AP Bio: Evolution Quiz

D

Which of the following statements best summarizes evolution as it is viewed today? A) it represents the result of selection for acquired characteristics. B) it is synonymous with the process of gene flow. C) it is the descent of humans from the present-day great apes. D) it is the differential survival and reproduction of the most-fit phenotypes.

B

Which of the following represents an idea that Darwin learned from the writings of Thomas Malthus? A) technological innovation in agricultural practices will permit exponential growth of the human population into the foreseeable future. B) populations tend to increase at a faster rate than their food supply normally allows. C) Earth changed over the years through a series of catastrophic upheavals. D) the environment is responsible for natural selection. E) Earth is more than 10,000 years old.

E

You sample a population of butterflies and find that 56% are heterozygous at a particular locus. What should be the frequency of the recessive allele in this population? A) 0.07 B) 0.08 C) 0.09 D) 0.70 E) allele frequency cannot be deterimined from this information.

D

A biologist studied a population of squirrels for 15 years. During that time, the population was never fewer than 30 squirrels and never more than 45. Her data showed that over half of the squirrels born did not survive to reproduce, because of both competition for food and predation. In a single generation, 90% of the squirrels that were born lived to reproduce, and the population increased to 80. Which inference(s) about this population might be true? A) the amount of available food may have increased. B) the parental generation of squirrels developed better eyesight due to improved diet; the subsequent squirrel generation inherited better eyesight. C) the number of predators that prey upon squirrels may have decreased. D) A and C could be true. E) A, B, and C could be true.

C

Although each of the following has a better chance of influencing gene frequencies in small populations than in large populations, which one most consistently requires a small population as a precondition for its occurence? A) mutation B) nonrandom mating C) genetic drift D) natural selection E) gene flow

D

DDT was once considered a "silver bullet" that would permanently eradicate insect pests. Today, instead, DDT is largely useless against many insects. Which of these would have been required for this pest eradication effort to be successful in the long run? A) larger doses of DDT should have been applied B) all habitats should have received applications of DDT at about the same time. C) the frequency of DDT application should have been higher. D) none of the individual insects should have possessed genomes that made them resistant to DDT. E) DDT application should have been continual.

A

DNA sequences in many human genes are very similar to the sequences of corresponding genes in chimpanzees. The most likely explanation for this result is that A) humans and chimpanzees share a relatively recent common ancestor. B) humans evolved from chimpanzees. C) chimpanzees evolved from humans. D) convergent evolution led to the DNA similarities. E) humans and chimpanzees are not closely related.

A

During a study session for evolution, one of your fellow students remarks. "The giraffe stretched its neck while reaching for higher leaves; its offspring inherited longer necks as a result." Which statement is most likely to be helpful in correcting this student's misconception? A) characteristics acquired during an organism's life are generally not passed on through genes. B) spontaneous mutations can result in the appearance of new traits. C) only favorable adaptations have survival value. D) disuse of an organ may lead to its eventual disappearance. E) if the giraffes did not have to compete with each other, longer necks would not have been passed on to the next generation.

D

During breeding season, one should expect female house finches to prefer to mate with males with the brightest red feathers. Which of the following terms are appropriately applied to this situation? A) sexual selection B) mate choice C) intersexual selection D) three of the responses are correct. E) two of the responses are correct.

C

Evolution... A) must happen, due to organisms' innate desire to survive B) must happen whenever a population is not well adapted to its environment C) can happen whenever any of the conditions for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium are not met. D) requires the operation of natural selection E) requires that populations become better suited to their environments.

D

If the original finches that had been blown over to the Galápagos from South America had already been genetically different from the parental population of South American finches, even before adapting to the Galápagos, this would have been an example of A) genetic drift B) the bottleneck effect C) the founder effect D) genetic drift and the founder effect E) all three of these

D

In a Hardy-Weinberg population with two alleles, A and a, that are in equilibrium, the frequency of allele a is 0.1. What is the frequency of individuals with AA genotype? A) 0.20 B) 0.32 C) 0.42 D) 0.81 E) genotype frequency cannot be determined from this information.

E

In a Hardy-Weinberg population with two alleles, A and a, that are in equilibrium, the frequency of allele a is 0.2. What is the frequency of individuals that are heterozygous for this allele? A) 0.002 B) 0.020 C) 0.04 D) 0.16 E) 0.32

A

In a Hardy-Weinberg population with two alleles, A and a, that are in equilibrium, the frequency of the allele a is 0.3. What is the frequency of individuals that are homozygous for this allele? A) 0.09 B) 0.49 C) 0.9 D) 9.0 E) 49.0

C

In a hypothetical environment, fishes called pike-cichlids are visual predators of algae-eating fish (in other words, they locate their prey by sight). If a population of algae-eaters experiences predation pressure from pike-cichlids, which of the following is least likely to be observed in the algae-eater population over the course of many generations? A) selection for drab coloration of the algae-eaters B) selection for nocturnal algae-eaters (active only at night) C) selection for larger female algae-eaters, bearing broods composed of more, and larger, young D) selection for algae-eaters that become sexually mature at smaller overall body sizes E) selection for algae-eaters that are faster swimmers

B

In seedcracker finches from Cameroon, small- and large-billed birds specialize in cracking soft and hard seeds, respectively. If long-term climatic change resulted in all seeds becoming hard, what type of selection would then operate on the finch population? A) disruptive selection B) directional selection C) stabilizing selection D) no selection would operate because the population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.

B

Members of two different species possess a similar-looking structure that they use in a similar fashion to perform the same function. Which information would best help distinguish between an explanation based on homology versus one based on convergent evolution? A) the two species live at great distance from each other. B) the two species share many proteins in common, and the nucleotide sequences that code for these proteins are almost identical. C) the sizes of the structures in adult members of both species are similar. D) both species are well adapted to their particular environments.

C

Most Swiss starlings produce four to five eggs in each clutch. Starlings producing fewer, or more, than this have reduced fitness. Which of the following terms best describes this situation? A) artificial selection B) directional selection C) stabilizing selection D) disruptive selection E) sexual selection

E

Natural selection is based on all of the following except A) genetic variation exists within populations B) the best-adapted individuals tend to leave the most offspring C) individuals who survive longer tend to leave more offspring than those who die young. D) populations tend to produce more individuals than the environment can support. E) individuals adapt to their environments, and thereby evolve

E

Of the following anatomical structures, which is homologous to the bones in the wings of a bird? A) cartilage in the dorsal fin of a shark B) bones in the hind limb of a kangaroo C) chitinous struts in the wing of a butterfly D) bony rays in the tail fin of a flying fish E) bones in the flipper of a whale

C

Over evolutionary time, many cave-dwelling organisms have lost their eyes. Tapeworms have lost their digestive systems. Whales have lost their hind limbs. How can natural selection account for these losses? A) natural selection cannot account for losses, only for innovations. B) natural selection accounts for these losses by the principle of use and disuse. C) under particular circumstances that persisted for long periods, each of these structures presented greater costs than benefits. D) the ancestors of these organisms experienced harmful mutations that forced them to find new habitats that these species had not previously used.

D

Over time, the movement of people on Earth has steadily increased. This has altered the course of human evolution by increasing A) nonrandom mating B) geographic isolation C) genetic drift D) gene flow

E

Structures as different as human arms, bat wings, and dolphin flippers contain many of the same bones, these bones having developed from very similar embryonic tissues. How do biologists interpret these similarities? A) by identifying the bones as being homologous structures. B) by the principle of convergent evolution C) by proposing that humans, bats and dolphins share a common ancestor. D) three of the statements above are correct. E) two of the statements above are correct.

C

The following questions refer to Figure 19.1, which shows an outcrop of sedimentary rock whose strata are labeled A-D. If x indicates the location of fossils of two closely related species, then fossils of their most-recent common ancestor are most likely to occur in which stratum? A) a B) b C) c D) d

C

The role that humans play in artificial selection is to A) determine who lives and who dies B) create the genetic variants, which nature then selects C) choose which organisms breed, and which do not D) train organisms to breed more successfully E) perform artificial insemination

B

Two plant species live in the same biome but on different continents. Although the two species are not at all closely related, they may appear quite similar as a result of A) parallel evolution B) convergent evolution C) allopatric speciation D) introgression E) gene flow

B

What must be true of any organ that is descibed as vestigial? A) it must be analogous to some feature in an ancestor. B) it must be homologous to some feature in an ancestor. C) it must be both homologous and analogous to some feature in an ancestor. D) it need be neither homologous nor analogous to some feature in an ancestor.

C

Which of the following is a true statement concerning genetic variation? A) it is created by the direct action of natural selection. B) it arises in response to changes in the environment. C) it must be present in a population before natural selection can act upon the population. D) it tends to be reduced by the processes involved when diploid organisms produce gametes. E) a population that has a higher average heterozygosity has less genetic variation than one with a lower average heterozygosity.

D

Which of the following is most likely to produce an African butterfly species in the wild whose members have one of two strikingly different color patterns? A) artificial selection B) directional selection C) stabilizing selection D) disruptive selection E) sexual selection