Biological Evolution Exam 2
- 1.Where did modern humans originate?
- A.
In Europe
- B.
In Africa
- C.
In Asia
- D.
As a large population across the entire old world
- 2.What evidence refutes the multiregional hypothesis regarding the origin of modern humans?
- A.
Human populations from Africa have much more mitochondrial diversity than populations from other areas of the world.
- B.
There is evidence of introgression between modern humans and other hominin species.
- C.
Not all hominin species are part of the direct lineage leading to modern humans.
- D.
Fossils of homonin species dating to nearly 2 million years ago can be found at various sites across the old world.
- 3.What are the odds that you are genetically identical to a full sibling who is not your monozygotic (identical) twin?
- A.
1 out of 23
- B.
1 out of 32.6
- C.
1 out of 7.1 billion
- D.
> 1 out of 76 trillion
- 4.Why did it take so long to unify the ideas of natural selection and Mendelian genetics?
- A.
Darwin’s ideas were superseded by Lamarck’s until Weismann’s cell theory disproved the likelihood of common spontaneous generation.
- B.
Mathematical model of sufficient complexity couldn’t be developed before the advent of modern computers.
- C.
The importance of Mendel’s work on genetic inheritance was largely ignored for nearly 80 years.
- D.
The ideas are too disparate and common ground was impossible until the theory of uniformitarianism provided a way to merge the two.
- 5.Which of the following best describes the hypothesis of Thomas Malthus and his work on population growth when applied to the human population over the last two hundred years?
- A.
The human population, unlike most populations, doesn’t grow exponentially and so we have avoided the problem of not having enough resources for our population.
- B.
The “green revolution” has allowed our agricultural production to keep up with the exponential growth of the human population.
- C.
Wars, famines and genocide have prevented the human population from growing exponentially.
- D.
Because of disease and it’s impact on the early homonin species we are only now beginning to experience the conflict between population size and resource availability.
- 6.What are the two key components of cell theory? (mark both answers)
- A.
All living organisms are made up of cells
- B.
Cell frequently spontaneously generate from dead, organic matter
- C.
All cells come from the division of other, pre-existing cells
- D.
Meiosis generates much less complexity of cell than mitosis
- E.
Eukaryotic cells are much better adapted to harsh enviroments than bacteria cells
- 7.Because the genetic code is degenerate _______________.
- A.
It's necessary that cells have proof-reading mechanisms to prevent rampant mutation
- B.
Human genes can be inserted into bacterial genomes
- C.
Multiple codons are synonymous: they code for the same amino acids
- D.
Cells with too many mutation go through apoptosis
- 8.The lower the mutational rate of a species the more successful it is.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 9.On average, which of the following types of point mutations would have the largest effect on the phenotype of an organism?
- A.
An in/del in the protein coding sequence of a gene
- B.
A synonymous substitution in the coding sequence of a gene
- C.
An in/del in the non protein coding sequence of an organisms genome
- D.
A missense substitution in the coding sequence of a gene
- 10.Which of the following mutations would be the most likely to lead to the creation of paralogous gene copies?
- A.
A synonymous substitution in the coding sequence of a gene
- B.
Translocation
- C.
Inversion
- D.
Duplication
- 11.The phenotype of an organism is determined by both its genotype and its ______________.
- A.
Environment
- B.
Population size
- C.
Cellular dispersal rate
- D.
Adaptation coefficient
- 12.In a protein coding sequence which position of the codon tends to accumulate the most mutations?
- A.
First
- B.
Second
- C.
Third
- D.
Fourth
- 13.Most natural populations have high levels of genetic diversity.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 14.A trait that is affected by many different genes is ____________.
- A.
Pleiotropic
- B.
Polygenic
- C.
Always in H-W equilibrium
- D.
Not subject to natural selection
- 15.What are the three components of a population that must be present for evolution via natural selection? (mark all three)
- A.
Variation between individuals in the population
- B.
Fitness difference between genetic variants
- C.
Effective population size larger than census population size
- D.
Meiotic cell division in at least some cells
- E.
Some of the variation must be heritable
- 16.Having leaves modified into species is an adaptation
- A.
True
- B.
False
- C.
Impossible to tell without further information. Adaptations are determined by the environment, so what might be an adaptation in one area could be detrimental in another.
- 17.Evidence from long running selection experiments in E. coli bacteria suggests that two independent, but identical evolutionary experiments would _____________________.
- A.
Have significantly different outcomes due to the unpredictability of mutations
- B.
Have the exact same outcome
- C.
Have significantly different outcomes due to low fidelity of RNA translation
- D.
Violate the Heisenberg uncertainty principle
- 18.Which of the following is the best example of antagonistic pleiotropy?
- A.
When two organisms compete for the same resource rather than sharing.
- B.
A mutation in a gene that allows a bacterium to resist an antibiotic, but makes it grow slightly slower.
- C.
An individual that has a higher level of fitness due to an exaptation.
- D.
Two species adapted to different environments due to a different number of chromosomes.
- 19.Which of the following statements best describes the ability of an owl to turn its head 180° around?
- A.
This is an exaptation for its nocturnal life style.
- B.
This is not an adaptation and is present in all birds.
- C.
This is an adaptation that compensates for the trade-off imposed by good binocular vision.
- D.
This is a pleiotropic effect of genes that control the development of feather morphology.
- 20.How many different groups of animals have independently evolved true flight?
- A.
2
- B.
3
- C.
4
- D.
5
- 21.What is the best way to assess whether or not two complex structures are homologous?
- A.
Look at the fine details of the structure to see how similar they truly are.
- B.
Determine which genes are responsible for the development of the structure.
- C.
Estimate the genome size of each organism, if they are not significantly different in size than the structures are most likely homologous.
- D.
Map the evolutionary origin of the structures onto a well-supported phylogeny.
- 22.Which group serves as the best model for the evolution of the complex eye and why?
- A.
Crustaceans, because their eyes have multiple lenses that work together to convey information to the brain.
- B.
Annelids, because they are able to regenerate their eyes when they lose them.
- C.
Vertebrates, because they have the most complex eye of any animal.
- D.
Mollusks, because different species have photoreceptors that vary greatly in complexity and these demonstrate some of the intermediate steps from simple to complex.
- 23.What is the result of co-option of an already present gene to perform an additional new function?
- A.
This results in pleiotropy of the gene and an additional constraint on its evolution.
- B.
This results in a shift of the genetic code with a tendency to have fewer synonymous mutations.
- C.
This results in a reduction in the structure and complexity of the chromosomes.
- D.
This results in increased genetic diversity and is the first step towards speciation.
- 24.Which of the following would not violate H-W equilibrium?
- A.
Natural selection for one allele
- B.
A small population size
- C.
Immigration of individuals with a particular genotype
- D.
Non-random mating
- E.
Independent assortment of alleles during meiosis
- 25.You randomly sample one thousand individuals from a population of butterflies (sexually reproducing, diploid animals) and find the following distribution of genotypes: AA: 160Aa: 480aa: 360What are the allele frequencies for this population?
- A.
A: 0.3 a: 0.7
- B.
A: 0.5 a: 0.5
- C.
A: 0.9 a: 0.1
- D.
A: 0.4 a: 0.6
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