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The major weakness of Charles Darwin's theory during his lifetime was the:


A) fact that populations do not promote competition but rather promote sharing.
B) lack of a mechanism to explain how traits were passed to offspring intact when most believed inheritance worked through blending.
C) fact that, at certain points in embryonic development, diverse species all have structures known as pharyngeal gill slits.
D) lack of variation in natural populations.

E) All of the above
F) A) and B)

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What determines which traits will be passed on to the next generation in the greatest frequency?


A) acquired characteristics
B) mutations
C) common descent with modification
D) natural selection

E) B) and C)
F) All of the above

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A well-known example of natural selection in action is the change in the peppered moth population in England in the nineteenth century. The moths blended in with their light-colored natural surroundings, but with increasing industrialization in England, smoke began to pollute the foliage and darken the trees and rocks. Eventually, populations that were once mostly light colored became mostly dark colored. Using natural selection, propose a hypothesis that would explain why the moth population changed over time from mostly light colored to mostly dark colored.

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Because of natural genetic variation, so...

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What mechanism did Charles Darwin discover as the driving force behind evolution?


A) the inheritance of acquired characteristics
B) common descent with modification
C) natural selection
D) artificial selection

E) A) and C)
F) A) and D)

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Refer to the figure below, and then answer the question that follows. Refer to the figure below, and then answer the question that follows.   -There are fewer differences in the base sequence of the cytochrome c oxidase gene between humans and chimpanzees than there are between humans and pigs. What evolutionary relationship can you hypothesize from this? -There are fewer differences in the base sequence of the cytochrome c oxidase gene between humans and chimpanzees than there are between humans and pigs. What evolutionary relationship can you hypothesize from this?

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The number of differences in the base se...

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The longer two populations are kept from interbreeding, the:


A) more they will differ from one another in adaptations.
B) more recessive alleles will be expressed.
C) greater the chance one will go extinct.
D) greater the mutation rate will be.

E) None of the above
F) C) and D)

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John Endler's experiment with guppies demonstrates which of the following in regard to evolution through natural selection?


A) Male guppies can change color depending on their environment.
B) There is one optimal set of traits for each species.
C) The reproductive success a trait imparts depends on the environmental context.
D) Bigger and brighter is always better.

E) A) and D)
F) All of the above

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C

Who is credited with first providing conclusive evidence of species extinction?


A) Charles Lyell
B) Georges Cuvier
C) Alfred Russel Wallace

D) All of the above
E) B) and C)

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Scientists may compare similar genes in different species and determine what percentage of base pairs is identical. From this, it can be estimated how long ago the two species shared a common ancestor. The validity of this conclusion depends on an important assumption. This assumption is that:


A) mutations occur at a fairly constant rate in all evolutionary lines.
B) all living things use the same genetic code.
C) the gene codes for a functional protein.
D) both species belong to the same kingdom.

E) None of the above
F) All of the above

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A population of grasshoppers in the Kansas prairie has two color phenotypes, green and brown. Typically the prairie receives adequate water to maintain healthy green grass. Assume a bird that eats grasshoppers moves into the prairie. How will this affect the natural selection of grasshoppers? How might this change in a drought year?

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In normal years, green grasshoppers woul...

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For natural selection to occur, there must be competition for resources, competition for survival, or different reproductive success. Why is this so?


A) The struggle of competition makes individuals stronger.
B) Populations evolve to preserve the species and don't change unless they must.
C) Without competition, there is no pressure to mutate.
D) Natural selection acts on the different abilities of individuals to survive and pass on their genes to the next generation.

E) None of the above
F) A) and C)

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Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace both realized that most species produce many more offspring than is necessary to maintain a constant population. What might be the fate of the excess individuals?


A) The more favorable forms survive and reproduce, but the others do not.
B) They mutate and then are able to adapt to new environments.
C) They evolve to take advantage of natural resources.

D) None of the above
E) B) and C)

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Pharyngeal slits are present in the embryos of organisms as diverse as fish, chickens, and humans. Why would organisms as different as these have similar embryonic structures?


A) The organisms shared a common ancestor whose embryos had pharyngeal slits.
B) The pharyngeal slits is an acquired characteristic that just happens to look similar in different species.
C) The organisms shared a common ancestor, which did not have the slits, but natural selection created similar changes in the embryos over time.
D) The pharyngeal slits develop into gills because all species need to survive in a water environment at some point in their life cycle.

E) C) and D)
F) A) and B)

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Refer to the scenario below and then answer the following question(s) . In a fossil bed, you discover the preserved bones of a winged animal mixed in with the bones of small rodents. The small rodents are known from other fossils to have lived about two million years ago, but they are now extinct. -You examine the fossilized remains of the winged animal. Impressions in the surrounding rock suggest that the wings may have been covered with tiny hairs, which suggests that the animal is likely to have been a mammal. When you examine the remains of the wings, which of the following observations would be most surprising?


A) The animal appears to have five digits in each forelimb.
B) Several of the digits ("finger" bones) are extremely long, and look as if they supported a thin membrane.
C) The animal's wings appear to be much larger than those of any known bat.
D) The animal appears to have two upper arm bones.

E) C) and D)
F) B) and D)

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The half-life of a radioactive isotope is 10,000 years. This isotope and its breakdown product do not normally occur together before molten rock cools and becomes solid. You analyze a volcanic rock and find 25 percent of the original amount of radioactive isotope remains, and 75 percent has decayed to its daughter element. How long ago did the rock solidify?


A) 2,500 years ago
B) 50,000 years ago
C) 10,000 years ago
D) 20,000 years ago

E) All of the above
F) A) and B)

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D

The various lines of evidence for evolution together support the core principles of evolution because:


A) they are internally consistent and agree with each other.
B) they only occasionally are falsified.
C) they are internally consistent even though they don't agree with each other.
D) scientists ignore the inconsistencies and choose the best lines of evidence to support their opinions.

E) B) and C)
F) C) and D)

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Long before Charles Darwin, Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck understood all of the following ideas about evolution except that:


A) there is variation in populations.
B) natural selection is the primary cause of evolution.
C) evolution leads to adaptation.
D) species change over time.

E) B) and D)
F) None of the above

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Darwin was influenced by an essay on human population and food supply written by:


A) Charles Lyell.
B) Alfred Russel Wallace.
C) Joshua Beagle.
D) Thomas Malthus.

E) B) and C)
F) A) and D)

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D

After considerable effort, you are able to collect and analyze DNA from the winged animal. You obtain the nucleotide sequence of the cytochrome c oxidase gene. When you compare this sequence to the sequence of the same gene in a bat, a rodent, a shrew, and a human, you find the following numbers of differences: winged animal-bat 11 differences Winged animal-rodent 14 differences Winged animal-shrew 15 differences Winged animal-human 9 differences Which hypothesis does this data support?


A) Of the mammals tested, the winged animal is probably most closely related to shrews.
B) Of the mammals tested, the winged animal is probably most closely related to humans.
C) Of the mammals tested, the winged animal is probably most closely related to rodents.
D) The winged animal is probably most closely related to bats, because bats also have wings.

E) None of the above
F) C) and D)

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Darwin found that many different species of finches were found on the Galapagos Islands and nowhere else. The finches were related to a species found on the mainland of South America. From this he concluded:


A) ancestral species originated on the Galapagos Islands and some migrated to the mainland.
B) separate acts of creation put some species on the islands and some on the mainland.
C) an ancestral species migrated from the mainland and diverged over time into separate species on the islands.
D) an ancestral species migrated to both South America and the Galapagos Islands from Europe and then diverged into separate species.

E) A) and B)
F) B) and C)

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