Chapter 15-17 Review Questions
Chapter 15
Section 15-1: The Puzzle of Life’s Diversity:
- The process by which modern organisms have descended from ancient organisms is called ______
- A well-supported explanation of phenomena that have occurred in the natural world is a(an) ______
- Circle the letter of each sentence that is true about Charles Darwin.
- He was born in 1809.
- He was an English naturalist.
- He was 42 when he began the voyage on the Beagle.
- The voyage lasted 5 years and took him around the world.
- True or False: Darwin was looking for a scientific explanation for the diversity of life on Earth. ______
- Circle the letter of each observation that Darwin made:
- An enormous number of species inhabit Earth.
- Many organisms seem to be poorly suited to their environment.
- The same sorts of animals are always found in the same ecosystems in different parts of the world.
- Some species that lived in the past no longer live on Earth.
- The preserved remains of ancient organisms are called ______.
- How did Darwin explain differences in shell shape of tortoises from Hood Island and Isabela Island? ______
- Darwin observed that small brown birds on the Galapagos Islands differed in the shape of their ______.
Section 15-2: Ideas that Shaped Darwin’s Thinking:
- Two scientists who helped Darwin and others recognize how old Earth is were ______and ______
- Circle the letter of each idea that was proposed by James Hutton:
- Earth is a few thousand years old.
- Layers of rock are moved by forces beneath Earth’s surface.
- Most geological processes operate extremely slowly.
- The processes that changed Earth in the past are different from the processes that operate in the present.
- Circle the letter of each sentence that is true about Lyell’s work:
- His book, Principles of Geology, was published after Darwin returned from his voyage.
- His work explained how awesome geological features could be built up or torn down over long periods of time.
- His publications helped Darwin appreciate the significance of the geological phenomena that he had observed.
- He stressed that scientists must explain past events in terms of processes that they can actually observe.
- True or False: Lamarck was among the first scientists to recognize that living things have changed over time. ______
- True or False: Lamarck proposed that all organisms have an innate tendency toward complexity and perfection. ______
- How did Lamarck propose that species change over time? ______
- Circle the letter of each sentence that is true about Thomas Malthus:
- He was an important influence on Darwin.
- He was an English naturalist.
- He believed that war, famine, and disease limit the growth of populations.
- His views were influenced by conditions in 20th century England.
- True or False: The overwhelming majority of a species’ offspring survive. ______
Section 15-3: Darwin Presents His Case:
- True or False: When Darwin returned to England he rushed to publish his thoughts about evolution. ______
- The naturalist whose essay gave Darwin an incentive to publish his own work was ______.
- Circle the letter of each sentence that is true about Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species:
- It was published in 1869.
- It was ignored when it was first published.
- It contained evidence for evolution.
- It described natural selection.
- Differences among individuals of a species are referred to as ______.
- True or False: Genetic variation is found only in wild organisms in nature. ______
- Circle the letter of each sentence that is true about artificial selection.
- It is also called selective breeding.
- It occurs when humans select natural variations they find useful.
- It produces organisms that look very different from their ancestors.
- It is no longer used today.
- Match each term with its correct definition:
_____ fitness
_____ adaptation
_____ natural selection
- What does the phrase struggle for existence mean? ______
- True or False: Adaptations can by physical characteristics but not more complex features such as behavior. ______
- Explain what Darwin meant by the phrase survival of the fittest. ______
- Circle the letter of each sentence that is true about natural selection:
- It selects traits that increase fitness.
- It takes place without human control.
- It can be observed directly in nature.
- It leads to an increase in a species’ fitness.
- The principle that living species descend, with changes, from other species over time is referred to as ______.
- The principle that all species were derived from common ancestors is known as ______.
- True or False: Darwin argued that living things have been evolving on Earth for thousands of years. ______
- Circle the letter of the way Darwin explained the distribution of finch species on the Galapagos Islands:
- They had descended with modification from a common mainland ancestor.
- They had descended with modification from several different mainland ancestors.
- They had remained unchanged since arriving on the Galapagos from the mainland.
- They had become more similar to one another after arriving on the Galapagos.
- Structures that have different mature forms but develop from the same embryonic tissues are called ______.
- True or False: Homologous structures provide strong evidence that all 4-limbed vertebrates have descended, with modifications, from common ancestors. ______
- Organs that are so reduced in size that they are just vestiges, or traces, of homologous organs in other species are called ______.
- Circle the letter of each idea that is part of Darwin’s theory of evolution:
- There is variation in nature.
- Fewer organisms are produced that can survive.
- There is a struggle for existence.
- Species change over time.
- According to Darwin’s theory, what happens to individuals who characteristics are not well suited to their environment? ______
- Darwin believed that all organisms on Earth are united into a single tree of life by ______
Chapter 16
Section 16-1: Genes and Variation:
- A group of individuals of the same species that interbreed is a (an) ______.
- All of the genes in a population are called a (an) ______.
- True or False: A gene pool typically contains just one allele for each inheritable trait. ______
- The number of times that an allele occurs in a gene pool compared with the number of times other alleles for the same gene occur is called the ______of the allele.
- What is a mutation? ______
- Why do mutations occur? ______
- Circle the letter of each choice that is true about mutations;
- They do not always change an amino acid.
- They always affect lengthy segments of a chromosome.
- They always affect an organism’s phenotype.
- They always affect an organism’s fitness.
- True or False: Most heritable differences are due to gene shuffling that occurs during the production of gametes. ______
- Circle the letter of each choice that is true about sexual reproduction:
- It is a major source of variation in many populations.
- It can produce many different phenotypes.
- It can produce many different genetic combinations.
- It can change the relative frequency of alleles in a population.
- True or False: The number of phenotypes produced for a given trait depends on how many genes control the trait. ______
- True or False: Most traits are controlled by a single gene. ______
Section 16-2: Evolution as Genetic Change:
- True or False: Natural selection on single-gene traits cannot lead to changes in allele frequencies. ______
- If a trait made an organism less likely to survive and reproduce, what would happen to the allele for that trait? ______
- Match the type of selection with its correct description:
_____ Directional
_____ Stabilizing
_____ Disruptive
- True or False: Natural selection is the only source of evolutionary change. ______
- Random change in allele frequencies in small populations is called ______.
- A situation in which allele frequencies change as a result of the migration of a small subgroup of a population is known as the ______.
- What does the Hardy-Weinberg principle state? ______
- The situation in which allele frequencies remain constant is called ______.
- List the 5 conditions required to maintain genetic equilibrium:
- ______d. ______
- ______e. ______
- ______
Section 16-3: The Process of Speciation:
- What is speciation? ______
- True or False: Individuals in different species can have the same gene pool. ______
- What does it mean for two species to be reproductively isolated from each other? ______
- List 3 ways that reproductive isolation occurs:
- ______
- ______
- ______
- When does behavioral isolation occur? ______
- True or False: Eastern and Western meadowlarks are an example of behavioral isolation. ______
- When does geographic isolation occur? ______
- True or False: Geographic barriers guarantee the formation of new species. ______
- True or False: The basic mechanisms of evolutionary change cannot be observed in nature. ______
Chapter 17
Section 17-1: The Fossil Record:
- Scientists who study fossils are called ______.
- What is the fossil record? ______
- Species that died out are said to be ______.
- True or False: About ½ of all species that have ever lived on Earth have become extinct. ______
- Circle the letter of each sentence that is true about fossils:
- Most organisms that die are preserved as fossils.
- Fossils can include footprints, eggs, or other traces of organisms.
- Most fossils form in metamorphic rock.
- The quality of fossil preservation varies.
- List the 2 techniques paleontologists use to determine the age of fossils. ______and ______
- Circle the letter of each sentence that is true about relative dating:
- It determines the age of a fossil by comparing its placement with that of fossils in other layers of rock.
- It uses index fossils.
- It allows paleontologists to estimate a fossil’s age in years.
- It provides no information about absolute age.
- True or False: Older rock layers are usually closer to Earth’s surface than more recent rock layers. ______
- True or False: Scientists use radioactive decay to assign absolute ages to rocks. ______
- The length of time required for half of the radioactive atoms in a sample to decay is called a (an) ______.
- The use of half-lives to determine the age of a sample is called ______.
- How do scientists calculate the age of a sample using radioactive dating? ______
- True or False: All radioactive elements have the same half-life. ______
- Circle the letter of the choice that lists the eras of the geologic time scale in order from the most recent to the oldest:
- Mesozoic, Paleozoic, Cenozoic
- Cenozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic
- Cenozoic, Mesozoic, Paleozoic
- Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic
- Circle the letter of each sentence that is true about the geologic time scale:
- The scale is used to represent evolutionary time.
- Major changes in fossil organisms separate segments of geologic time.
- Divisions of the scale cover standard lengths of 100 million years.
- Geologic time begins with the Cambrian Period.
- After Precambrian time, what are the two basic divisions of the geologic time scale? ______and ______
- During which era did dinosaurs roam the Earth? ______
- During which era did mammals become common? ______
Section 17-2: Earth’s Early History:
- List 6 components of Earth’s early atmosphere:
- ______b. ______c. ______
d. ______e. ______f. ______
- True or False: Liquid water first occurred on Earth more than 4 billion years ago. ______
- Circle the letter of each sentence that is true about Miller and Urey’s experiments;
- Their purpose was to determine how the 1st organic molecules evolved.
- They led to the formation of several amino acids.
- They accurately simulated conditions in Earth’s early atmosphere.
- The results were never duplicated in experiments by other scientists.
- What are proteinoid microspheres? ______
- True or False: Scientists know how DNA and RNA evolved. ______
- Microscopic fossils are called ______.
- Circle the letter of each sentence that is true about the earliest life forms on Earth:
- They resembled modern bacteria.
- They were eukaryotes.
- They relied on oxygen.
- They were not preserved as fossils.
- How did early photosynthetic bacteria change Earth? ______
- True or False: The rise of oxygen in the atmosphere drove some life forms to extinction. ______
- True or False: The ancestor of all eukaryotic cells evolved about 2 billion years ago. ______
- What does the endosymbiotic theory propose? ______
- Circle the letter of each choice that provides support for the endosymbiotic theory:
- The membranes of mitochondria and chloroplasts resemble the plasma membranes of free-living prokaryotes.
- Mitochondria and chloroplasts do not have DNA.
- Mitochondria and chloroplasts have ribosomes that are similar in size and structure to those of bacteria.
- Mitochondria and chloroplasts reproduce by binary fission, as bacteria do.
- True or False: Sexual reproduction evolved after the first multicellular organisms appeared. ______
Section 17-4: Patterns of Evolution:
- The large-scale evolutionary changes that take place over long periods of time are referred to as ______.
- What are 6 patterns of macroevolution?
- ______d. ______
- ______e. ______
- ______f. ______
- What are possible causes of mass extinction? ______
- The process of a single species or a small group of species evolving into diverse forms that live in different ways is called ______.
- What led to the adaptive radiation of mammals? ______
- The process by which unrelated organisms come to resemble one another is called ______.
- Circle the letter of each choice that is an example of convergent evolution:
- Bird’s wing and fish’s fin
- Shark’s fin and dolphin’s limb
- Human’s arm and bird’s wing
- Human’s leg and dolphin’s limb
- The process by which 2 species evolve in response to changes in each other over time is called ______.
- The idea that evolution occurs at a slow, steady rate is called ______.
- The pattern of long, stable periods interrupted by brief periods of more rapid change is called ______.
- True or False: Evolution has often proceeded at different rates for different organisms. ______