Evolution Study guide
1.What term describes the theory that natural disasters shaped Earth's
landforms and caused species to become extinct?
(A) gradualism
(B) uniformitarianism
Correct answer (C) catastrophism
(D) evolution
2.Which scientist developed a classification system based on similarities?
(A) Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon
(B) Erasmus Darwin
(C) Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Correct answer (D) Carolus Linnaeus
3.What must be true of two individuals of the same species?
Correct answer (A) They can reproduce and have fertile offspring.
(B) They must live in the same environment.
(C) They can reproduce, but their offspring are not fertile.
(D) They can pass acquired characteristics to their offspring.
4.Which of the following was not commonly believed in the 1700s?
(A) Earth was formed 6000 years ago.
(B) Species cannot change.
(C) Species cannot become extinct.
Correct answer (D) Fossils are traces of organisms that lived in the past.
5.Which theory of geologic change is accepted by today's scientists?
(A) gradualism
Correct answer (B)
uniformitarianism
(C) catastrophism
(D) geologic determinism
1.What adaptations did Darwin see in the tortoises of the Galapagos
Islands?
(A) shape of beak
Correct answer (B) length of neck and legs
(C) shape of head
(D) kind of shell
2.What term describes a feature that allows an organism to better survive
in its environment?
(A) variation
(B) species
Correct answer (C) adaptation
(D) mutation
3.What did the variations in the Galapagos finches seem to be well-suited
to?
(A) the animals' size
(B) the animals' age
(C) the island the animals lived on
Correct answer (D) the animals' environment and diet
4.What evidence did Darwin observe that led him to believe that Earth was
older than 6000 years?
(A) An earthquake moved underwater land above sea level.
Correct answer (B) He found fossils that were similar but not the same as
living species.
(C) He found ancient tortoises in the Galapagos.
(D) He found fossils of shells on mountaintops.
5.Which of the following might be an adaptation for picking insects out of
tree bark?
Correct answer (A) a long, pointed beak
(B) webbed feet
(C) a strong, thick beak
(D) long claws
1.Which of the following is not a main principle of the theory of natural
selection?
(A) variation
(B) adaptation
(C) overproduction
Correct answer (D) sexual reproduction
2.How do artificial selection and natural selection differ?
(A) In artificial selection, the environment acts as the
selecting agent.
(B) In natural selection, traits that are useful to humans are
inherited.
(C) In natural selection, humans act as the selecting agent.
Correct answer (D) In natural selection, the environment acts as the
selecting agent.
3.What term describes all the individuals of a species that live in an area?
(A) environmental group
Correct answer (B) population
(C) community
(D) competitive group
4.Which term is a measure of the ability to survive and produce the most
offspring?
(A) overproduction
(B) variation
(C) adaptation
Correct answer (D) fitness
5.Can natural selection cause variations?
(A) Yes, new alleles are formed by mutagens in the
environment.
(B) Yes, natural selection changes an organism's genetic
material.
(C) No, environmental changes cause mutations.
Correct answer (D)
No, natural selection works only on existing variations.
1.What term describes features that are similar in structure but different in
function?
(A) analogous structures
(B) vestigial structures
(C) comparative structures
Correct answer (D) homologous structures
2.In which rock layer would you expect to find the most primitive fossils?
(A) top layer
(B) middle layer
Correct answer (C) bottom layer
(D) rock layers that have been uplifted by earthquakes
3.Which of the following is not a source of evidence of evolution?
Correct answer (A) adaptation
(B) fossils
(C) anatomy
(D) embryology
4.The embryos of many kinds of animals have gill slits. Gill slits develop
into gills in fish and into ears of mammals. What do these common
structures indicate?
(A) Mammals evolved directly from fish.
(B) Mammal embryos develop from fish embryos.
(C) .Fish are primitive kinds of mammals.
Correct answer (D) Fish and mammals had a distant common ancestor.
5.Which of the following are analogous structures?
(A) human hand and bat wing
Correct answer (B) bird wing and insect wing
(C) human appendix and cow cecum
(D) seal flipper and bird wing
1.What is a transitional fossil?
(A) a fossil that shows vestigial structures
Correct answer (B) a fossil that has characteristics of two groups of
organisms
(C) a fossil that comes from an organism that is extinct
(D) a fossil that is being changed by geological forces
2.What can be learned about evolution from DNA sequencing?
(A) DNA sequencing reveals what structures are
homologous.
(B) Similar DNA sequences in two organisms indicate that
one organism evolved from the other.
(C) Two DNA sequences that are very different indicate that
many mutations have occurred.
Correct answer (D) The more similar the DNA sequences of two organisms
are, the more closely related they are.
3.Why is the fossil record incomplete?
Correct answer (A) Most organisms don't form fossils after they die.
(B) Fossils of some organisms have broken down over time.
(C) Most fossils have not yet been analyzed.
(D) Many fossils have been washed away by ocean waves.
4.Suppose scientists found a fossil of a dinosaur that had feathers. What
evolutionary information can be inferred from this fossil?
Correct answer (A) Birds and reptiles had a common ancestor.
(B) All dinosaurs had feathers.
(C) Dinosaurs were once birds.
(D) Dinosaurs could fly.
5.What is the modern synthesis of evolutionary theory?
(A) completing the fossil record by discovering new fossils
Correct answer (B) using modern molecular genetics to study natural
selection
(C) using geology to study medicine
(D) studying fossil whale bones to see how the animals died
1.Where does genetic variation come from?
(A) mutation only
Correct answer (B) both mutation and recombination
(C) recombination only
(D) mitosis only
2.How many alleles for connected earlobes are in the gene pool of a
population of 100 people? Assume connected earlobes is determined by
simple Mendelian genetics.
(A) 400 alleles
Correct answer (B) 200 alleles
(C) 100 alleles
(D) 50 alleles
3.What is the frequency of a recessive allele for red flower color in a
population of 100 plants? Twenty plants are homozygous dominant, 60
plants are heterozygous, and 20 are homozygous recessive.
(A) 100%
(B) 75%
Correct answer (C) 50%
(D) 25%
4.Does a mutation in a body cell change the genetic variation in the gene
pool?
(A) Yes, a mutation can form a new allele.
(B) Yes, but only if the organism reproduces by sexual
reproduction.
Correct answer (C) No, the mutation cannot be passed on to offspring.
(D) No, but only if the organism reproduces by asexual
reproduction.
5.When does hybridization occur in nature?
(A) when two heterozygotes mate
Correct answer (B) when individuals of different species cannot find mates
of their own species
(C) when neither species can survive in the environment
(D) when adaptations to a changing environment are
needed for survival
1.)What term describes selection that increases the number of individuals
with an intermediate phenotype?
(A) disruptive selection
(B) microevolution
Correct answer (C) stabilizing selection
(D) directional selection
2.Where is the most common phenotype found in a normal distribution?
Correct answer (A) in the middle range
(B) at the low range
(C) at the high range
(D) equally across the distribution range
3.What term describes the recent increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria?
(A) stabilizing selection
(B) normal distribution
(C) disruptive selection
Correct answer (D) directional selection
4.What kind of selection increases the numbers of individuals with
extreme phenotypes?
Correct answer (A) disruptive selection
(B) stabilizing selection
(C) normal distribution
(D) directional selection
5.Which statement about microevolution is false?
(A) Microevolution leads to natural selection.
(B) Microevolution does not affect how a population looks or
behaves.
Correct answer (C) Microevolution occurs in a single population.
(D) Microevolution does not change the allele frequencies in
a population.
1.How will a showy trait in males become established in a population?
Correct answer (A) Males with a showy trait will mate more often and be
more likely to pass the allele for the trait to offspring.
(B) Males with a showy trait are more likely to survive.
(C) Showy traits are dominant, so they become established
in the gene pool.
(D) Alleles for showy traits are not lost due to genetic drift.
2.Which of the following is not an example of gene flow?
Correct answer (A) a squirrel builds a new nest on another branch of the
same tree as the old nest
(B) a family moves from Mexico to the United States
(C) wind carries mold spores from one side of a river to the
other
(D) a bird carries seeds from one side of a mountain to the
other
3.How are the bottleneck effect and founder effect similar?
(A) Both add genetic variation to their gene pools.
Correct answer (B) Both result in loss of certain alleles from their gene
pools.
(C) Both result in their gene pools becoming larger.
(D) In both, a small population with a varied gene pool
forms from a large population with little variation.
4.Why is genetic drift undesirable in a population?
(A) A small population is less likely to survive than a large
population.
(B) Harmful alleles may be formed by mutation in the new
population.
Correct answer (C) A population with little variation is less likely to survive if
the environment changes.
(D) The bottleneck effect may cause destructive events to
occur in the population.
5.How might gene flow benefit a small population?
(A) Harmful alleles could leave the population.
(B) The population might evolve into two species.
(C) The flow of alleles into a population can decrease
variation.
Correct answer (D) The flow of alleles into a population can increase
variation.
1.Which factor does not lead to evolution?
(A) mutations
(B) natural selection
(C) genetic drift
Correct answer (D) a stable gene pool
2.What can be said about a population that is in Hardy-Weinberg
equilibrium?
Correct answer (A) It is not evolving.
(B) It is evolving.
(C) Mutations are being added to the population.
(D) Gene flow is occurring.
3.Which condition will not keep a population in equilibrium?
(A) No genetic drift can occur.
Correct answer (B) Immigration but not emigration can occur.
(C) No gene flow can occur.
(D) Random mating must occur.
4.What is the frequency of an R allele in a population if the frequency of
the r allele at the same locus is 0.4?
(A) 0.16
(B) 0.8
Correct answer (C) 0.6
(D) 1.0
5.What happens to a population that is no longer in equilibrium?
Correct answer (A) The population begins to evolve.
(B) Its genetic variation increases as genetic drift occurs.
(C) Alleles for traits that increase sexual selection decrease
in the population.
(D) The population becomes extinct.
11.5 What term describes the formation of two species from one existing
species?
(A) natural selection
Correct answer (B) Speciation
(C) Evolution
(D) Microevolution
2.Fireflies recognize flash patterns to identify mates of the same species.
Suppose a population of fireflies has a mutation that changes the flash
pattern. What kind of barrier is this?
(A) geographic isolation
Correct answer (B) behavioral isolation
(C) sexual isolation
(D) temporal isolation
3.Why are chemical scents called behavioral barriers?
(A) A certain behavior is needed to produce a scent.
(B) Scents cause behavior to change.
(C) A scent can prevent mating behavior from occurring.
Correct answer (D) Scents are signals that lead to mating behavior.
4.Which of the following is a geographical barrier that will lead to
speciation?
(A) Two populations of pine trees that reproduce by
windblown pollen are separated by a river.
Correct answer (B) An earthquake creates a deep canyon that divides a
population of small mice.
(C) An earthquake creates a deep canyon that divides a
population of birds.
(D) A mountain separates two populations of flies.
5.Which is not an example of temporal isolation?
(A) One population of spruce trees sheds pollen in June
and another population sheds pollen in July.
Correct answer (B) Two populations of meadowlarks do not mate because
they have different songs.
(C) Two populations of orchid plants flower on different
days.
11.6 What term describes the process in which two or more species evolve in
response to each other?
Correct answer (A) coevolution
(B) divergent evolution
(C) convergent evolution
(D) microevolution
2.Over many generations of lizards, the allele for green skin color has
increased in frequency. What will eventually happen to the lizard
population if all the grass dies and bare soil predominates in the future?
(A) There will be no change in allele frequencies.
(B) The allele for green skin color will increase in frequency.
(C) Fewer lizards will have brown skin.
Correct answer (D) The allele for brown skin color will gradually increase in
frequency.
3.How do convergent and divergent evolution differ?
(A) Unrelated species evolve similar characteristics in
divergent evolution.
Correct answer (B) Unrelated species evolve similar characteristics in
convergent evolution.
(C) Related species evolve similar characteristics in
divergent evolution.
(D) Related species evolve in different directions in
convergent evolution.
4.Certain bees have evolved structures that help to pollinate flowers. The
flowers have evolved structures that make it easier for certain species of
bees to land and collect nectar. What is this kind of evolution called?
(A) convergent evolution
(B) divergent evolution
(C) macroevolution
Correct answer (D) coevolution
5.What pattern in the fossil record describes punctuated equilibrium?
(A) gradual changes in all species over time
Correct answer (B) rapid bursts of speciation followed by long periods of
evolutionary stability
(C) diversification of an ancestral species into many
different species
(D) the evolution of simple species into more complex
species
12.1 What is the most common type of fossilization?
(A) trace fossilization
Correct answer (B) permineralization
(C) preservation in amber
(D) preservation in ice
2.What kind of fossil is formed when the original tissues of a trilobite are
washed away, leaving an impression that becomes filled with minerals?
(A) trace fossil
(B) amber-preserved fossil
Correct answer (C) natural cast
(D) permineralized fossil
3.Do relative dating methods determine the exact age of a fossil?
(A) Yes, the exact age, within a margin of error, can be
determined.
(B) Yes, radioisotopes date fossils.
Correct answer (C) No, they only compare the order in which groups of
organisms existed.
(D) No, they show that earlier fossils are found above later
fossils in rock layers.
4.An isotope of carbon, C-14, has a half-life of 5700 years. How much C14 will be left in an organism's remains 11,400 years after the organism
died?
(A) 100%
(B) 75%
(C) 50%
Correct answer (D) 25%
5.Why can't C-14 be used to determine the age of rocks?
(A) The half-life of C-14 is too long.
Correct answer (B) The half-life of C-14 is too short.
(C) C-14 does not decay in rocks.
(D) Only C-12 is found in rocks.
Why are geologists able to estimate the age of rock strata using index fossils?
(A) Index fossils formed only in certain kinds of rocks.
(B) Two methods of dating need to be used to date rock
strata.
(C) The organisms that formed index fossils lived for long
periods of time.
Correct answer (D) The organisms that formed index fossils lived only
during a specific time period.
2.During what period did dinosaurs reach their peak, then go extinct?
(A) Permian
(B) Triassic
(C) Jurassic
Correct answer (D) Cretaceous
3.During which period did all existing animal phyla develop?
(A) Devonian
(B) Triassic
Correct answer (C) Cambrian
(D) Jurassic
4.Which unit represents the shortest division of geologic time?
(A) era
(B) period
Correct answer (C) epoch
(D) eon
5.What events help geologists define where one period ends and another
begins?
(A) adaptive extinctions
Correct answer (B) mass extinctions
(C) major earthquakes
(D) bursts of radioactivity from the Sun
How could the behavior of lipids lead to the formation of the first cells?
Correct answer (A) Lipid molecules formed membranes, which formed into
spheres called liposomes.
(B) RNA may have catalyzed reactions that formed lipid
membranes.
(C) Iron-sulfide bubbles were converted into lipid
membranes.
(D) Early cell membranes were made of RNA.
2.What is the most widely accepted hypothesis of Earth's origins?
Correct answer (A) A condensing cloud of gas and dust formed the Sun and
its planets.
(B) The Sun formed from condensing dust; the planets
formed from condensing gas.
(C) Earth formed from an exploding nebula.
(D) Earth formed from violent eruptions from the Sun.
3.What did the Miller-Urey experiment demonstrate?
(A) Lightning forms inorganic molecules.
(B) Lightning forms organic molecules.
(C) Inorganic molecules can form from organic molecules
believed to be present in the early atmosphere.
Correct answer (D) Organic molecules can form from inorganic molecules
believed to be present in the early atmosphere.
4.What does the meteorite hypothesis suggest?
(A) Life originated in outer space.
Correct answer (B) Organic molecules from meteorite impacts were present
when Earth formed.
(C) The first cells came from meteorites impacts.
(D) Life originated in Australia after a meteorite impact.
5.How are ribozymes similar to enzymes?
(A) They are made of RNA.
(B) They carry genetic information.
(C) They were present when Earth formed.
Correct answer (D) They catalyze chemical reactions.
What are the earliest known organisms?
Correct answer (A) marine cyanobacteria
(B) land-living cyanobacteria
(C) stromatolites
(D) single eukaryotic cells
2.What does the theory of endosymbiosis explain?
(A) how prokaryotic cells evolved
Correct answer (B) how eukaryotic cells evolved
(C) how unicellular organisms evolved
(D) how multicellular organisms evolved
3.What was one way that early microbes did not change Earth?
(A) They deposited minerals on Earth's surface.
(B) They added oxygen to the atmosphere.
Correct answer (C) They added carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
(D) They formed stromatolites.
4.How did the earliest microbes get energy?
Correct answer (A) from organic molecules
(B) from photosynthesis
(C) from the Sun
(D) from oxygen
5.What is one advantage to sexual reproduction?
Correct answer
(A) It allows new gene combinations to form.
(B)
It produces offspring quickly.
(C)
It produces many offspring.
(D)
It allows each parent to contribute all its genes to
offspring.
. Which era is correctly paired with its nickname?
(A) Paleozoic-Age of Reptiles
(B) Cenozoic-Age of Reptiles
(C) Mesozoic-Age of Mammals
Correct answer (D) Cenozoic-Age of Mammals
2.What events occurred during the Cambrian explosion?
(A) Volcanic explosions were common.
Correct answer (B) A huge number of animal species evolved.
(C) Life on land evolved.
(D) Most of Earth's coal supply formed.
3.During what era did mammals evolve?
(A) Paleozoic
(B) Cenozoic
(C) Cambrian
Correct answer (D) Mesozoic
4.What likely caused the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous
period?
Correct answer (A) A massive meteorite struck Earth and reduced
photosynthesis.
(B) A massive meteorite struck Earth and killed all the
animals.
(C) A huge earthquake created large amounts of dust and
debris.
(D) The debris from a volcanic eruption reduced
photosynthesis.
5.What era are we living in?
(A) Cretaceous
Correct answer (B) Cenozoic
(C) Mesozoic
(D) Paleozoic
What trend in the human lineage has been observed?
(A) decreased brain size
Correct answer (B) increased brain size
(C) decreased height
(D) stronger bones
2.What is not a physical characteristic of most primates?
(A) flexible hands and feet
(B) forward-looking eyes
(C) arms that rotate around their shoulder joints
Correct answer (D) opposable thumbs
3.Which primate group are humans least closely related to?
(A) Old World monkeys
Correct answer (B) prosimians
(C) lesser apes
(D) great apes
4.What is an adaptive advantage to being bipedal?
(A) It allows an animal to see what is ahead.
(B) It enables an animal's legs to grow longer.
(C) It enables the organism to run faster.
Correct answer (D) It frees the hands for using tools and carrying things.
5.How old is the species Homo sapiens?
(A) 3 to 4 million years old
(B) 2 million years old
(C) 1 million years old
Correct answer (D)
about 200,000 years old