Biology 101 - General Biology » Spring 2022 » Module 4 Quiz 1

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Question #1
Darwin's observation of the Galápagos Islands finches' various beaks and behaviors could be explained by
A.   inherited traits that did not survive.
B.   adaptations to the specific foods available on their mainland.
C.   adaptations forged by natural selection.
D.   modification with descent.
Question #2
DDT was once considered a "silver bullet" that would permanently eradicate insect pests. Instead, today DDT is largely useless against many insects. Which of the following should have occurred for this pest eradication effort to be successful in the long run?
A.   The frequency of DDT application should have been higher.
B.   All habitats should have received applications of DDT at about the same time.
C.   Larger doses of DDT should have been applied.
D.   None of the individual insects should have possessed genomes that made them resistant to DDT.
Question #3
Which of the following must exist in a population before natural selection can act upon that population?
A.   variation among individuals caused by environmental factors
B.   genetic variation among individuals
C.   sexual reproduction
D.   All of these are correct.
Question #4
How does phylogeny differ from systematics?
A.   in the hierarchy of classification
B.   in classifying organisms
C.   in the naming of organisms
D.   in the classification of organisms by evolutionary history
Question #5
Which of the following are problematic when the goal is to construct phylogenies that accurately reflect evolutionary history?
A.   polyphyletic taxa
B.   paraphyletic taxa
C.   monophyletic taxa
D.   polyphyletic and paraphyletic taxa
Question #6
Linnaeus was a "fixist" who believed that species remained fixed in the form in which they had been created. Linnaeus would have been uncomfortable with
A.   nested, ever-more inclusive categories of organisms.
B.   the scientific discipline known as taxonomy.
C.   classifying organisms using the morphospecies concept.
D.   phylogenies.
Question #7
Some molecular data place the giant panda in the bear family (Ursidae) but place the lesser panda in the raccoon family (Procyonidae). Consequently, the morphological similarities of these two species are probably due to
A.   inheritance of acquired characteristics.
B.   inheritance of shared derived characters.
C.   sexual selection.
D.   possession of analogous structures.
Question #8
What is the founder effect?
A.   when a few individuals become isolated from a larger population, and their gene pool differs from that source population
B.   a series of chance events that change allele frequency
C.   a selection of the best-suited traits for the environment
D.   a sudden change in the environment that reduces the size of the population
Question #9
How did Mendel's model of inheritance help explain Darwin's theory of natural selection?
A.   by proposing mechanism of how organisms transmit discrete heritable units
B.   by leading to evolutionary change
C.   by explaining natural selection of genetic differences
D.   by observations of individuals differences in traits
Question #10
If the original finches that had been blown over to the Galápagos Islands from South America had already been genetically different from the parental population of South American finches, even before adapting to the Galápagos, this would have been an example of
A.   the bottleneck effect.
B.   genetic drift.
C.   the founder effect.
D.   genetic drift and the founder effect.

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