Question 1

$\begin{array}{|l|l|l|l|}
\hline&  \text {Female Preference}&
 \text {Male Courtship }& \text {Redness of}\ 
\text { Fish \#}&\text { Score}&\text { Behavior}&\text { Male Throat}\& \begin{array}{l}
\end{array} \
\hline & (0-3) &\text { (\# per mimute) }& (0-10) \
\hline 1 & 0 & 1.75 &5.00 \
\hline 2 & 0 & 0.28 & 5.00 \
\hline 3 & 0 & 0.00 & 7.00 \
\hline 4 & 0 & 0.74 & 5.00 \
\hline 5 & 0 & 0.11 & 3.00 \
\hline 6 & 0 & 1.20 &4.00 \
\hline 7 & 0 & 0.28 & 6.50 \
\hline 8 & 0 & 0.49 & 5.50 \
\hline 9 & 0 & 1.55 & 6.50 \
\hline 10 & 1 & 2.57 & 7.50 \
\hline 11 & 1 & 6.48 & 7.00 \ 
\hline 12 & 1 & 1.89 & 7.50 \
\hline 13 & 1 & 0.48 & 5.00 \
\hline 14 & 1 & 0.14 & 8.00 \
\hline 15 & 1 & 8.04 & 7.50 \
\hline 16 & 1 & 0.38 & 7.50 \
\hline 17 & 1 & 3.81 & 8.00 \
\hline 18 & 2 & 8.23 & 8.00 \
\hline 19 & 2 & 10.00 &6.50 \
\hline 20 & 2 & 11.07 & 6.00 \
\hline 21 & 2 & 1.87 & 6.50 \
\hline 22 & 3 & 3.30 & 6.00 \
\hline 23 & 3 & 12.93 & 7.00 \
\hline 24 & 3 & 12.72 & 7.50 \
\hline
\end{array}$
 
-The data in the accompanying table are from an experiment seeking to determine why some male fish attract more females than others. A scientist scored females' preference for particular males from 0 (low) to 3 (high), the number of zig-zag courtship dances the males did for each female, and the intensity of the color of the male's throat, a trait that generally indicates sexual maturity. Which hypothesis is supported by the data in the table?

Accepted Answer

A)   Females prefer males that spend little time in courtship.
B)   Male fish spend less than a minute courting females that do show a preference toward them.
C)   Males generally spend more time courting females that show an interest in them (demonstrate a preference) .
D)   The redness of a male's throat predicts how much a female is likely to prefer him.  C

Question 2

According to this figure, which pair of organisms shares the most recent common ancestor?

Accepted Answer

A)   lungfishes and amphibians
B)   amphibians and lizards
C)   mammals and crocodiles
D)   lizards and ostriches D

Question 3

Which of the following statements would Darwin have disagreed with?

Accepted Answer

A)   Species change over time.
B)   Living species have arisen from earlier life-forms.
C)   Descent with modification occurs through inheritance of acquired characteristics.
D)   Descent with modification occurs by natural selection. C

Question 4

Broccoli, cabbages, and Brussels sprouts all descend from the same wild mustard and can still interbreed. These varieties were produced by

Accepted Answer

A)   artificial selection.
B)   natural selection.
C)   genetic drift.
D)   inheritance of acquired characteristics.

Question 5

The change in curves in the graph represents

Accepted Answer

A)   a decrease in genetic variation in a population of mice.
B)   the appearance of a new allele for darker color in a population of mice.
C)   a shift in the range of genetic variation in a population of mice.
D)   a lack of genetic variation for light fur color in the original population of mice.

Question 6

Which of the following would most quickly be eliminated by natural selection?

Accepted Answer

A)   a harmful allele in an asexual, haploid population
B)   a harmful recessive allele in a sexual, diploid population
C)   a harmful recessive allele in a sexual, polyploid population
D)   any harmful allele, regardless of the system of inheritance in a population

Question 7

Tay-Sachs is inherited as an autosomal recessive allele. Homozygous individuals die within the first few years of life. However, there is some evidence that heterozygous individuals are more resistant to tuberculosis. Which of the following statements about Tay-Sachs is true?

Accepted Answer

A)   The allele for Tay-Sachs is always selected against.
B)   This situation is an example of heterozygote advantage if tuberculosis is present in a population.
C)   This situation is an example of disruptive selection.
D)   Heterozygotes will be more fit than either homozygote regardless of environmental conditions.

Question 8

In a large population of plants, notches in the leaves are caused by a dominant allele N and lack of notches by a recessive allele n. Over many generations the proportion of plants in the population with notched leaves increases. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

A)   Dominant alleles generally increase in frequency over time.
B)   The recessive alleles were all masked by the dominant alleles.
C)   Directional selection favored plants with notched leaves.
D)   Genetic drift caused a steady movement toward a greater proportion of plants with notched leaves.

Question 9

A farmer decides to go into the business of raising trout for tourists who enjoy fishing. She builds six trout ponds and stocks each of them with trout from genetically identical stock. Her friends tell her that because she started each pond with just a few trout, she has created a bottleneck effect and her trout populations are likely to become genetically different rapidly. Which of the following statements about her trout is likely true?

Accepted Answer

A)   Because they are all genetically alike, they will all remain alike even though the ponds are different.
B)   Because each population started off genetically identical, any mutation that occurs in one pond will also occur in the others.
C)   Because the ponds are different and the populations are likely to experience different mutations, the populations will likely diverge evolutionarily, but only over many generations.
D)   The increase in genetic diversity caused by sexual reproduction will promote evolutionary divergence over time.

Question 10

A population is

Accepted Answer

A)   a group of individuals of the same species that live in the same area and interbreed.
B)   all individuals of a species, regardless of location or time period in which they live.
C)   a group of individuals of different species living in the same place at the same time.
D)   a group of individuals of a species plus all of the other species with which they interact.

Question 11

Some butterflies can ingest toxic chemicals from the milkweed plants they feed on and then can store those chemicals in their body. Because toxins stored in the butterflies are toxic to birds, the birds avoid eating the butterflies. Which of the following is the best explanation for this situation?

Accepted Answer

A)   Butterflies that stored the chemicals were never eaten by predators, so those butterflies survived.
B)   Butterflies developed a mutation that led them to be able to store the chemical because they needed to avoid being eaten.
C)   Milkweed plants wanted the butterflies to ingest the chemical so they would no longer feed on the plant, but the butterflies fooled the milkweed by storing the toxic chemicals.
D)   Any butterfly allele that allowed milkweed toxin storage would be likely to persist because butterflies that had it were more likely to survive.

Question 12

Large antlers in male elk, which are used for battles between males, are a good example of a trait favored by

Accepted Answer

A)   intersexual selection.
B)   intrasexual selection.
C)   disruptive selection.
D)   stabilizing selection.

Question 13

Genetic drift resulting from a disaster that drastically reduces population size is called

Accepted Answer

A)   natural selection.
B)   gene flow.
C)   the bottleneck effect.
D)   the founder effect.

Question 14

A rabbit population consists of animals that are either very dark on top or very light on top. The color pattern is not related to sex. No rabbit shows intermediate coloration (medium darkness). This pattern might result from

Accepted Answer

A)   disruptive selection.
B)   directional selection.
C)   stabilizing selection.
D)   sexual selection.

Question 15

Which of the following disciplines has found evidence for evolution based on the native distributions (locations) of living species?

Accepted Answer

A)   molecular biology
B)   comparative anatomy
C)   geographic distribution
D)   paleontology

Question 16

Which of the following statements regarding natural selection is false?

Accepted Answer

A)   Natural selection depends on the local environment at the current time.
B)   Natural selection starts with the creation of new alleles that are directed toward improving an organism's fitness.
C)   Natural selection and evolutionary change can occur in a short period of time (a few generations) .
D)   Natural selection can be observed working in organisms alive today.

Question 17

What evidence is used to determine the branching sequence of an evolutionary tree?

Accepted Answer

A)   experiments in artificial selection
B)   anatomical or molecular homologous structures
C)   the number of genes present in an organism
D)   an overall assessment of general similarities between organisms

Question 18

Thirty people are selected for a long-term mission to colonize a planet many light-years away from Earth. The mission is successful, and the population rapidly grows to several hundred individuals. However, certain genetic diseases are unusually common in this group, and the group's gene pool is quite different from that of the Earth population they have left behind. Which of the following phenomena has left its mark on this population?

Accepted Answer

A)   founder effect
B)   bottleneck effect
C)   high rates of mutation
D)   natural selection

Question 19

In populations of the greater prairie chicken in Illinois, genetic diversity was lost through

Accepted Answer

A)   mutation and restored by natural selection.
B)   genetic drift and restored by natural selection.
C)   gene flow and restored by mutation.
D)   genetic drift and restored by gene flow.

Question 20

Which of the following will tend to produce adaptive changes in populations?

Accepted Answer

A)   genetic drift
B)   gene flow
C)   natural selection
D)   the founder effect

Exam 13: How Populations Evolve