YEAR 12 HUMAN BIOLOGY EVOLUTION / NATURAL SELECTION TEST TOTAL MARKS : 1.Natural selection is occurring in a population. Which of the following statements is CORRECT? The population must be completely isolated from other groups of the same species. There must be variation amongst the individuals making up the population. Interbreeding must occur with related groups. Mutations must occur frequently within the population. 2.Random genetic drift occurs: due to chance. because people move from one area to another. only in very large communities. because mutations occur in any population, from time to time. 3.When Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos Islands, 960 km off the west coast of South America, he found fourteen different species of finch birds. Although finches are found on the South American continent, none of the Galapagos Islands' species of finches live on the South American mainland. Biologists now believe that the Galapagos Islands were colonized by one ancestral flock of finches that flew from the mainland to the islands shortly after these islands appeared. Which of the following statements would NOT help to explain why there are now fourteen different species of finch on the Galapagos Islands? There were a variety of different habitats on the Galapagos Islands which the colonizing finches could exploit. There was genetic variation in the original population that colonized the Galapagos Islands. Different finches were naturally selected in different ways to produce different species. The Galapagos Island finches have been able to interbreed freely amongst themselves. 4.Survival of the Fittest" means: that when two animals fight the strongest wins. animals learn through their life to adapt to their environment and pass these characteristics on to their offspring. all animals have to fight for their food amongst members of the same species. some animals are born better adapted to their environment and these tend to survive and pass these characteristics to their offspring.
5.Fossilisation of bone occurs best in: acidic soil. alkaline soil. neutral soil. river beds. 6.The carbon-14 method of dating is useful for periods going back as long as: 1,000 years. 5,000 years. 75,000 years. 500,000 years. 7.Kitchen-middens are of use to the archaeologist because they are: unique rock layers found in sedimentary rocks. neolithic burials. food remains, tools and weapons which can be dated in sequence. caves which are rich in prehistoric carvings. 8.During fossil digs four hearths were uncovered in four separate deposits. The table below shows information about where each was found and its characteristics. Which hearth was most likely to be the oldest? Hearth A. Hearth B. Hearth C. Hearth D. 9.In palaeontology, the principle of superposition could be described as: (e) sedimentary rocks are laid down in layers by water or wind. older strata are at the top and younger strata are at the bottom. the deeper in the soil a fossil is found, the older it is. fossils are found only in sedimentary rocks. younger strata are at the top and older strata at the bottom. 10.Artefacts are: stone tools. pottery and fine bone tools. objects deliberately made by hominids. works of art left by our ancestors.
11.Consider the geological time scale shown below. The first australopithecines appeared during the: Eocene. Oligocene. Miocene Pliocene. 12.Homo erectus was more like Homo sapiens than Australopithecus because Homo erectus : stood more erect than Australopithecus. had a brain which was twice the size of Australopithecus. had hands which were free to use tools. could read and write. (e) was a hunter. 13.Could a Homo sapiens sapiens male and a Homo sapiens Neanderthalensis female have produced fertile offspring? Why or why not? Yes, because they belong to the same genus. Yes, because they belong to the same species. No, because they belong to different subspecies. No, because they had different brain sizes.
14.The estimated life expectancy of Cro-Magnon Man was about 32 years. In the fourteenth century people living in England had a life expectancy of about 38 years. In Australia today life expectancy is in excess of 70 years. The lengthening of human life span is mainly a result of: natural selection. increase in brain size. changing culture. improved climatic factors. 15.The Neanderthals: had a primitive stone tool culture. did not bury their dead. never hunted big game. had a brain that was, on average, at least as large as that of modern humans. 16.Consider the diagrams below: Which of the following would be the most likely evolutionary sequence towards Homo sapiens sapiens? D --> A --> C --> B. A --> B --> C --> C. D --> C --> A --> B. B --> D --> C --> A.
17.Consider the Table below: The hominid from the Table which lived in Europe 90,000 years before the present was: hominid 1. hominid 2. hominid 3. hominid 4. 18.The skull illustrated above would have belonged to: Cro Magnon. Homo erectus. Australopithecus. Homo habilis. (e) Neanderthal man.
19.At Laetoli in Tanzania thousands of animal tracks have been found in volcanic ash deposits. These deposits have been dated at 3.5 million years old. Some tracks had been left by members of the Hominidae. These hominid tracks would have been made by: Australopithecus africanus. Homo habilis. Ausatralopithecus robustus.. Australopithecus afarensis.. 20.A human biologist developed a technique for making rubber casts of the insides of fossilised crania. These casts then enabled brain sizes to be estimated. A comparison of cranial casts of some members of the Hominidae would show that: Homo sapiens sapiens brain is larger than Homo sapiens neanderthalensis brain. Australopithecus afarensis brain is larger than Australopithecus africanus brain. Homo erectus brain is larger than Homo habilis brain Australopithecus africanus brain is larger than Australopithecus robustus brain. 21.Finding spears, arrows and ornaments in an ancient grave would probably indicate that a human of that time: was a nomadic farmer. was afraid of death. believed in life after death. was still very primitive and almost pre-human. 22.If you could go back through the ages in a time ship, what is the minimum around time you would have to go before you might find the continent of Africa populated by hominids other than recognisable Homo sapiens? 5,000 years. 50,000 years. 100,000 years. 1,000,000 years. 23.Homo sapiens has gained control over most other animals and over their own environment, because of: the huge size of his population dominating all others. other species becoming extinct. the size and complexity of the neocortex allowing him to conceptualise and invent. his brain size of about 450 cc.
24.The biological name for "Neanderthal man" is: Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. Homo sapiens sapiens. Homo neanderthalensis. Homo erectus. 25.Consider the sketch below: These forms of cave art are representative of the: Upper Palaeolithic cultural period (40,000-25,000 yrs ago). Neolithic cultural period (12,000 - present). Lower Paleolithic cultural period (2-3m to 100,000 yrs ago). Pliocene cultural period (12 to 2 m years ago).