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Grade 11 University Biology – Unit 3 Evolution
Unit Test
1. What is “allele frequency?”
a. Number of copies of an allele relative to the total number of alleles in a population
b. Number of alleles on a chromatid after Crossing Over during meiosis
c. Number of times an allele is expressed in a species
d. Number of alleles in the genetic makeup of an individual
2. How does inbreeding affect genetic variation within a population?
a. Variation does not change
b. Variation increases
c. Variation increases and then decreases
d. Variation decreases
e. Variation decreases and then increases
3. Which of the following is the best example of the Founder Effect?
a. A moth carries pollen from one plant population to another and cross-fertilization occurs
b. Ten bats of the same species colonize a newly formed cave, and this action
produces a new species of bat
c. Ten males and ten female dogs survive a Class 5 hurricane. This leads to changes in
the population
d. A population explosion of black flies occurs after a storm.
4. What is “gene flow?”
a. Reproductive success
b. A severe reduction of a population that can lead to changes in the population
c. The movement of alleles between populations
d. The colonization of an area by a few individuals that can lead to new species
e. Preferential mating with an individual of a particular phenotype
5. Which of the following phrases BEST describes Natural Selection?
a. Natural Selection disrupts the process of change in populations
b. Individuals with adaptive traits survive and reproduce more often
c. Natural Selection is the ultimate source of genetic variation
d. Natural Selection is the movement of gametes from one population to another
e. Individuals pass on characteristics that they have acquired over their life time to their
offspring
6. A bird population consumes insects. Two different beak shapes – long and pointed OR serrated
and strong -- might be selected for (i.e., both beak shapes effectively allow the birds to feed).
However, a beak that is the average of the two shapes might not be particularly good at eating
insects. The rate of survival of the average-beaked bird decreases, and this trait would be
selected against. What is this called?
a. Disruptive Selection
b. Genetic Drift
c. Use and Disuse
d. Uniformitarianism
e. Founder Effect
7. What style of evolutionary change does this illustration
represent?
a. Founder Effect
b. Bottleneck Effect
c. Convergent Evolution
d. Divergent Evolution
e. Gradualism
f. Punctuated Equilibrium
8. Why is a hybrid mule sterile?
a. The parent horse and donkey are anatomically incompatible so sperm and egg do not
properly fertilize
b. The parent horse, if female, comes into fertilization too soon for the male donkey to pass
all genetic material to the hybrid
c. The parent horse and donkey may have a different number of chromosomes. With
no chromosomal match, the hybrid is sterile
d. The mule is a divergence from the horse and the donkey
e. The mule would be a second generation offspring (i.e., first generation was fertile but
subsequent generations are sterile)
9. The relatively rapid evolution of a single species into a number of distinct but closely related
species filling a variety of previously empty ecological niches.
a. Coevolution
b. Convergent Evolution
c. Divergent Evolution
d. Adaptive Radiation
e. Use and Disuse
f. Sympatric Speciation
10. What type of selection does the graph illustrate?
a. Stabilizing Selection
b. Sexual Selection
c. Directional Selection
d. Disruptive Selection
11. When discussing evolution, why is it necessary to keep in mind that populations evolve, not
individuals? (2 marks)
Evolution is measured by changes to the gene pool of a population. Evolution is the
frequency of alleles within a population. Individuals have only their genotype which does
not change over their lifetime.
12. What is the greatest advantage provided by sexual reproduction? (2 marks)
It provides genetic variation in every generation
13. Define and explain what agent of
evolutionary change the diagram is modelling.
(3 marks)
Genetic Drift - Bottleneck Effect
14. On 10 November 2011 (...You read correctly. The
date is 10 November 2011), the West Africa Black
Rhino was declared officially extinct (...Yes, you bear
witness to the death and destruction of a very large
(maximum weight of 1,300 kg) and powerful
mammalian creature. A crime against nature,
according to some, has occurred during your
lifetime...and together, we watched). A population
that exceeded 100,000 individuals in the 1930s was
quickly reduced to 10 animals in 2002 and zero
today. Should I be concerned?
(a) Earth has experience five major extinctions. There is the familiar extinction of the dinosaurs
about 65 million years ago AND four other cataclysmic events that wiped out almost all
organisms, plant and animal, during the 3.8 billion years of life on Earth. Yet in his book The
Origin of Species, Darwin suggests: “Evolution and extinction go hand-in-hand” and “...the
manner in which single species and whole groups of species become extinct accords well
with the theory of natural selection.” Using your understanding of evolution and natural
selection, explain how extinction could accomplish evolution. Does evolution benefit from
mass extinctions? If so, how? You must use evolutionary terms (e.g., heritable trait, allele
frequency, gene flow) to support your answer. Provide at least three ideas. (5 marks)
(b) Many scientists believe a new cycle of extinction is about to begin – triggered by humans. Do
you believe humans are capable of causing the next major extinction? Again, you must use
proper evolutionary terms (e.g., Founder Effect, Disruptive Selection, genetic drift) to support
your answer. Provide at least three ideas. (5 marks)
15. In Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck’s theory of evolution (...including ideas of “Use and Disuse” and
“Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics”), organisms get what they need through inner needs
AND organisms progress from “lower” to “higher” forms (e.g., humans evolved from monkeys).
Although abandoned over 150 years ago, Lamarck's concept that changes acquired during an
organism's lifetime are somehow transferred into genetic information and passed on to the
offspring is commonly viewed as the mechanism of how evolution works.
a. Lamarck’s idea appeals to our logic, but it is wrong. From your understanding of
adaptation and natural selection, where do Lamarck’s ideas fail? Provide two ideas with
your answer (4 marks)
b. Identify two ways that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution dispels Lamarck’s ideas and
explains accurately the changes we observe in Earth’s history. (4 marks)
16. Use the data in the table to (1) make a table of synapomorphies and (2) construct a cladogram.
Based on the cladogram, describe the phylogeny of the organisms (10 marks)
Trait
Organism
Dorsal
Nerve
Cord
Legs
Nature of
Egg
Nature of
Development
Hair
Pouch
Present
Bipedal
Posture
Lobe-finned fish
Yes
No
Requires
water
In egg
No
No
No
Turtle
Yes
Yes
Hard shell
prevents
drying
In egg
No
No
No
Frog
Yes
Yes
Requires
water
In egg
No
No
No
Kangaroo
Yes
Yes
Develops
in mother
Marsupial
Yes
Yes
Yes
Mouse
Yes
Yes
Develops
in mother
Placental
Yes
No
No
Human
Yes
Yes
Develops
in mother
Placental
Reduced
No
Yes
Lobe-finned fish is the outgroup.
Answer
In this example, frogs share all major traits with the outgroup (i.e., they show mostly ancestral or
plesiomorphic traits), except that they have legs and slightly enlarged brains. These last two features are
apomorphies that are widespread in the vertebrate lineage. Frogs are thus postulated to have branched
from the main vertebrate lineage relatively early in the evolutionary process.
Turtles show further modifications from the outgroup, most markedly the presence of a hard shelled egg,
as well as an increased tendency toward larger brain size; therefore we would suggest that their lineage
branched next from the ancestral lineage.
All three of the remaining groups are characterized by an egg that develops inside the mother, suggesting
that these three share a common ancestor not shared by frogs and turtles. Mice and kangaroos share
similar hair amounts, while humans and kangaroos share a generally bipedal posture. So how do we
know how to group these three organisms? Firstly, we would suspect that the possession of hair, even in
reduced amounts, might link humans to kangaroos and mice. Secondly, we would look to the other traits
possessed by these groups. Both mice and humans show placental development and thus lack a pouch.
Thus we would tend to link these two groups together more closely and the kangaroo more distantly. We
would thus conclude that the cladogram for this group of organisms (minus the outgroup, which is not
usually shown in these figures) should look something like the one below.