Nova Lab

For a mutation to affect evolution, it must:

• Be able to get passed from parent or offspring

• Provide a benefit to the organism

• Be neutral, neither help nor harm the organism

• Involve more than one chromosome

What is evolution?

• Any change to the genetic composition of a population

• An increase in complexity over time

• The tendency of species to improve over time

• All of the Above

“An organism that is closely related to the group you’re interested in, but not a part of it. A way to establish a basis of comparison for an trait analysis.” This is a definition of:

• An ancestor

• A stem group

• A pizza

• An Out group

What distinguishes archaea from bacteria?

• All Archean are unicellular, and some bacteria are multi-cellular

• All Archean live in extreme environments, and bacteria do not.

• Archean cell walls are made up of different compounds than are bacterial cell walls.

• Archean DNA is made up a different set of nucleotide bases than is bacterial DNA.

When you compare the DNA of two closely related organisms, would you expect their DNA to be more similar or less similar than the DNA of two distantly related organisms?

• More similar, because they're more closely related.

• More similar, because they share common ancestors.

• Less similar, because they are different species.

• Less similar, because no common ancestry is shared.

Fossils almost never contain DNA. So how can we know how closely or distantly related fossil organisms are to living organisms?

• Looking at the soft body tissue similarities and differences.

• Looking at physical similarities and differences.

• You don't; it's impossible.

• By measuring the fossils.

When do you have to rely on physical traits instead of DNA?

• When dealing with fossils of extinct organisms.

• When dealing with a freshly dead organism.

• When you're just too lazy to do it.

• All of the above

Which is considered more convincing evidence, DNA or physical features?

• DNA

• Physical Features

• Both

• Neither