Evolution & Natural Selection Study Guide - Ruiz

A large population of bluejays living in the mountains is separated by the formation of a desert.  After millions of years, the populations of bluejays would most likely...

• become exstinct
• diverge into two new species 
• evolve into cats
• become two very small populations of the same species. 

The theory of natural selection was a hypothesis first proposed by

• Gregor Mendel
• James Waston and Francis Crick
• Charles Darwin
• Robert Hooke

1000 red and 1000 white ground beetles are placed in a cage on red clay containing beetle eating birds.  The beetles are counted after 2 days. What is expected? 

• Equal number of red and white beetles are left
• More red beetles are left
• More white beetles are left. 
• All the beetles are gone.

Darwin's studies of finches on the Galapagos Island suggests that the finches' differences in beak structure were most directly due to:

• acquired characteristics in the parent finches
• the size of the island where the finches live.
• mating behaviors of the different finch species
• geographic isolation and adaptations of the finches to different environments 

Characteristics of a species that make its members better able to live and reproduce in their environment are known as

• abiotic factors
• biotic factors
• homologous structures
• favorable adaptations. 

Which of the following is true about natural selection?

• a population of organisms of the same species are all alike
• organisms posses genetic characteristics that sometimes make no difference on their lives
• organisms choose characteristics that help them adapt to their environment
• only those organisms that survive the environmental change pass on their traits to the next generation 

A change in the gene pool due to death or isolation is called

• natural selection 
• biochemistry
• genetic drift
• mutations 

The information in the chart provides data that can help in the identification of possible evolutionary relationships from the study of comparative __________ 

• cytology
• embryology
• anatomy
• biochemistry 

Using the information from the chart, which two organisms are the closest in evolutionary distance from a common ancestor?

• horse-zebra
• human-gorilla
• human-chimpanzee
• horse-chimpanzee 

A large population of bluejays living in the mountains is separated by the formation of a desert.  After millions of years, the populations of bluejays would most likely...

• become exstinct
• diverge into two new species 
• evolve into cats
• become two very small populations of the same species.