Evolution Practice Questions

Evolution Practice Questions

____ 1. Spontaneous generation has been offered as an explanation for
a. the birth of live offspring from a mother b. the germination of a seed. c. the appearance of maggots on rotting meat. d. All of the above

____ 2. The age of Earth is estimated to be
a. 2 million years. b. 2 billion years. c. 2 trillion years. d. 4 billion years.

____ 3. Which of the following are examples of fossils?
a. shells or old bones b. any traces of dead organisms c. footprints of human ancestors, insects trapped in tree sap, and animals buried in tar d. All of the above

____ 4. The process by which a population becomes better suited to its environment is known as
a. accommodation. b. variation. c. adaptation. d. selection.

____ 5. Which of the following is a vestigial structure?
a. the human tailbone b. the bill of a finch c. flower color d. fossil cast

____ 6. Homologous structures in organisms suggest that the organisms
a. share a common ancestor. b. must have lived at different times. c. have a skeletal structure. d. are now extinct.

____ 7. Structures that no longer serve an important function are called
a. inorganic. b. mutated. c. fossilized. d. vestigial.

____ 8. The accumulation of differences between species or populations is called
a. gradualism. b. adaptation. c. divergent evolution. d. cumulative differentiation.

____ 9. Lucy’s skeleton revealed that she was bipedal. This means that she
a. walked using all four limbs. b. lived in trees. c. walked on two legs. d. crawled along the jungle floor.

10. The concept of spontaneous generation states that living things could arise from ____________________.

11. A species that has disappeared permanently is said to be ____________________.

12. A change in species over time is called ____________________.

13. A(n) ____________________ consists of all the individuals of a particular species in a particular place.

14. Homologous structures are similar because they originated in a shared ____________________.

15. ____________________ structures are similar because they originated in a shared ancestor.

16. Closely related species show more ____________________ in nucleotide sequences than distantly related species.

17. For each of the characteristics named below, describe how it might provide a selective advantage for males possessing the characteristic. Write your answers in the space below.
a. larger than average antlers on a deer
b. a more elaborate than average nest built by a bower bird
c. the ability of an insect to remove another insect’s sperm packet from the reproductive tract of a female



Evolution Practice Questions
Answer Section
1. C

2. D

3. D

4. C

5. A

6. A

7. D

8. C

9. C
10. nonliving things

11. extinct

12. evolution

13. population

14. ancestor

15. Homologous

16. similarities
17.
a. A male deer with larger than average antlers would be more likely to win battles with other males, sending the other males away or killing them. Thus, a deer with larger antlers would be more likely to mate with a female deer and produce offspring.
b. A bower bird that builds a more elaborate nest than other bower birds is more likely to attract the attention of a female. Thus, he is also more likely to mate with a female bower bird and produce offspring.
c. A male insect that could remove another male’s sperm packet from a female’s body could then mate with the female himself. Thus, this insect would be more likely to produce offspring than males that don’t have this ability.