Unit 4 Evolution Test Practice Questions

Front

What is a fossil?

Back

A trace of an organism that existed in the past.

Front

What increases genetic variation when animals move from one population to another?

Back

Gene flow.

Front

What are vestigial structures?

Back

Structures that have lost most or all of their original function in a species, such as the hind leg bones in whales or the appendix in humans.

Front

What does it indicate if two species, like the opossum and kangaroo, incubate their young in a pouch?

Back

They are descended from a common ancestor.

Front

What does finding a fossil of an extinct dinosaur with similarities to a bird suggest?

Back

The extinct dinosaur and modern bird share a common ancestor.

Front

What are homologous structures?

Back

Anatomical features in different species that share a common ancestry, such as the forelimbs of humans and whales.

Front

What is the bottleneck effect?

Back

A sharp reduction in the size of a population due to environmental events or human activities, leading to a loss of genetic diversity.

Front

What is genetic drift?

Back

A mechanism of evolution that refers to random changes in the frequency of alleles in a population.

Front

What are analogous structures?

Back

Structures in different species that serve similar functions but do not share a common ancestry, such as wings of birds and insects.

Front

What is natural selection?

Back

The process by which organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.