Evolution Review 10th Grade Quiz

Evolution Review

Assessment

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Qiang Lin

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Biology

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10th Grade

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34 plays

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Hard

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18 questions

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Multiple Choice

2 mins

1 pt

In an experiment, 100 mice were released into a field to which no other mice had access. Immediately after their release, a representative sample of mice was captured, their fur color was recorded, and they were returned to the field. After twenty years, a representative sample of mice was captured and the distribution of fur color was again recorded. Which of the following could best explain the change in fur color distribution, as shown in the table above?

The allele for black fur color is unstable, and over twenty years most of the black fur alleles mutated to become alleles for gray fur.

The field was primarily composed of light-colored soil and little vegetation, affording gray mice protection from predators.

Sexual selection led to increased mating frequency of black and brown versus gray and brown.

The gray mice were harder to catch, and so were underrepresented in the twenty-year sample.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

1 pt

A species of snail lives in the intertidal zone along the coast of New England. The dark-colored variety of the species is more common in northern New England, the light-colored variety is more common two hundred miles away in southern New England, and both varieties are commonly found together in central New England. Which of the following best explains the observed distribution pattern of the snails?

The founder effect suggests that dark-colored snails migrated from the southern regions to the north and established the populations found there.

Genetic drift at the shell-color locus caused the northern population to become homozygous for the dark-color allele.

The mutation rate is higher in the south, as the longer days expose the snails to more ultraviolet radiation than in the north.

Dark-colored snails absorb more solar energy and so survive more readily in the colder northern waters.

Multiple Choice

1 min

1 pt

A small number of lizards from a mainland population have been deposited on four isolated islands because of the effects of a rare strong storm.

Which of the following best predicts the outcome of these lizards reproducing for many generations on the islands?

Courtship rituals specific to each island lizard species prevent the lizards from interbreeding.

Speciation results from bottleneck events that happened before the ancestral species reached the islands.

The different species that currently exist are the result of hybridization between lizards from different islands.

The isolation prevents gene flow; thus, the lizards on different islands experience prezygotic isolation.

Multiple Choice

1 min

1 pt

Which of the following is probably the best explanation for the fact that Antarctic penguins cannot fly, although there is evidence that millions of years ago their ancestors could do so?

Penguins live on land and feed in the water; therefore they have no need to fly.

The Antarctic home of penguins is flat and barren; therefore there is no place to fly.

Ancestral penguins without large wings were better able to swim and feed in the water; therefore they passed their genes for shorter wing structure on to their offspring.

Ancestral penguins did not use their wings for long periods of time; therefore today’s penguins have only tiny, nonfunctional wings.

Multiple Choice

1 min

1 pt

A biologist spent many years researching the rate of evolutionary change in the finch populations of a group of islands. It was determined that the average beak size (both length and mass) of finches in a certain population increased dramatically during an intense drought between 1981 and 1987. During the drought, there was a reduction in the number of plants producing thin-walled seeds. Which of the following procedures was most likely followed to determine the change in beak size?

A few finches were trapped in 1981 and again in 1987, and their beak sizes were compared.

The beak size in fifteen finches was measured in 1987, and the beak size in the original finches was determined by estimation.

The beak size in a large number of finches was measured every year from 1981 to 1987.

Finches were captured and bred in 1981, and the beak size of the offspring was measured.