Beak and Natural Selection

According to the theory of natural selection, why are some individuals more likely than others to survive and reproduce? 

• Some individuals pass on to their offspring new characteristics they have acquired during their lifetimes. 
• Some individuals are better adapted to exist in their environment than others are. 
• Some individuals do not pass on to their offspring new characteristics they have acquired during their lifetimes. 
• Some individuals tend to produce fewer offspring than others in the same environment. 

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NGSS.MS-LS4-4

The illustration below shows an insect resting on some green leaves. 
The size, shape, and green color of this insect are adaptations that would most likely help the insect to 

• compete successfully with all birds 
• make its own food
  
• hide from predators
  
• avoid toxic waste materials 

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NGSS.MS-LS4-4

Base your answer(s) to question(s) on the diagram below and on your knowledge of biology. The diagram shows the heads of four different species of Galapagos Islands finches. 
The four different types of beaks shown are most likely the result of 

• gene manipulation 
• natural selection 
• unchanging environmental conditions 
• patterns of behavior learned from parents 

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Which characteristic is necessary for natural selection to occur in a species? 

• stability 
• variation 
• complex cellular organization 
• a very low mutation rate 

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 Which two processes result in variations that commonly influence the evolution of sexually reproducing species? 

• mutation and genetic recombination 
• mitosis and natural selection 
• extinction and gene replacement 
• environmental selection and selective breeding 

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In members of a bird species living on a remote island, the greatest number of beak variations in the population would most likely be found when 

• there is a high level of competition for limited resources 
• homeostasis is limited by a severe climate 
• they have a large and varied food supply 
• they are prey for a large number of predators 

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The different tools used during the beaks of finches lab represented 

• feeding adaptations in finches 
• nest construction adaptations 
• variations in seed size 
• variations in ecosystems 

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Base your answer(s) to the following question(s) 8. on the diagram below and on your knowledge of
biology.
Several of the Galapagos Islands are inhabited by grasshoppers, beetles, flies, bees, and butterflies. Finches that feed on these consumers would have beaks adapted for 

• probing, only 
• probing or grasping 
• crushing or probing 
• parrotlike feeding or grasping 

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"Survival of the Fittest" describes which theory

• a) natural selection
• b) gravity
• c) heredity
• d) string theory

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Which process produced the two different types of beaks in the ground finch and the tree finch?

• artificial selection
• geographical distribution
• natural selection
• disuse of the beak

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