front 1 Members of two different species possess a similar-looking structure
that they use in a
similar fashion to perform the same function.
Which information would best help distinguish
between an
explanation based on homology versus one based on convergent
evolution?
A) The two species live at great distance from each
other.
B) The two species share many proteins in common, and the
nucleotide sequences that code for
these proteins are almost
identical.
C) The sizes of the structures in adult members of
both species are similar.
D) Both species are well adapted to
their particular environments. | back 1 The two species share many proteins in common, and the nucleotide
sequences that code for
these proteins are almost identical. |
front 2 Ichthyosaurs were aquatic dinosaurs. Fossils show us that they had
dorsal fins and tails, as do
fish, even though their closest
relatives were terrestrial reptiles that had neither dorsal fins
nor
aquatic tails. The dorsal fins and tails of ichthyosaurs and
fish are
A) homologous.
B) examples of convergent
evolution.
C) adaptations to a common environment.
D) Three
of the responses above are correct.
E) Two of the responses above
are correct. | back 2 Two of the responses above are correct. |
front 3 Both ancestral birds and ancestral mammals shared a common ancestor
that was terrestrial.
Today, penguins (which are birds) and seals
(which are mammals) have forelimbs adapted for
swimming. What
term best describes the relationship of the bones in the forelimbs of
penguins
and seals, and what term best describes the flippers of
penguins and seals?
A) homologous; homologous
B) analogous;
homologous
C) homologous; analogous
D) analogous; analogous | |
front 4 What must be true of any organ that is described as
vestigial?
A) It must be analogous to some feature in an
ancestor.
B) It must be homologous to some feature in an
ancestor.
C) It must be both homologous and analogous to some
feature in an ancestor.
D) It need be neither homologous nor
analogous to some feature in an ancestor. | back 4 It must be homologous to some feature in an ancestor. |
front 5 What is true of pseudogenes?
A) They are composed of RNA, rather
than DNA.
B) They are the same things as introns.
C) They
are unrelated genes that code for the same gene product.
D) They
are vestigial genes. | back 5 They are vestigial genes. |
front 6 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. | back 6 island forms and mainland forms descended from common ancestors. |
front 7 If one wanted to find the largest number of endemic species, one
should visit which of the
following geological features (assuming
each has existed for several millions of years)?
A) an isolated
ocean island in the tropics
B) an extensive mountain
range
C) a midcontinental grassland with extreme climatic
conditions
D) a shallow estuary on a warm-water coast | back 7 an isolated ocean island in the tropics |
front 8 A high degree of endemism is most likely in environments that
are
A) easily reached and heterogeneous.
B) isolated and
heterogeneous.
C) isolated and homogeneous.
D) isolated and
extremely cold.
E) easily reached and homogeneous. | back 8 isolated and heterogeneous. |
front 9 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?
A) A
B) B
C)
C
D) D | |
front 10 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 | |
front 11 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 | |
front 12 How many separate species, both extant and extinct, are depicted in
this tree?
A) two
B) three
C) four
D) five
E) six | |
front 13 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% | |
front 14 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. | back 14 Both X and Y can be considered to have given rise to the greatest
number of extant and extinct species. |
front 15 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 | |
front 16 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 | |
front 17 Evolutionary trees such as this are properly understood by scientists
to be
A) theories.
B) hypotheses.
C) guesses.
D)
dogmas.
E) facts. | |
front 18 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. | back 18 Their genomes should be more similar to each other than are the
genomes of the five tree finch species. |
front 19 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. | back 19 is no more closely related to the tree finches than it is to the
ground finches, despite its
classification. |
front 20 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. | back 20 Poorly adapted individuals never produce offspring. |
front 21 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. | back 21 South American temperate plants are more similar to the tropical
plants of South America
than to the temperate plants of Europe. |
front 22 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. | back 22 Some drug-resistant bacteria were present at the start of treatment,
and natural selection
increased their frequency. |
front 23 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. | back 23 Natural selection in an aquatic environment resulted in significant
changes to whale forelimb anatomy. |
front 24 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. | back 24 humans and chimpanzees share a relatively recent common ancestor. |