Q 01/05

Evolution is defined as the change in what over successive generations?

A) The size of individual organisms

B) Heritable characteristics of populations

C) The climate of a habitat

D) The number of species on Earth

Answer · why

B) Heritable characteristics of populations

It happens when evolutionary processes act on genetic variation within a population.

Q 02/05

Which two British naturalists independently conceived the theory of evolution by natural selection?

A) Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace

B) Charles Darwin and Thomas Huxley

C) Charles Lyell and Alfred Russel Wallace

D) Erasmus Darwin and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

Answer · why

A) Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace

Darwin preferred the phrase 'descent with modification' to 'evolution'.

Q 03/05

In which book did Darwin first set out the theory in detail?

A) The Descent of Man

B) On the Origin of Species

C) Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation

D) The Voyage of the Beagle

Answer · why

B) On the Origin of Species

It was published in 1859, and Vestiges, an anonymous 1844 book, had already stirred up the public.

Q 04/05

What is the ultimate source of all genetic variation in organisms?

A) Gene flow

B) Mutation

C) Natural selection

D) Genetic drift

Answer · why

B) Mutation

Such changes may alter a gene's product, disable it, or do nothing; about half of those in coding regions are harmful and half neutral.

Q 05/05

What is the random fluctuation of allele frequencies from one generation to the next called?

A) Sexual selection

B) Natural selection

C) Genetic drift

D) Gene flow

Answer · why

C) Genetic drift

It works fastest in small populations and can fix or eliminate alleles by chance alone.