Download Evolution Study Guide

Study Guide: Evolution Test
Test Date: _______________
Name _______________________
Date _____________ Period _____
The content covered on this test comes from your class notes, videos, lab activities, and
worksheets. Refer to the following chapters in your textbook: Chapters 15, 16, Section 18-2.
After completing this unit, students should be able to:
1. Define evolution, and distinguish between microevolution and macroevolution
2. Describe the difference between a scientific theory and a hypothesis, explain why
evolution is a theory and not a hypothesis
3. Identify several scientists that influenced Darwin, and describe how each influenced
Darwin’s thinking
4. Define natural selection
5. List and describe the 3 requirements for natural selection
6. Given various situations, be able to explain how natural selection works in each case (ex:
finches, sickle cell anemia, etc.)
7. Explain why natural selection acts on phenotype, not genotype
8. Explain what is meant by “survival of the fittest” in terms of natural selection
9. Use your knowledge of genetics to explain how natural selection works (ex: mutation,
allele frequency, etc.)
10. Explain why a population can adapt but a single individual organism cannot
11. Define genetic drift, and give an example; compare and contrast genetic drift and natural
selection.
12. Explain why there is not one accepted definition for what a species is (i.e.: what are the
limitations of each definition?)
13. Describe how new species may form from geographic isolation
14. Describe how new species may form from reproductive isolation; distinguish between
prezygotic and postzygotic isolating mechanisms
15. Describe evidence from the fossil record, morphology, embryology, molecular biology,
and biogeography that support macroevolution
16. Distinguish between analogous and homologous structures; relate these to the difference
between convergent and divergent evolution
17. Explain why it is important for scientists to look at multiple types of evidence