Bio Chapter 16

Darwin noticed that many organisms seemed well suited to

• being preserved as fossils.
• providing humans with food.
• surviving in the environments in which they lived.
• swimming from South America to the Galápagos Islands.

The species of finches that Charles Darwin found on different Galápagos Islands varied in certain structural adaptations. One of the most significant adaptations that Darwin noted was the

• similarities of the birds’ embryos.
• birds’ different-shaped beaks.
• length of the birds’ necks.
• number of eggs in each bird’s nest.

Based on the adaptations Charles Darwin observed in finches and tortoises in the Galápagos, 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.

Biologists in Darwin’s time had already begun to understand that living things change over time. How did Darwin contribute to these ideas?

• He found many fossils that showed that these changes could not possibly happen on islands.
• He figured out and explained how these changes happened and supported his ideas with evidence.
• He made guesses about how these changes happened, and wrote experiments that could be used to test these guesses.
• He was the first person to truly believe that these changes happened, and he worked very hard to convince others.

Charles Darwin’s observation that finches of different species on the Galápagos Islands have many similar physical characteristics supports the hypothesis that these finches

• have the ability to interbreed.
• acquired traits through use and disuse.
• all eat the same type of food.
• descended from a common ancestor.

On the Galápagos Islands, Charles Darwin observed

• completely unrelated species on each of the islands.
• species exactly like those found in South America.
• species similar to mainland South American species.
• species completely unrelated to those found in South America.

Which of the following ideas is supported by Darwin’s observation of local variation among tortoises in the Galápagos Islands?

• artificial selection
• adaptation
• acquired characteristics
• tendency towards perfection

Darwin first began to formulate his concept of evolution by natural selection after

• experimenting with animals.
• observing patterns among the geographical location of certain species.
• reading the writings of Wallace.
• agreeing with Lamarck about the driving force behind evolution.

People of Charles Darwin’s time understood that fossils were

• preserved remains of ancient organisms.
• available for every organism that ever lived.
• unrelated to living species.
• evidence for the evolution of life on Earth.

James Hutton’s and Charles Lyell’s work suggests that

• Earth is several million years old.
• Earth is several thousand years old.
• all fossils were formed in the last 1000 years.
• all rocks on Earth contain fossils.