Evolution & Classification

Question 1

How old do evolutionists say that the Earth is?

Answer 1

4 billion years

Question 2

At the beginning of the Earth, what was missing in our atmosphere?

Answer 2

Oxygen

Question 3

Describe A.J. Oparin’s hypothesis

Answer 3

Earth’s reducing atmosphere combined with the Earth’s cooling and lightning storms resulted in primordial seas, where organic molecules like amino acids, building blocks of life, could be formed

Question 4

What was the famous experiment performed by Miller and Urey?

Answer 4

They mimicked Earth’s early atmosphere in experiments where they took small organic molecules and exposed them to electrical charges, and they found that they were able to generate amino acids from this process.

Question 5

What does “anaerobic” mean?

Answer 5

Doesn’t use oxygen

Question 6

What are the “building blocks of life”?

Answer 6

Amino acids

Question 7

What is an autotroph?

Answer 7

“Auto” meaning “Self” and “troph” meaning “feeding.

Question 8

Give an example of an early organism that produces its own energy through photosynthesis, expelling oxygen into the atmosphere?

Answer 8

Cyanobacteria.

Question 9

An organism that uses oxygen in its metabolic pathways is one we refer to as being ____?

Answer 9

Aerobic.

Question 10

These aerobic cells incorporated autotrophs and together evolved into the first photosynthetic _____________ cells.

Answer 10

Eukaryotic

Question 11

What were probably the earliest plants?

Answer 11

Aquatic plants

Question 12

What are animals thought to have evolved from?

Answer 12

Marine protists

Question 13

What were the earliest vertebrates?

Answer 13

Fish

Question 14

Humans are believe by evolutionists to be evolved from what?

Answer 14

Primates

Question 15

When were the earliest humanoid fossils found, and what were they named?

Answer 15

In the 1970’s, and they were named Australopithecus afarensis, nicknamed “Lucy”

Question 16

The earliest human fossils are thought to be how old, according to evolutionists?

Answer 16

1.8 million years old

Question 17

What is the term used to describe the existence of structures in two different species that share a common ancestry?

Answer 17

Homologous

Question 18

What is the term used to describe the existence of structures in two different species that share a common function, but no necessarily a common ancestry.

Answer 18

Analogy (analogous)

Question 19

The term that describes where more than one species evolves to fill a single niche.

Answer 19

Convergent evolution

Question 20

Analogous structures are less useful in determining evolutionary patterns among organisms than homologous structures for which of the following reasons?
(A) Analogous structures are more complex than homologous structures.
(B) Analogous structures form vestigial structures, and homologous structures do not.
(C) Analogous structures are subject to mutation unlike homologous structures.
(D) Analogous structures are derived from the same embryological tissues, so they provide little information.
(E) Analogous structures reflect adaptation to the environment, and homologous structures reflect evolutionary ancestry.

Answer 20

(E)

Question 21

Who came up with the first ideas of evolution?

Answer 21

Charles Darwin

Question 22

Where and how did Darwin come up with his theory of evolution?

Answer 22

Galapagos Island, observing the finches. He noticed that despite the fact that they all had similarities, they all had very different beak sizes. He focused on natural selection that happens to individuals.

Question 23

Modern theory of evolution focuses on _____

Answer 23

Changes that happen among populations or within communities.

Question 24

What is meant by natural selection?

Answer 24

Some individuals within a population are better suited for survival under given environmental conditions.

Question 25

One mechanism of evolution that means that those individuals better suited for survival are also more likely to successfully be able to reproduce, and this strengthens the frequency of desirable traits across a population over time. (Desirable meaning something that makes you more capable of surviving the current environment.)

Answer 25

Differential reproduction

Question 26

A random alteration or change in a DNA sequence.

Answer 26

Mutation

Question 27

Give two examples of undesirable genetic mutations.

Answer 27

Sickle cell anemia

And mutation of the BRCA1 gene which has been shown to lead to breast cancer

Question 28

What is meant by genetic drift?

Answer 28

Sometimes individuals leave behind a few more offspring than others and therefore they’re going to be leaving behind more of their genes as well. These genes are then expressed in the following generations even though they’re not necessarily the fittest or those that are selected for.

Question 29

What is the difference between homozygous and heterozygous?

Answer 29

A homozygous individual carries a set of two identical (RR or rr) alleles while a heterozygous individual bears different alleles (Rr).