Deck 3: Evolution by Natural Selection

Question 1

Tomatoes carry a gene called fw2.2 that encodes a protein made during early fruit development―the job of which is to repress cell division.Additionally,researchers have identified a second gene called fas that controls the number of compartments in the mature fruit.Artificial selection leading to the production of very large tomatoes has apparently capitalized on ________.

A) alleles associated with low production of the repressor protein and an increase in the number of fruit compartments
B) alleles associated with high production of the repressor protein and an increase in the number of fruit compartments
C) alleles associated with low production of the repressor protein and a decrease in the number of fruit compartments
D) alleles associated with high production of the repressor protein and a decrease in the number of fruit compartments

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Darwin confirmed the concept of evolution under domestication himself by experimenting with pigeons.This mechanism is more commonly known as ________.[two words]

Answer 2

artificial selection

Question 3

Darwin developed his theory of natural selection despite having an incomplete and/or inaccurate knowledge base from which to work.Which of the following were problems for Darwin?

A) the source of variations in populations
B) an understanding of inheritance patterns from one generation to the next
C) The accepted age of the Earth was far too young to allow for the gradual changes Darwin envisioned.
D) All of the above.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Regarding the nature of natural selection,which of the following is NOT an accurate statement?

A) Populations evolve traits by natural selection that will be useful for future environmental changes.
B) Natural selection acts on the phenotypes of individuals, but evolution occurs with changes in allele frequencies in populations.
C) Natural selection can and does produce features that are less than perfect adaptations.
D) Natural selection operates as a systematic, nonprogressive mechanism.

Question 5

The accompanying figure shows data on composite values for beak size,beak shape,and body size for the medium ground finch (Geospiza fortis)inhabiting Daphne Major.Complete data sets were collected from 1973 onward.
The figure shows that ________.

A) the population of Geospiza fortis evolved a bigger beak in response to both droughts (1977 and 2003-04)
B) the population of Geospiza fortis evolved a bigger beak in response to the 1977 drought and then evolved a smaller beak in response to the 2003-04 drought
C) the population of Geospiza fortis evolved a smaller beak in response to both droughts (1977 and 2003-04)
D) the population of Geospiza fortis did not evolve at all in response to either drought (1977 and 2003-04)

Question 6

________ can be defined as the fraction of the variation in a population that is due to differences in genes.

Question 7

Which of the following U.S.Supreme Court decisions struck down laws prohibiting the teaching of evolution?

A) The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes, 1925
B) Epperson v. Arkansas, 1968
C) Edwards v. Aguillard, 1987
D) Tammy Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover Area School District, et al., 2005

Question 8

________,in general terms,is an individual's ability to survive and reproduce.

Question 9

Which of the following issues constitute a threat(s)to estimating the heritability of the Galapagos Island finches?

A) bisidentified paternity
B) conspecific nest parasitism
C) shared environments
D) maternal effects
E) All of the above.

Question 10

An attribute that increases an organism's fitness,as compared to individuals lacking it,is called a(n)________.

Question 11

A trait that confers a greater level of fitness,relative to those who lack it,is called a(n)________.

A) adaptation
B) mutation
C) variation
D) allele
E) None of the above.

Question 12

Evolution by natural selection ________.

A) requires that multiple unverified assumptions are made before it can be considered a viable explanation
B) is only a theory and therefore not testable
C) can be tested experimentally
D) can be tested observationally
E) Both C and D.

Question 13

Which of the following statements best summarizes natural selection?

A) Organisms evolve in order to become better adapted to the environment.
B) Individuals who are most fit will survive.
C) Traits that promote survival and reproduction become more frequent in species from one generation to the next.
D) Organisms change in order to become adapted to new environments.

Question 14

Natural selection ________.

A) works on populations, but its long-term effect is rendered on individuals
B) works on individuals, but its long-term effect is rendered on populations
C) can work only on populations of genetically identical individuals
D) works regardless of the amount of genetic variability in populations

Question 15

When the Darwin/Wallace theory of natural selection is summarized,four central postulates emerge.Which of the following is NOT one of these four natural selection postulates?

A) Variations exist in any given generation of a species.
B) Variations in traits are produced by mutations.
C) Variations are, at least in part, heritable.
D) Those individuals whose variations confer an advantage are more likely to survive and reproduce.

Question 16

Darwin studied and wrote extensively about the mechanism known as artificial selection.Artificial selection is similar to natural selection,except that ________.

A) natural selection works toward a specific goal
B) artificial selection relies on preexisting variations in populations; natural selection does not
C) artificial selection produces varieties that would be less likely be favored in nature
D) artificial selection produces varieties of less interest to humans than natural selection

Question 17

Evolution by natural selection was conceived and written about in the 1800s by ________.

A) Alfred Russel Wallace
B) Charles Darwin
C) W. C. Wells
D) Patrick Matthew
E) All of the above

Question 18

Varieties produced under domestication via artificial selection most generally have traits that ________.

A) would continue to be perpetuated in the wild as well as, or better than, those produced by natural selection
B) are based only on variations that already exist in populations
C) are based only on new mutations that have arisen recently in domesticated varieties
D) are not typically well adapted in a wild setting

Question 19

In the accompanying figure of Jones and Reithel's work with snapdragons,what is the most likely outcome if these plants were in a natural setting?

A) A 2% change is too small to be significant, so yellow and white flowers will remain in roughly equal percentages in future generations.
B) Yellow and white flowers will oscillate in frequencies, depending on environmental conditions such as rainfall.
C) Yellow flowers will continue to increase in frequency, as compared to white flowers, over time.
D) Because the yellow trait is recessive, yellow flowers will ultimately take over the population.

Question 20

The accompanying figure shows data on composite values for beak size,beak shape,and body size for the medium ground finch (Geospiza fortis)inhabiting Daphne Major.Complete data sets were collected from 1973 onward.
For each of the three graphs in the accompanying figure,the 95% confidence intervals are shown as vertical bars extending above and below each data point for each year.The fact that many of these 95% confidence intervals do not overlap with the data from 1973 (the original reference point for this study)do not overlap reveals that ________.

A) no detectable change in these phenotypes was measured
B) no evolution can be documented
C) detectable change in phenotypes was observed, but the changes were not heritable
D) detectable evolution by natural selection did occur
E) None of these is an accurate statement.

Question 21

Compare and contrast the experimental work of Jones and Reithel on snapdragons with Peter and Rosemary Grant's research with the medium ground finch (Geospiza fortis).

Question 22

Rewrite Darwin/Wallace's four tenets of natural selection by incorporating what we've learned from the field of genetics (i.e.,"The Modern Synthesis").

Question 23

Occasional traits,such as the insect-capturing features of carnivorous plants,emerge because existing traits become used in novel ways.Such traits are known as ________.

Question 24

Before Mendel's work was rediscovered,some argued that natural selection would not work because favorable traits would merge into existing traits over time and become lost.This hypothesis is known as ________.[two words]

Question 25

Suppose you were a dog breeder who wished to reduce the incidence of barking in an otherwise popular breed of dog.Design a strategy that would allow you to do this.What assumptions would you need to make,and what key elements would need to be in place to be successful?

Question 26

Identify and describe Darwin/Wallace's four tenets of natural selection.

Question 27

Beginning around 1930,the ________ [two words] developed as a reformulation of Darwinian natural selection based on the ways in which knowledge in genetics has informed us about heredity.

Question 28

Social,political,and legal controversy surrounding acceptance of evolution goes back to the decade of the ________,when teacher John Scopes was tried for teaching evolution.

Question 29

Darwin's calculations on elephant reproduction under ideal conditions reveal that far more elephants could be produced than actually are.Explain why this supporting fact is important to the theory of natural selection.

Question 30

Proponents of ________ [two words] argue that the complexities of living systems can only be accounted for by the creative acts of a conscious entity.