Natural Selection Quiz

What is natural selection?

• A) The process by which individuals with beneficial traits produce more offspring, leading to changes in the traits of a population over time.

• B) The ability of an individual to learn new skills over its lifetime.

• C) A random process that leads to the extinction of species.

• D) The process by which individuals choose their mates based on physical characteristics.

Which scientist is most closely associated with the theory of natural selection?

• A) Isaac Newton

• B) Albert Einstein

• C) Charles Darwin

• D) Gregor Mendel

Natural selection cannot take place unless there is?

• variation

• competition for limited resources

• traits that give certain organisms an advantage over others

• all of these

How does natural selection lead to evolution?

• A) By ensuring that only the largest and strongest individuals survive.

• B) Through the random distribution of traits in a population.

• C) By favoring the survival and reproduction of organisms with traits that are well-suited to their environment.

• D) By individuals attempting to adapt to their environment through effort.

What is meant by "survival of the fittest"?

• A) The strongest, biggest, and fastest individuals survive.

• B) Only the individuals who can fight off predators survive.

• C) Individuals that are best adapted to their environment survive and reproduce.

• D) The oldest individuals in a population survive because of their wisdom.

Which of the following is an example of natural selection in action?

• A) A giraffe stretching its neck longer to reach leaves.

• B) Bacteria developing resistance to antibiotics.

• C) A person learning a new language.

• D) A tree growing taller to reach sunlight.

Why is genetic variation important for natural selection?

• A) It ensures that all members of a population look the same.

• B) It decreases the overall fitness of a population.

• C) It allows natural selection to increase or decrease the frequency of traits that affect survival and reproduction.

• D) It has no impact on natural selection.

When one variation in a population is extremely successful and the population shifts in that direction until it becomes the dominant version of the population this is called:

• Genetic drift
• Directional selection
• Disruptive selection
• Stabilizing selection

When factors favor the two extreme ends  of a population and select against the middle portion this is called:

• Stabilizing selection
• Disruptive selection
• Directional selection
• Genetic drift

When both ends of a population are selected against so the group in the middle becomes even more prevalent (like birth weight in human babies) this is called:

• stabilizing selection
• disruptive selection
• genetic drift
• directional selection