Deck 6: Organic Evolution

Question 1

Lamarck's theory of evolution was centered on the idea that

A)individuals with genetic variations have different survival rates.
B)species are only produced through special creation.
C)species are fixed and unchanging over time.
D)an individual organism changes during its lifetime,and these changes can be passed on to offspring.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Evolution by natural selection was independently proposed by Darwin and __________.

A)Alfred Russel Wallace
B)Jean Baptiste de Lamarck
C)Captain Robert FitzRoy
D)Charles Lyell

Answer 2

A

Question 3

In his voyage on the H.M.S.Beagle,most of Darwin's observations about changes in species over time and in different environments took place in and near where?

A)North America
B)Africa
C)South America
D)Asia

Answer 3

C

Question 4

As author of the book Principles of Geology,______ presented arguments to support a theory of geological change that the earth was subject to slow but continuous erosion and uplift,following the laws of physics and chemistry similar to what is observed today.

A)Archbishop James Ussher
B)Jean Baptiste de Lamarck
C)Charles Darwin
D)Charles Lyell

Question 5

Radiometric dating methods determine the age of rock formations how?

A)By using guide or index fossils
B)By relating the positions of layers to each other
C)By calculating the ratios of elements and decay products
D)By examining atoms for extent of wear and tear

Question 6

Darwin's theory of natural selection to explain evolution is considered _____ because it _____.

A)variational;involves descent with selection among varieties
B)variational;explains the variations of fossils
C)transformational;claims individuals can change their characteristics to produce evolution
D)transformational;involves descent with selection among varieties

Question 7

The evolution of the horse shows what evolutionary trend(s)?

A)The number of structures always increases;therefore complexity always increases.
B)Extinctions are often accompanied by the development of new species.
C)Animals always evolve from gentle grazers toward more vicious omnivores and carnivores.
D)Variations randomly drift from large to small,toward and away from grinding teeth,and to more or fewer toes,proving that evolution is indeed random.

Question 8

Retention of ancestral juvenile characters by adult descendants is termed

A)Allopatry.
B)Heterochrony.
C)Paedomorphosis.
D)Recapitulation.

Question 9

Birds and insects both have wings,but we do not consider this similarity as evidence of relatedness because

A)bird wings function on different physics principles of lift.
B)the wings are not homologous structures with a common ancestral origin.
C)they did not evolve in the same region or live at the same time period.
D)there is no fossil link between these groups.

Question 10

Before the 18^th century,theories on the origin of species are best described as

A)nonexistent.
B)simple,with early Greek philosophers seeing fossils as destroyed life forms,but not placing them into an evolutionary concept.
C)foundational,with early Greek philosophers seeing fossils as a continuous lineage but merely lacking the genetic understanding to explain it.
D)complete,but poorly explained in modern scientific terms until Darwin wrote more clearly.

Question 11

What is the most accurate comparison presented?

A)The Galápagos Islands are relatively uniform while the mainland is highly diverse.
B)The Galápagos Islands and the mainland are essentially identical habitats which makes it an excellent "controlled" experiment.
C)The Galápagos Islands are relatively newly formed and also fragmented into diverse habitats.
D)The Galápagos Islands were,until recently,connected by land bridges forming one unified habitat.

Question 12

Both Wallace and Darwin read about the critical concept of overpopulation and limited environmental capacity in a book by

A)Charles Lyell about human populations.
B)Jean Baptiste de Lamarck about the mechanisms of evolution.
C)Ernst Mayr on the synthesis of new biological discoveries.
D)Thomas Malthus about human populations.

Question 13

Cutting off the legs of toads over several generations should cause the legs of their offspring to become shorter,according to the ideas of which of these scientists?

A)Darwin
B)Lamarck
C)Mayr
D)Lyell

Question 14

Which of the following would form a nested hierarchy or hierarchies of homologies?

A)Humans share most common blood types but we have fewer in common with monkeys and share fewest with rats
B)Birds have feathers,muscles and nucleated cells;fish have muscles and nucleated cells;an amoeba has a nucleus
C)Skeletal measurements cluster among modern apes and humans;ape-man fossil skeletal features also cluster and overlap with both modern apes and humans
D)All of the choices include nested hierarchies of homologies

Question 15

The concept that features of an ancestral ontogeny can be shifted earlier or later in development is termed

A)Larmarckism.
B)Heterochrony.
C)Paedomorphosis.
D)Recapitulation.

Question 16

Which of the statements is true of the fossil record?

A)All of the stratified layers will be found anywhere a core sample is taken,except for human destruction.
B)Provided there is no uplifting,tilt,etc. ,the deeper the layer,the more recently it was laid down.
C)Once fossils are formed in a sedimentary layer,they are then protected from temperature and heat.
D)Fossil assemblages are important in identifying sedimentary layers and different layers have different assemblages of fossils.

Question 17

Which of the following is a (are)true fossil(s)?

A)The remains of an actual insect in amber or the tissue of a frozen extinct mammoth
B)Skeletal parts where bones have been replaced by minerals
C)Molds,casts,or impressions
D)Fossilized excrements (coprolites)
E)All of the choices are technically fossils

Question 18

The concept that each successive stage in the development of an individual represents the adult form that appeared in development of its evolutionary history is termed

A)Larmarckism.
B)Heterochrony.
C)Paedomorphosis.
D)Recapitulation.

Question 19

Lamarck's theory explaining evolution is considered ______ because it ______.

A)variational;involves descent with selection among varieties
B)variational;explains the variations of fossils
C)transformational;claims individuals can change their characteristics to produce evolution
D)transformational;involves descent with selection among varieties

Question 20

Which of the following statements is true about a modern phylogeny of life's history?

A)There are multiple independent origins of the distinct life forms: bacteria,plants,etc.
B)It is only based on living organisms since the reproductive isolation of extinct species cannot be determined
C)All forms of life including extinct branches are related
D)Genealogies can only be traced for groups where the primordial ancestor has survived

Question 21

The essential difference between vicariant speciation versus a founder event is that

A)vicariance involves splitting while a founder effect is fusing of two populations.
B)the founder effect is the reverse of vicariant speciation.
C)although a population is split by a vicariant event,the population size and environment does not alter gene frequencies as does a founder event.
D)although a population is split by a founder event,the population size and environment does not alter gene frequencies as does a vicariant event.

Question 22

Sibling species are represented by

A)two species that look very much alike but are actually distantly related.
B)offspring that have the same parents but can no longer interbreed.
C)the two halves of a population that have been split by a vicariant event but could still interbreed if sympatric.
D)species that appear essentially identical in phenotype but have evolved differences in behavior or chemistry that prevent mating.
E)a collection of specimens that are similar but have not yet undergone any test of interbreeding to determine if they are truly separate species.

Question 23

On the Galápagos Islands,the tool-using woodpecker finches modify twigs to pry out grubs.With no true woodpeckers on the Galápagos Islands,this behavior allows it to exploit an untapped food source.However,not all members of this species exhibit this behavior which is learned from watching other finches.Therefore,

A)hatchlings will not know how to do this.
B)it is probably not "hardwired" in the brain as a behavior passed on genetically.
C)there must be a great advantage to reaching this food source for this learned behavior to be repeated by most descendants of each generation.
D)as an acquired characteristic,in a strict sense this may not be part of the adaptive radiation of finches on the Galápagos.
E)all of the choices are correct.

Question 24

Neo-Darwinism

A)means the same thing as "modern Darwinism."
B)consists of Darwin's basic principles coupled with an understanding of genetics.
C)adds microevolution to macroevolution.
D)is based on new RNA molecular similarities.
E)brings together biogeography,embryology,systematics,genetics,etc.

Question 25

Which one of the following is NOT an observation of a population where natural selection is at work?

A)There is variation that can be inherited in a population
B)The population always becomes adapted to its environment
C)Many more individuals are produced by a population than can survive and reproduce
D)Adaptive characteristics in some individuals make them more likely to survive and reproduce
E)All of the choices are correct

Question 26

If early Native Americans who originated in North Asia had remained the only ancestral settlers in North America,rather than the overwhelming mixture of immigrants from across Europe and other continents,today there would be a much higher incidence of North Asian traits in the U.S.population.Such a scenario would demonstrate

A)gene flow from continent to continent.
B)the founder effect.
C)genetic drift among the original Northern Asians.
D)fitness for the North American environment.

Question 27

Which of the following constitute pre-mating barrier(s)?

A)Sperm cannot penetrate the egg
B)Male mating behavior is not correct to attract the female
C)Egg is fertilized but development is impaired
D)Offspring are sterile

Question 28

The main accomplishment of Modern Darwinism (The Synthetic Theory)was

A)to select a new set of scientists to take up the evolution argument after the death of Darwin and Huxley.
B)the frantic search for answers to the creationist challenge of the early 1900s.
C)the application of new discoveries in genetics,classification,biogeography,paleontology,etc.to Darwin's basic tenets,and which tied these fields together in a new framework.
D)to split Darwin's ideas into small details (microevolution)and larger concepts (macroevolution).

Question 29

Which of the following would result in reproductive isolation?

A)Two populations of crickets are indistinguishable in physical features,but the females in each group only respond to the different songs of their males
B)Fruit flies on one Hawaiian island live for hundreds of generations and do not come in contact with fruit flies on another island except when blown there by rare tropical storms
C)One brood of the seventeen-year cicada emerged in 1987 (and will do so every 17 years)and lives a few months as adults;another brood emerged in 1992 (and will do so every 17 years);the larvae of both feed side-by-side on tree roots
D)A lion and a tiger mate in the artificial confines of a zoo but the offspring is infertile
E)All of the choices are correct

Question 30

Which of the following is/are true about natural selection?

A)It acts on genotypes rather than phenotypes
B)It assures the survival of each fit individual
C)On average,it favors the survival of individuals that can produce the most reproductively viable young that possess adaptive characteristics and can themselves reproduce
D)It always selects for more complex forms

Question 31

A population of salamanders live along the edge of a north-south mountain range.The populations from the east and west slope eventually join in a low northern pass and interbreed,producing fertile offspring,but they do not circle around the southern edge because of a desert barrier.When glaciers move southward,the populations are pushed south of the northern pass and are isolated.While isolated,the two populations develop enough differences over time that when the glaciers retreat north and the salamanders again share the same pass,they no longer mate at the same time,nor can they produce fertile offspring.These salamanders

A)began as one species and therefore remain one species.
B)were originally two species and remain two species.
C)were originally one species but are now two species.
D)cannot be categorized as a specific number of species from the information given.

Question 32

What is the term used to describe the accumulation of small changes in the gene pool of a species over time?

A)Genetic drift
B)Founder effect
C)Microevolution
D)Directional selection

Question 33

Which of the following constitute post-mating barrier(s)?

A)The sperm does not penetrate the egg
B)The chromosome numbers of sperm and egg do not match after fertilization
C)The offspring are sterile
D)An egg is fertilized but development is impaired
E)All of the choices are post-mating barriers

Question 34

The theory that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny was originally offered by

A)Alfred Wallace.
B)K.
C)Charles Darwin.
D)Ernst Haeckel.
E)von Baer.

Question 35

Some creationists acknowledge that gene frequencies change in observable time (and accept microevolution)but dispute that larger "kinds" ever evolve.A biologist replies that macroevolution is merely the same processes of gene frequency change continued over a longer time.The creationist's answer is incomplete because it does not recognize what additional phenomena inherent in macroevolution?

A)Extinctions of huge numbers of taxa
B)Relationships of species at higher taxonomic levels
C)Origins of new body plans and structures
D)Evolutionary trends within lineages
E)All of the choices are studied in macroevolution but are not central to microevolution within a species

Question 36

Which of the following is required for natural selection to occur in a population?

A)Variation in the population
B)Inheritance of genetic variation
C)Differential reproduction so that more fit individuals produce more offspring
D)Accumulation of adaptive traits so that they increase in the population
E)All of the choices are correct

Question 37

Scientists recognize a species on what criterion(a)?

A)Although individuals within a given species may have variable phenotypes,the individuals within most species usually have similar phenotypes
B)There is similarity of genotype within a species and identifiable differences from members of other species
C)Members of a species can interbreed,but typically do not breed with other species
D)Members of related species have a most recent common ancestor
E)All of the choices are used in a general sense to distinguish species

Question 38

The work of Peter Williamson on freshwater snails in Lake Turkana showed

A)perfectly interconnected and gradual change in species due to the uniform environment over time.
B)an abrupt radiation of species in all directions that can be used to support both gradualism and punctuated equilibrium.
C)thick deposits of unchanged snails and brief periods of rapid change,supporting gradual adaptive radiation.
D)thick deposits of unchanged snails and brief periods of rapid change,supporting the evolutionary model of punctuated equilibrium.

Question 39

Technically,differential survival and reproduction among offspring with varying traits is

A)a strictly random process.
B)another definition of natural selection.
C)orthogenesis.
D)neo-Darwinism.
E)sorting,which is not necessarily equal to natural selection.

Question 40

In the case of Darwin's finches,an ancestral finch species from the mainland arrived on the Galápagos Islands and later evolved into many new species via adaptive radiation.The ancestral finch species apparently did NOT undergo adaptive radiation back on the mainland.What is the most plausible biological explanation?

A)Directional selection works better on islands
B)Competition from many other bird species on the mainland provided stabilizing selection that was absent on the islands
C)The environment on the mainland was completely uniform
D)The founder effect greatly expanded the variation in alleles in the Galápagos finch gene pool
E)The ancestral mainland finch was reproductively isolated

Question 41

The generation of ecologically diverse species from a common ancestral stock is called ________________.

Question 42

A male peacock that displays showy and cumbersome feathers to attract a mate,but then is more vulnerable to predators,reveals the predicament of

A)polymorphism.
B)disruptive selection.
C)species selection.
D)sexual selection.

Question 43

Research indicates people are most likely to select a mate from a nearby village or city,or high school or college.Therefore,the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium does not apply well to human populations because

A)allele frequency changes in one direction are balanced by changes in the opposite direction.
B)there is no directional trend in selection of mates since most individuals marry someone.
C)individuals are not pairing up by chance across the whole population,and therefore mating is not random.
D)we accumulate adaptive traits that improve the population.

Question 44

Overall,how do the effects of the major mass extinctions compare?

A)Large terrestrial animals were always decimated while aquatic species survived
B)Species that required light were always decimated because all extinctions were due to asteroid bombardment resulting in blackened sky
C)Species appear to genetically "wear out" and mass extinctions "re-set" the evolutionary mechanisms
D)Not all cataclysmic events were the same and organismal groups and phenotypes were different in each extinction;however lineages favored by effect macroevolution and species selection were more vulnerable
E)There has not been any detected pattern to extinctions and they are probably random

Question 45

In the early 1990s,the African honeybee migrated across the Mexican border into the United States.Our domesticated honey bee-originally from Europe-is slow to sting,requires abundant flower nectar,forages later in the morning,does not tolerate subtropical conditions as well as the "Africanized" honey bee,and stores much honey but only produces enough new brood to swarm once a year.Because the European honey bee was performing poorly as a honey producer in South America,the African subspecies had been imported in a breeding experiment.The African honey bee formed small nests,foraged earlier and created more honey using smaller nectar sources,produced less honey stores and more brood,swarmed four or five times a year,and was fast to sting.However,when African queens escaped,the two bee populations interbred and the African genotype spread about 300 kilometers north each year.Unexpectedly,a hundred kilometers behind the expanding range of the African honey bees,the European and hybrid hives died out in subtropical areas and the bees were essentially 100 percent African.How would this be explained in evolutionary genetics terms?

A)Gene flow is not occurring and therefore these are two separate species
B)This is a natural consequence of the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
C)Obviously the African bee genes are dominant over the European honeybee alleles
D)Gene flow is occurring between these subspecies but the African bee is ecologically better suited for foraging and reproducing in the subtropics,but is not as successful as the European honeybee in temperate areas
E)Migration will counteract the problem and eventually cause the bee to revert back to the European traits

Question 46

Based on the text's coverage of the many factors in micro- and macroevolution,you can conclude that the rate of evolution progresses at

A)a fairly constant rate and would produce the same outcome if "rerun."
B)an uneven rate but would produce the same outcome if "rerun."
C)a fairly constant rate but would produce different outcomes if "rerun."
D)an uneven rate and would produce different outcomes if "rerun."

Question 47

Ants that specialize on harvesting one species of tree leaves can optimally exploit that resource but are in trouble if their food tree declines,whereas generalist ant species can switch to other foods.The rate at which these two lineages speciate and go extinct differs,a phenomenon labeled

A)stabilizing selection.
B)directional selection.
C)catastrophic species selection.
D)effect macroevolution.

Question 48

Which of the following is correct about genetic drift?

A)It is more likely to occur in a large population than in a small population
B)It increases the number of heterozygotes in a population
C)It may increase the frequency of rare alleles in a population
D)None of the choices is correct

Question 49

If Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is met,what is the net effect?

A)Evolution leading to a population better adapted to an unchanging environment
B)Evolution leading to a population better adapted to a changing environment
C)Very slow and continuous evolution with no increased adaptation
D)No evolution because the allele frequencies in the population remain the same from generation to generation

Question 50

Which of the following contribute(s)to evolution?

A)Mutations
B)Gene flow
C)Genetic drift
D)Natural selection
E)All of the choices are correct

Question 51

Which condition is NOT among the requirements of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?

A)No mutations
B)No net migration of alleles into or out of the population
C)Small population with genetic drift
D)No selection of one genotype over another

Question 52

For the sake of this genetics problem,consider that right-handedness (RR,Rr)is dominant to left-handedness (rr).A teacher surveys her class of 24 students and finds that six (one-fourth,or 0.25)are left-handed.How many of the remaining right-handed students are likely to be carriers for a left-handedness gene?

A)None,they will all be RR for right-handedness since a dominant gene dominates
B)Six,same number as are left-handed or 0.25 * 24
C)Twelve,since q2 = 0.25,then q = 0.5,and 2pq or 2(0.5 * 0.5)= 0.5 of a class of 24
D)Eighteen will be Rr since 24 - 6 = 18

Question 53

Which statement is NOT true about nonrandom mating?

A)Inbreeding is mating between relatives more often than by chance
B)Inbreeding is a change in allele frequencies that increases the proportion of heterozygotes in the population
C)An example of positive assortative mating is when a tall man marries a tall woman
D)Assortative mating tends to cause subdivision into two phenotypic classes with reduced gene flow between them

Question 54

A population that undergoes a major reduction in size is said to experience a population ___________.

Question 55

Which statement is NOT true about natural selection?

A)Directional selection occurs when one extreme phenotype is favored over another different extreme phenotype
B)Stabilizing selection favors an intermediate phenotype over either of the extreme phenotypes
C)Directional selection leads to the best fit phenotype in the population when the environment remains the same
D)Disruptive selection leads to polymorphism,favoring different forms of the same species

Question 56

Speciation that results from evolution of reproductive barriers between geographically separated populations is called ___________ speciation.

Question 57

The use of bird feathers for flight is an example of ________________ which contrasts to adaptation of the feather for its primary evolutionary role,thermoregulation.

Question 58

Stephen Jay Gould's three "tiers" of evolutionary time are

A)pre-biotic or before-life,prokaryotic life and eukaryotic life.
B)microbial,plant and animal phases.
C)pre-atmospheric,aquatic and terrestrial evolution.
D)not time periods at all,but stabilizing,disruptive and stabilizing evolution processes.
E)not time periods at all,but short-term population genetic processes,intermediate-term speciation and extinction rates,and long-term cycles of mass extinctions.

Question 59

What is the correct sequence extending down from the phenotype to the genetic unit?

A)Phenotype-codon-protein-amino acid-protein
B)Phenotype-protein-protein-amino acid-codon
C)Phenotype-protein-protein-codon-amino acid
D)Phenotype-amino acid-protein-protein-codon

Question 60

When two adjacent populations of the same species have gene flow,the two populations will

A)become more similar in their gene pools.
B)become isolated from each other.
C)develop into different species.
D)adapt to different conditions and become separate.

Question 61

Explain why extinction is a necessary aspect of evolution.What would happen if nothing died and there were no extinction?

Question 62

Compare the ideas of phenotypic gradualism with those of punctuated equilibrium.

Question 63

Explain how the earth's rock strata record the irreversible changes we call organic evolution (discuss the processes of fossilization).

Question 64

Discuss the views of paleontologist Elisabeth Vrba,who uses the term effect macroevolution to describe differential speciation and extinction rates among lineages caused by organismal-level properties.

Question 65

Niles Eldridge and Stephen Jay Gould proposed that speciation is an episodic event that occurs in variable time periods ranging from thousands to hundreds of thousands of years,all of which are geologically brief time periods,and that there are long periods of evolutionary stasis in between,a theory called _______ ________.

Question 66

Explain Lamarck's theory of evolution and describe how it contrasts with modern Darwinian views.

Question 67

Define sexual selection and provide an example.

Question 68

Explain how Malthus' work in socioeconomics applied to the development of Darwin's theory of natural selection.

Question 69

When we compare amino acid differences to estimate the evolutionary "distance" between organisms,what assumptions are being made about the rate at which mutations occur over time?