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WorksheetsDarwin and Natural Selection
Total questions: 16
Worksheet time: 23mins
Which of the following is a situation that could cause evolutionary change that is NOT due to natural selection?
A volcano erupts and kills many individuals in a population.
A mutation produces sea stars that are less visible to predators.
An insecticide is sprayed in a community to combat mosquitoes.
Cattle are treated with antibiotics to prevent the spread of infections.
The graphs below show the changes in crab color at one beach.
Which of the following is most likely to have caused the change in the distribution?
A new predator arrived that preferred dark-tan crabs.
A new predator arrived that preferred light-tan crabs.
A change in beach color made medium-tan crabs the least visible to predators.
A change in beach color made medium-tan crabs the most visible to predators.
Which of the following best illustrates natural selection?
An organism with favorable genetic variations will tend to survive and breed successfully.
A population monopolizes all of the resources in its habitat, forcing other species to migrate.
A community whose members work together utilizing all existing resources and migratory routes.
The largest organisms in a species receive the only breeding opportunities.
Which of the following is NOT part of the that mechanisms of natural selection?
Organisms produce more offspring than can survive.
Disease and natural disaster will limit population growth.
Species today descended with modifications from ancestral species.
Organisms with advantages will survive and reproduce.
What is the most likely explanation of the data shown below?
There has been a drought in the area that is affecting all life forms.
The population of natural predators of the moths has gotten smaller.
The moths are living in an environment with light trees.
The moths are living in an environment with dark trees.
Which of the following statements best describes what will most likely occur to the moth populations in the image above?
The light moths will be captured by predators more easily than the dark moths, and the population of dark moths will rise.
The light moths will be captured by predators more easily than the dark moths, and the population of light moths will rise.
The dark moths will be captured by predators more easily than the light moths, and the dark moths will probably go extinct.
The light moths will change their wing color to match that of the dark moths.
The finches of the Galapagos islands different in what way and for what reason?
size of body, size of trees
location on specific islands, amount of water
coloration. types of predators
beak shape, type of food available
Match each scientist to the new idea they introduced to Darwin.
Organisms pass acquired characteristics on to offspring
Lamarck
Geologic processes gradually changed the shape of Earth's surface.
Lyell
Earth is very old
Hutton
Humans compete for resources
Malthus
Which graph shows disruptive selection?
A
B
C
Natural selection is
a process where organisms better suited for their environment survive and reproduce
an inherited characteristic that benefits organisms
a process of change over time to a species
surviving and reproducing in an environment
3 things that Darwin noticed about species during his time travelling were:
related species are often found in different habitats in a geographical area
fossils show similarities to living species
all the birds in a geographical area eat the same type of seeds
species in different areas of the world, but in similar habitats, have similar characteristics
