1. Members of one species cannot successfully interbreed and produce fertile offspring with members of other species. This idea is known as
a. reproductive success.
b. punctuated evolution.
c. adaptive radiation.
d. the biological species concept.
e. geographic isolation.
2. The origin of new species, the extinction of species, and the evolution of major new features of living things are all changes that result from
a. macroevolution.
b. fitness.
c. speciation.
d. the biological species concept.
e. convergent evolution.
3. Which is a barrier that can contribute to reproductive isolation?
a. timing
b. behavior
c. habitat
d. incompatible reproductive structures
e. all of the above
4. Which of the following statements is false?
a. Horses and donkeys are separate species.
b. Two mules can mate and produce fertile offspring.
c. A horse and a donkey can mate and produce offspring.
d. Two donkeys can mate and produce fertile offspring.
e. Two horses can mate and produce fertile offspring.
5. The evolution of the penguin’s wing from a wing suited for flying to a “flipper-wing” used for swimming is an example of
a. refinement of existing adaptations.
b. reproductive isolation.
c. adaptation of existing structures to new functions.
d. inheritance of acquired characteristics.
e. the biological species concept.
6. Which of the following have been preserved as fossils?
a. dinosaur footprints
b. insects preserved in amber
c. petrified plant remains
d. animal bones
e. all of the above
7. The mass extinctions that included the dinosaurs took place during which period?
a. Cambrian (543–510 million years ago)
b. Devonian (409–363 million years ago)
c. Carboniferous (363–290 million years ago)
d. Jurassic (206–144 million years ago)
e. Cretaceous (144–65 million years ago)
8. The development of the complex, camera-like eye of a mammal is an example of
a. refinement of existing adaptations.
b. reproductive isolation.
c. adaptation of existing structures to new functions.
d. inheritance of acquired characteristics.
e. the biological species concept.
9. Which of the following statements is true?
a. Carbon-14 dating is useful for studying the age of early dinosaur fossils.
b. Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5,730 years.
c. Uranium-238 has a very short half-life.
d. Uranium-238 is present in all organisms.
e. Carbon-12 is not found in living plants.
10. Which of the following provides the best explanation for why Australia has so many organisms unique to that continent?
a. punctuated equilibrium
b. the biological species concept
c. convergent evolution
d. continental drift
e. cladistics
11. Scientists think that a meteor that fell in ____________________ may have led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
a. Australia
b. the Yucatán peninsula
c. The Galápagos Islands
d. Pangaea
e. India
12. The great diversity of habitats on the Hawaiian Islands likely support many instances of
a. continental drift.
b. mass extinction.
c. adaptive radiation.
d. radiometric dating.
e. convergent evolution.
13. The identification, naming, and classification of species is called
a. embryology.
b. radiometric dating.
c. relative dating.
d. adaptive radiation.
e. taxonomy.
14. A binomial is a two-part name that references the ____________________ and ____________________ that the organism belongs to.
a. genus; order
b. kingdom; phylum
c. family; species
d. genus; species
e. domain; species
15. Unrelated species from similar environments may have adaptations that seem very similar due to a process called
a. derived characters.
b. taxonomy.
c. convergent evolution.
d. analogous structures.
e. cladistics.
16. A phylogenetic tree that specifies the derived characters of clades is called
a. a cladogram.
b. a domain.
c. an analogous structure.
d. the Linnaean system of classification.
e. the geologic time scale.
17. Homologous characteristics that unite organisms as a group are called
a. analogous structures.
b. derived characters.
c. binomials.
d. molecular data.
e. cladistics.
18. Phylogenetic trees represent hypotheses about
a. half-lives.
b. the geologic time scale.
c. the three-domain system.
d. evolutionary history.
e. the five-kingdom system.
19. The binomial system of naming organisms was proposed by
a. Darwin.
b. Linnaeus.
c. Whittaker.
d. Mayr.
e. none of the above
20. The three domains in the three-domain system are
a. monerans, protists, and plants
b. plants, bacteria, and fungi
c. eukaryotes, monerans, and protists
d. plants, archaea, and animals
e. bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes