Name: Date:

Evolution & The Diversity of Life Practice Test:

Multiple Choice Questions:

1. Which of the following best describes evolution?

○ It is the tendency for species to remain unchanged over successive generations.

○ It is the change in heritable traits in living populations over a single generation.

○ It is the change in heritable traits in living populations over successive generations.*

2. “Survival of the fittest,” or the reproductive advantage in individuals who inherit traits
that help them adapt to a changing environment was something Darwin called
________.

○ inheritance

○ Adaptation

○ natural selection

3. Evidence believed to support the theory of evolution fall into which major categories?

○ fossil record, homologous structures, biogeography, and astrobiology

○ fossil record, homologous structures, astrobiology, and geophysics

○ fossil record, homologous structures, biogeography, and molecular biology

4. A scientist finds what she thinks is a new species of rodent on a small Pacific island.
However, some similar-looking rodents inhabit some nearby islands. She mates the new
rodent with the nearby rodents and gets viable but infertile offspring. Why?

○ The old and new rodents underwent vicariance, and their hybrid offspring were
sterilized by adaptive radiation.

○ The new rodents probably derive from fairly recent ancestors that experienced
 dispersive allopatric speciation.

5. The new and old rodents are both allopolyploid after undergoing sympatric speciation. A
scientist finds a new organism that may be either a bird or a bat, but it is not clear which
group it belongs to. He is pretty sure that the organism has analogous structures with
bats and homologous structures with birds, as suggested by genomic data. The organism
has one trait that is shared with bats but not birds. Which group should he choose for
the new organism and why?

○ bats because of the analogous structures; the trait shared only with bats is ancestral

○ birds because of the homologous structures; the trait shared only with bats is
ancestral

○ birds because of the homologous structures; the trait shared only with bats is
derived

6. The theory of evolution states that:

○ better adapted organism reproduce at a higher rate

○ organisms change by acquired characteristics

○ organism populations can change physically over long periods of time

7. The wing of a bird and the wing of an insect are examples of _________ structures.

○ Homologous

○ analogous

○ isologous

Chapter 12: Diversity of Life

8. What is a phylogenetic tree?

○ It is a small desert tree that has maintained an unaltered genotype for millions of
years.

○ It is a diagram that shows the evolutionary relationships among organisms.

9. A team of scientists is trying to categorize a new life form they believe is an insect. On
what criteria will the scientists base their decision on whether or not to classify the
creature as an insect?
○ The team will study insects in the phylogenetic tree and see whether their new
creature matches the characteristics of one of the tree’s branches.

○ The team will make the decision based on whether or not the creature has six legs.

○ The team will make the decision by finding out whether or not the creature shares
any properties with plants.

10. Which list is correct in descending classification (from largest to smallest grouping)?

○ kingdom, order, family, species

○ kingdom, order, phylum, species

○ phylum, family, class, genus

11. In general, which two characteristics of an organism are used to classify it?

○ genome and protein compliment

○ cell structure and chromosome number

○ physical features and genome

12. Organisms that are more closely related overlap more how?
○ morphologically and dietarily

○ metabolically and genetically

○ genetically and morphologically

○ a group of organisms that all share a common ancestor

○ an ancestor of a group of organisms

○ a clan led by a dominant female member

14. Why do scientists classify living organisms?

○ To study their evolutionary relationship on the basis of shared characteristics

○ To be able to give them Latin names

○ To be able to see which organisms were more advanced than others

Chapter 13: Diversity of Microbes, Fungi, and Protists

15. No one is quite sure how eukaryotic cells first appeared on Earth. Three hypotheses have
been proposed for ongoing study: the eukaryote-first hypothesis, the nucleus-first
hypothesis, and _________.

○ an hypothesis that begins with mitochondria changing into a nucleus in a prokaryotic

○ an hypothesis that begins with mitochondria developing in a eukaryotic cell that

○ an hypothesis that begins with mitochondria developing in a prokaryotic cell that

16. Which group of organisms consist of more than one cell?

○ Eubacteria

○ Archaea

○ Eukarya

17. Which group of organisms is considered to be the first ones to evolve on earth?

○ Protists
 ○ Prokaryote

○ Eukaryote

○ Fungi

18. Fungi is closely related to which species?

○ Animals

○ Protists

○ Plants

○ Algae

19. Where did Protists originate from?

○ Fungi

○ Bacteria

○ Plants

○ Algae

Chapter 14: Diversity of Plants

20. Vascular plants have two main organ systems. What are they?

○ stems and leaves

○ roots and shoots

○ roots and vasculatures

21. Stems carry water through ________tissue and nutrients through _________tissue

○ xylem, phloem

○ phloem, xylem

○ veins, arteries
22. The leaves of plants serve as the primary sites of what?
○ Reproduction

○ Growth

○ Photosynthesis

23. The leaf stoma is the structure primarily responsible for the transport of what?

○ carbon dioxide

○ Sugars

○ Sunlight

24. How could you show experimentally that photosynthesis is important for plant growth?

○ Remove different numbers of leaves from plants in each test group, and measure
their growth under the same conditions

○ Expose groups of plants to different amounts of sunlight

○ Test the effect of painting leaves of an experimental group with clear nail polish

25. Which type of plant tissue has cells which actively divide throughout a plant’s lifetime?

○ Meristematic

○ Permanent

○ Metaplastic

26. Which of the following is the characteristic reproductive structure for angiosperm
plants?

○ Spore

○ Cone

○ Flower

27. What are some methods of dispersal?

○ Pollination

○ Digestion

○ Latching on to other organisms

○ All of the above

○ Only two of the above

28. What are the three main parts of the Pistil (female organ) in angiosperms?

○ stigma , pistol, and filament

○ Stigma, ovule, and anther

○ Stigma, style, and ovule

○ Stigma, style, ovarion

29. What are the two main parts of the stamen (male organ) in angiosperms?

○ Filament and antler

○ Filament and anther

○ Fibrous and anther

Multiple Choice Questions taken from: Concepts of Biology

Fowler, Samantha , Roush, R., & Wise, J. (2013). Concepts of Biology. Houston, Texas: OpenStax. Retrieved
from https://openstax.org/books/concepts-biology/pages/1-introduction
Critical Thinking Questions:
1. What is genetic variation?
2. Homologous features vs. analogous features.
3. What are the types of mutations that can occur? Briefly explain each of them. (HINT:
three of them)
4. How do animals compete to reproduce in their given environments?
5. Define natural selection and its role in evolution.
6. Describe the general process of dispersal in gymnosperms.
7. Prokaryote Vs. Eukaryote
8. What are some examples of Fungi and what do the different colors indicate?
9. Explain the relationship between insects and plants? Why do insects play a fundamental
role in reproduction in angiosperms?