Evolution Practice Questions

What evolves through natural selection?

• Individual organisms

• Populations

• Both

• Neither

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A population of crabs living on a sandy beach exhibit three phenotypes: dark brown, light brown, and speckled as shown. The speckled crabs are camouflaged, blending in extremely well with the color of the sand on the beach. Which of the following conclusions can be drawn from the information above?

• Only speckled crabs will survive, and all of their offspring will be speckled.

• The allele for light brown will be lost because of predatory birds eating light brown crabs.

• The allele for dark brown color will be lost because of predatory birds eating dark brown crabs.

• Both the light brown and dark brown alleles will decrease in number, and the speckled alleles will increase

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All of the following cause biological evolution. However, the only evolutionary mechanism that produces an adaptive advantage in a population is. (CBA-3)

• Genetic Drift

• Mutation

• Gene Flow

• Natural selection

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When the insecticide DDT was first introduced, it was highly effective. What is the most likely reason DDT became less effective as an insecticide?

• Biological magnification decreased the number of insect predators.

• Changes in the types of crops grown caused changes in the types of pests

• Insects resistant to DDT survived and reproduced successfully

• Rain caused DDT to be washed away in water runoff.

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It is noticed that a species of moth varies in color from dark to light. In a certain area where tree bark is dark, birds tend to prey on light colored moths more often than on the darker phenotype. Which of the following is a reasonable conclusion?

• The light moths are more likely to lay eggs on trees with light bark.

• The light moths have a better chance of surviving than the dark moths.

• More of the light moths will survive once the dark moths have evolved.

• More of the dark moths will survive to pass on their traits to their offspring

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Which best illustrates gene flow?

• A flock migrating geese enters into a territory of another flock and begin to interbreed.

• A flock of geese becomes isolated on an island, and over time, the population begins to exhibit new characteristics.

• Individuals in a flock of geese have genes that are more advantageous, and over time, the numbers of these geese increase.

• A flock of migrating geese loses its way to its wintering grounds, leaving other geese without competition for resources and enabling those geese to produce more offspring.

What affect does natural selection have on the variation of a species?

• It increases it

• It has random effects on it

• It has not effect on it?

• It decreases it

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When genes are transferred from one population to another, evolution occurs. For example, if all red-haired people were to leave Ireland, the following generation would probably have fewer red-haired people. Which type of mechanism results in evolutionary change due to the transfer of genes from one population to another?

• Genetic drift

• Gene therapy

• Gene flow

• Gene mutation

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Evolutionary change occurs through other mechanisms besides natural selection. In such situations, individuals from a small population that carry a particular allele may produce more descendants just by chance. Over several generations, this particular allele may become common to the population. Which evolutionary mechanism, responsible for the genetic differences between the parent population and the new population, occurs by chance?

• Genetic drift

• Recombination

• Directional selection

• Behavioral isolation

Which of these is necessary for natural selection to occur?

• genetic engineering

• genetic variation

• asexual reproduction

• environmental stability

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