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Example Questions
Example Question #191 : Ap Environmental Sciences
The streamlined shape found in the body plans of both sharks and dolphins is an example of:
convergent evolution
sympatry
divergent evolution
none of these
coevolution
convergent evolution
Sharks and dolphins are not closely related and evolved their streamlined shapes separately from one another. This is an example of convergent evolution, in which two species that are not closely related evolve similar characteristics. Divergent evolution is the opposite.
Example Question #1 : Ecological Change
What type of organisms were the first to develop?
Prokaryotes
Plants
Eukaryotes
Primates
Fungi
Prokaryotes
Prokaryotes are simple, single-celled organisms which lack membrane bound nuclei. They developed before any of the other listed answer choices, as all of the other listed answer choices are multi-celled organisms that developed from prokaryotes.
Example Question #1 : Ecological Change
Which of the following terms is defined as any change in the proportions of different genotypes in a population from one generation to the next?
Differential reproduction
Gene flow
Variability
Adaptation
Evolution
Evolution
Evolution is a process of orderly and gradual change or development. The theory that all living species have developed as a result of changes in their genetic material over time. Evolution is a change in the proportions of different genotypes in a population from one generation to the next. The characteristic of an organism that helps it survive and reproduce in a particular environment is adaptation. Variability is the range of alterations present in a genome, such as the number of diverse alleles of a specific gene. The differences in reproductive output among individuals of a population, normally as a result of genetic differences is differential reporduction. Gene flow is the movement of alleles from one population to another owing to the migration of individual organisms.
Example Question #1 : Evolution
Which of the following does not represent a process leading to evolution?
All of these
Geographic isolation
Reproductive isolation
Coevolution
Speciation
Coevolution
Coevolution occurs when one species evolves at the same time as another related species. Often one of these species is a prey-animal that adapts or develops traits that increase survival and reproductive rates. The predator that hunts the prey is required to adapt, increasing favorable traits that allow them, once again, to be able to hunt the prey. Coevolution is a type of evolution, but is not a cause of evolution.
Speciation is a general term referring to evolutionary processes leading to the creation of a new species. This occurs when a parent species is divided into at least two groups that are isolated from each other. These isolated groups adapt and mutate separately until they are no longer compatible for breeding.
Evolution caused by geographic isolation takes place when a species is separated into multiple groups due to a physical barrier of some kind (like a rock fall blocking a previously open canyon).
Evolution due to reproductive isolation occurs when members of two species that were previously able to produce viable offspring cannot due to changes in physical characteristics or behaviors. These species can procreate, but their offspring are not viable (able to reproduce).
Example Question #7 : Ecological Change
Which of the following terms describes the evolution that species have in response to one another and was authored by Charles Mode in 1958? This term was used to describe his fascination with the evolutionary responses that crops and pests have to each other.
Sympatric
Coevolution
Divergence
Convergence
Coevolution
The correct answer is coevolution. It is defined as the continual evolution that interacting species have in response to each other.
Example Question #1 : Evolution
Which statement is true about genetic drift?
Genetic drift occurs only in producers
Genetic drift occurs only in animals.
Genetic drift occurs only in eukaryotes.
Genetic drift is completely random.
Genetic drift is a process created by humankind.
Genetic drift is completely random.
The correct response is: genetic drift is completely random. It is a natural process that occurs at random and has profound impacts on species. Thus, genetic drift was not created by humans - it's a natural process. Genetic drift occurs in life forms, from the prokaryotes to the eukaryotes. And genetic drift occurs in all living organisms: plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi.
Example Question #11 : Ecological Change
The diversification of the finches on the Galapagos Islands from a single founding species into many different species in different ecological niches is an example of __________.
peripatric speciation
parapatric speciation
allopatric speciation
sympatric speciation
adaptive radiation
adaptive radiation
Because the Galapagos Islands cover a small area and have many ecological niches available, the evolution of Darwin's finches is best explained as adaptive radiation. Adaptive radiation refers to growing specialization between different types of the same species until they finally become different species, as with the small vs the large-beaked finches on the Galapagos, which eat different seeds.
Example Question #12 : Ecological Change
Which two ecologists developed the Theory of Island Biogeography?
E. O. Wilson and G. Evelyn Hutchinson
Aldo Leopold and Robert MacArthur
Rachel Carson and Robert MacArthur
Charles Darwin and Aldo Leopold
Robert MacArthur and E. O. Wilson
Robert MacArthur and E. O. Wilson
Together in the 1960's, MacArthur and Wilson coined the term "Island Biogeography" within the field of Insular Biogeography. This is a theory that attempts to predict the number of species existing on an island, whether a literal island, or simply a habitat isolated from like habitats by an "ocean" of unlike habitats.
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