CHAPTER 16 PRACTICE TEST EVOLUTION

Name ______________________________
CHAPTER 16 PRACTICE TEST
EVOLUTION
Period _____ Date ___________ Seat ____
_______
1. Who observed variations in the characteristics of plants and animals on the Galapagos
Islands?
a. James Hutton
c. Charles Lyell
b. Thomas Malthus
d. Charles Darwin
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2. In different parts of the world, Darwin found unrelated species that looked alike
because
a. the species lived in different environments.
b. the species lived in similar environments.
c. the species were closely related.
d. the species once lived in the same place.
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3. Which of the following ideas proposed by Lamarck was later found to be incorrect?
a. Acquired characteristics can be inherited.
b. All species are descended from other species.
c. Living things change over time.
d. There is a relationship between an organism and its environment.
_______
4. Which of the following would an animal breeder use to increase the amount of milk
given by his herd of cows?
a. overproduction
c. acquired characteristics
b. genetic isolation
d. artificial selection
_______
5. An inherited characteristic that increases an organism’s ability to survive and reproduce
its environment is called a(n)
a. vestigial structure.
c. homologous structure.
b. adaptation.
d. variation.
_______
6. What do evolutionary trees show?
a. all life depends on trees
b. all life is changing due to natural selection
c. all living species are descended from earlier ancestors
d. all life evolves to the point of perfection
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7. Series of related fossils are important evidence of evolution because they show
a. how organisms changed over time.
b. how animals behaved in their environments.
c. how the embryos of organisms develop.
d. molecular homologies.
_______
8. The wing of a bird that cannot fly is an example of a(n)
a. analogous structure.
c. vestigial structure.
b. homologous structure.
d. molecular structure.
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CHAPTER 16 PRACTICE TEST
EVOLUTION
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9. Lyell’s Principles of Geology influenced Darwin because it explained how
a. organisms change over time.
c. Earth must be very old
b. adaptations occur.
d. why finches inhabit the Galapagos
_______
10. The ability of an individual organism to survive and reproduce in its natural environment
is called
a. natural selection
c. descent with modification
b. evolution
d. fitness
_______
11. Which of the following is an important concept in Darwin’s theory of evolution by
natural selection?
a. descent with modification
b. homologous molecules
c. processes that change the surface of Earth
d. the tendency toward perfection
_______
12. Which of the following provides evidence for evolution?
a. fossil record
b. homologous structures of living organisms
c. geographical distribution of living things
d. all of the above
_______
13. DNA and RNA provide evidence of evolution because
a. all organisms have nearly identical DNA and RNA.
b. no two organisms have exactly the same DNA.
c. each RNA codon specifies just one amino acid.
d. in most organisms, the same codons specify for the same amino acids.
Questions 14 and 15
The birds shown below are two of the species of finches Darwin found on the Galapagos Islands.
_______
14. What process produced the two different types of beaks shown?
a. artificial selection
c. geographical distribution
b. natural selection
d. disuse of the beak
_______
15. The large ground finch obtains food by cracking seeds. Its short, strong beak is an
example of
a. the struggle for existence.
c. the tendency toward perfection.
b. an adaptation.
d. a vestigial organ.
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CHAPTER 16 PRACTICE TEST
EVOLUTION
16.
What connection did Darwin make between the Galapagos tortoises and their environments?
17.
Why was Darwin’s trip on the Beagle so important to his development of the theory of natural
selection?
18.
According to Malthus, what factors limit human population growth?
19.
Lamarck made a very significant contribution to science, even though his explanation of evolution
was wrong. Explain how Lamarck helped other scientists.
20.
Could artificial selection happen without inherited variation? Explain your answer.
21.
What is fitness, in evolutionary terms?
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CHAPTER 16 PRACTICE TEST
EVOLUTION
22.
Many species of birds build nests in which they lay eggs and care for their young. How does this
behavior relate to reproductive fitness?
23.
How does DNA provide evidence for common descent?
24.
Darwin hypothesized that natural selection led to the different beak shapes in the Galapagos
finches. Describe how the Grants tested this hypothesis. Did their data support Darwin’s
hypothesis?
Use the illustration below to answer question 25.
25.
Based on what you can see, are the brown mice or white mice better adapted to their
environment? Explain why.
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CHAPTER 16 PRACTICE TEST
EVOLUTION
26.
Compare and contrast the processes of artificial and natural selection.
Use the following information to answer questions 27—29.
Hawaiian honeycreepers like the i’iwi have a lot in common with the Galapagos finches. Like the
finches, the honey creepers are small birds found nowhere else on Earth. They live on islands far from
the mainland. And like the finches, the 20 known species of honeycreepers are closely related to one
another. This suggests the honeycreepers are all descended, with modification, from a common
ancestor that arrived on the islands between 3 and 4 million years ago.
27.
Imagine a small group of birds landed on one of the Hawaiian Islands millions of years ago. This
small population then reproduced. Do you think all of the descendants would have stayed on that
one island? Explain your answer.
28.
Do you think that environmental conditions are the same everywhere on all of the Hawaiian
Islands? How might the environment have affected the evolution of the honeycreepers?
29.
Explain how the different species of honeycreepers in Hawaii today might have evolved from one
ancestral species.
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CHAPTER 16 PRACTICE TEST
EVOLUTION
30.
List one misconception people have about evolution and explain why it is a mistaken belief.
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