Bio Honors Chapter 13 How Populations Evolve – Flashcards

An adaptation is _____. (see book section: Module 13.1) A. an individual's attempt to conform to its environment B. a heritable trait that confers a reproductive advantage on the individual possessing it C. a trait that is seldom expressed D. a variable allele that changes expression in response to the environment

Which of the following is a true statement about Charles Darwin? (see book section: Module 13.1) A. He worked out the principles of population genetics. B. He proposed natural selection as the mechanism of evolution. C. He was the first to discover that living things can change, or evolve. D. He based his theory on the inheritance of acquired characteristics.

At the time Darwin voyaged on HMS Beagle, the popularly accepted theory in Europe that explained the origin of Earth's plants and animals held that the various species _____. (see book section: Module 13.1) A. were all related to one another B. had evolved from now-extinct organisms C. had been created rapidly by a divine creator a few thousand years before D. arose continually from nonliving materials by spontaneous generation

What was significant to Darwin about the fauna and flora of the Galápagos Islands? (see book section: Module 13.1) A. The organisms there were similar to fossils found elsewhere, indicating that the Galápagos chain held many ancient species. B. The species on the Galápagos Islands were not similar to those anywhere else, indicating that they had been created specifically to inhabit this environment. C. The species were similar to South American species, indicating common descent, but they had been extensively modified and were well-adapted to island life. D. The organisms there were the same as those seen on similar island environments around the world

German shorthaired pointers, Scottish terriers, and Beagles are capable of interbreeding and producing viable, fertile offspring. The diversity seen in these breeds of dogs is the result of _____. (see book section: Module 13.2) A. chance B. artificial selection C. sexual recombination during meiosis D. natural selection

Which of the following contradicts Darwin's views? (see book section: Module 13.2) A. Earth is about 6,000 years old. B. When breeders select for specific traits, these become fixed in future generations. C. Some individuals leave more descendants than other individuals. D. Many more offspring are produced than can survive.

The breeding by humans of plants and animals with desired traits is called _____. (see book section: Module 13.2) A. natural selection B. artificial selection C. stabilizing selection D. founder effect

If members of a population have traits that are both heritable and variable among individuals, then _____. (see book section: Module 13.2) A. no evolutionary change is likely to occur over time B. advantageous traits will probably become more widespread in subsequent generations C. only neutral evolutionary change can occur over time D. the environment will have no influence on phenotypes

Darwin inferred that there is a struggle for existence in which each individual's odds of surviving to reproduce are quite poor, based on the observation that _____. (see book section: Module 13.2) A. some individuals are larger and stronger than others B. many different traits coexist within a species C. populations in nature tend to expand over time with no apparent limit on their number D. natural population sizes usually stay about the same over long periods of time

"Differential success in reproduction" is the essence of _____. (see book section: Module 13.2) A. variation B. natural selection C. genetic drift D. mutation

In natural selection, _____ determine which phenotypes are successful. (see book section: Module 13.2) A. future (anticipated) environmental conditions B. chance events C. catastrophes that reduce the population to a very small number of survivors D. current conditions in the local environment

When they were first sold, certain insecticides were highly effective in killing mosquitoes. Today, dozens of mosquito generations later, a much smaller proportion of these insects die when sprayed with the same chemicals. Fewer insects are killed today because _____. (see book section: Module 13.3) A. mosquitoes are deliberately adapting themselves to this man-made change in the environment B. mosquitoes that survive spraying develop an immunity to the insecticide C. many mosquitoes today are descendants of mosquitoes with insecticide-resistant characteristics D. the original spraying has caused a permanent mutation, giving the insects genetic resistance to the spray

Experiments and observations indicate that natural selection acts _____. (see book section: Module 13.3) A. fairly quickly in some circumstances (within a few generations), and often temporarily in response to changes in the immediate environment B. extremely slowly, requiring thousands of years to have an appreciable effect on an organism's phenotype C. quickly and decisively, permanently optimizing the organism's traits to the local environment D. slowly to create new species when the environment changes

A number of mosquito populations today are resistant to specific insecticides that once were effective in killing them. Biologists believe that insecticide resistance evolved in mosquitoes because _____. (see book section: Module 13.3) A. individual mosquitoes built up an immunity to an insecticide after being exposed to it B. mosquitoes just keep getting stronger the more we try to control them C. a few mosquitoes were probably resistant to the insecticide before it was used. These survived to reproduce and are now the norm in populations that have been exposed to the chemical D. mosquitoes needed to develop insecticide resistance to survive after the insecticide was used

Fossils are most likely to be found in _____. (see book section: Module 13.4) A. rock that is more than 4 billion years old B. igneous rock C. sedimentary rock D. rock that has been changed under pressure and heat during geologic processes

Which best summarizes the order of appearance of major life-forms (from earliest to most recent) and the time at which life first appeared as documented by the fossil record? (see book section: Module 13.4)