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1 Slide 1 / 78 New Jersey Center for Teaching and Learning Progressive Science Initiative This material is made freely available at and is intended for the non-commercial use of students and teachers. These materials may not be used for any commercial purpose without the written permission of the owners. NJCTL maintains its website for the convenience of teachers who wish to make their work available to other teachers, participate in a virtual professional learning community, and/or provide access to course materials to parents, students and others. Click to go to website:

2 Slide 2 / 78 Evolution Practice Questions

3 Slide 3 / 78 1 Explain how the LUCA principle helps to explain the universal nature of the genetic code.

4 2 What is an adaptation? Slide 4 / 78

5 Slide 5 / 78 3 Explain how competition can help drive the process of evolution.

6 Slide 6 / 78 4 Suppose you are studying a population of bacteria in a lab. Some of the bacteria are born with a mutation that provides them resistance to antibiotics. Explain how competition in this population can lead to evolution and make a prediction of how this evolution will occur.

7 Slide 7 / 78 5 Pick an animal and provide an example of an adaptation that makes it more fit for its environment.

8 Slide 8 / 78 6 Explain why competition exists between individuals in a population, or between individuals of different species.

9 Slide 9 / 78 7 Explain the relationship between the genetic code and the origin of evolutionary adaptations.

10 Slide 10 / 78 8 Explain the error in Lamarck s theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics.

11 9 What is epigenetics? Slide 11 / 78

12 Slide 12 / Explain why the Galapagos Islands proved to be an integral part of Darwin s voyage.

13 Slide 13 / What distinguishing feature exists between finches of the Galapagos Islands? What environmental factor creates these differences?

14 Slide 14 / Suppose you are studying big cats around the world. How can you use their physical structures to study evolutionary relationships? What is the term for this process?

15 Slide 15 / Using Darwinian terminology, explain why a bird would possess wings that are too small to allow it to fly.

16 Slide 16 / Explain why, at one point in our embryonic development, human beings have gill slits.

17 Slide 17 / According to Darwin s theory of natural selection, what will happen to the frequency of an allele that allows an organism to successfully compete for resources in a population?

18 Slide 18 / Why is rrna an especially useful tool when analyzing evolutionary relationships between organisms?

19 Slide 19 / Modern Synthesis combines the original work of what two revolutionary scientists?

20 Slide 20 / Explain how epigenetics proves that at least some of Lamarck s theory was accurate.

21 Slide 21 / Pick one of the organisms Darwin studied in the Galapagos and explain how it helped him to develop his theory of evolution.

22 Slide 22 / How is comparative anatomy useful in determining evolutionary relationships?

23 Slide 23 / What is the evolutionary term used to describe the similarity between the structure of a bat wing and a human arm? How is this used to explain evolution?

24 Slide 24 / Provide an example of a vestigial structure in the human body. Explain, evolutionarily, why this structure exists.

25 Slide 25 / Explain, in evolutionary terms, why a fish, pig, chicken and human are virtually indistinguishable during their early developmental stages? What is the study of this process called?

26 Slide 26 / Scientists during Darwin s era discovered that the Earth was many millions of years old (not a few thousand, as previously though) and that the Earth is constantly changing. How did this influence the development of Darwin s theory?

27 Slide 27 / Briefly summarize the theory of natural selection.

28 Slide 28 / What role might fossils have played in the development of Darwin s theory?

29 Slide 29 / Suppose humans share roughly 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees, 92% with mice and 44% with fruit flies. How would you use this information to help determine evolutionary relationships?

30 28 What is speciation? Slide 30 / 78

31 Slide 31 / Which traits in an environment would tend to be favored in stabilizing selection?

32 Slide 32 / Would more diversity exist in an environment that favors directional selection or disruptive selection?

33 Slide 33 / Suppose two species of plants are physically capable of interbreeding and their gametes are compatible, yet interbreeding cannot occur. Suggest a hypothesis for how this situation could arise.

34 Slide 34 / What is the difference between directional selection and stabilizing selection?

35 Slide 35 / Explain how the process of behavioral isolation can lead to speciation.

36 Slide 36 / What is temporal isolation?

37 Slide 37 / Suppose you are working as a caretaker at a zoo that has successfully bred a zebra with a giraffe, but the offspring itself is unable to reproduce. Provide an explanation to zookeepers to potentially explain this scenario.

38 Slide 38 / Suppose you are studying two populations of foxes that are of the same species, but have become geographically isolated due to deforestation. Over a decade, you suspect that the two populations may have evolved into separate species. Explain how you could determine whether this is true.

39 Slide 39 / Is a group of sparrows and blue jays living in the same forest an example of a population? Why or why not?

40 Slide 40 / Scientists often refer to a population that exhibits a high level of genetic variability as being elastic or flexible. Explain why these terms are used in this context.

41 Slide 41 / Can the Hardy-Weinberg Equation be used to analyze multiple populations at one time? Why or why not?

42 Slide 42 / Identify three things that using the Hardy- Weinberg Equilibrium Equation can be used to determine about a population.

43 Slide 43 / Suppose you are studying a population in which 16% of the individuals are homozygous recessive (bb). Using the Hardy-Weinberg equation, what is the frequency of the recessive allele in the population?

44 Slide 44 / Referring to the question above, what is the frequency of heterozygous individuals in the population?

45 Slide 45 / Suppose you are studying a population of sunfish in which long dorsal fins (L) are completely dominant over short dorsal fins. You find that the population consists of exactly 30% short finned fish. Calculate the frequency of homozygous dominant individuals in the population.

46 Slide 46 / Referring to question above, what is the frequency of the recessive allele in this population?

47 Slide 47 / Why is the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium model more of a theoretical process than a truly concrete procedure?

48 Slide 48 / According to the requirements for Hardy- Weinberg Equilibrium, are humans evolving? Why or why not?

49 Slide 49 / What is the relationship that exists between genetic variability in a population and ability to respond to environmental changes?

50 Slide 50 / For what purpose do scientists utilize the Hardy- Weinberg Equation?

51 Slide 51 / What is the Hardy-Weinberg Equation?

52 Slide 52 / Suppose you are studying a population of squirrels in which gray hair is completely dominant over black hair. The frequency of homozygous dominant individuals in the population is 41%. What is the frequency of the dominant allele in the population?

53 Slide 53 / Referring to question #50, what is the frequency of heterozygous individuals in the population?

54 Slide 54 / Suppose a population contains 10% homozygous recessive individuals. Using the Hardy-Weinberg equation, what is the frequency of the dominant allele in this population?

55 Slide 55 / Identify three of the factors that need to be met in order for the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium Equation to be effectively utilized.

56 Slide 56 / Utilizing the Hardy-Weinberg equation, how can scientists determine whether or not a population is evolving?

57 55 What is genetic drift? Slide 57 / 78

58 Slide 58 / Explain how genetic drift can reduce, or even eliminate variation from a population.

59 Slide 59 / Can genetic drift eliminate variation from a population where there was a consistently changing set of environmental conditions? Explain your answer.

60 Slide 60 / Suppose you are studying an isolated population of elk in Canada that is under intense hunting pressure. Provide an explanation from a genetic standpoint why strict hunting regulations should be enacted for this area. Be sure to use appropriate vocabulary.

61 Slide 61 / What is the Founder Effect?

62 Slide 62 / Explain why it is important that populations maintain a certain degree of genetic diversity.

63 Slide 63 / Explain how is it possible that 99% of all species that have ever existed are now extinct.

64 Slide 64 / Using the finches of the Galapagos Islands, explain the process of adaptive radiation.

65 Slide 65 / Both cacti (North America) and a group of plants called euphorbs (Africa) have developed adaptations for surviving drought-like conditions, but they are not believed to be closely related. Explain how this could possibly occur and the name for the process.

66 Slide 66 / In western North America, there is a species of flowering plant that has an exceptionally long, deep flower, as well as a species of moth that has an exceptionally long tongue. Explain how evolutionary theory could likely explain the seemingly coincidental occurrence of these two species.

67 Slide 67 / Explain how a rapid environmental change could lead to punctuated equilibrium.

68 Slide 68 / Does genetic drift tend to have a more drastic impact on large or small populations? Explain your answer.

69 Slide 69 / What effect does a population bottleneck have on the genetic diversity of a population?

70 Slide 70 / Explain why a group that has endured a population bottleneck may be more vulnerable to disease in the future.

71 Slide 71 / Suppose you are a marine biologist working to repopulate the Atlantic bluefin tuna in the Gulf of Mexico after years of overfishing. Explain why it is important that you choose a genetically diverse group of tuna for your repopulation. If you failed to do this, what situation could possible occur?

72 Slide 72 / Using what you know about genetic diversity, explain why consanguineous marriages are frowned upon in most cultures.

73 Slide 73 / Explain how population bottleneck and founder effect may contribute to the extinction of a species.

74 Slide 74 / Is extinction a natural process? Explain your answer.

75 Slide 75 / What role does the environment play in the process of adaptive radiation?

76 Slide 76 / Why do you think it is important to study evolution?

77 Slide 77 / Suppose you are studying anteaters in Africa. You find that the anteaters have developed uniquely long noses and the ants in the area have developed larger jaws for digging deeper in the hard soil. Explain how the two adaptations could be related.

78 Slide 78 / What is the name of the process described in the above question?