Evolution Quiz

 Populations change naturally over time. Which mechanism is a method of artifical selection rather than natural selection?

• genetic drift
• natural selection
• selective breeding
• geographic isolation

 The carbon-14 isotope is important because it allows scientists to determine the ___________ of an organic sample.

• age
• density
• evolution
• mass

About 96% of the information in human DNA is found in gorilla DNA. This evidence supports which statement?

• Humans evolved from gorillas.
• Gorillas and humans diverged from a common ancestor.
• As gorillas evolve, they will become more similar to humans.
• Gorillas and humans are too different for meaningful genetic comparisons.

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 The snowshoe rabbit has white fur in winter and dark fur in summer. What is the main survival advantage of this fur color change to the rabbit?

• The light fur keeps the rabbit from getting sunburned in summer.
  
• The fur color is an adaptive form of camouflage to avoid predators.
  
• The dark fur absorbs more sunlight so the rabbit is warmer in winter
• The white fur is more valuable to fur trappers, so the animals will be trapped and better fed in the winter.

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Giraffes were the subject of debate in the early days of evolutionary theory. LaMarck believed in acquired characteristics, while Darwin believed in evolution by natural selection. Which is an accurate match between the author, and how he would explain the long neck of giraffes?

• LaMarck believed that giraffes were created with long necks and remained unchanged from their original design.
  
• Darwin believed that giraffes could stretch their necks to reach leaves and then pass this trait on to their offspring.
  
• LaMarck believed that over time, shorter giraffes were starved out and giraffes with longer necks survived to reproduce.
  
• Darwin believed that giraffes with longer necks had a higher survival rate, due to ease of feeding and reproduction, and this is the way giraffes evolved.

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 Peppered moths come in two colors, black and white. What did Kettlewell show, with regard to peppered moth populations and tree coloring? (Recall that England at the time was heated mainly by coal in urban areas.)

• In smoggy areas, dark moths have a higher survival rate than white moths.
  
• White moths stand out in rural areas, and quickly disappear from those areas.
  
• The black moth and white moth forms were actually two different species of moths.
  
• Environmental conditions do not affect physical features of a species over a short time period.

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 Why are many bacterial infections more difficult to treat now than they were fifty years ago?

• Because there are more types of bacteria now.
• Because bacteria have evolved resistance to antibiotics.
• Because bacteria reproduce at greater rates than in the past, since there are more people on earth.
• Because treatment of virus infections consumes many antibiotics that were formerly used only for bacteria.

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 Which theory of how evolution occurs would argue that all of the oak species in Georgia appeared suddenly from one common ancestor, over a short period of time, due to some extreme environmental changes, and that since that time, they have not changed much?

• gradualism
• microevolution
• macroevolution
• punctuated equilibrium

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Despite their differences in appearance, all bony fish have common ancestors. Their fins develop from similar structures and usually have a prescribed number of bones. Because of this, the large rudder-like dorsal fin of a sailfish, the poisonous dorsal fin of a catfish, and the tiny reduced dorsal fin of a puffer fish are said to be ________ structures.A)vestigial

• vestigial
• analagous
• homologous
• evolutionary

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 Which term is used to descibe body structures that look alike and serve a similar function but are not descended from a common ancestor?

• analogous structures
• vestigial structures
• evolutionary features
• homologous structures