Name: ________________________________________ Date: ______________
Evolution Quiz #3
1. Speciation can occur as a result of reproductive isolation. Reproductive isolation
can occur when individuals in two populations of organisms
a. Have anatomical features that make it difficult for organisms from the
different populations to mate and transfer sex cells
b. Mate with each other but produce offspring that are nonviable
c. Can’t mate with each other because mating occurs at different times
d. Use different types of behaviors to attract mates
e. All of the choices are correct
2. Which of the following types of reproductive barriers separates a pair of species
that could interbreed except that one mates at dusk and the other at dawn?
a. Behavioral isolation
b. Mechanical isolation
c. Gametic isolation
d. Temporal isolation
e. Habitat isolation
3. Which of the following types of reproductive barriers separates two species that
occasionally mate but in whom the sperm do not produce the right enzymes to
enter the egg?
a. Behavioral isolation
b. Mechanical isolation
c. Gametic isolation
d. Temporal isolation
e. Habitat isolation
4. Which of the following situations would be most conducive to rapid speciation?
(Assume the conditions described persist as long as necessary.)
a. A Japanese mollusk species whose larvae are often carried from port to
port in ship bilge now flourishes in San Francisco Bay
b. A bunchgrass population is split in two by the Grand Canyon. Every few
years, strong winds carry bunchgrass pollen across the canyon.
c. Bighorn sheep occupy mountainous terrain from Canada through Death
Valley, interbreeding all the way. The populations at the two ends of the
range live in very different environments.
d. Four circus wolves escape on Long Island. To everyone’s surprise, they
establish a small but viable population, coexisting successfully with
humans in a partly suburban environment. The population is isolated from
other wolves.
e. The growth of the Isthmus of Panama separates an abundant shrimp
species into two large; completely isolated populations
Name: ________________________________________ Date: ______________
5. The emergence of numerous species from a common ancestor that fins itself in a
new and diverse environment is called
a. Adaptive opportunism
b. Bushy evolution
c. Diversifying selection
d. Allopatric radiation
e. Adaptive radiation
6. The ________ suggest that speciation occurs in spurts
a. Punctuated equilibrium model
b. Adaptive model of the origin of species
c. Gradualist model of the origin of species
d. Theory put forth by Buffon
e. Book of Genesis
7. ________ is a response to interactions between organisms and their current
environment
a. Evolution
b. Expansion of species
c. Extinction
d. Hybridization
e. All of the choices are correct
8. A diagram that traces the evolutionary relationships of a set of organisms is called
a
a. Genealogy
b. Phylogenetic tree
c. Classification
d. Pedigree
e. Taxonomy
9. Which of the following is the process by which species not closely related may
come to resemble one another if they live in a similar environment?
a. Parallel evolution
b. Convergent evolution
c. Coevolution
d. Similar evolution
e. Neoteny
10. Which of the following choices lists taxonomic categories in order from least
inclusive to most inclusive?
a. Family, genus, class, order, phylum
b. Genus, family, class, order, phylum
c. Family, genus, order, phylum, class
d. Genus, phylum, family, order, class
e. Genus, family, order, class, phylum
Name: ________________________________________ Date: ______________
11. The three-domain system
a. Is based upon the presence or absence of cell walls
b. No longer distinguishes between eukaryotes and prokaryotes
c. Subdivides the prokaryotes into 2 different domains
d. Subdivides the eukaryotes into 2 different domains
e. Separates plants, animals, and fungi
12. Miller was the first to show that
a. The primitive atmosphere contained ammonia and methane
b. The earliest forms of life were photosynthetic
c. Amino acids and other organic molecules could have been generated on a
lifeless Earth
d. The earliest forms of life had an RNA genome
e. Eukaryotic life evolved from early prokaryotes
13. The first membrane-enclosed systems probably contained cooperative
associations between
a. RNA, lipids, and carbohydrates
b. DNA, RNA, and polypeptides
c. DNA and polypeptides
d. RNA and polypeptides
e. DNA and RNA
14. A population of 1,000 birds exists on a small Pacific island. Some of the birds are
yellow, a characteristic determined by a recessive allele. The others are green, a
characteristic determined by a dominant allele. A hurricane on the island kills
most of the birds from this population. Only ten remain, and those birds all have
yellow feathers. Which of the following statements is true?
a. The ten remaining birds will mate only with each other, and this will
contribute to gene flow in the population
b. The hurricane has caused a population bottleneck
c. Assuming that no new birds come to the island and no mutations occur,
future generations of this population will contain both green and yellow
birds
d. This situation illustrates the founder effect
e. This situation illustrates the principle of adaptive radiation
15. Thirty people are assigned to live in a spaceship that is exploring other galaxies.
The journey will take several hundred years and will be completed by the
descendants of these crewmembers. The gene pool of the population on this ship
when it returns is most likely to reflect
a. A bottleneck effect
b. Polymorphism
c. Gene flow
d. Mutation pressure
e. A founder effect