Question 1

What is suggested by the hypothesis of punctuated equilibrium?

Accepted Answer

A)  There's been no change in life on Earth. 
B)  There's been gradual and steady change in life on Earth. 
C)  There have been short periods of dramatic evolutionary change separated by long periods of no change. 
D)  Life on Earth changes dramatically most of the time, but there are short periods when there's no change.

Question 2

Which question relates to population genetics and could be answered using the Hardy-Weinberg equation?

Accepted Answer

A)  What will be the frequency of a particular genotype in a future generation? 
B)  What is the probability that members of two groups will mate? 
C)  Is an allele dominant or recessive? 
D)  What is the genetic basis of racial categories?

Question 3

True or false: Two populations that have adapted to similar environmental conditions sometimes have a similar appearance.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 4

What effect do assortative matings have on populations?

Accepted Answer

A)  They cause one sex to be much different than the other. 
B)  They cause isolated groups to be more similar to each other. 
C)  They increase the rate of mutations. 
D)  They maintain appearance differences between groups.

Question 5

You're interested in the genetics of earlobe shape on your campus. Free (unattached) earlobes are caused by a dominant allele. The attached earlobe phenotype is caused by a recessive allele. Individuals with free earlobes have either a homozygous genotype or a heterozygous genotype. Assuming that your college campus is a stable population, what calculation would you use to determine the percentage of students who have a heterozygous genotype for earlobe shape?

Accepted Answer

A)  Calculate the percentage of people who have free earlobes. 
B)  Calculate the percentage of people who are homozygous-dominant for free earlobes. 
C)  Calculate the percentage of people who have attached earlobes. 
D)  Calculate the percentage of people who carry the recessive allele.

Question 6

You wish to study interspecies mating. Which organisms would be the best mating pair to study?

Accepted Answer

A)  a Great Dane and a poodle 
B)  a lion and a tiger 
C)  a green bell pepper plant and a red bell pepper plant 
D)  a striped tiger and an albino tiger

Question 7

Which of these traits are explained by convergent evolution?

Accepted Answer

A)  sickle-cell anemia in areas where malaria is common 
B)  light skin color in many northern populations 
C)  short stature in natives from the island of Puka Puka 
D)  red hair among people of Irish descent

Question 8

You're studying two species of frog. How would you know if gradualism or punctuated equilibrium played a role in the formation of the two species from their common ancestor?

Accepted Answer

A)  The species would have more differences if speciation occurred gradually. 
B)  The species would have more differences if speciation occurred suddenly. 
C)  The species would be the same regardless of how the speciation occurred. 
D)  The degree of difference depends less on the mechanism of speciation than on the time that's passed since speciation occurred.

Question 9

In a population where most of the individuals have long, narrow noses, a child is born with a short, broad nose. What's the most likely evolutionary explanation for this variation?

Accepted Answer

A)  Both parents of this child are from another population. 
B)  Humidity in the area is increasing, and selection pressure is changing. 
C)  The child reflects the normal variation around the average type. 
D)  A mutation must have occurred to produce a new allele of the nose shape gene.

Question 10

How would two unrelated individuals with the same color skin compare?

Accepted Answer

A)  They would have similar alleles for melanin production. 
B)  They would have similar alleles for repetitive DNA segments. 
C)  They would have similar alleles for nose shape. 
D)  They would be no more likely to have similar alleles for any gene than any two random individuals.

Question 11

-How does the distribution shown on the map of alleles for the B blood type support the hypothesis that there are no biological races of humans?

Accepted Answer

A)  All human groups show the same frequency of this allele. 
B)  A distinct frequency pattern of this allele is found in each human group. 
C)  A gradient of frequency of the allele is found from its origin in Asia outward to Europe. 
D)  There's no pattern with respect to frequency of this allele throughout Asia and Europe.

Question 12

A gene exists as two alleles in a population of freely mating individuals. If 40% of the population carries the recessive allele (a) for the gene, what percentage of the population has the homozygous recessive aa genotype?

Accepted Answer

A)  40% 
B)  20% 
C)  16% 
D)  80%

Question 13

What is evolution that occurs as a result of a dramatic reduction in population size?

Accepted Answer

A)  founder effect 
B)  genetic drift 
C)  gene flow 
D)  population bottleneck

Question 14

The eggs released by sponges during reproduction have proteins on their surfaces that prevent sperm from different sponge species from binding to the eggs. What type of reproductive isolation would include this example?

Accepted Answer

A)  gamete compatibility 
B)  hybrid inviability 
C)  mechanical reproductive isolation 
D)  behavioral reproductive isolation

Question 15

What produces gene flow?

Accepted Answer

A)  mating between populations 
B)  geographical isolation 
C)  mutation 
D)  speciation

Question 16

You read that the frequency of a particular disease-associated recessive allele in a population is 12%. What does that mean?

Accepted Answer

A)  12% of the population has the disease caused by that allele. 
B)  12% of the population is a carrier for that disease. 
C)  For every 100 people, there are 12 copies of the allele. 
D)  The allele is present in 12% of the cells in your body.

Question 17

True or false: Fossil evidence shows that all modern human populations evolved from human ancestors in Africa.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 18

On Long Island, New York, a population of wall lizards that originated from a group in Italy is present. Several had been imported to be sold as pets many decades ago, and some escaped and started a new population in this suburban area. What concept applies to this situation?

Accepted Answer

A)  genetic drift 
B)  the founder effect 
C)  a population bottleneck 
D)  gene flow

Question 19

What trait in humans is correlated with the humidity in the air to which the group is adapted?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What trait in humans is correlated with...

Question 20

About how long have modern humans existed?

Accepted Answer

A)  25,000 years 
B)  250,000 years 
C)  2,500,000 years 
D)  25,000,000 years

Exam 12: Who Am I Species and Races

What is suggested by the hypothesis of punctuated equilibrium?

Which question relates to population genetics and could be answered using the Hardy-Weinberg equation?

True or false: Two populations that have adapted to similar environmental conditions sometimes have a similar appearance.

What effect do assortative matings have on populations?

You wish to study interspecies mating. Which organisms would be the best mating pair to study?

Which of these traits are explained by convergent evolution?

You're studying two species of frog. How would you know if gradualism or punctuated equilibrium played a role in the formation of the two species from their common ancestor?

In a population where most of the individuals have long, narrow noses, a child is born with a short, broad nose. What's the most likely evolutionary explanation for this variation?

How would two unrelated individuals with the same color skin compare?

-How does the distribution shown on the map of alleles for the B blood type support the hypothesis that there are no biological races of humans?

A gene exists as two alleles in a population of freely mating individuals. If 40% of the population carries the recessive allele (a) for the gene, what percentage of the population has the homozygous recessive aa genotype?

What is evolution that occurs as a result of a dramatic reduction in population size?

The eggs released by sponges during reproduction have proteins on their surfaces that prevent sperm from different sponge species from binding to the eggs. What type of reproductive isolation would include this example?

What produces gene flow?

You read that the frequency of a particular disease-associated recessive allele in a population is 12%. What does that mean?

True or false: Fossil evidence shows that all modern human populations evolved from human ancestors in Africa.

On Long Island, New York, a population of wall lizards that originated from a group in Italy is present. Several had been imported to be sold as pets many decades ago, and some escaped and started a new population in this suburban area. What concept applies to this situation?

What trait in humans is correlated with the humidity in the air to which the group is adapted?

About how long have modern humans existed?