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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






10. ___________ 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.






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






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






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






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






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






16. 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.






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






18. 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.






19. ____________ 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.






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






21. A ___________ can be defined as one or more populations of interbreeding organisms that are reproductively isolated in nature from all other organisms.






22. 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.






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






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






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






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






27. 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.






28. Primates evolved about approximately 30 million years ago in ___________. One branch of primates evolved into the Old and New World Monkeys - the other into the hominoids (the line of descent common to both apes and man).






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






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






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






32. 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.






33. 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.






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






35. 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






36. Linnaeus placed all monkeys and apes along with humans into the order _________






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. As populations diverge - they form similar but related species. When are two populations new species? When populations no longer _____________ they are thought to be separate species.






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. 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).






41. 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.






42. The _______-_________ Law states that an equilibrium of allele frequencies in a gene pool remains in effect in each succeeding generation of a sexually reproducing population if five conditions are met.






43. If a population began with a few individuals - one or more of whom carried a particular allele - that allele may come to be represented in many of the descendants. This is known as ____________.






44. 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.






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






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






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






48. 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.






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






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