If x indicates the fossils of two closely related species, neither of
which is extinct, then their
remains may be found in how many of
these strata?
A) one stratum
B) two strata
C) three
strata
D) four strata
two strata
Which pair would probably have agreed with the process that is
depicted by this tree?
A) Cuvier and Lamarck
B) Lamarck and
Wallace
C) Aristotle and Lyell
D) Wallace and
Linnaeus
E) Linnaeus and Lamarck
Lamarck and Wallace
How many separate species, both extant and extinct, are depicted in
this tree?
A) two
B) three
C) four
D) five
E) six
six
According to this tree, what percent of the species seem to be extant
(in other words, not
extinct)?
A) 25%
B) 33%
C)
50%
D) 66%
E) 75%
66%
Which of the five common ancestors, labeled V-Z, has given rise to
the greatest number of
species, both extant and extinct?
A)
V
B) W
C) Z
D) Both W and Z can be considered to have
given rise to the greatest number of extant and
extinct
species.
E) Both X and Y can be considered to have given rise to
the greatest number of extant and
extinct species.
Both X and Y can be considered to have given rise to the greatest
number of extant and
extinct species.
Which of the five common ancestors, labeled V-Z, has been least
successful in terms of the
percent of its derived species that
are extant?
A) V
B) W
C) X
D) Y
E) Z
W
Which of the five common ancestors, labeled V-Z, has been most
successful in terms of the
percent of its derived species that
are extant?
A) V
B) W
C) X
D) Y
E) Z
Z
Evolutionary trees such as this are properly understood by scientists
to be
A) theories.
B) hypotheses.
C) guesses.
D)
dogmas.
E) facts.
hypotheses.
If the six ground finch species have evolved most recently, then
which of these is the most
logical prediction?
A) They
should be limited to the six islands that most recently emerged from
the sea.
B) Their genomes should be more similar to each other
than are the genomes of the five tree
finch species.
C) They
should share fewer anatomical homologies with each other than they
share with the tree
finches.
D) The chances of hybridization
between two ground finch species should be less than the
chances
of hybridization between two tree finch species.
Their genomes should be more similar to each other than are the
genomes of the five tree
finch species.
According to a 1999 study, the vegetarian finch is genetically no
more similar to the tree
finches than it is to the ground
finches, despite the fact that it is placed in the same genus as
the
tree finches. Based on this finding, it is reasonable to
conclude that the vegetarian finch
A) is no more closely related
to the tree finches than it is to the ground finches, despite
its
classification.
B) should be re-classified as a warbler
finch.
C) is not truly a descendent of the original ancestral
finch.
D) is a hybrid species, resulting from a cross between a
ground finch and a tree finch.
is no more closely related to the tree finches than it is to the
ground finches, despite its
classification.
Which of the following is not an observation or inference on which
natural selection is based?
A) There is heritable variation among
individuals.
B) Poorly adapted individuals never produce
offspring.
C) Species produce more offspring than the environment
can support.
D) Individuals whose characteristics are best suited
to the environment generally leave more
offspring than those
whose characteristics are less well suited.
E) Only a fraction of
an individual’s offspring may survive.
Poorly adapted individuals never produce offspring.
Which of the following observations helped Darwin shape his concept
of descent with
modification?
A) Species diversity declines
farther from the equator.
B) Fewer species live on islands than
on the nearest continents.
C) Birds live on islands located
farther from the mainland than the birds’ maximum nonstop
flight
distance.
D) South American temperate plants are more similar to
the tropical plants of South America
than to the temperate plants
of Europe.
E) Earthquakes reshape life by causing mass extinctions.
South American temperate plants are more similar to the tropical plants of South America
Within six months of effectively using methicillin to treat S. aureus
infections in a
community, all new infections were caused by
MRSA. How can this result best be explained?
A) S. aureus can
resist vaccines.
B) A patient must have become infected with MRSA
from another community.
C) In response to the drug, S. aureus
began making drugresistant versions of the protein targeted
by
the drug.
D) Some drug-resistant bacteria were present at the
start of treatment, and natural selection
increased their
frequency.
E) The drug caused the S. aureus DNA to change.
Some drug-resistant bacteria were present at the start of treatment,
and natural selection
increased their frequency.
The upper forelimbs of humans and bats have fairly similar skeletal
structures, whereas the
corresponding bones in whales have very
different shapes and proportions. However, genetic
data suggest
that all three kinds of organisms diverged from a common ancestor at
about the
same time. Which of the following is the most likely
explanation for these data?
A) Humans and bats evolved by natural
selection, and whales evolved by Lamarckian
mechanisms.
B)
Forelimb evolution was adaptive in people and bats, but not in
whales.
C) Natural selection in an aquatic environment resulted
in significant changes to whale forelimb
anatomy.
D) Genes
mutate faster in whales than in humans or bats.
E) Whales are not
properly classified as mammals.
Natural selection in an aquatic environment resulted in significant
changes to whale forelimb
anatomy.
DNA sequences in many human genes are very similar to the sequences
of corresponding
genes in chimpanzees. The most likely
explanation for this result is that
A) humans and chimpanzees
share a relatively recent common ancestor.
B) humans evolved from
chimpanzees.
C) chimpanzees evolved from humans.
D)
convergent evolution led to the DNA similarities.
E) humans and
chimpanzees are not closely related.
humans and chimpanzees share a relatively recent common ancestor.