Biology 105 Midterm Exam 2 v. 1
Name_______________________________
Multiple Choice. Choose the one best answer.
1. Two structures that may have different functions and appearances but are descended from a common ancestral
structure are called
a. convergent
b. homologous
c. adaptations
d. bones
2. In evolutionary trees, each branch point represents
a. a single species
b. an extinction
c. when one species diverged into two
d. none of these
3. Which observation most clearly contradicts Lamarck’s hypothesis that acquired characteristics are inherited?
a. The cactus plant spread very rapidly when introduced into Australia.
b. Most zebras can fun faster than lions, and their offspring also run faster than lions.
c. Bacteria which are resistant to penicillin have been discovered.
d. The seeds from a pine tree that was bent by the wind grew into tall, straight trees in a sheltered valley.
4. What characteristic of life has been created in the laboratory under conditions resembling those of the primitive
Earth?
a. organic molecules
b. cells
c. metabolism
d. none of the above
5. Over the last 50 years, insects have become resistant to some pesticides, and weeds have become resistant to some
herbicides. However, the insects evolved resistance faster than the weeds. The best explanation for this is that
a. insects are animals and can learn to avoid pesticides
b. most insects reproduce more quickly than weeds; that is, they have a shorter generation time
c. genes from genetically modified crops spread into weeds and prevent them from evolving resistance
d. insects coevolve with weeds
6. When do new traits appear in a population?
a. as soon as they are needed
c. when the selection pressure is applied
7. Primates were originally adapted to survive in
a. trees
b. grasslands
b. before they are needed
d. when new predators appear
c. ocean
8. The process of biological evolution
a. is not supported by scientific evidence
c. results in changes in allele frequencies over generations
d. desert
b. requires biological diversity in a population
d. both b and c are correct
9. An allele which arises by mutation in one group can only get into another group by
a. Migration of one group into the other’s territory
b. A change in environmental conditions so that both groups are under the same selection pressures.
c. Cross breeding between the two groups
d. Any of the above
10. Which condition would act to LESSEN the ability of a population to evolve?
a. if there was a lot of variation among members of the population
b. if food was very plentiful and there was little competition for it
c. if there was a large population living in an area with many varied types of habitats
d. if a new type of predator arrived to kill members of the population
11. Darwin explained the differences in beak shape among Galapagos finches as being the result of
a. chance events
b. adaptations to eating different foods
c. differences that existed in the colonizing species
d. inheritance of acquired characteristics
12. All but one of the following factors are associated with rapid evolution. Which one is not?
a. small population size
b. occurrence of natural selection
c. non-random mating
d. extremely low rate of mutation
13. To what extent can apes learn language?
a. not at all
b. some can speak
c. some can sign
d. some can speak and others can sign
14. Which is the correct order of appearance on Earth?
a. photosynthetic procaryotes, eucaryotes, primordial soup, non-photosynthetic procaryotes
b. primordial soup, non-photosynthetic procaryotes, photosynthetic procaryotes, eucaryotes
c. primordial soup, eucaryotes, photosynthetic prokaryotes, non-photosynthetic procaryotes
d. non-photosynthetic procaryotes, photosynthetic procaryotes, primordial soup, eukaryotes
15. Which of the following is an example of a microevolution?
a. The evolution of pesticide resistance in grasshoppers.
b. The speciation of finches on the Galapagos Islands.
c. The increase in size, over time, of fossil horses.
d. The evolution of humans from an ancestral primate.
16. Which is an example of behavioral isolation?
a. a type of fly is ready to mate by the middle of February every year, while a closely related species does
not mate until the middle of March.
b. two animals of different species can mate but the fertilized egg never survives to develop.
c. female fruit flies can distinguish males of their species by a special antenna-waving dance.
d. pollen from one plant cannot grow correctly on the flower of a different species.
17. We know for sure that Australopithicus afarensis, the animals of the “Lucy” fossil, could
a. speak
b. do all of these
c. carry out religion rituals
d. walk upright
18. In a certain plant population, red flowers (R) are dominant to yellow flowers (r). If there are 50 plants, 10
homozygous dominant, 35 heterozygous, and 5 homozygous recessive, what are the allele frequencies in that
population?
a. 10% R, 90 % r
b. 55% R, 45% r
c. 45% R, 55% r
d. you can't tell from this data
19. Two nucleotide sequences found in two different species are almost exactly the same. This suggests that these
species
a. will eventually evolve into one species
b. contain identical DNA
c. had similar evolutionary histories
d. have the same number of mutations
20. The first humans to expand their range well outside Africa were
a. Homo habilis
b. Homo erectus
c. Australopithecus afarensis
d. Neanderthals
21. Industrial melanism resulted in
a. a new species of moth evolving
b. evolution of the ability to withstand pollution in moths
c. a change in the allele frequency for a gene governing pesticide sensitivity in moths
d. a change in the allele frequency for the moth wing color gene
22. Evidence for the endosymbiotic theory includes the observation that mitochondria
a. have their own DNA
b. can reproduce independently outside of a cell
c both of these
d. neither of these
23. Chimps have _________ skulls and __________ teeth compared with humans.
a. larger; larger
b. larger; smaller
c. smaller; larger
d. smaller; smaller
24. The 3 things a basic cell needs to become alive are metabolic enzymes, genetic material, and
a. photosynthesis
b. a nucleus
c. a membrane
d. the ability to swim
25. Artificial selection has given us
a. the many species of wild cats
c. various human societies
b. breeds of domesticated dogs
d. the many rainforest species
26. Which of the following statements about Neanderthals is NOT TRUE?
a. Neanderthals coexisted with our own species, Homo sapiens
b. Neanderthals had heavier eyebrow ridges than our species does.
c. Neanderthals were bipedal.
d. Neanderthals are genetically indistinguishable from modern human populations.
27. Experiments in which the tails of mice were cut off generation after generation to see if their offspring would ever be
born without tails was testing
a. evolution by natural selection
b. inheritance of acquired characteristics
c. both of these
d. neither of these
28. Which is the smallest, most primitive plant group?
a. mosses
b. angiosperms
c. gymnosperms
d. ferns
29. Galapagos finches
a. resulted from convergent evolution operating on a variety of dissimilar species to adapt them to similar niches
b. resulted from the effects of continuous gene flow between the islands and the mainland over many thousands of years
c. resulted from the effects that population growth and natural selection have on geographically isolated populations
d. provide a good example of the artificial selection that is common in equatorial areas.
30. Which process might fool scientists into thinking two animals were related when actually they were not?
a. homology
b. comparative biochemistry
c. convergent evolution
d. none of these
31. When the allele frequencies within a species change over time, that species is
a. mutating
b. on its way to extinction
c. evolving
32. Whales came from an ancestral species similar to
a. crabs
b. wolves
33. Two features shared by all primates are
a. grasping hands and feet
c. large eye sockets and grasping hands
c. cows
d. none of the above.
d. beavers
b. binocular vision and grasping hands
d. binocular vision and a large skull
34. Which is more likely to be true, according to the film “Great Transformations”?
a. Some fish evolved limbs while living in the water.
b. Fish without limbs started living on land, and then evolved limbs.
35. Genetic drift occurs due to
a. survival and reproduction of the fittest members of the species
c. parental choice as to which offspring to nurture
36. Mitochondrial genes are
a. located within the nucleus
b. maternally inherited
37. The Galapagos Islands are located
a. in the eastern Pacific off the coast of Ecuador
c. between Australia and New Zealand
b. none of these
d. random changes in the gene pool of a species
c. paternally inherited
d. not inherited at all
b. in the central Atlantic west of Africa
d. between Hawaii and Alaska
38. There are pairs of species in which the members look identical but cannot interbreed, usually due to their
chromosomes being incompatible so they can’t form correct embryos. As time goes on we would expect those species to
a. eventually be able to interbreed
b. begin to show physical differences
c. start to live in different places
d. none of these would be likely to happen
39. Brightly colored male cardinal and guppies probably evolved due to
a. natural selection
b. artificial selection
c. convergent evolution
d. sexual selection
40. Most new species arise from a common ancestor when
a. many mutations occur.
b. the ancestral species decides to evolve
c. there is no natural selection
d. populations of the ancestral species become isolated from one another.
41. During human evolution, people who lived in ______ parts of the Earth found light colored skin to be most adaptive.
a. hot, sunny
b. wet
c. cool, cloudy
42. Chemicals in the ancient Earth's atmosphere may have been given the energy they needed to react by
a. volcanic eruption
b. UV light
43. Which is easy to see occurring around us?
a. microevolution
b. macroevolution
c. lightning
c. both
d. any of the above
d. neither
44. Geological processes such as erosion, sediment deposition, mountain building, etc.
a. occurred faster in the past than they do today
b. occur faster now than they did in the past
c. have occurred at similar rates throughout the Earth’s history
45. Examine the diagram above showing evolutionary relationships among several primates. According to this diagram,
which of the following statements is true?
a. Humans are more closely related to gorillas than they are to common chimps.
b. Orangutans are more closely related to humans than they are to gorillas.
c. Orangutans are less closely related to bonobos than they are to gorillas.
d. None of these are true according to this diagram.
46. Which is an example of the founder effect?
a. all of the deer on an island were killed off, but the population was restored by immigration of a small number of deer
from the mainland
b. when the climate of a desert changed, the main species of mouse evolved into two different species
specializing for slightly different environments.
c. many native birds were lost when cats were introduced to a tropical island, but the populations have recovered recently
d. an introduced fungus killed off all of the American elm trees in the Midwest.
47. During the time when hominins were evolving, the habitat where they lived gradually changed from
a. jungle to glacier
b. jungle to grassland
c. grassland to jungle
d. swamp to desert
48. The Bahamas are an isolated group of islands in the Atlantic, made mostly of coral fragments. The closest mainland
is North America, but political ties are to Great Britain. According to Darwin and Wallace, birds in the Bahamas should
have their closest relatives living in
a. Pacific islands of similar composition
b. the Canary Islands, which although distant are also Atlantic islands at the same latitude as the Bahamas
c. England
d. North America
49. In one evolutionary study, fish that died in a pond were compared to those that survived. The results are shown in
the table below.
Dead fish
Surviving fish
Average length (mm)
29.5
26.3
Average weight (g)
52.4
55.1
This study indicates that what type of fish is being selected for?
a. longer, wider fish
b. shorter, wider fish
c. shorter, narrower fish
d. longer, narrower fish
50. Which lived on Earth before Homo habilis?
a. Homo erectus
b. Homo sapiens
c. Australopithicus
d. all of the above
51. In coevolution, selection is carried out by
a. the natural environment
b. humans
c. another type of organism
d. mates
Key Midterm 2
Ver. 2.1
1. b
2. c
3. d
4. a
5. b
6. b
7. a
8. d
9. c
10. b
11. b
12. d
13. c
14. b
15. a
16. c
52.
17. d
18. b
19. c
20. b
21. d
22. a
23. c
24. b
25. d
26. b
27. a
28. c
29. c
30. c
31. b
32. b
33. a
34. b
35. a
36. b
37. d
38. d
39. c
40. d
41. a
42. c
43. c
44. a
45. b
46. d
47. b
48. c
49. c
50. b
51. a