Evolution Test review

The table below shows various stages of the development of a modern medical theory.

Which of the following most likely caused the transitions between stages?

• Sick patients showed different symptoms, so scientists made many theories to fit each illness

• More popular scientists came up simpler ideas that were easier to understand.

• New technology could not prove the old theory, so new ones were made up by scientists

• New evidence or interpretation changed fundamental scientific knowledge

Since the Moon has no living organisms, which method would be best for determining the age of one Moon rock?

• density of sediment collection

• law of superposition

• radioactive dating

• fossil and mineral comparison

The oldest rock formation identified on Earth is found on the shoreline of Hudson Bay in Canada. This rock formed 4.28 billion years ago. Which information does a scientist need to most accurately determine the age of a rock?

• the percentage of each mineral that makes up the rock

• the thickness of younger rock layers that cover the rock

• the amount of weathering present on the surface of the rock.

• the amount of each radioactive element present in the rock.

Years ago, there was a land bridge between North America and Russia that no longer exists.

What does this statement indicate about Earth?

• It indicates that Earth is losing water that it used to have.

• It indicates that human travel is destroying Earth's landforms

• It indicates that Earth is changing, often gaining or losing landforms.

• It indicates that Earth is likely to be completely covered with water one day.

Individuals within a population have slightly different traits, called variations. How do variations improve the likelihood that a population will survive?

• Variation enables individuals to produce offspring that will survive into adulthood.

• Variation enables the population to create new genes, which help individuals survive a significant change in their environment.

• Variation provides the raw material upon which natural selection acts in a population

• Variation enables a population to have many different traits, which helps the community survive a significant change in their environment

Within a population, variation increases the likelihood that some individuals will be able to survive if the environment changes. Which of the following causes variations within a population?

• Changes in genetic material ( mutation)

• Changes in extinction rates

• Changes in breeding rate

• Changes in the environment

How would the fossils in the sediments layers of Earth appear if species had evolved over time?

• All of the layers would contain fossils of simple organisms

• All of the layers would contain fossils of complex organisms

• The lower layers would contain fossils of more-complex organisms

• The upper layers would contain fossils of more-complex organisms.

The graph below shows the changes over time in a population of mice in the wild after a population of hawks has moved into their environment. The white and dark mice differ only in color.

• The hawks eat more white mice than dark mice because they can see the white mice more easily.

• The hawks eat more dark mice than white mice because the dark mice taste better

• The white mice are able to reproduce more successfully than the dark mice do.

• The hawks eat more dark mice than white mice, because they can see the dark mice more easily.

Polar bears live in the Arctic. Ice in the Arctic is melting rapidly, reducing the range in which the polar bear can live. If polar bears do not have adaptations that allow them to survive these changes, what may happen to the polar bear?

• They may become extinct

• they may change the environment

• They may overpopulate

• They may become another species

The picture below shows the fossils of three species of mosasaur, large marine reptiles that are now extinct.

• that these mosasaurs evolved from a common ancestor

• that these mosasaurs were all genetically identical

• that these mosasaurs all expressed similar behaviors

• that these mosasaurs lived in different environments