Mechanisms of Evolution Test Review

Peppered moths can have either a light wing color or a dark wing color. A scientist studied populations of both light and dark peppered moths over a 10-year period. A graph of the data he collected is shown. Based on the graph, which is the best conclusion to make about changes in the moth populations by the end of the study period? 

• A disease has affected only the dark winged peppered moth. 
• At present, wing color is not a factor in the success of peppered moths. 
• A new food source has become available only to the light winged peppered moth. 
• At present, dark-winged peppered moths are being naturally selected for survival. 

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A scientist puts 100 houseflies in a sealed container; then sprays an insecticide into the container.  Ninety-six of the flies die.  Four survive.  The scientist lets the survivors mate and produce offspring, then repeats the experiment with 100 offspring.  Fifty-six of them survive the spray.  This experimental result is evidence of – 

• adaptive radiation 
• speciation
• natural selection
• extinction

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NGSS.MS-LS4-4

What genetic change allows organisms to survive natural selection in their environments? 

• learned behavior
• acquired traits
• analogies
• adaptations

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Which statement does not accurately describe natural selection?

• Individual organisms change their genes to adapt to their environment
• The genetic composition of a population changes from one generation to the next
• More advantageous traits become more common in population
• Beneficial and useful traits are inheritable

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NGSS.MS-LS4-4

Survival of the Fittest and Evolution were proposed by what scientist?

• Steven Hawking
• Albert Einstein
• Charles Darwin
• Isaac Newton

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Why are advantageous traits more likely to be passed onto offspring?

• Because they are more likely to survive and reproduce.
• Because they come from dominant alleles.
• Because they come from recessive alleles.
• Because the trait is an acquired phenotype.

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NGSS.MS-LS4-4

Darwin wrote that organisms with traits that are best suited to the environment will ________________

• increase in number
  
• become extinct
  

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What is the study of the distribution of species in geographic space and through time?

• Biology
• Geology
• Geography
• Biogeography

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Natural selection results in change over time by acting on traits that are

• heritable
• new
• mutated 
• better than the best

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NGSS.MS-LS4-4

Which of the graphs best illustrates the evolutionary process called punctuated equilibrium? 

• A
• B
• C
• D