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Chapter 4
1. According to Charles Darwin, organic evolution is “descent with modification,” which
simply means
A) species change over time.
B) characteristics acquired during the lifetime of an individual are passed on to all
members of its species.
C) the fittest always impose change on the unfit.
D) inherited variations decline as reproductive potential is modified.
E) when a change occurs in a population, the change is modified before being passed to the
next generation.
2. The idea of evolution did not originate with Charles Darwin. For example, the Greek
philosophers __________ believed that living organisms changed over long time
periods.
A) Aristophanes and Empedocles
B) Empedocles and Aristotle
C) Cato and Aristophanes
D) Aristotle and Plato
E) Cato and Plato
3. The eighteenth century comparative anatomist, __________, became convinced that
change had occurred during the history of life on earth, but he thought that organisms
degenerated from their previous state.
A) Baptiste
B) Curvier
C) Buffon
D) Lamarck
E) Linnaeus
4.
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
Jean Lamarck proposed a theory of evolution involving
natural selection.
organismic change.
organic selection.
inheritance of acquired characteristics.
consistent revolution.
5. Lyell and Hutton espoused the idea that natural forces such as wind, rain, and geological
uplift, rather than catastrophic events, shaped the earth. This idea was known as
A) the geological concept of evolution.
B) anticatastrophism.
C) natural selection.
D) sedimentarianism.
E) uniformitarianism.
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6.
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
At the beginning of his voyage on the H.M.S. Beagle, Darwin read Charles Lyell's book
Principles of Geology.
Evolution.
The Theory of Natural Selection.
The Uniformitarian Principle.
The Age of Catastrophy.
7. __________, grandfather of Charles Darwin, believed in the common origin of all
animals.
A) Erasmus Darwin
B) Charles Lyell
C) Jean Lamarck
D) Georges-Lois Buffon
E) James Watson
8. Darwin found fossil remains of several extinct species in South America. He considered
the fossils to be evidence that
A) numerous catastrophic events had occurred.
B) acquired characteristics are inherited.
C) the species composition of the planet had changed over time.
D) all life forms are immortal.
E) horses and sloths were closely related.
In his observations of the tortoises on the Galápagos Islands, Darwin concluded that
long-necked tortoises acquired their long necks by stretching to reach vegetation.
those tortoises were not related to tortoises on the mainland.
each island species was derived from a different mainland ancestor.
where vegetation was sparse, long-necked tortoises were favored because they could
reach higher to get their food.
E) short-necked tortoises had resulted because of spontaneous generation.
9.
A)
B)
C)
D)
10. Darwin observed __________ in the Galapagos Islands; today they are used as a classic
example to illustrate great adaptive radiation.
A) finches
B) beetles
C) barnacles
D) fossils
E) tortoises
11.
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
Which of the following is not a main point in Darwin's theory?
Inherited variations exist.
All organisms have far less reproductive potential than first thought.
There is a constant struggle for existence.
Adaptive traits will be perpetuated in subsequent generations.
Organisms produce more offspring than resources can support.
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12. Another man who was impressed by Malthus' essay, and who synthesized a theory
similar to that of Darwin, was
A) Charles Lyell.
B) Jean Lamarck.
C) Georges Buffon.
D) Alfred Wallace.
E) James Hutton.
13. The most significant changes in evolutionary thought began in the 1930s and
encompassed a period of evolutionary study known as
A) the period of contemporary synthesis.
B) the romantic period.
C) archeo-Darwinism.
D) the age of natural selection.
E) neo-Darwinism.
14. Studies in __________ record patterns of animal distribution and seek to understand
them.
A) biogeography
B) distributional biology
C) ecology
D) geography of animals
E) paleontology
15. A/An __________ is a characteristic that increases an organism's (or species') potential
to successfully reproduce in a particular environment.
A) accommodation
B) adaptation
C) characteristic
D) trait
E) inherent variation
16.
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
Darwin began gathering his evidence for evolution as ship's naturalist on the H.M.S.
Lamarck.
Tortoise.
Galápagos.
Sloth.
Beagle.
17.
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
Darwin's most important publication was
Principles of Geology.
Origin of Species.
The Theory of Uniformitarianism.
Essay on the Principle of Population.
The Galápagos Expedition.
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18. Alfred Wallace based his theory of evolution on observations made while he was on a
zoological expedition to the
A) Galápagos Islands.
B) Canary Islands.
C) Malay Archipelago.
D) west coast of Australia.
E) Malagasy Republic.
19.
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
__________ are evidences of past life preserved in stone, coal or other materials.
Blocks
Bones
Shells
Leaves
Fossils
20. The theory of uniformitarianism was based on the idea that the forces that shaped the
earth included
A) special creation.
B) gravitational forces.
C) catastrophic events.
D) geologic uplift.
E) planetary interactions.
21.
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
Most modern scientists agree that
Lamarck's theory of evolution is scientifically sound.
evolution is not a scientific certainty.
Buffon's theory is the only possible explanation for evolution.
there is nothing more to be learned about evolution.
Darwin's theory is the most plausible explanation of how evolution occurs.
22.
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
An important component of Darwin's theory is that
natural populations contain genetic variation.
acquired characteristics can be inherited.
genes are the basic hereditary units.
variations are never harmful.
nonadaptive traits tend to become more frequent.
23. In South America, Darwin found fossils of an animal, Thoantherium, that suggested to
him that __________ had been present there but had become extinct long before the
1500s.
A) humans
B) armadillos
C) horses
D) sloths
E) birds
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24. Thomas Malthus believed that poverty, war, plague, and famine result from a shortage
of resources due to the human population's potential to
A) increase geometrically.
B) pollute the air.
C) cause species to become extinct.
D) pollute their water supply.
E) destroy the tropical forests.
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