evolution act upon.
B)It is accurate because they are the smallest unit of the hierarchical order that changes over time.
C)It is not accurate because individuals do not change over time in a way that can be passed on to the next generation.
D)It is not accurate because the evolution of one individual would not affect the entire species.

Question 7

What is the smallest unit that can evolve?

A)The community
B)The population
C)The individual
D)The cell

Question 8

Although modified to perform a different task,a horse's front leg is made up of the same bones as is your arm.This suggests a common ancestor between horses and humans that also had those bones in its forelimb.The horse leg and human arm are therefore considered to be ________ structures.

A)analogous
B)autologous
C)homologous
D)heterologous

Question 9

Can you inherit physical traits that your parents acquired during their lifetime?

A)No
B)Yes
C)Only if it improves survivability
D)Only if it improves reproductive success

Question 10

Why is it inaccurate to say that humans are the most highly evolved species?

A)Evolution is not goal oriented.It only acts in response to the present situation.
B)All species,not just people,are equally "evolved" to fit their particular environment.
C)Both of these are true.
D)Neither of these are true.Humans,the smartest of all species,are the most highly evolved.

Question 11

The modern evolutionary synthesis of the 1930s and 1940s melded together evolutionary theory with ________.

A)genetics
B)sociology
C)psychology
D)chemistry

Question 12

Which of the following are considered to be fossils?

A)Footprints or other impressions preserved in stone
B)Mineralized bones
C)Animals frozen in ice or preserved in amber
D)All of these

Question 13

Have fossils of transitional forms been found?

A)No,none have ever been found.
B)Yes,but only one.
C)Yes,many have been found.

Question 14

Others had suggested mechanisms for evolution before Darwin published his work.By what means did Darwin propose species evolved over time?

A)Overproduction of young
B)Passing on acquired traits
C)Survival of the strongest
D)Natural selection

Question 15

Who wrote Principles of Geology?

A)Charles Darwin
B)Alfred Wallace
C)Jean-Baptiste de Lamark
D)Charles Lyell

Question 16

What is the name for the study of the geographic distribution of species?

A)Biogeography
B)Ecology
C)Systematics
D)Taxonomy

Question 17

The older fossils are typically found in the ________ sediments.

A)upper
B)lower
C)coarser
D)finer

Question 18

Which two observations led Darwin to conclude that there is competition for survival?

A)Overproduction and limited resources
B)Fossils and mutations
C)Variability and heritability
D)Natural selection and descent with modification

Question 19

What is radiometric dating?

A)The process of determining the age of the fossils from radioactive isotopes
B)The mineralization process by which living things are turned into fossils
C)The process of determining the age of the fossils based on which layer in the rock it is found
D)The process of determining the age of the fossils using radio waves

Question 20

What is the original source of variation?

A)Mutation
B)Gene flow
C)Natural selection
D)Genetic drift

Question 21

Certain traits will have been lost from the gene pool forever.Some may be obvious,like people with red hair or double jointed thumbs.Others will be less obvious,like the ability to process cholesterol or being allergic to peanuts.This loss of diversity in a reduced population is called ________.

A)gene flow
B)genetic drift
C)bottleneck effect
D)founder effect

Question 22

During which geological era did life first appear on the planet?

A)Precambrian
B)Paleozoic
C)Mesozoic
D)Cenozoic

Question 23

What is an exception to the standard biological species concept used to define a species?

A)Species that coevolved cannot be distinguished using the concept.
B)Natural interbreeding populations cannot be distinguished using the concept.
C)Asexual species cannot be distinguished using the concept.
D)Species that do not resemble one another cannot be distinguished using the concept.

Question 24

The slow drifting of sections of the earth's crust,sometimes separating,other times colliding,is known as ________.

A)continental convergence
B)continental divergence
C)crust dynamics
D)plate tectonics

Question 25

What defines a geological time period known as an era?

A)Location of the continents
B)The distinct life-forms that were present
C)Average global temperature
D)The eras represent equal divisions of time

Question 26

The rapid diversification of species seen in the fossil record followed by long periods of stasis is part of the ________ model of evolution.

A)punctuated equilibrium
B)symmetric
C)spatial
D)graduated

Question 27

What is the term that defines when the sperm of one species fails to fertilize the egg of a different species?

A)Hybrid inviability
B)Gametic incompatibility
C)Mechanical incompatibility
D)Temporal incompatibility

Question 28

Which of the following might be a cause of sympatric speciation?

A)Habitat isolation
B)Genetic incompatibility
C)Genetic drift
D)Gene flow

Question 29

What is the leading hypothesis for what might have brought about the extinction of the dinosaurs?

A)A new disease
B)Competition from mammals
C)An asteroid impact
D)Massive volcano eruptions

Question 30

Despite an abundance of habitat,why will it be difficult for the human species to recover?

A)Related humans are not able to reproduce.
B)The founder effect will slowly kill off the survivors in a small population.
C)Modern humans lack the ingenuity needed to survive without an extended social network.
D)The reduced genetic diversity will make it difficult for the population to adapt to new diseases or other environmental changes.

Question 31

What events can lead to offspring having a unique arrangement of their parents' genes?

A)Crossing over
B)Independent assortment
C)Both of these
D)Neither of these

Question 32

What does "fitness" mean when speaking in terms of evolution?

A)Level of overall health of the individual
B)How many offspring an individual produces
C)Level of overall health of the population
D)The size and diversity of the gene pool

Question 33

Which process of evolution does not change the total number of species?

A)Branching evolution
B)Nonbranching evolution
C)Macroevolution
D)Extinction

Question 34

Which would be a postzygotic barrier to reproduction?

A)Behavioral isolation
B)Mating time differences
C)Habitat isolation
D)Hybrid weakness

Question 35

What defines a population?

A)Members of the same group that share a common ancestor
B)Members of a single species
C)Interbreeding members of the same species
D)Multiple species interacting together

Question 36

The varieties of species found on the different Galapagos Islands is most likely an example of which form of speciation?

A)Sympatric
B)Parapatric
C)Allopatric
D)Disruptive

Question 37

Which model of evolution is closest to what was originally suggested by Charles Darwin?

A)Punctuated equilibrium model
B)Symmetric model
C)Spatial model
D)Graduated model

Question 38

In many ways a mule is a superior animal to the horse or donkey.They are often stronger and can jump higher than either of their parents.Why then are they considered to be a "weak hybrid"?

A)They are sterile.
B)They do not live as long.
C)Their offspring are progressively weaker.
D)They are more prone to disease.

Question 39

A straggler with green eyes stumbles into the last remaining human outpost.The green eye trait did not exist in the outpost before her arrival,but it does now.What is the name of this mechanism of evolution?

A)Gene flow
B)Genetic drift
C)Bottleneck effect
D)Founder effect

Question 40

Another word for macroevolution is ________.

A)mutation
B)speciation
C)variation
D)extinction

Question 41

Some of the "branches" of a phylogenetic tree do not extend to the end.What do these lines represent?

A)Extinct species
B)Species of unknown origin
C)Convergent species
D)Lineages that have not changed

Question 42

Class Reptilia includes all the reptiles while Class Aves includes all birds.However,a cladistics approach would place birds into the same class with the reptiles.Why would a cladistician do this despite the behavioral and physical differences between birds and reptiles?

Question 43

Of those listed below,which category of classification is the most narrow?

A)Class
B)Domain
C)Family
D)Genus

Question 44

If a changing environment increases rates of evolution,why do we see an increase in extinction rates following rapid global catastrophes?

Question 45

What field of science has as its goal to classify all living things into a hierarchical system of relatedness that runs from most broad to most narrow?

A)Evolution
B)Phylogenetics
C)Taxonomy
D)Cladistics

Question 46

Why are animals more likely than plants to form new species while still in the presence of the parent population?

A)They can survive with multiple sets of chromosomes.
B)They have more isolating behaviors.
C)Both of these are why animals are more likely than plants to form new species in this situation.
D)Neither of these.Plants are more likely than animals to form new species in this situation.

Question 47

A cladistics grouping with a shared common ancestor is called ________.

A)an outgroup
B)an ingroup
C)a common group
D)a royal group

Question 48

According to this phylogenetic tree,which bear is most closely related to the American black bear?

A)Sun bear
B)Asiatic black bear
C)Polar bear
D)Brown bear

Question 49

Explain how a complex trait,like eyes or the ability to fly,can evolve by incremental modifications over time.

Question 50

A requirement of cladistics is that a grouping must include ________.

A)species that can interbreed
B)only living species
C)species with shared traits
D)a common ancestor and all its descendants

Question 51

What is the fundamental difference between the processes of microevolution and macroevolution?

Question 52

Which grouping immediately follows Order in the classification hierarchy?

A)Genus
B)Family
C)Phylum
D)Class

Question 53

How can the use of chemical control agents (antibiotics,herbicides,pesticides)lead to their decreased effectiveness?

Question 54

Which classification grouping includes the greatest number of species?

A)Domain
B)Order
C)Phylum
D)Kingdom

Question 55

All prokaryotes are in the domain ________.

A)Bacteria
B)Prokarya
C)Eukarya
D)Prokaryotes are in different domains.

Question 56

Which grouping includes all of the protists?

A)Domain Archaea
B)Domain Eukarya
C)Kingdom Animalia
D)Kingdom Plantae