Evolution by Natural Selection Online Quiz Questions

Which statement best describes how natural selection produces evolutionary change in a population?

Which example is most clearly evidence of homology?

A few individuals colonize an island and establish a population whose allele frequencies differ from those of the mainland. Which process most directly explains this initial difference?

Which conditions are required for natural selection to change a population's genetic composition? Select all four correct choices.

Which two processes can directly alter allele frequencies in a population? Select all correct choices.

True or false: A reversible increase in red-blood-cell production by an individual living at high altitude is an adaptation in the evolutionary sense.

True or false: A phylogenetic tree is a literal record of every ancestor that existed in the evolutionary history of the organisms shown.

What two-word evolutionary process explains why unrelated lineages such as birds and insects independently evolved wings used for flight?

In a population, an allele's frequency increases from 0.30 to 0.50 over four generations. If the increase is constant, how many generations are required for the allele to rise from 0.30 to 0.40?

Explain how directional, stabilizing, and disruptive selection differ in the phenotypes they favor and in their effects on variation in a population.

Which inference is best supported by a chronological sequence of fossils showing increasingly modern anatomical traits in younger strata?

What type of speciation begins when a mountain range, river, or other physical barrier separates a population and reduces gene flow?

The forelimbs of humans, bats, and whales contain corresponding bones arranged in modified ways, although the limbs perform different functions. What does this pattern best illustrate?

During a drought, mostly large, hard seeds remain available. Finches with larger beaks obtain more food and produce more offspring than finches with smaller beaks. Which type of selection is most directly described?

True or false: In population genetics, a population evolves when its allele frequencies change across generations; an individual organism may develop or acclimate but does not itself evolve.

What evolutionary mechanism moves alleles between populations when individuals or gametes migrate and reproduce?

A wildfire suddenly reduces a large population to a few survivors. The survivors carry a random subset of the original alleles, and allele frequencies change in the next generations. Which process best explains this change?

A newly formed mountain range separates one population into two regions and sharply reduces gene flow. Over many generations, the separated populations become reproductively isolated. Which type of speciation best fits this sequence?