module 1 Flashcards
Which of the following qualities or processes is NOT associated with living things?
a. Adaptations in individuals over their lifetimes
b. Cells and genetic information
c. Requirement for a source of energy
d. Responding to changes in the environment
e. Imperfect reproduction
Adaptations in individuals over their lifetimes
Which of the following is alive?
a. Human immunodeficiency virus
b. An antibiotic-resistance gene found in bacteria
c. A human skin cell
d. An infectious protein (prion) responsible for mad cow disease
e. None of the above are alive
c. A human skin cell
Which of the following statements is correct?
a. natural selection increases the likelihood that a favorable mutation will occur
b. populations retain mutations in anticipation of future environmental changes
c. mutations are induced by environmental changes to promote species adaptation
d. all of these are correct statements
e. none of the above are correct statements
e. none of the above are correct statements
Evolution does NOT require:
a. Heritable variation in the population
b. At least two generations of an organism
c. Selection or genetic drift to change allele frequencies
d. Differences in reproductive potential
e. All of the above are required for evolution
Differences in reproductive potential
Which of the following is a biologically accurate statement?
a. Vertebrates evolved eyes in order to see
b. Once aquatic life invaded land, organisms were forced to evolve mechanisms of support and
locomotion in order to survive
c. Widespread use of pesticides against mosquitoes results in death of non-resistant individuals; as
a result, many mosquito populations are comprised mostly of pesticide-resistant individuals
d. Frequent use of antibiotics puts pressure on infectious bacteria to evolve antibiotic resistance; as
a result, many bacteria are resistant to widely-used antibiotics
e. All of the above are biologically accurate statements
Widespread use of pesticides against mosquitoes results in death of non-resistant individuals; as
a result, many mosquito populations are comprised mostly of pesticide-resistant individuals
The process of evolution by natural selection leads to populations which are well-adapted to their
environment. However, populations almost always have detrimental alleles within the gene pool. Which of
the following is NOT a reason such harmful alleles are present in populations?
a. Harmful alleles may be useful in the future, and so they are maintained in the population in
anticipation of possible change
b. Harmful alleles may not affect fitness, because they affect individuals after those individuals
have already reproduced
c. Harmful alleles may be beneficial in certain environments or other specific circumstances
d. Harmful alleles are created due to mutation with each new generation
e. Each of these is a reason harmful alleles are present in populations
Harmful alleles may be useful in the future, and so they are maintained in the population in
anticipation of possible change
Male red deer compete for the largest and best mating territories. Large males with large antlers are better at
defending the larger, high-quality territories, and females prefer to mate with large males. What features is
most important in assessing fitness in male red deer?
a. Body and antler size
b. Territory quality and size
c. Number of females receptive to mating
d. Number of actual matings with females
e. Number of offspring surviving to adulthood
e. Number of offspring surviving to adulthood
An isolated population of prairie dogs has longer than average teeth. As a result they can eat more grass with
less effort and are better able to survive and reproduce. The mutation(s) that resulted in longer teeth:
a. allowed the teeth to grow longer over several generations until they reached an optimal length
for eating grass.
b. arose in many members of the population simultaneously and then lead to longer teeth.
c. happened as a result of chance within the prarie dog population and then lead to longer teeth.
d. occurred because the prairie dogs needed to be more efficient at eating grass to
survive and reproduce.
e. would only occur in a prairie dog population that eats grass and would not occur in a
population that lives on seeds.
c. happened as a result of chance within the prarie dog population and then lead to longer teeth.
Fish stocks of many species have decreased over the last several centuries as humans have preferentially
harvested the largest and most reproductively successful individuals in the population. Many fish
populations now exhibit earlier sexual maturity where younger and smaller individuals are capable of
reproducing compared to populations two hundred years ago.
In regard to body size at sexual maturity, the situation described above is an example of:
a. Introduction of a new allele due to mutation or gene flow
b. A change in the frequency of an existing allele due to genetic drift
c. A change in the frequency of an existing allele due to directional selection
d. A change in the frequency of an existing allele due to disruptive selection
e. None of the above are accurate descriptions of this situation
c. A change in the frequency of an existing allele due to directional selection
Which of the following is a key difference between genetic drift and natural selection?
a. Drift increases frequencies of the most common alleles; selection increases frequencies of the
rarest alleles
b. Drift occurs in the absence of natural selection; selection occurs in the absence of drift
c. Drift increases frequencies of alleles associated with lower fitness; selection increases
frequencies of alleles associated with higher fitness
d. Drift alters frequencies of alleles at random; selection increases frequencies of alleles associated
with higher fitness
d. Drift alters frequencies of alleles at random; selection increases frequencies of alleles associated
with higher fitness
Two populations exist in different geographical locations with very different environmental conditions. Gene
flow between these two different populations would:
a. Increase the likelihood of the populations diverging into two separate species
b. Decrease the adaptation of each population to its local environment
c. Alter allele frequencies in the populations due to chance alone
d. Decrease the genetic diversity in each population
e. All of the above are likely outcomes of gene flow between these populations
b. Decrease the adaptation of each population to its local environment
A mosquito population has a gene with two alleles, M1 and M2. If 70% of the gametes produced in the
population carry the M2 allele, and the population is not evolving, what proportion of the offspring
mosquitoes will be heterozygous at this gene locus?
a. 0.70
b. 0.49
c. 0.42
d. 0.21
e. 0.30
c. 0.42
Which of the following is NOT an assumption of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?
a. No mutation is occurring
b. No natural selection is occurring
c. Individuals mate randomly
d. Population size is fixed
e. No migration
d. Population size is fixed
In a particular species of bird, song volume is controlled by one gene with 2 alleles. Population A has 250
loud singers, 500 medium singers, and 250 soft singers. Population B has 100 loud singers, 800 medium
singers, and 100 soft singers. Medium singers are heterozygous.
Assuming expected genotype frequencies given by Hardy-Weinberg equations, which population is in
Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium with regard to the singing volume gene?
a. A
b. B
c. Both
d. Neither
e. It cannot be determined from the information provided
a. A
Red bottoms, a homozygous recessive condition, make up 36% of the bear population. The rest
have ‘normal’ bottoms. Using this information, calculate the frequency of the homozygous
dominant and heterozygous genotypes out of 100 individuals.
a. 36; 48
b. 48; 16
c. 36; 16
d. 16; 48
e. 16; 36
d. 16; 48
A key feature of a species defined by the ecological species concept is:
a. Reproductive isolation
b. Niche specialization
c. Morphological distinction
d. A and B
e. A and C
b. Niche specialization
Speciation that occurs when a sexually reproducing population is not separated by a geographical barrier is:
a. Gametic
b. Sympatric
c. Allopatric
d. Prezygotic
e. Postzygotic
b. Sympatric
Females in a population prefer either full facial hair (full beard) or no facial hair (clean-shaven), but do not
like partial facial hair (stubble, goatees, mustaches, etc.). What type of selection does this represent?
a. Stabilizing
b. Directional toward beards
c. Directional toward clean-shaven
d. Disruptive
e. Balancing
d. Disruptive
Silver beam fish and Common beam fish are capable of producing hybrid offspring, but the hybrid offspring
are sterile. This is an example of:
a. Postzygotic isolation
b. Prezygotic isolation
c. Gametic isolation
d. Mechanical isolation
e. Behavioral isolation
a. Postzygotic isolation
Two frog populations exist in the same geographic area. Both populations look very similar physically and
breed in shallow water, but they are not observed to interbreed in the wild. One population feeds in static
pond shallows, while the other feeds in the shallows of rapidly-moving streams. The males in each
population make similar mating calls. What type(s) of reproductive isolation is/are likely in effect in the two
populations?
a. Temporal
b. Mechanical
c. Habitat
d. Behavioral
c. Habitat
- Prokaryotes include bacteria and archaea. Given the tree above, why does the term ʹprokaryoteʹ refer to a
paraphyletic group?
a. it defines a group based on a synapomorphy, not an adaptation
b. it includes two groups that do not have a common ancestor
c. it excludes one of the descendants of the common ancestor
d. it includes only single-celled organisms
e. none of the above
c. it excludes one of the descendants of the common ancestor
A phylogenetic tree:
a. Is a visual representation of relationships between species
b. Represents a hypothesis to describe relationships between species
c. Can incorporate both genetic and morphological data
d. Includes an ancestor and its descendants
e. All of the above
e. All of the above
In the eukaryotic tree of life, three extant (living) lineages include plants, animals, and fungi. Which of the
following accurately represents the relationship between these extant lineages where fungi and animals are
more closely related to each other than either is to plants?
| ——- B
A -
| C
|[ D
a. A=plants; C=fungi; B=animals
b. B=fungi; C=animals; D=plants
c. B=plants; C= fungi, D= animals
d. A=fungi; B=plants; C=animals
e. none of the above
c. B=plants; C= fungi, D= animals
If the half-life of carbon-14 is approximately 5000 years old, then approximately how many years old is a
fossil containing 1/8th of today’s proportions of carbon-14 to carbon-12?
a. 8,000
b. 15,000
c. 20,000
d. 40,000
e. Cannot be determined from the information provided
b. 15,000
Assuming the fundamentals of stratigraphy and a perfect fossil record, if we were to extract a column of
rock, which which of the following organisms would be found in the deepest layer?
a. Single-cell Prokaryotes
b. Single-cell Eukaryotes
c. Ancient Plants
d. Ancient Insects
e. Land Dinosaurs
a. Single-cell Prokaryotes
Which of the following is TRUE of oxygen in early Earth history?
a. It was initially created by the photosynthetic activity of chloroplasts in plants
b. It was an important requirement for the origin of life
c. Its accumulation over time is evidenced by banded iron formations in ancient rock
d. It occurred following the appearance of eukaryotes in the fossil record
e. None of the above are true
c. Its accumulation over time is evidenced by banded iron formations in ancient rock
Which of the following is NOT true of mass extinctions?
a. Mass extinctions often open previously-occupied niches and facilitate adaptive radiations
b. Mass extinctions typically remove only the species that are least-well adapted
c. Mass extinctions occur when species become extinct at a much faster rate than normal
d. Mass extinctions have occurred multiple times throughout Earth’s history
e. None of the above are true of mass extinctions
b. Mass extinctions typically remove only the species that are least-well adapted
Which of the following coincided with the mass extinction of the dinosaurs?
a. The Cambrian explosion
b. The end of the Permian
c. The impact of a large meteor
d. Oxygenation of the Earth
e. None of these
c. The impact of a large meteor
Which of the following is the correct sequence of these events in the RNA-World hypothesis for the origin
of life?
I. formation of protocells with self-replicating RNA molecules
II. synthesis of organic monomers such as amino acids and nucleotides
III. synthesis of organic polymers such as polypeptides and nucleic acids
IV. formation of DNA-based genetic systems
a. I, II, III, IV
b. I, III, II, IV
c. III, II, I, IV
d. IV, III, I, II
e. II, III, I, IV
e. II, III, I, IV
Why is RNA a promising candidate for the first hereditary molecule in the origin of life on Earth?
a. RNA molecules are more chemically stable than DNA molecules so they are more resistant to
breakage and damage than DNA molecules.
b. RNA molecules usually have two complementary strands, so hereditary information can be
recovered from either strand.
c. RNA molecules can both carry genetic information and have catalytic activity, so may be able to
replicate each other without proteins
d. RNA molecules use different base pairs than DNA, and those bases are much easier to make
c. RNA molecules can both carry genetic information and have catalytic activity, so may be able to
replicate each other without proteins
Although biological evolution, strictly speaking, refers to living organisms composed of cells, on which of
these stages in the RNA World hypothesis could evolution by selection operate?
a. chemical reactions creating mono-ribonucleotides from inorganic starting materials
b. polymerization of mono-ribonucleotides into random RNA chains 40-50 nucleotides long
c. catalytic RNA molecules that cleave other RNA molecules
d. catalytic RNA molecules that synthesize RNA molecules using other RNA strands as a template
e. all of the above
d. catalytic RNA molecules that synthesize RNA molecules using other RNA strands
A good scientific hypothesis:
a. Is true
b. Summarizes exiting data
c. Can be falsified through observations
d. All of these statements are true
e. None of these statements are true
c. Can be falsified through observations
According to Platt’s strong inference principles, scientists who investigate the RNA
World hypothesis should design experiments to:
a. disprove various alternative hypotheses about how RNA molecules may have
originated or functioned
b. prove that pre-biotic Earth had self-replicating RNA molecules
c. prove that a self-replicating RNA molecule was the first genetic material in the
first cells
d. prove that pre-biotic Earth had self-replicating RNA molecules and that a self-
replicating RNA molecule was the first genetic material in the first cells
e. all of these are consistent with Platt’s strong inference
a. disprove various alternative hypotheses about how RNA molecules may have
originated or functioned
Microfossils of cells that appear to have nuclei would indicate what domain of life?
a. Archaea
b. Bacteria
c. Plants
d. Animals
e. Eukarya
e. Eukarya
Which of the following is alive?
a. The influenza virus
b. A gene that causes bacteria to be resistant to antibiotics
c. A cell found in a plant leaf
d. A molecule of DNA
e. All of these are alive
c. A cell found in a plant leaf
Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of living things?
a. Composed of cells with genetic information
b. Requirement for a source of energy
c. Ability to respond to changes in the environment
d. Development of adaptations within individuals during their lifetimes
e. Reproduction with some degree of error
d. Development of adaptations within individuals during their lifetimes
Biological evolution always requires:
a. Heritable variation
b. Overproduction of individuals
c. Competition for access to resources
d. A selective agent
e. An adaptation that improves biological fitness
a. Heritable variation
A species of lizards has males that with bright pink throats. Females prefer to mate with
males with the pinkest throat coloration, but bright pink also stands out to predators.
What feature is most important in directly assessing overall fitness in a male, relative to
other males in this population?
a. How bright pink his throat is
b. How many years he is reproductively active
c. Number of times he mates with any female
d. Number of times he escapes predation
e. Number of surviving offspring he generates
e. Number of surviving offspring he generates
Which of these conditions would completely prevent natural selection from altering a
population through time?
a. None of the variation in the population is heritable
b. All mating between individuals is random
c. No changes are occurring in the environment
d. The population lives in a habitat with no predators
e. The population is very large
a. None of the variation in the population is heritable
Fish stocks of many species have decreased over the last several centuries as humans
have preferentially harvested the largest and most reproductively successful individuals
in the population. Many fish populations now exhibit earlier sexual maturity where
younger and smaller individuals are capable of reproducing compared to populations two
hundred years ago. In regard to body size at sexual maturity, the situation described
above is an example of:
a. Introduction of a new allele due to mutation or gene flow
b. A change in the frequency of an existing allele due to genetic drift
c. A change in the frequency of an existing allele due to directional selection
d. A change in the frequency of an existing allele due to disruptive selection
e. A change in the frequency of an existing allele due to balancing selection
c. A change in the frequency of an existing allele due to directional selection
What is the role of mutation in biological evolution?
a. mutations arise in a population response to selection
b. mutations cause genetic drift in a population
c. mutations are adaptive and cause populations to experience increased fitness
d. mutations arise by chance and create random genetic variation in a population
d. mutations arise by chance and create random genetic variation in a population
A change in a population’s allele frequency due to chance alone is best described as:
a. Adaptation
b. Mutation
c. Gene flow
d. Genetic drift
e. Random mating
d. Genetic drift
Suppose that a population turtles from the mainland migrate into another population of
turtles on an island, where they mate with the island population. The island and the
mainland have different environmental conditions. Gene flow between these two
different populations would:
a. Increase the adaptation of each population to its local environment
b. Decrease the likelihood of speciation occurring between these two populations
c. Alter allele frequencies due to chance alone
d. Decrease the genetic diversity in each population
e. Increase fitness in each population
b. Decrease the likelihood of speciation occurring between these two populations
Which of these is NOT an expected characteristic of populations in Hardy-Weinberg
equilibrium?
a. the population includes recent immigrants
b. the population is very large
c. individuals in the population mate randomly
d. the population is not experiencing selection for the trait in question
e. there are no new mutations arising in the population
a. the population includes recent immigrants
A lemur population has a gene with two alleles, F and f. If 20% of the gametes produced
in the population carry the F allele, and the population is not evolving, what proportion of
the offspring will be heterozygous at this gene locus?
a. 0.04
b. 0.20
c. 0.32
d. 0.64
e. 0.80
c. 0.32
In a particular species of bird, tail length is controlled by one gene with 2 alleles.
Population A has 100 birds with long tails, 800 birds with medium tails, and 100 birds
with short tails. Population B has 250 birds with long-tails, 500 bird with medium tails,
and 250 birds with short tails. Which population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium with
regard to the tail length gene?
a. Population A
b. Population B
c. Both populations
d. Neither population
e. It cannot be determined from the information provided
b. Population B
Which of the following indicates that a population is in H-W equilibrium?
a. Whenever the dominant genotype is most frequently observed in the population
b. Whenever allele frequencies can be expressed as p + q equal to 1 in the
population
c. Whenever genotype frequencies add up to 1 because p2 + 2pq + q2
d. Whenever the observed allele frequencies accurately predict the observed
genotype frequencies
e. Whenever heterozygotes outnumber homozygotes consistently over multiple
generations
d. Whenever the observed allele frequencies accurately predict the observed
genotype frequencies
Species defined by the biological species concept must be:
a. Morphologically distinct
b. Geographically separated
c. Reproductively isolated
d. Morphologically distinct and reproductively isolated
e. Geographically separated and reproductively isolated
c. Reproductively isolated
Two populations of guppies live in a pool. Population A feeds and mates preferentially at
night, whereas population B prefers to feed and mate in the daytime. When a female from
population A is placed in a laboratory aquarium with a male from population B, they
mate and have viable, fertile progeny, and the natural hybridization rate between the two
populations is ~1%. Physically, the dull-colored fish from population A look very similar
to the dull-colored fish from population B. The guppies in these two populations are
likely different species according to the:
a. Biological species concept
b. Ecological species concept
c. Morphological species concept
d. Phylogenetic species concep
b. Ecological species concept
Which type of speciation best describes closely-related sexually reproducing populations
in the same area that do not interbreed?
a. Sympatric
b. Allopatric
c. Gametic
d. Prezygotic
e. There is no evidence of speciation in this situation
a. Sympatric
Bullfrogs and Red-legged frogs have been geographically separated for tens of thousands
of years, but recently Bullfrogs have been unintentionally introduced into territory where
previously only Red-legged frogs lived. Now that they live in the same areas, Bullfrogs
and Red-legged frogs will readily mate, but the resulting embryos do not successfully
develop. This is an example of:
a. Gametic isolation
b. Mechanical isolation
c. Prezygotic isolation
d. Postzygotic isolation
e. All of these
d. Postzygotic isolation
Two frog populations exist in the same geographic area. Both populations look very
similar and breed in shallow water, but they are not observed to interbreed in the wild.
One population feeds in static pond shallows, while the other feeds in the shallows of
rapidly-moving streams. The males in each population make slightly different mating
calls. What type(s) of reproductive isolation is/are likely in effect in the two populations?
a. Temporal
b. Habitat
c. Behavioral
d. Temporal and habitat
e. Habitat and behavioral
e. Habitat and behavioral
Building phylogenetic trees utilizes data from multiple sources including homology and
genetic similarities. The least complicated evolutionary relationships are usually the
correct ones and when a specific adaptation appears in more than species it usually means
they had a common ancestor. This principle for constructing trees where the most likely
pattern is the one requiring the fewest changes is known as what?
a. Parsimony
b. Analogy
c. Oxidation
d. Allopatry
e. Disruption
a. Parsimony
In oxidized iron banded rock formations, where would we find the oldest layer of rock if
there had been no tectonic activity in the area?
a. At the top
b. In the middle
c. At the bottom
d. Depends on the amount of oxygen at the given period
e. None of the above
c. At the bottom
Which of these events occurred first?
a. Increase in atmospheric oxygen due to oxidative phosphorylation from ancient
cyanobacteria
b. Extinction of the dinosaurs
c. Migration of humans out of Africa
d. First bilaterally symmetrical animals
e. Taylor Swift concert in Atlanta
a. Increase in atmospheric oxygen due to oxidative phosphorylation from ancient
cyanobacteria
Which of these events has or could lead to an adaptive radiation event?
a. A large asteroid hitting the planet
b. The evolution of flight in birds
c. Animals colonizing a cave where no other animals exist
d. Oxygen gas being released into the atmosphere due to the development of
oxygenic photosynthesis
e. All of the above
e. All of the above
You and your research group have just identified a previously undiscovered species of
early mammal by locating their fossils. You decide to carbon date the specimen and find
that it is roughly 22,800 years old. Given the half life of carbon-14 is 5,700 years. How
much of the original carbon-14 is left in the sample?
a. 1/2
b. 1/4
c. 1/8
d. 1/16
e. 1/32
d. 1/16
Evolutionary processes can function in RNA self-replication as is hypothesized to occur
in the RNA World hypothesis. Some RNA molecules are able to replicate quicker than
other RNA molecules and are thus use the available ribonucleotides faster than other
RNA molecules. Which of these types of evolution is this an example of?
a. Natural selection
b. Genetic drift
c. Gene flow
d. Non-random mating
e. None of the above
a. Natural selection
Protocells are formed by having a layer of what type of organic molecule surrounding an
interior space?
a. RNA
b. Lipids
c. Proteins
d. Sugars
e. Clay
b. Lipids
Which of these is NOT a requirement for the origin of life?
a. Carbon source
b. Multicellularity
c. Hereditary mechanism
d. Energy
e. Segregate molecules from the environment
b. Multicellularity
Average trait selected over the extreme. Results in a decrease of a populations genetic variance.
Stabilizing Selection
A populations genetic variation shifts towards a new phenotype when exposed to environmental changes.
Directional Selection
Two or more extreme phenotypes are selected over the average. Increases genetic variation.
Disruptive Selection
Differences in timing prevent reproduction between closely related species.
Temporal Isolation
A physical incompatibility between reproductive organs of two organisms. No fertilization occurs. Includes any physical barrier that prevents mating.
Mechanical Isolation
When species are reproductively isolated from others due to differences in behavior.
Behavioral Isolation
A group of any size and systematic rank that originated from a single common ancestor, but does not, as opposed to a monophyletic group, contain all descendants from this ancestor.
Paraphyletic Group
If the half-life of carbon-14 is approximately 5000 years old, then approximately how many years old is a fossil containing 1/8th of today’s proportions or carbon-14 to carbon-12.
1/8 = 0.125
(1/2)^n = 0.125
n(log)(0.5) = log(0.125)
n = 3
5000 * 3 = 15,000
The change in frequency of an existing gene variant in the population due to random chance. Alters frequencies of alleles at random: selection increases frequences of alleles associated with higher fitness.
Genetic Drift
The transfer of genetic material from one population to another.
Gene Flow
Concept of species in which a species is a set of organisms adapted to a particular set of resources, called a niche, in the environment.
Ecological Species Concept
Occurs when a species separates into 2 groups which are isolated from each other.
Allopatric Speciation
