Natural Selection Vocab Quiz

Question 1

Adaptation?

Answer 1

A trait that increases an organism’s ability to survive and reproduce in its environment.

Question 2

Natural Selection

Answer 2

The process by which organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.

Question 3

Evolution?

Answer 3

The change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations.

Question 4

Gene Pool

Answer 4

The total collection of genes in a population at any one time.

Question 5

Mutation

Answer 5

A change in the DNA sequence of an organism’s genome.

Question 6

Define Genetic Drift

Answer 6

A mechanism of evolution that refers to random changes in the frequency of alleles in a population.

Question 7

Speciation

Answer 7

The formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution.

Question 8

Homologous Structures

Answer 8

Anatomical features in different species that are similar due to shared ancestry.

Question 9

Analogous Structures

Answer 9

Features in different species that perform a similar function but are not derived from a common ancestral feature.

Question 10

What are Vestigial Structures?

Answer 10

Anatomical features that are remnants of structures that were functional in an organism’s ancestors.

Question 11

What is Selective Pressure?

Answer 11

An external agent which affects an organism’s ability to survive in a given environment.

Question 12

True or False: Survival of the Fittest describes the mechanism of natural selection.

Answer 12

True

Question 13

What is Gene Flow?

Answer 13

The transfer of alleles or genes from one population to another.

Question 14

Define Artificial Selection

Answer 14

The intentional reproduction of individuals in a population that have desirable traits.

Question 15

What does Fitness refer to in evolutionary terms?

Answer 15

The ability of an organism to survive and reproduce in its environment.

Question 16

What is Allele Frequency?

Answer 16

The relative frequency of an allele at a particular locus in a population.

Question 17

Define Common Ancestor

Answer 17

An ancestor that two or more descendants have in common.

Question 18

What does Descent with Modification mean?

Answer 18

The passing on of traits from parent organisms to their offspring, leading to changes in the population over time.

Question 19

What is Paleontology?

Answer 19

The scientific study of fossils to understand the organisms that lived in the past.

Question 20

Define Biogeography

Answer 20

The study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time.

Question 21

What is Phylogeny?

Answer 21

The evolutionary history and the relationships among a species or group of species.

Question 22

Define Cladistics

Answer 22

A method of classifying species of organisms into groups called clades, which consist of an ancestor organism and all its descendants.

Question 23

What is the Bottleneck Effect?

Answer 23

A sharp reduction in the size of a population due to environmental events or human activities.

Question 24

Define Founder Effect

Answer 24

The reduced genetic diversity that results when a population is descended from a small number of colonizing ancestors.

Question 25

What is Macroevolution?

Answer 25

Major evolutionary change, especially with regard to the evolution of whole taxonomic groups over long periods of time.

Question 26

Define Microevolution

Answer 26

Evolutionary change within a species or small group of organisms, especially over a short period.

Question 27

What are Endemic Species?

Answer 27

Species that are native to and found only within a limited area.

Question 28

What is Genetic Variation?

Answer 28

The diversity in gene frequencies within a population.

Question 29

Define Reproductive Isolation

Answer 29

A collection of mechanisms, behaviors, and physiological processes that prevent the members of two different species from producing offspring, or which ensure that any offspring are sterile.

Question 30

What is a Hybrid?

Answer 30

The offspring resulting from combining the qualities of two organisms of different breeds, varieties, species, or genera through sexual reproduction.

Question 31

Define Convergent Evolution

Answer 31

The process whereby organisms not closely related independently evolve similar traits.

Question 32

What is Divergent Evolution?

Answer 32

The process by which a species evolves into two or more descendant or different forms.

Question 33

Define Coevolution

Answer 33

The influence of closely associated species on each other in their evolution.

Question 34

What is Extinction?

Answer 34

The state or process of a species, family, or larger group being or becoming extinct.

Question 35

What does Adaptive Radiation refer to?

Answer 35

The diversification of a group of organisms into forms filling different ecological niches.

Question 36

Define Mimicry

Answer 36

The similarity of one species to another which protects one or both.

Question 37

What is Camouflage?

Answer 37

The use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see or by disguising them as something else.

Question 38

What is Stabilizing Selection?

Answer 38

A type of natural selection in which genetic diversity decreases as the population stabilizes on a particular trait value.

Question 39

Define Disruptive Selection

Answer 39

A type of natural selection that selects against the average individual in a population.