Evolution practice test

The process by which all organisms change slowly over time because of slight gene variations is called

• natural selection
• artificial selection
• evolution
• gene pool

Who observed variations in the characteristics of plants and animals on different islands of the Galapagos?

• James Hutton
• Charles Lyell
• Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
• Charles Darwin

In addition to observing living organisms, Darwin studied the preserved remains of ancient organisms called

• fossils
• adaptations
• homologies
• vestigial structures

Which of the following would an animal breeder use to increase the number of cows that give the most milk?

• overproduction
• genetic isolation
• acquired characteristics
• artificial selection

How well an organism survives and reproduces in its environment can be described as its

• fitness
• homologies
• common descent
• analogies

Which of the following conditions are necessary for natural selection to occur?

• overproduction of offspring
• variation within a population
• struggle for existence
• all of the above

Structures that have different mature forms but develop from the same embryonic tissue are called 

• analagous
• adaptations
• homologous
• fossils

Intermediate fossil forms are important evidence of evolution because they show

• how organisms change over time
• how animals behaved in their environments
• how the embryos of organisms develop
• molecular homologies

Which of the following are examples of common descent involving molecular biology?

• homologous structures
• fossils
• analogous proteins
• universal genetic code in DNA

Based on the adaptations Darwin observed in finches and tortoises in the Galapagos, he wondered

• if species living on different islands had once been members of the same species
• if finches and tortoises had originated from the same ancestral species
• if all birds on the different islands were finches
• why all tortoises on the different islands were identical