Mastering Biology; Chapter 22 Descent with Modification: A Darwinian View of Life

A population of zooplankton is exposed to a small number of predatory fish that feed on the larger-sized (adult) zooplankton. Which of the following predictions would most likely occur based on the principles of natural selection?

Adult zooplankton will start to reach sexual maturity when they are still relatively small.

During periods of rapid environmental change, what may happen to a species that was well-suited to the former environment?

All of the listed responses are correct.

Which of the following is correct regarding natural selection?

All of the listed responses are correct.

Which of the following people developed the idea known as the scala naturae, or scale of nature?

Aristotle

The modern idea of extinction as a common occurrence in Earth's history was first proposed in the early 19th century writings of __________.

Cuvier

How did Hutton and Lyell's ideas influence Charles Darwin's thinking?

Darwin reasoned that the Earth must be very old and that slow, subtle processes could produce substantial biological changes.

What does it mean to describe evolution as a scientific theory?

Evolution is a broad model that is supported by many observations and much experimental evidence.

How does our understanding of genetics today refute Lamarck's principle of the inheritance of acquired characteristics?

Experiments in genetics show that traits acquired during an individual's lifetime are not inherited in the way proposed by Lamarck.

Paleontology, the study of fossils, was developed by __________.

Georges Cuvier

Which of the following is not an observation or inference that Darwin made while developing his theory of evolution?

Interactions between individuals and their environments cause individuals to evolve.

The upper forelimbs of humans and bats have fairly similar skeletal structures, whereas the corresponding bones in whales have very different shapes and proportions. However, genetic data suggest that all three kinds of organisms diverged from a common ancestor at about the same time. Which of the following is the most likely explanation for these data?

Natural selection in an aquatic environment resulted in significant changes to whale forelimb anatomy.

What insight did Darwin gain from reading Thomas Malthus's essay on human suffering?

Organisms have the capacity to overreproduce.

Which of the following is not an observation or inference on which natural selection is based?

Poorly adapted individuals never produce offspring.

The bacteria Staphylococcus aureus has developed resistance to some antibiotic drugs. How did this resistance come about?

Some members of the bacteria populations possessed some sort of genetic variation for antibiotic resistance that was selected for when the bacteria was exposed to the drugs.

What does each branch point on an evolutionary tree represent?

The common ancestor of the lineages beginning there and to the right of it

All known organisms transcribe genetic information to protein molecules via the same genetic code. This finding strongly supports the hypothesis that __________.

all organisms are descended from a single common ancestor

The breeding of plants and animals for particular traits by humans is called __________.

artificial selection

Even though rodents known as sugar gliders and flying squirrels are members of distinctly different groups of organisms and live on different continents, they possess similar characteristics. This is an example of __________.

convergent evolution

Darwin originally defined evolution as __________.

descent with modification

An important challenge to traditional (pre-1860) ideas about species was the observation that seemingly dissimilar organisms such as hummingbirds, humans, and whales have similar skeletal structures. This most directly suggested to biologists that __________.

dissimilar organisms might have evolved from a distant, common ancestor

Organisms found only in specific places in the world are referred to as __________.

endemic

Animals that possess homologous structures probably __________.

evolved from the same ancestor

At the time Darwin voyaged on the HMS Beagle, the popularly accepted theory in Western culture that explained the origin of Earth's plants and animals held that the various species __________.

had been created by divine intervention a few thousand years before

On an evolutionary tree, __________.

homologous characteristics form a nested pattern

Adaptations are defined as __________.

inherited characteristics of organisms that enhance their survival and reproduction in specific environments

Darwin's explanation of how adaptations arise centered on __________.

natural selection

In Darwin's view of descent with modification, __________.

natural selection can improve the match between an organism and its environment

A(n) __________ is the smallest unit that can evolve.

population

Carolus Linnaeus is considered to be the founder of __________, and he __________.

the binomial classification system; thought that resemblances among different species reflected the pattern of their creation

Homologies that appear to have marginal, if any, importance to an organism are called __________.

vestigial structures