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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. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






7. 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.






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






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






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






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






12. 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.






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






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






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






16. 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






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






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






19. 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.






20. 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






21. 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.






22. ____________ 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.






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






24. 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.






25. 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.






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






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






28. 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.






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






30. 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.






31. ___________ 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.






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. 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.






34. 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.






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






36. 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.






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






38. 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.






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






40. ____________ 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.






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






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






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






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






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






47. 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.






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






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






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