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






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






3. ____________ 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.






4. In a genetic drift the entire population may become homozygous for the allele or - equally likely - the allele may disappear. Before either of these fates occurs - the allele represents a Polymorphism. This is a case of polymorphism through...






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






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






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






8. Insect ____________ is also an example of convergent evolution - as for example when an edible (palatable) butterfly develops a color pattern similar to a relatively unrelated inedible (unpalatable) butterfly - and by so doing escapes being eaten.






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






10. There are certain animals with intermediate characters between two major groups of animals. They are called ___________ _____.






11. Some important structural changes during the evolution of horse are: Increase in size from 11' (Eohippus) to about 60' (Equus) - and ___________ of the head and neck so as that it can reach the ground.






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






13. 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.






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






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






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






17. _______________ is that branch of biology dealing with the identification and naming of organisms.






18. When Charles Darwin was in the Galapagos islands - one of the first things he noticed is the variety of ___________ that existed on each of the islands.






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






20. 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.






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






22. 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






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






24. 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.






25. _____________ 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.






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






27. 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.






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






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






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






31. 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).






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






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






34. 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.






35. 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.






36. Most anthropologists agree that the ______ _______ was populated by a series of three migrations over the temporary land connection between Asia and North America.






37. 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.






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






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






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






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






42. 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.






43. 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.






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






45. The ____________ mammals occupy Australia - and differ from placental mammals because they bear their young inside a pouch (instead of a placenta).






46. 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 ___________ __________.






47. Almost all living organisms use the same basic biochemical molecules - including DNA - ATP - and many identical or nearly identical enzymes. Organisms utilize the same DNA triplet base _________ and the same 20 amino acids in their proteins






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






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






50. ___________ 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.