Biology Test #4 Flashcards

A defining characteristic of allopatric speciation is

A) the appearance of new species in the midst of old ones

B) asexually reproducing populations

C) geographic isolation

D) artificial selection

E) large populations

A rapid method of speciation that has been important in the history of flowering plants is

A) genetic drift

B) a mutation in the gene controlling the timing of flowering

C) behavioral isolation

D) polyploidy

Races of humans are unlikely to evolve extensive differences in the future for which of the following reasons?

I. The environment is unlikely to change

II. Human evolution is complete

III. The human races are incompletely isolated.

A) I only

B) III only

C) I and II only

D) II and III only

E) I, II, III

A certain species of land snail exists as either a cream color or a solid brown color. Intermediate individuals are relatively rare. Which of the following terms best describes this?

A) artificial selection

B) directional selection

C) stabilizing selection

D) disruptive selection

E) sexual selection

What is generally true of two very closely related species that have diverged from each other quite recently?

A) They shared a common ancestor recently in evolutionary time.

B) Genes are unable to pass from one species gene pool to the other's gene pool.

C) They are unable to produce hybrid offspring upon interbreeding.

D) Their reproductive isolation from each other is complete.

Gene flow is a concept best used to describe an exchange between

A) species

B) males and females

C) populations

D) individuals

E) chromosomes

Mules are relatively long-lived and hardy organisms that cannot, generally speaking, perform successful meiosis. Consequently, which statement about mules is true?

A) They have a relative evolutionary fitness of zero.

B) Their offspring have less genetic variation than the parents.

C) Mutations cannot occur in their genomes.

D) If crossing-over happens in mules, then it must be limited to prophase of mitosis.

E) When two mules interbreed, genetic recombination cannot occur by meiotic crossing over, but only by the act of fertilization

Heterozygote advantage should be most closely linked to which of the following?

A) sexual selection

B) stabilizing selection

C) random selection

D) directional selection

E) disruptive selection

Fossil evidence indicates that horses have gradually increased in size over geologic time. Which of the following terms best describes this?

A) artificial selection

B) directional selection

C) stabilizing selection

D) disruptive selection

E) sexual selection

If the frequenzy of a particular allele that is present in a small, isolated population of alpine plants decreases due to a landslide that leaves an even smaller remnant of surviving plants bearing this allele, then what has occurred?

A) a bottleneck

B) genetic drift

C) microevolution

D) A and B only

E) A, B, and C.

Natural selection is most nearly the same as

A) diploidy

B) gene flow

C) genetic drift

D) non-random mating

E) differential reproductive success

In Darwin's thinking, the more closely related two different organisms are, the

A) more similar their habitats are

B) the best-adapted individuals tend to leave the most offspring

C) individuals who survive longer tend to leave more offspring than those who die young.

D) populations tend to produce more individuals than the environment can support.

E) individuals adapt to their environments and, thereby, evolve.

Which describes an African butterfly species that exists in two strikingly different colors?

A) artificial selection

B) directional selection

C) stabilizing selection

D) disruptive selection

E) sexual selection

Which describes brightly colored peacocks mating more frequently than drab peacocks?

A) artificial selection

B) directional selection

C) stabilizing selection

D) disruptive selection

E) sexual selection

Most Swiss starlings produce four to five eggs in each clutch. Those producing fewer or more than this have reduced fitness. Which of the following terms best describes this?

A) artificial selection

B) directional selection

C) stabilizing selection

D) disruptive selection

E) sexual selection

The Darwinian fitness of an individual is measured most directly by

A) the number of its offspring that survive to reproduce

B) the number of "good" genes it possesses.

C) the number of mates it attracts

D) its physical strength

E) how long it lives

Each of the following has a better chance of influencing gene frequencies in small populations than in large populations, but which one most consistently requires a small population as a precondition for its occurrence?

A) Mutation

B) Non-random mating

C) Genetic drift

D) Natural selection

E) Gene Flow

Which is a true statement concerning genetic variation?

A) It is created by the direct action of natural selection

B)It arises in response to changes in the environment.

C) It must be present in a population before natural selection can act upon the population.

D) It tends to be reduced by the processes involved when diploid organisms produce gametes.

E) A population that has a higher average heterozygosity has less genetic variation than one with a larger average heterozygosity.

Which of the following pieces of evidence most strongly supports the common origin of all life on Earth?

A) All organisms require energy

B) All organisms use essentially the same genetic code

C) All organisms reproduce

D) All organisms show heritable variation.

E) All organisms have undergone evolution.

DNA sequence in may human genes are very similar to the sequences of corresponding genes in chimpanzees. The most likely explanation for the result is that

A) Humans and chimpanzees share a relatively recent common ancestor.

B) humans are evolved from chimpanzees

C) chimpanzees are evolved from humans

D) convergent evolution led to the DNA similiarities

E) humans and chimpanzees are not closely related.

Which of the following pairs of structures is least likely to represent homology?

A) The wings of a bat and the arms of a human

B) The hemoglobin of a baboon and that of a gorilla

C) The mitochondria of a plant and those of an animal

D) The wings of a bird and those of an insect

E) The brain of a cat and that of a dog

It has been observed that organisms on islands are different from, but closely related to, similar forms found on the nearest continent. This is taken as evidence that

A) island forms and mainland forms descended from common ancestors.

B) common environments are inhabited by the same organisms

C) the islands were originally part of the continent

D) the island forms and mainland forms are converging

E) island forms and mainland forms have identical gene pools.

Monkeys of Sound and Central America have prehensile tails, meaning that their tails can be used to grasp objects. The tails of African and Asian monkeys are not prehensile. Which discipline is most likely to provide an evolutionary explanation for how this difference in tails came about?

A) aerodynamics

B) biogeography

C) physiology

D) biochemistry

E) botany

During drought years on the Galapagos, small, easily eaten seeds become rare, leaving mostly large, hard-cased seeds that only birds with large beaks can eat. If a drought persists for several years, what should one expect to result from natural selection?

A) Small birds gaining larger beaks by exercising their mouth parts.

B) Small birds mutating their beak genes with the result that later-generation offspring have larger beaks.

C) Small birds anticipating the long drought and eating more to gain weight and, consequently, growing larger beaks

D) More small-beaked birds dying than larger-beaked birds. The offspring produced in subsequent generations have a higher percentage of birds with large beaks.

E) Larger birds eating less so smaller birds can survive.

During a study session about evolution, one of your fellow students remarks, "The giraffe stretched its neck while reaching for higher leaves; its offspring inherited longer necks as a result. Which statement is most likely to be helpful in correcting this student's misconception?

A) Characteristics acquired during an organisms life are generally not passed through genes.

B) Spontaneous mutations can result in the appearance of new traits.

C) Only favorable adaptations have survival value

D) Disuse of an organ may lead to its eventual disappearance

E) Overproduction of offspring leads to a struggle for survival

In a hypothetical environment, fishes called pike-chichlids are visual predators of algae-eating fish (i.e., they locate their prey by sight.) If a population of algae-eaters experiences predation pressure from pike-cichlids, which of the following should LEAST likely be observed in the algae-eater population over the course of many generations?

A) Selection for drab coloration of the algae-eaters

B) Selection for nocturnal algae-eaters (active only at night)

C) Selection of larger female algae-eaters, bearing broods composed of more, and larger, young

D) Selection for algae-eaters that become sexually mature at smaller overall body sizes

E) Selection for algae-eaters that are faster swimmers

Which statement best describes the evolution of pesticide resistance in a population of insects?

A) Individual members of the population slowly adapt to the presence of the chemical by striving to meet the new challenge

B) All insects exposed to the insecticide begin to use a formerly silent gene to make a new enzyme that breaks down the insecticide molecules

C) Insects observe the behavior of the other insects that survive pesticide application, and adjust to their own behaviors to copy those of the survivors.

D) Offspring of insects that are genetically resistant to the pesticide become more abundant as the susceptible insects die off.

If two modern organisms are distantly related in an evolutionary sense then one should expect that

A) they live in very different habitats

B) they should share fewer homologous structures than two more closely related organisms

C) their chromosomes should be very similar

D) they shared a common ancestor relatively recently.

E) they should be members of the same genus

Structures as different as human arms, bat wings, and dolphin flippers contain many of the same bones, these bones having developed from very similar embryonic tissues. How do biologist interpret these similarities?

A) by identifying the bones as being homologous

B) By the principle of convergent evolution

C) by proposing that humanis, bats, and dolphins share a common ancestor

D) A and C only

E) A, B, and C

What was the prevailing notion prior to the time of Lyell and Darwin?

A) Earth is a few thousand years old, and populations are unchanging.

B) Earth is a few thousand years old, and populations gradually change.

C) Earth is millions of years old, and populations rapidly change.

D) Earth is millions of years old, and populations are unchanging

E) Earth is millions of years old, and populations gradually change.

Which stratum should contain the greatest proportion of extinct organisms?

If "x" indicates the location of fossils of two closely related species, then fossils of their most recent common ancestor are most likely to occur in which stratum?

Which statement of natural selection is most correct?

A) Adaptations beneficial in one habitat should generally be beneficial in all other habitats as well.

B) Different species that occupy the same habitat will adapt to that habitat by undergoing the same genetic changes

C) Adaptations beneficial at one time should generally be beneficial during all other times as well.

D) Well-adapted individuals leave more offspring, and thus contribute more to the next generation's gene pool, than do poorly adapted individuals

E) Natural selection is the sole means by which populations evolve.

There are those who claim that theory of evolution cannot be true because the apes, which are supposed to be closely related to humans, do not likewise share the same large brains, capacity for complicated speech, and tool-making capability. They reason that if these features are generally beneficial, then the apes should have evolved from them as well. Which of these provides the best argument against this misconception?

A) Advantageous alleles do not arise on demand.

B) A population's evolution is limited by historical constraints.

C) Adaptations are often compromises

D) Evolution can be influenced by environmental change

A proficient engineer can easily design skeletal structures that are more functional than those currently found in the forelimbs of such diverse mammals as horses, whales, and bats. That the actual forelimbs of these forelimbs do not seem to be optimally arranged is because

A) natural selection has not had sufficient time to create a optimal design in each case, but will do so given enough time.

B) natural selection operates in ways that are beyond the capability of the human mind to comprehend

C) in many cases, phenotype is not merely determined by genotype, but by the environment as well

D) though we may not consider the fit between the current skeletal arrangements and their functions excellent, we should not doubt that natural selection ultimately produces the best design

E) natural selection is generally limited to modifying structures that were present in previous generations and in previous species

As a young biologist, Charles Darwin had expected the living plants of temperate South America would resemble those of temperate Europe, but he was surprised to find that they more closely resembled the plants of tropical South America. The biological explanation for this observation is most properly associated with the field of

A) meteorology

B) embryology

C) vertebrate anatomy

D) bioengineering

E) biogeography

Which of these naturalists synthesized a concept of natural selection independently of Darwin?

A) Charles Lyell

B) Gregor Mendel

C) Alfred Wallace

D) John Henslow

E) Thomas Malthus

Charles Darwin was the first person to propose

A) that evolution occurs

B) a mechanism for how evolution occurs

C) that the Earth is older than a few thousand years

D) a mechanism for evolution that was supported by evidence

E) a way to use artificial selection as a means of domesticating plants and animals

Darwin's mechanism of natural selection required long time spans in order to modify species. From whom did Darwin get the concept of Earth's ancient age?

A) George Cuvier

B) Charles Lyell

C) Alfred Wallace

D) Thomas Malthus

E) John Henslow

How many species, both extant and extinct, are depicted in this tree?

A) 2

B) 3

C) 4

D) 5

E) 6

According to this tree, what percent of the species seem to be extant (i.e., not extint)?

A) 25%

B) 33%

C) 50%

D) 66%

E) 75%

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) X

D) Y

E) Z

Which of the five common ancestors, labeled V-Z, has been least successful in terms of percent of its derived species that are extant?

A) V

B) W

C) X

D) Y

E) Z

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

The theory of evolution is most accurately described as

A) an educated guess about how species originate.

B) one possible explanation, among several scientific alternatives, about how species have come into existence.

C) an opinion that some scientists hold about how living things change over time

D) an overarching explanation, supported by much evidence, for how populations change over time.

E) an idea about how acquired characteristics are passed on to subsequent generations

Gene flow is a concept best used to describe an exchange between

A) species

B) males and females

C) populations

D) individuals

E) chromosomes

Natural selection is most nearly the same as

A) diploidy

B) gene flow

C) genetic drift

D) non-random mating

E) differential reproductive success

Males of one species sing only when its predators are absent; males of another species sing only when its predators are present

A) behavioral

B) gametic

C) habitat

D) temporal

E) mechanical

One species lives only in tree holes; another species lives only in streams

A) behavioral

B) gametic

C) habitat

D) temporal

E) mechanical

One species mates at the season when daylight is increasing from 13 hours to 13 hours, 15 minutes; another species mates at the season when daylight is increasing from 14 hours to 14 hours, 15 minutes.

A) behavioral

B) gametic

C) habitat

D) temporal

E) mechanical

Males of one species are too small to perform amplexus (an action that stimulates ovulation) with females of other species

A) behavioral

B) gametic

C) habitat

D) temporal

E) mechanical

Two species of frogs belonging to the same genus occasionally mate, but the offspring fail to develop and hatch. What is the mechanism for keeping the two frog species separate?

A) the post zygotic barrier called hybrid inviability

B) the post zygotic barrier called hybrid breakdown

C) the prezygotic barrier called hybrid sterility

D) gametic isolation

E) adaptation

The only way to get new alleles that are not already a part of the gene pool

A) Crossing over

B) Genetic recombination

C) Mutation

D) Sexual reproduction

E) Tetradification

A change in a populations allelic frequency by way of a random event or chance is

A) Genetic Drift

B) Geographic isolation

C) Gene flow

D) Sexual isolation

E) Genetic equilibrium

Solely from its name, you know that Rhizopus nigricans must be

A) a plant

B) an animal

C) in the genus nigricans

D) In the genus Rhizopus

E) In the species Rhizopus

The second largest of the classification taxa. (not including Domain)

A) Species

B) Phylum

C) Family

D) Kingdom

E) Order

Dating fossils based on the layer of rock they were found, (using the law of superposition) is a dating technique called

A) Radiometric dating

B) Absolute dating

C) Radioactive dating

D) Relative dating

E) Uniformitarian dating

An inherited characteristic that increases an organism's ability to survive and reproduce in its specific environment is called a(n)

A) Vestigial organ

B) Speciation

C) adaptation

D) homolog

E) mutation

Cytochrome C is used as an example to demonstrate how __________ provides evidence for evolution.

A) Embryology

B) Morphology

C) Fossils

D) Biochemistry

E) Founder effects

Organisms which occupy the same class are more similar than those organisms which occupy the same

A) order

B) phylum

C) species

D) family

E) genus

True or False.

Organisms which share the same genus are closer related than those that share the same family.

True or false.

Individuals evolve, not populations.

True or false.

Humans evolved from chimpanzees.

True or false.

Evolution is goal oriented

True or false.

All organisms share a common ancestor.