Chapter 21 The Evidence For Evolution

_______ are the preserved remains, tracks, or traces of once-living organisms.

Natural selection is a _________ that results in a historical record called _________.

_________ _________ is a term used to describe an evolutionary event in which darker individuals come to predominate over lighter individuals as a result of increased air pollution and the process of natural selection by predators.

The "clear air acts" passed in both America and England caused the ratio of dark to light moths in Biston populations in unpolluted areas to _______ _____ ________.

Some of the most dramatic evidence for evolution has come from human agriculture. One of the most highly selected crop plants is

• Peas.

• Tomatoes.

• Potatoes.

• Corn.

• Asparagus.

Natural selection varies the shape of the beaks among Darwin's finches in response

• To the available food supply.

• To the available nest building material supplies.

• To the availability of potential mating partners.

• To presence of ectoparasites on their feathers.

• To the need to improve their feather preening abilities.

Darwin concluded that evolution was at work by studying the shapes of

• Seeds.

• Malarial parasites.

• Peppered moths.

• Hemoglobins.

• Beaks of finches.

Progressive changes in fossils of different ages provides one of the strongest lines of evidence for

• Extinction.

• Evolution.

• Coevolution.

• Adaptation.

• Mutation.

The evolution of similar forms in different lineages when exposed to the same selective pressures is

• Called divergence.

• Called convergence.

• Referred to as successive homologies.

• Referred to as descent.

• Also known as natural selection.

Evidence for evolution includes all of the following except

• The fossil record.

• Homologous structures.

• The molecular record.

• Intelligent design.

• Vestigial structures.

A technique used in dating a rock can be used to accurately predict the age of the fossils occurring in the rocks. This technique involves

• Fossil dating.

• Successive rock layering.

• Radioactive isotope decay.

• Structural geology.

• Developmental geology.

You see a sign on a door that reads "Homologous Structures Inside." You go in and find

• Structures of animals that appear to have evolved from different parts of their bodies.

• Structures of animals that have difference appearances and functions but seem to have evolved from the same body part in a common ancestor.

• Structures of animals that have the same appearances and functions but obviously no common ancestor.

• Structures of animals that have different appearances and functions but different ancestors.

Today, the fossil record

• Can be dated only with one layer in relation to older layers below and younger layers above, no actual dates can be estimated.

• Can be dated reasonably well only with uranium-238.

• Can be dated reasonably well using a variety of radioactive isotopes with known half-lives.

• Can be dated precisely, to within a single year, using radioactive isotopes.

• Can be dated precisely, to within a single year, using DNA hybridization.

Which of the following is not a vestigial trait in humans?

• Ear-wiggling muscles

• Muscles that make body hairs stand on end

• Fingers

• Appendix

• Wisdom teeth

The shape of the beaks of Darwin's finches, industrial melanism, and sickle-cell disease are often cited as examples of the process of _______________ leading to evolutionary change.

• Artificial selection

• Coevolution

• Intelligent design

• Founder effect

• Natural selection

The wings of birds and butterflies are examples of structures that resemble each other and have similar function, but are the result of parallel evolution in separate lineages. These structures are called

• Analogous structures.

• Homologous structures.

• Vestigial structures.

• Embryonic structures.

• Homozygous structures.

It could be said that today's Australian marsupials and today's placental mammals have

• Undergone divergent evolution.

• Undergone selective advantage.

• Undergone heterozygote advantage.

• Undergone convergent evolution.

• Developed homologous structures.

Which statement best describes the correlation between beak depths of Geospiza fortis on the Galápagos island Daphne major and the dryness of the environment?

• Birds with large beaks are favored during a wet year.

• Birds with small beaks are favored in dry years.

• Birds with large beaks are favored during dry years.

• Birds with either size beak (large or small) are favored equally.

Many organisms possess structures that have no apparent function, but they resemble structures of presumed ancestors. This is the study of

• The fossil record

• The molecular record

• Homology

• Development

• Vestigial structures

Structures that are derived from the same body part in a common ancestor but may have different appearances and functions are called

• Analogous structures.

• Homologous structures.

• Vestigial structures.

• Embryonic structures.

• Homozygous structures.

A biologist seeing a sign describing evolution as "just a theory" would think that

• Evolution is a theory that is supported with a tremendous amount of evidence.

• Evolution is just a collection of facts without a central theme and this is not a theory.

• Evolution is what Darwin proposed to account for all the changes he observed in the finches so it is a hypothesis, not a theory.

• Evolution occurred in the past, but it is not occurring in the present, so it cannot be a theory.

The side toes of a horse, the pelvis of the whale, and the human appendix are all examples of

• Analogous structures.

• Homologous structures.

• Vestigial structures.

• Homeotic mutations.

• Acquired structures.

The evidence for industrial melanism as being due to an increase in the dark allele was provided from field tests carried out by

• Kettlewell.

• Lamarck.

• Darwin.

• Lamarck.

• Wallace.

Which of the following is an example of convergent evolution? 

• Australian marsupials and placental mammals of other continents

• Analogous organs of horses, antelopes, and deer

• Homologous organs of apes and humans

• Skull bones of vertebrates

• All of the species in a genus of placental mammals

The most precise method of obtaining estimates of the absolute ages of geological deposits is

• Measure rates of sedimentary rock formation.

• Measure the ratios of various radioactive isotopes in the deposits.

• Apply the principle of superposition (younger deposits above older deposits).

• Make salinity measurements in ocean sediment deposits.

• Study the sequence of fossil types in the deposits.

The molecular record suggests that a series of evolutionary changes is tied to a progressive accumulation of

• Extinctions.

• Alterations of DNA sequences.

• Modifications of the environment.

• Somatic mutations.

• Structural modifications.

In the case of the toothed whales, the fossil record

• Shows they evolved from fish.

• Shows they evolved from swimming dinosaurs.

• Shows they evolved from a land mammal with hooves.

• Has fragmentary evidence that cannot be explained.

• Has no evidence about how they evolved.

Marsupials are a very ancestral form of mammal, evolving before placental mammals over 70 million years ago. Today Australian marsupials can be compared to placental mammals on other continents.   When you compare Australian marsupials to placental mammals today 

• The marsupials are all very primitive, having changed very little during the last 70 million years.

• The marsupials are very similar to placental mammals in the ways they have adapted to similar ecological niches.

• The marsupials have evolved much more rapidly than placental mammals and are more highly adapted.

• The marsupial fossils look remarkably similar to the placental mammals of today.

• Living marsupials are little changed from the earliest marsupial fossil forms.

A rock contains 18 mg of the radioactive isotope carbon-14. The half-life of carbon-14 is 5,600 years. How many half-lives and years will it take before the carbon-14 decays to less than 4 mg?

• 1 half-lives; 5,600 years

• 2 half-lives; 11,200 years

• 3 half-lives; 16,800 years

• 4 half-lives; 22,400 years

• 9 half-lives; 50,400 years

Which one of the following features of Archaeopteryx clearly demonstrates that it was on the evolutionary line leading from dinosaurs to birds?

• Egg-laying ability

• Teeth

• Feathers

• Bony tail

• Claws on forelimbs

Which of the following features of ancient horses is not an adaptation for living on open grasslands?

• Multiple toes

• Complex patterns of ridges on molar and premolars

• Lengthening of limbs

• Increase in body size

• High-speed locomotion

A friend is trying to understand the concept of convergent evolution. Which one of the following statements best describes this concept?  

• Convergent evolution occurs when two species living in the same area become reproductively isolated.

• Convergent evolution occurs when two species living in different areas become reestablished and are able to reproduce.

• Convergent evolution occurs when two species living in the same area are competing for the same resource thus causing one to evolve away from the other.

• Convergent evolution occurs when two species living in different areas evolve similarities through natural selection acting on those characteristics.

Which of the following does not illustrate shared ancestry by anatomical comparison studies?

• Same structure has evolved to carry out different function

• Structure loses its function altogether

• Different structures evolve in similar ways when subjected to the same selective pressures

• Structure becomes vestigial

• Structures found to be homologous

The observation that different geographical areas sometimes exhibit plant and animal communities of similar appearance, even though the individual plants and animals are not closely related, is called

• The fossil record.

• Homology.

• Convergent evolution.

• Divergent evolution.

• Adaptation.

A major implication of this study of Drosophila is

• Absolutely no data to prove or disprove the theory of evolution.

• It takes thousands to millions of generations to see evolutionary change, if at all.

• Dramatic variation may be present within a population, but may not be observable unless strong selection occurs.

• Dramatic mutations may occur within a population under strong selection.

• Although evolutionary change was observed, this would not be expected in higher organisms such as mice.

Domestication of dogs has led to

• A variety of homologous structures.

• A variety of phenotypes.

• A variety of mutations.

• A variety of analogous breeds.

• Many different species.

Industrial melanism involving the peppered moths (Biston sp.) is cited as an example of natural selection that has been observed in the last one hundred years. Recall that the peppered moth exhibits two distinct morphological types with dark and light colored wings. Which of the following statements about changes in these two types of moths as a result of industrial melanism is true?    

• The dark forms are selected against in nonpolluted forests.

• The dark forms are distasteful to birds and are thus safe in polluted forests.

• The light forms are selected against in nonpolluted forests.

• Birds prey on the dark and light forms equally and neither morph has an advantage.

• Dark forms emigrate from nonpolluted forests to polluted forests.

Which of the following seems to be least important in understanding the basis for industrial melanism?

• Abundance of lichens on trees

• Greater crypticity of the dark moths on trees in polluted woodlands

• Darkening of bark surfaces by pollutants

• Greater crypticity of the light moths on trees in unpolluted woodlands

• Differential predation by birds

Radioactive isotopes are used in dating materials from the distant past. Which of the following statements about radioactive dating techniques is true?

• It gives the general ages of rock strata. (± 1 million years).

• It gives exact ages of rock strata. (± 1 year).

• It uses a technique in which the degree of radioactive decay is measured, the younger the rock the more radioactive decay.

• It uses a technique in which the degree of radioactive decay is measured, the older the rock the more radioactive decay.

• It does not work well with fossil remains that have not absorbed radiation.

Which one of the following "alternate" hypotheses might also explain industrial melanism?

• Dark moths are more resistant to the toxic effects of pollution than light moths.

• Dark moths emigrate out of polluted areas to escape the pollution.

• Pollution kills important tree species that peppered moths depend on for egg laying.

• Because dark moths absorb more heat they are more active and better able to avoid bird predation.

• Birds used the marks that Kettlewell placed on the moths when he released them to help them find and capture the moths.

Natural selection has favored the dark form of the peppered moth in areas subject to severe air pollution, perhaps because on darkened trees moth-eating birds less easily see them. As pollution abated, the light forms were favored because

• They are more cryptic.

• Of migration from more polluted areas.

• Of directional mutation.

• They were preyed on more.

• Of a bottleneck effect.

The evolution of different forms in the same lineage when exposed to different selective pressures is called

• Convergence.

• Homology.

• Phylogeny.

• Analogy.

• Divergence.

In comparing artificial and natural selection, which of the following statements is true?

• Artificial selection is slower than natural selection.

• Artificial selection is reversible; natural selection is not.

• Artificial selection can produce maladaptive structures, natural selection cannot.

• Artificial selection cannot produce changes as large as changes produced by natural selection.

• In artificial selection, the magnitude of the selection pressure can be varied; in natural selection, it cannot.

The half-life of carbon-14 is 5,600 years. A fossil that has one-eighth the normal proportion of carbon-14 to carbon-12 is probably

• 2,800 years old.

• 5,600 years old.

• 11,200 years old.

• 16,800 years old.

• 22,400 years old.

Which of the following features of the humans does not provide evidence for its evolution from other vertebrates?

• Lanugo; fine fur during development

• Gill slits during development

• Long bony tail during development

• Opposable thumb

• Limb bones

The convergence in form seen in sharks, tuna and dolphins best relates to

• A recent shared common ancestor.

• Dissimilar selection pressures.

• The physical properties of water.

• The need to escape fast-moving predators.

• Intelligent design.

Industrial melanism is a term describing

• A rock contains 18 mg of the radioactive isotope carbon-14. The half-life of carbon-14 is 5,600 years. How many half-lives and years will it take before the carbon-14 decays to less than 4 mg? A. 1 half-lives; 5,600 years B. 2 half-lives; 11,200 years C. 3 half-lives; 16,800 years D. 4 half-lives; 22,400 years E. 9 half-lives; 50,400 years A rock contains 18 mg of the radioactive isotope carbon-14. The half-life of carbon-14 is 5,600 years. How many half-lives and years will it take before the carbon-14 decays to less than 4 mg? A. 1 half-lives; 5,600 years B. 2 half-lives; 11,200 years C. 3 half-lives; 16,800 years D. 4 half-lives; 22,400 years E. 9 half-lives; 50,400 years the color change induced by living in industrialized areas.

• The darker moths having higher mutation rates because of industrialization.

• the evolutionary process in which initially light-colored organisms become dark as a result of natural selection.

• The darker moths having higher reproductive success because of their pigmentation.

• The widespread implementation of pollution controls.

In the laboratory, fruit flies (Drosophila) were artificially selected for the number of bristles on their bodies. One population (R) was selected for low numbers of bristles, a second population (S) for high numbers of bristles.   After 35 generations (about 1 year's time), the two populations R and S were studied. Researchers found 

• No change was seen; it's much too soon.

• Some slight increase of bristle numbers was already evident.

• A vast, overlapping range of bristle numbers was seen.

• A slight increase in bristles in S, a slight decrease in R, with a little overlap in the middle ranges.

• A huge increase in S, a huge decrease in R, with no overlap whatsoever.