Test Bank- Exam 1

Question 1

Darwin and Wallace’s theory of evolution by natural section was revolutionary because it________.

Answer 1

Stated species are not constant and emphasized the importance of variation and change in populations.

Question 2

Catastrophism was Cuvier’s attempt to explain the existence of________.

Answer 2

the fossil record

Question 3

With what other idea of his time was Cuvier’s theory of catastrophism most in conflict?

Answer 3

Uniformitarianism

Question 4

Prior to the work of Lyell and Darwin, the prevailing belief was that Earth is______.

Answer 4

A few thousand years old, and populations are unchanging.

Question 5

During a study session about evolution, one of your fellow students remarks, “the giraffe stretched its neck while reaching for higher leaves; its offspring inherited longer necks as a result.” Which statement is most likely to be helpful in correcting this student’s misconception?

Answer 5

characteristics acquired during an organism’s life are generally not passed on through genes.

Question 6

When Cuvier considered the fossils found in the vicinity of Paris, he concluded that the extinction of species_______.

Answer 6

Occurs, but that there is no evolution

Question 7

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?

Answer 7

the layer under where the x is located because it is their most recent common ancestor.

Question 8

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?

Answer 8

two strata

Question 9

phylogony

Which pair of scientists would probably have agreed with the process that is depicted by this tree

Answer 9

Lamarck and Wallace

Question 10

The cow Bos Primigenius (which is bred for meat and milk) has a smaller brain and larger eyes than closely related wild species of ungulates. These traits most likely arose by______.

Answer 10

artificial selection, because changes in these traits co-occurred with human selection for high milk output and high muscle content

Question 11

Starting from the wild mustard Brassica oleracea, breeders have created the strains known as Brussels sprouts, broccoli, kale and cabbage. Therefore, which of the following statements is correct?

Answer 11

in this wild mustard, enough heritable variation

Question 12

which of the following scientists argued that variation among individuals allows evolution to occur?

Answer 12

Wallace

Question 13

which of these conditions are always true of populations evolving due to natural selection?
Condition 1: The population must vary in traits that are heritable.
Condition 2: Some heritable traits must increase reproductive success.
Condition 3: Individuals pass on most traits that they acquire during their lifetime.

Answer 13

Conditions 1 and 2

Question 14

A farmer uses triazine herbicide to controls pigweed in his feild. for the first few years, the triazine works well and almost all the pigweed dies; but after several years, the farmer sees more and more pigweed. What is the best explanation for why this happens?

Answer 14

Triazine-resistant weeds were more likely to survive and reproduce.

Question 15

After the drought of 1977, researchers on the island of Daphne Major hypothesized that medium ground finches that had large, deep beaks, survived better than those with smaller beaks because they could more easily crack and eat the tough Tribulus Cistoides fruits. If this hypothesis is correct, what would you expect to observe if a population of these medium ground finches colonizes a nearby island where Tribulus Cistoides is the most abundant food for the next 1000 yrs? Assume that (1) eve the survivors of the 1977 drought sometimes had difficulty cracking the tough T. Cistoides fruits and would eat other seeds when offered a choice; and (2) food availability is the primary limit on finch fitness on this new island.

Answer 15

Evolution of yet larger, deeper beaks over time

Question 16

After the drought of 1977, researchers hypothesized that on the Galápagos island Daphne Major, medium ground finches with large, deep beaks survived better than those with smaller beaks because they could more easily crack and eat the tough Tribulus cistoides fruits. A tourist company sets up reliable feeding stations with a variety of bird seeds (different types and sizes) so that tourists can get a better look at the finches. Which of these events is now most likely to occur to finch beaks on this island?

Answer 16

increased variation in beak size and shape over time.

Question 17

Darwin and Wallace were the first to propose_____.

Answer 17

Natural Selection as the mechanism of evolution

Question 18

a population of organisms will not evolve if________.

Answer 18

all individual variation is due only to environmental factors

Question 19

Which of the following represents an idea that Darwin learned from the writings of Malthus?

Answer 19

Populations tend to increase at a faster rate than their food supply normally allows.

Question 20

Given a population that contains genetic variation, what is the correct sequence of the following events under the influence of natural selection?

1. well-adapted individuals leave more offspring than do poorly adapted individuals.
2. a change occurs in the environment
3. genetic frequencies within the population change.
4. poorly adapted individuals have decreased survivor ship.

Answer 20

2-4-1-3

Question 21

what must exist in a population before natural selection can act upon that population?

Answer 21

Genetic variation among individuals

Question 22

Which of Darwin’s ideas had the strongest connection to his reading of Malthus’s essay on human population growth?

Answer 22

the struggle for existence

Question 23

if Darwin had been aware of genes and their typical mod of transmission to subsequent generations, with which statement would he most likely have been in agreement?

Answer 23

if natural selection can change gene frequency in a population over generations, given enough time and genetic diversity, then natural selection can cause sufficient genetic change to produce new species from old ones.

Question 24

the role that humans play in artificial selection is to_____.

Answer 24

choose which organisms reproduce.

Question 25

Two extant elephant species (x and y) are classified in the genus Loodonta, and a third species (z) is placed in the genus Elephas. What must be true about the three elephants?

Answer 25

Species x and y share a greater number of homologies with each other than either does with species z.

Question 26

Many crustaceans (lobsters, shrimp and crayfish) use their tails to swim, but crabs have reduced tailsthat curl under their shells and are not used in swimming. This is an example of ______.

Answer 26

vestigial trait- anatomical structure that no longer serves a purpose

Question 27

what, if discovered, could refute our current understanding of the pattern of evolution?

Answer 27

diverse fossils of mammals in Precambrian rock

Question 28

Scientific theories______.

Answer 28

are supported by, and make sense of, many observations

Question 29

DDT was once considered a "silver bullet" that would permanently eradicate insect pests. Instead, DDT is largely useless against many insects. What would have prevented this evolution of DDT resistance in insect pests?

Answer 29

none of the insect pests would have genetic variations that resulted in DDT resistance

Question 30

If the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus experiences a cost for maintaining one or more antibiotic-resistance genes, what would happen in environments that lack antibiotics?

Answer 30

these bacteria would be outcompeted and replaced by bacteria that have lost these genes.

Question 31

Of the following anatomical structures, which is homologous to the bones in the wing of a bird?

Answer 31

bones in the flipper of a whale

Question 32

Structures as different as human arms, bat wings, ad dolphin flippers contain many of the same bones, which develop from similar embryonic tissues. These structural similarities are an example of______.

Answer 32

Homology

Question 33

Over long periods of time, many cave-dwelling organisms have lost their eyes. Tapeworms have lost their digestive systems. Whales have lost their hind limbs. How can natural selection account for these losses?

Answer 33

costs out-weighed the benefits of these structures given a circumstance that persisted for a long period.

Question 34

What evidences most strongly supports the common origin of all life on Earth? All organisms______.

Answer 34

use essentially the same genetic code

Question 35

Members of two different species possess a similar-looking stucture that they use in a similar way to preform about the same function. What would suggest that the relationship more likely represents homology instead of convergent evolution?

Answer 35

The two species share many proteins in common, and the nucleotide sequences that code for these proteins are almost identical

Question 36

what must be true of any organ described as vestigial?

Answer 36

it must be homologous to some feature in an ancestor

Question 37

Pseudogenes are_______.

Answer 37

nonfunctional vestigial genes

Question 38

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______.

Answer 38

island forms are descended from mainland forms

Question 39

Given what we know about evolutionary biology, we expect to find the largest number of endemic species in which of the following geological features, which have existed for at least a few million years?

Answer 39

an isolated ocean island in the tropics

Question 40

The greatest number of endemic species is expected in environments that are_________.

Answer 40

isolated and show little ecological diversity

Question 41

Evolutionary trees are properly understood by scientists to be__________.

Answer 41

hypotheses

Question 42

Logically, what should cast the most doubt on the relationships depicted by an evolutionary tree?

Answer 42

relationships between DNA sequences among the species did not match relationships between skeletal patterns.

Question 43

Modern definition of evolution

Answer 43

descent with modification

Question 44

What variable is likely to undergo the largest change in value resulting from a mutation that introduces a new allele into a population at a locus for which all individuals formerly had been fully homozygous?

Answer 44

average heterozygosity

Question 45

what statement best fits the beak size of finches on the island of Daphne Major during a prolonged drought?

Answer 45

each bird's survival was strongly influenced by the depth and strength of its beak as the drought persisted

Question 46

what is true about variation?

Answer 46

All new alleles are the result of nucleotide variability

Question 47

Genetic variation________.

Answer 47

must be present in a population before natural selection can act upon the population

Question 48

Cysticfibrosis is a genetic disorder in homozygous recessives that causes death during the teenage years. If 9 in 10,000 newborn babies have the disease,what are the expected frequencies of the dominant (A1)and recessive (A2) alleles according to the Hardy-Weinberg model?

Answer 48

9---- .0009 sqroot .0009=.0300 p+q=1 1-.0300=0.9700 Dominant- .9700 Recessive- .0300

Question 49

For biologists studying a large flatworm population in the lab, which Hardy- Weinberg condition is most difficult to meet?

Answer 49

no mutation

Question 50

Fora biologist studying a small fish population in the lab, which Hardy-Weinberg condition is easiest to meet?

Answer 50

no gene flow

Question 51

Which of the following is the most predictable outcome of increased gene flow between two populations?

Answer 51

decreased genetic difference between the two populations

Question 52

Mutation is the only evolutionary mechanism that_________.

Answer 52

does little to change allele frequencies

Question 53

Over time, the movement of people on Earth has steadily increased. This has altered the course of human evolution by increasing_______.

Answer 53

gene flow

Question 54

The inability of organisms to evolve anything that could be an advantage reflects______.

Answer 54

the limits of historical constraints

Question 55

Which of the following is a fitness trade off (compromise)?

Answer 55

Turtle shells provide protection but are heavy and burdensome when moving

Question 56

If one builds a canal liking a predator-rich pond to a predator-poor pond, then what type of selection should subsequently be most expected among the mosquitofish in the original predator-rich pond, and what type should be most expected among the mosquitofish in the formerly predator-poor pond?

Answer 56

less intense directional selection; more-intense directional selection

Question 57

Arrange the following in order from most general to most specific. 1. natural selection 2. microevolution 3. intrasexual selection 4. evolution 5. sexual selection

Answer 57

4,2,1,5,3

Question 58

Many songbirds breed in North America in the spring and summer and then migrate to Central and South America in the fall. They spend the winter in these warmer areas, where they feed and prepare for the spring migration north and another breeding season. Two hypothetical species of sparrow, A and B, overwinter together in mixed flocks in Costa Rica. In spring, species A goes to the east coast of North America, and B goes to the west coast. What can you say about the isolating mechanisms of these two species?

Answer 58

Their winter habitat has no bearing on their degree of reproductive isolation

Question 59

The approach to estimating phylogenetic trees is most like the approach of which species concept?

Answer 59

phylogenetic species concept

Question 60

Macroevolution is_________.

Answer 60

evolution above the species level

Question 61

which of the various species concepts distinguishes two species based on the degree of genetic exchange between their gene pools?

Answer 61

biological

Question 62

There is still some controversy among biologists about whether Neanderthals should be placed within the same species as modern humans or into a separate species of their own. Most DNA sequence data analyzed so far indicate that there was probably little or no gene flow between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. Which species concept is most applicable in this example?

Answer 62

Morphological

Question 63

Two species of frogs belonging to the same genus occasionally mate, but the embryos stop developing after a day and then die. These two frog species separate by_________.

Answer 63

reduced hybird viability

Question 64

Viability

Answer 64

ability of something to maintain itself or retain its potentiality

Question 65

The production of sterile mules by interbreeding between female horses and male donkeys is an example of ______.

Answer 65

Reduced hybird fertility

Question 66

What does the biological species concept use as the primary criterion for determining species boundaries?

Answer 66

gene flow

Question 67

The largest unit within which gene flow can readily occur is_______.

Answer 67

a species

Question 68

How are two different species most likely to evolve from one ancestral species?

Answer 68

allopatrically, after the ancestral species has split into two populations

Question 69

Allopatrical

Answer 69

gene flow interrupted or reduced when a population is divided into geographically isolated subpopulations

Question 70

Sympatric

Answer 70

speciation takes place in geographically overlapping populations

Question 71

most causes of speciation are relatively slow, in that they may take many generations to see changes, with the exception of ___________.

Answer 71

polyploidy

Question 72

polyploidy

Answer 72

presence of extra sets of chromosomes due to accidents during cell division

Question 73

the difference between geographic isolations and habitat differentiation is the _____________.

Answer 73

relative locations of two populations as speciation occurs

Question 74

among known plant species, which of these have been the two most commonly occurring phenomena that have led to the origin of new species?

Answer 74

sympatric speciation and polyploidy

Question 75

plant species A has a diploid number of 12. Plant species Bhas a diploid number of 16. A new species, C, arises as an allopolyploid from A and B. The diploid number for species C would probably be_________.

Answer 75

28

Question 76

Reinforcement is most likely to occur when_______.

Answer 76

hybirds have lower fitness than either parent population

Question 77

The phenomenon of fusion is likely to occur when, after a period of geographic isolation, two populations meet again and_______.

Answer 77

an increasing number of viable, fertile hybirds is produced over the course of the next one hundred generations

Question 78

a hybird zone is properly defined as_________.

Answer 78

an area where mating occurs between members of two closely related species, producing viable offspring

Question 79

in Hybird zones where reinforcement is occurring, we should see a decline in __________.

Answer 79

gene flow between distinct gene pools

Question 80

Other than predation by introduced Nile perch, the most likely explanation for the recent decline in cichlid species diversity in Lake Victoria is______.

Answer 80

fusion

Question 81

Speciation______.

Answer 81

can involve changes to a single gene

Question 82

Which of the following is the correct sequence of events in the origin of life? i. formation of protobionts ii. synthesis of organic monomers iii. synthesis of organic polymers iv. formation of DNA- based genetic systems

Answer 82

ii, iii, i, iv

Question 83

Which of the following is a defining characteristic that all protocells had in common?

Answer 83

a surrounding membrane or membrane-like structure

Question 84

the first genetic material on Earth was probably______.

Answer 84

self-replicating RNA molecules

Question 85

Which of the following steps has yet to be accomplished by scientists studying the origin of life?

Answer 85

formation of protocells that use DNA to direct the polymerization of amino acids

Question 86

Which of the following organisms would be most likely to fossilize?

Answer 86

a common squirrel

Question 87

Which of the following would be least likely in the fossil record?

Answer 87

desert-dwelling species

Question 88

If the half-life of carbon-14isabout 5730 years, then a fossil that has one-sixteenth the normal proportion of carbon-14 to carbon-12 should be about how many years old?

Answer 88

22,900

Question 89

what is true ofthe fossil record of mammalian origins?

Answer 89

it includes transitional forms with progressively specialized teeth.

Question 90

if a fossil is encased in a stratum of sedimentary rock without any strata of volcanic rock nearby, then it should be_______.

Answer 90

difficult to determine the absolute age of the fossil, because radiometric dating of sedimentary rock is less accurate than that of igneous rock

Question 91

What is thought to be the correct sequence of these events, from earliest to most recent, in the evolution of life on Earth? 1. origin of mitochondria 2. origin of multicellular eukaryotes 3. origin of chloroplasts 4. origin of cyanobacteria 5. origin of fungal-plant symbioses

Answer 91

4, 1, 3, 2, 5

Question 92

Which of the following was derived from an acestral cyanobacterium

Answer 92

chloroplast

Question 93

Which listing of geological periods is in the correct order, from oldest to most recent?

Answer 93

cambrian, devonian,permian, cretaceous

Question 94

An early consequence of the release of oxygen gas by plant and bacterial photosynthesis was to ____________.

Answer 94

cause iron in ocean water and terrestrial rocks to rust (oxidize)

Question 95

What is true of the cambrian explosion?

Answer 95

there are fossils of animals in geological strata that are older than the Cambrian explosion

Question 96

If an organism has a relatively large number of Hox genes in its genome, it most like ________.

Answer 96

has a relatively complex anatomy

Question 97

The duplication of homeotic (hox) genes has been significant in the evolution of animals because it________.

Answer 97

permitted the evolution of novel forms

Question 98

Why would gene duplicaiton events, such as those seen in the Hox gene complex, set the stage for adaptive radiation?

Answer 98

one copy of a gene can preform the original function, while other copies are available to take on new functions

Question 99

all of the following events can trigger an adaptive radiation EXCEPT_______.

Answer 99

an unusual event splitting a habitat, such as a severe hurricane

Question 100

If one organ is an exaptation of another organ, then these two organs______.

Answer 100

are homologous

Question 101

The existence of evolutionary trends, such as increasing body sizes among horse species, is evidence that_____.

Answer 101

in particular environments, similar adaptations can be beneficial to more than one species

Question 102

certain proteins of the complex motor that drives bacterial flagella are modified versions of proteins that had previously belonged to plasma membrane pumps. This evidence supports the claim that______.

Answer 102

natural selection can produce new structures by coupling together parts of other structures

Question 103

The various taxonomic levels of the hierarchical classification system differ from each other on the basis of__________.

Answer 103

their inclusiveness

Question 104

Linnaeus believed that species remained fixxed in the form in which they had been created. Linnaeus would have been uncomfortable with_______.

Answer 104

phylogenies

Question 105

The best classification system is that which most closely_________.

Answer 105

reflects evolutionary history

Question 106

taxonomy

Answer 106

scientific discipline dealing with classifying and naming organisms

Question 107

Taxonomic groups

Answer 107

Domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species Dear King Phillip Came Over For Good Spaghetti

Question 108

Branch Point

Answer 108

divergence of two species

Question 109

Sister Taxa

Answer 109

share immediate common ancestor

Question 110

Rooted

Answer 110

includes the last common ancestor of all taxa in the tree

Question 111

basal taxon

Answer 111

diverges early in history; originates near common ancestor

Question 112

polytomy

Answer 112

more than two groups emerge

Question 113

Homology

Answer 113

similarity due to shared ancestry

Question 114

analogy

Answer 114

convergent evolution

Question 115

The importance of computers and of computer software to modern cladistics is most closely linked to advances in_______.

Answer 115

Molecular genetics

Question 116

Homoplasies

Answer 116

analogous structures or molecular sequences that evolved independently

Question 117

Cladistics

Answer 117

groups by common descent

Question 118

parsimony

Answer 118

tree requiring fewest evolutionary events (derived characters) is most likely

Question 119

the most important feature that permits a gene to act as a molecular clock is_______.

Answer 119

rate of mutation

Question 120

Neutral theory proposes that_________.

Answer 120

a significant proportion of mutations are not acted upon by natural selection