A.   Adaptation is when an animal anticipates a change in the environment and prepares by changing its physiology or anatomy (for example Giraffes developing longer necks).

B.   Adaptation works in combination with natural selection, as advantageous features of some organisms within a population are preserved through generations.

C.   Adaptation is the result of repeated practice to improve skills or physiological abilities of a number of individuals over their adult lifetime, and then passing these improvements on to the next generation.

A.   Natural selection works towards the goal of achieving a design residing in the genes, i.e. the DNA of bacteria already contained the designs of humans (and even species of the future).

B.   Individuals within a population that have advantageous features can survive longer than others that don’t have such features, and having advantageous features increases the chances of procreating their kind.

C.   Natural selection is the phenomenon of animals selecting their ecological niche during the juvenile phase of their lifespan.

A.   By catching practially all fish above legal size, the fishery creates artificial selection for slower growth because smaller fish survive longer.

B.   The fishery increases mortality on the fish population so weak and sick fish are weeded out, so the fish population becomes healthier than desireable.

C.   By catching more fish that legally allowed, only the bigger fish can survive and reproduce less often.

A.   Continental drift drives population change and is therefore a function of fitness.

B.   Synonymous (silent) changes in DNA codons.

C.   The combination of survival and reproduction affects gene frequency in subsequent generations, which is one way to quantify fitness.

A.   This pattern reveals a mass extinction event.

B.   This pattern reveals genetic drift

C.   The genotype that is increasing in frequency most likely increases the fitness of the individuals who carry it.

A.   Genetic drift is a random fluctuation of genotype frequencies by a chance event.

B.   Genetic drift describes the speciation due to continental drift (tectonic plates).

C.   Genetic drift is the deterioration of genes leading to inhertiable disease.

A.   Because the community (“kin”) carries the same genes, and altruism increases chances of survival of the community (“kin selection”).

B.   Altruistic behavior is only selected for by evolution if it limits the survival of the altruistic individual.

C.   Altruistic behavior is an anomaly and not selected for by evolution.

A.   Pre-adaptation occurs when features are reverses, such as losing eye-sight in sub-terranean species.

B.   Pre-adaptation is the development of features in anticipation of environmental change (e.g. developing wings when a continent starts subsiding into the ocean).

C.   An adaptation that provides a specific advantage (e.f. wings are used for flying), but serves secondary functions in different circumstances (e.g. wings used for swimming, in aquatic birds).

A.   Only mass extinctions and genetic drift can reduce competition among species.

B.   Specialization on a specific niches partitions ressources and increases diversity.

C.   Evolving to obtain more competitive abilites and replacing competitive species (“survival of the fittest”).

A.   Only small part of DNA contains genetic information, because most information is stored in RNA.

B.   About 2% of genetic infromation is contained in DNA, and the rest in chromosomes that are free of DNA.

C.   Our DNA contains exons that contain coding sequences (genes) and DNA contains introns that are non-coding sequences.