Practice Midterm/Final Qs

Question 1

Increases or decreases?When selection varies across space, gene flow — local adaptation.

Answer 1

decreases

Question 2

Increases or decreases?
The presence of transposable elements — the fitness of multicellular animals.

Answer 2

decreases

Question 3

Increases or decreases?
Small population size — the probability of discord between gene tree and species tree.

Answer 3

decreases

Question 4

Increases or decreases?
Small population size will likely — the effectiveness of selection.

Answer 4

decrease

Question 5

Increases or decreases?
High additive genetic variation — the chances of adaptation.

Answer 5

increases

Question 6

Increases or decreases?
The rate of change in the frequency of a disadvantageous allele — as the favoured allele approaches fixation.

Answer 6

decreases

Question 7

Increases or decreases?
Modular development in animals — pleiotropy in genes controlling functional units.

Answer 7

decreases

Question 8

Increases or decreases?More evolutionary changes implied by a phylogenetic hypothesis — our confidence in it compared to another hypothesis with fewer, according to the criterion of parsimony.

Answer 8

decreases

Question 9

Increases or decreases?High predation in juvenile life stages selects for — in age of sexual maturity.

Answer 9

decreases

Question 10

Increases or decreases?
Low extrinsic mortality in adult individuals selects to — the rate of senescence.

Answer 10

decrease

Question 11

Increases or decreases? If we stand on the tree of life at the MRCA of spiders and humans, and move to the MRCA of echinoderms and humans, the age in millions of years — .

Answer 11

decreases

Question 12

Natural or species selection?
Most animals are sexual because it allows them to avoid Muller’s Ratchet.

Answer 12

species selection

Question 13

Natural or species selection? Bats evolved echolocation because of its advantage for flying at night

Answer 13

natural selection

Question 14

Natural or species selection? Allele frequencies can change rapidly during a bottleneck

Answer 14

neither

Question 15

Natural or species selection? Plant lineages with bilaterally symmetrical flowers diversify more quickly.

Answer 15

species selection

Question 16

Natural or species selection? Population comparisons show unusually high FST for the XNF locus compared to neutral loci, suggesting local adaptation.

Answer 16

natural selection

Question 17

Natural or species selection? Cis-regulatory regions play a major role in controlling animal development.

Answer 17

neither

Question 18

Which species concept? A species concept that can be applied to fossils:

Answer 18

Phylogenetic Species Concept

Question 19

Which species concept? A species concept that would allow good species to sometimes hybridize

Answer 19

Genotypic Cluster Species Concept

Question 20

Which species concept? A species concept that would have difficulty dealing with multiple origins of the same species

Answer 20

Phylogenetic Species Concept

Question 21

Which species concept? A species concept that can accommodate two species that have the same morphology (cryptic species)

Answer 21

Biological Species Concept

Question 22

Which species concept? The likely basis for most species described before 1940

Answer 22

Taxonomic Species

Question 23

Which species concept? A species concept that you might test using a reciprocal transplant experiment

Answer 23

Ecological Species Concept

Question 24

In an adult spider in generation 0, a new mutation occurs in a germ line cell. The mutation is dominant; the enzymes made by the gene render the spider unable to digest food. In what generation is natural selection most likely to begin acting strongly?
Generation 0
Generation 1
Generation 2
Some later generation

Answer 24

Generation 1

Question 25

All of the following are costs of sexual reproduction except one, which one?
The inability to combine beneficial mutations that initially appear in different individuals.
The risk of remaining unmated.
Cost of dividing resources between male and female offspring.
Cost of breaking apart favorable gene combinations.

Answer 25

The inability to combine beneficial mutations that initially appear in different individuals.

Question 26

Which of the following is an incorrect statement regarding Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection as presented in the Origin of Species?
individuals have the ability to produce far more offspring than can be sustained ecologically
some variants will be preserved over time, changing the composition of a population
individuals that are better suited to their environment are more likely to survive
variability exists within species
genetic recombination helps increase the variability within species

Answer 26

genetic recombination helps increase the variability within species

Question 27

Drosophila (as in Drosophila melanogaster) is a
Species name
Family name
Order name
Kingdom name
Genus name

Answer 27

Genus name

Question 28

Which of the following was NOT a belief of Lamarck’s:
Acquired characters could be passed to offspring
The use or disuse of a structure would lead to its development or diminishment
Organisms evolve through a hierarchy of more and more advanced forms
Nature has gradually complicated the structure of every species
Evolutionary change is limited to changes within a species or closely related species

Answer 28

Evolutionary change is limited to changes within a species or closely related species

Question 29

Malthus’ Essay on the Principle of Population had an important influence on Darwin because it demonstrated that
Geological changes occur slowly
Hybridization could form new species
Populations diverge over time
Population growth will often lead to a struggle for existence

Answer 29

Population growth will often lead to a struggle for existence

Question 30

“Uniformitarianism” in geology means
The earth never changes
The earth is continuously changing, with changes observable in the present day having applied in the past.
The earth undergoes catastrophic changes, but these are so rare that they cannot be observed
The earth is becoming flatter through erosion
The earth is becoming more mountainous because of volcanic eruptions

Answer 30

The earth is continuously changing, with changes observable in the present day having applied in the past.

Question 31

If a mutation generates a new beneficial allele which then sweeps through the population (and fixes), the genetic variability at nearby nucleotide sites will be:
increased due to repeated mutation
unchanged unless the nearby sites are also under selection
increased since variability is selectively beneficial
decreased due to genetic hitchhiking

Answer 31

decreased due to genetic hitchhiking

Question 32

Which of the following is NOT true of linkage disequilibrium:
linkage disequilibrium decays over time in the absence of selection
linkage equilibrium (D=0) is attained in one generation of random mating
linkage disequilibrium can cause an allele at a neutral locus to change in frequency

Answer 32

linkage equilibrium (D=0) is attained in one generation of random mating