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CLEP Biology: Principles Of Evolution

Subjects : clep, science, biology
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. There are certain animals with intermediate characters between two major groups of animals. They are called ___________ _____.






2. In species which reproduce _____________ - extinction of a species is generally inevitable when there is only one individual of that species left - or only individuals of a single sex.






3. The early stages of development of the ___________ of fish - salamander - tortoise - hen and man show remarkable similarity.






4. The mutation may be harmful (resulting in a reduced probability of survival for the organism involved) - ____________ (it might also do its intended job better) or merely neutral (no effect at all).






5. Mammals developed from primitive mammal-like reptiles during the __________ Period - some 200-245 million years ago.






6. When carriers have advantages that allow a detrimental allele to persist in a population - ______________ polymorphism is at work.






7. About 2 million years ago - two groups developed: the australopithecines - generally smaller brained and not users of tools; and the line that led to genus _________ - larger brained and makers and users of tools.






8. _____________ is the accumulation of small changes in a gene pool over a relatively short period.






9. _____________ is the end of a particular evolutionary line - the end of a species - a family - or a larger group of organisms.






10. __________ are the remains of organisms that lived in the past.






11. An allele may increase - or decrease - in frequency simply through ___________. Not every member of the population will become a parent and not every set of parents will produce the same number of offspring.






12. Members of the phylum _____________ have soft - unsegmented bodies that are usually - but not always - enclosed in hard shells.






13. All organisms are placed into one of five kingdoms: Monera - Protista - ________ - Plantae - Animalia.






14. According to Darwin - in spite of the high reproductive potential - the number of individuals in a species remains relatively constant - suggesting _____________ for existence.






15. _____________ struggle takes place between the individuals of the same species.






16. A Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium provides a ___________ by which to judge whether evolution has occurred.






17. Homology has to be distinguished from ___________; for instance - the wings of insects and the wings of birds are analogous but not homologous.






18. Darwin reported that all organisms tend to _____________ in a geometric ratio provided there are no environmental checks. Even slow breeding animals like the elephant may theoretically give rise to 19 million descendants in a period of 750 years.






19. In the 1680s Ariaantje and Gerrit Jansz emigrated from Holland to South Africa - one of them bringing along an allele for the mild metabolic disease porphyria. Today more than 30000 South Africans carry this allele and - in every case examined - can






20. In general if two genes have an almost identical DNA sequence - it is likely that they are ____________.






21. Humans are ____________ - meaning we walk on two of our limbs. The amount of melanin in our skin is representative of the environment we live in - i.e. dark skinned people occupy hotter climates.






22. Heritable variations are called _____________ variations. Such variations arising from changes in DNA are passed on within families and to the offspring from the parents.






23. Animals and plants show variations in physical structure. Some of these variations are simply caused by external conditions (environmental) - such as accidents - temperature - food abundance - etc.. ___________ variations have no effect on evolution






24. Charles Darwin published a book The Origin of Species in the year 1859. He proposed that the new species came about by a process called ___________ __________.






25. Immediately below kingdom is the _________ level of classification. At this level - animals are grouped together based on similarities in basic body plan or organization.






26. At the molecular level - life's ability to reproduce begins with the replication of ____________ - during which two new spirals are created that are exact replicas of the original molecule.






27. About 1.8 million years ago - early Homo gave rise to _______ ________ - the species thought to have been ancestral to our own.






28. A comparative study of physiology and biochemistry also supports the common origin for different organisms. The _____________ of all organisms cells is more or less same in composition.






29. The Regional ___________ Hypothesis suggests that regional populations of H. erectus evolved into H. sapiens through interbreeding between the various populations.






30. Darwin's Finches illustrated ___________ ____________. This is where species all deriving from a common ancestor have over time successfully adapted to their environment via natural selection.






31. Despite their image as brutish simpletons - _____________were the first humans to bury their dead with artifacts - indicating abstract thought - perhaps a belief in an after-life.






32. As the finch population began to flourish in these advantageous conditions - ______________ competition became a factor - and resources on the islands were squeezed and could not sustain the population of the finches for long.






33. The study of ____________ ____________ supports the claim of a common origin of organisms.






34. The only kingdom which consists of prokaryotes is the __________ kingdom.






35. Jean Baptiste de Lamarck (1744-1829) developed one of the first theories on how species changed. Lamarck - in 1809 - concluded that organisms of higher complexity had __________ from preexisting - less complex organisms.






36. At some time in their life cycle - chordates have a pair of lateral gill slits or pouches used to obtain __________ in a liquid environment.






37. Biodiversity crashes during ________ extinctions. This has been a powerful force in evolution - wiping the slate clean of up to 96% of all species - and providing the survivors with a world full of opportunities into which they can diversify.






38. _________ evidence shows that the horse has undergone considerable evolutionary change over a period of 60 million years.






39. The highest category in the Linnaean system of classification is the __________. At this level - organisms are distinguished on the basis of cellular organization and methods of nutrition.






40. _____________ struggle takes place between the individuals of different species.






41. Except for the tail fins - whales greatly resemble fish in outline - but are instead descended from four-legged land ___________.






42. Such a dual level designation is referred to as a _________ nomenclature.






43. ___________ evolution is an evolutionary process in which organisms not closely related independently acquire some characteristic or characteristics in common.






44. The __________ kingdom consists of one-celled organisms as well - but differs from the Monera kingdom in that it consists of eukaryotes.






45. A ____________ tree is a graphical means to depict the evolutionary relationships of a group of organisms.






46. Organisms struggle for existence. Organisms with advantageous characters survive - while those which lack such variations perish. The advantageous characters are passed on to the offsprings generation after generation and the organisms become better






47. Almost all _________ organisms are either plants or animals.






48. Scientific classification sorts living organisms by _________ levels of classification - kingdom; phylum; class; order; family; genus; and species.






49. Homo erectus was the first hominid to use ___________ - and have social structures for food gathering.






50. Differential reproduction allows one species to gradually evolve into a new species. This is the process of ____________.