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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. Extinctions - mostly at the level of species - have been occurring constantly at a low 'background rate' - usually matched by the rate at which new species appear - with the result that ____________ is constantly increasing.






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






3. ______________ struggle is the struggle of organisms against the physical environment.






4. 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.






5. An important step toward the modern theory of evolution came in the 1760's - when Count George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon (1707-1788) published his Natural History of Animals with the idea that species __________ over time.






6. The Neolithic transition - about 10 -000 years ago - involved the change from __________-__________ societies to agricultural ones based on cultivation of plants and domesticated animals.






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






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






9. _____________ can occur randomly - from radiation damage (impact with high energy g-rays or cosmic rays) - from exposure to chemical agents called mutagens - or simply by error in the DNA replication process.






10. Populations begin to diverge when gene flow between them is restricted. Geographic isolation is often the first step in ____________ speciation.






11. 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.






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






13. 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).






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






15. Prior to the scientific discoveries of the past 200 years - _____________ from the Book Of Genesis described how living things came into being.






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






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






18. 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.






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






20. The most recent mass extinction - the K-T extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period - is best known for having wiped out the __________ .






21. ___________ is a specific explanation of similarity of form seen in the biological world. In genetics - it is used in reference to protein or DNA sequences - meaning that the given sequences share ancestry.






22. Speciation by ____________ Equilibrium involves a group of creatures which gets isolated from the rest of their species.






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






24. _________ ______ disease causes anemia - joint pain - a swollen spleen - and frequent - severe infections. It illustrates balanced polymorphism because carriers are resistant to malaria - an infection by the parasite that causes cycles of chills and






25. 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.






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






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






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






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






30. Homology is also seen in the structure of eye - brain - joint appendages of arthropods - etc. It is thus evidence for ____________.






31. Because organisms are continually tested by their changing ______________ - their forms change to suit new conditions.






32. ____________ reproduction - whether reproduction proceeds with lesser or greater success - is central to the process of natural selection; it determines whether a given mutation becomes established in the general population.






33. The Linnaean system uses two Latin name categories - ________ and species - to designate each type of organism.






34. 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.






35. 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.






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






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






38. Humans who have produced offspring that successfully live in a ________ environment tend to be broader and smaller in stature while hotter environments are occupied by thinner taller humans.






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






40. ___________ speciation happens when members of a population develop some genetic difference that prevents them from reproducing with the parent type.






41. Any change of _________ frequencies in a gene pool indicates that evolution has occurred. The Hardy-Weinberg law proposes that those factors that violate the conditions listed - cause evolution.






42. 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.






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






44. ____________ organs are formed on the same basic plan though they may be modified variously to perform different functions. They must have a common ancestral structure which gave rise to different modifications.






45. 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






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






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






48. There are at least ___________ of animals. Humans are members of the phylum Chordata.






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






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