Natural Selection
1. You are raising a stock of fruit flies, and when each individual hatches out you clip off its wings. Assume that this treatment does not disrupt their later mating success and they go on to produce new generations, in each of which you continue the clipping process. By the end of 50 generations, what would you most expect to observe in the last generation of flies as they were hatched out?
a. All flies would be born without wings
b. All flies would be born with wings
c. Many flies would be born without wings
d. The size of the wings would decrease from the first to the fiftieth generation
e. Many flies would be born with more wings
2. Most of the genetic variation observed in large natural populations arises from:
a. New mutations
b. Migration of individuals in and out of the population
c. Recombination due to sexual reproduction
d. Genetic drift
e. Differential predation upon members of the population
3. A particular population of maple trees lives in a place where the environment is becoming progressively more arid (drier). The average surface area of leaves has been decreasing in successive generations. This is an example of:
a. Artificial selection
b. Founder effect
c. Natural selection
d. Reproductive isolation
e. Divergent evolution
4. An individual's fitness is determined by its:
a. Ability to compete for limited resources
b. Resistance to disease
c. Ability to escape predators and avoid parasites
d. Physical strength and hardiness
e. Success in contributing genes to future generations
5. Which of the following statements concerning evolution is false?
a. Natural selection requires variation in the population
b. An individual that is better adapted than others in the population will always be more reproductively successful
c. Evolution can proceed to a limited extent without the occurrence of mutation
d. Evolution involves a change in frequency of genes in the gene pool
e. Evolution occurs by chance
6. Which of the following is (are) biologically inherited?
a. The ability to play piano learned by a parent
b. Athletic ability developed by extensive practice
c. Mutations in the DNA in a skin cell
d. Mutations in cells that give rise to eggs and sperm
e. All of the above
7. Suppose that you grow a culture of bacteria (all of one species) on a culture medium containing the antibiotic streptomycin. At first no growth is apparent although bacteria on a similar medium without streptomycin grow rapidly. However, before long two colonies of bacteria begin to grow on the streptomycin-containing medium. What does this indicate?
a. Two bacteria adjusted to the streptomycin due to exposure to it and this streptomycin resistance was passed on to their offspring
b. Two bacteria were resistant to streptomycin before being exposed to it and these cells generated streptomycin-resistant colonies
c. Streptomycin induced mutations in two bacterial cells which made them resistant and these two cells produced resistant colonies
d. All bacteria will eventually grow in the presence of streptomycin if given long enough
e. Some bacteria like streptomycin
8. Selection in evolution refers specifically to changes in population characteristics due to:
a. Chance events
b. Movement of individuals into or out of the population
c. Non-random reproduction
d. Mutation
e. Dominant genes are more prevalent
9. Darwinian evolution is based on the existence, in every population, of:
a. Random mating
b. Variation among organisms
c. A constant environment
d. Instances of special creation
e. Low mortality rate prior to reproduction
10. Which of the following provides evidence for evolution?
a. Study of fossil age
b. Study of embryology
c. Comparative anatomy
d. Selective breeding of domestic plants and animals
e. All of the above are correct
11. Both insects and humans have hinged jaws. While the jaws serve the same purpose, they evolved from different strcutures of the two groups. This is an example of:
a. Adaptive radiation
b. Parallel evolution
c. Convergent evolution
d. Coevolution
e. Divergent evolution
12. Speciation occurs when:
a. One lineage divides into two
b. Gradual changes occur in a lineage over time
c. Mutations arise in large populations
d. Disruptive selection is operating
e. Character displacement occurs
13. All of the following are reproductive isolating mechanisms except:
a. Temporal differences in breeding season between two populations
b. Differences in food niches between two species
c. Hybrid sterility
d. Mechanical incompatibility of genitalia
e. Complex courtship behavior
14. Two species are closely related, yet they are superficially different in structure. This probably results from:
a. Convergent evolution
b. Parallel evolution
c. Divergent evolution
d. Character displacement
e. Coevolution
15. If two species are in competition, then removal of one of the species causes:
a. A decrease in the population size of the other
b. No change in the population growth rate of the other
c. An increase in population size of the other
d. A decrease in the ecological niche of the other
e. An oscillation in population size