Biology · Science General

Evolution and Biological Adaptation

1,288 Questions

Evolution and biological adaptation focus on natural selection, speciation events, and how organisms adjust to environmental changes over time. These foundational biology concepts appear frequently in general science sections of civil services and school board examinations. Use these questions to study evolutionary theories, ancestral traits, and the fossil record.

Natural selection mechanismsSpeciation event examplesBiological adaptation traitsPanspermia hypothesis conceptsFossil record analysisMate selection theories

Evolution and Biological Adaptation Questions

Multiple choice

Which one provides correct sequence of events in origin of new species according to Darwinism? A) Natural selection B) Variations and their inheritance C) Survival of the fittest D) Struggle for existence

  1. ABCD

  2. BCAD

  3. CDAB

  4. DBCA

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

According to Darwinism, the sequence is: (D) Struggle for existence, (B) Variations and their inheritance, (C) Survival of the fittest, and (A) Natural selection. This leads to the adaptation of the population.

Multiple choice

Which one does not favour Lamarckian concept of inheritance of acquired characters?

  1. Lack of pigment in cave dwellers.

  2. Absence of limbs in snakes.

  3. Presence of webbed toes in aquatic birds.

  4. Melanization of Peppered Moth in industrial areas.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The melanization of the Peppered Moth is a classic example of natural selection acting on existing genetic variation, not the inheritance of acquired characters as proposed by Lamarck.

Multiple choice

According to Lamarckism, long necked giraffes evolved because

  1. nature selected only long necked animals

  2. of stretching of necks by short ones over many generations

  3. humans preferred long necked animals

  4. of mutation
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

According to Lamarckism, long necked giraffes evolved because of stretching of necks by short ones over many generations. 

Multiple choice

Weisman cut off the tails of mice, generation after generation but tails neither disappeared nor shortened, showing that

  1. Darwin was correct

  2. Tail is an essential organ

  3. Mutation theory is wrong

  4. Acquired characters are not inherited
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

August Weismann's experiment with mice tails demonstrated that physical changes acquired during an organism's life are not passed on to offspring, thereby refuting Lamarck's theory of inheritance of acquired characters.

Multiple choice

The cornerstone of Darwin's theory is

  1. inheritance of acquired characters

  2. higher productivity

  3. natural selection

  4. none of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Natural selection is the fundamental mechanism proposed by Charles Darwin to explain how evolution occurs and how species adapt to their environments.

Multiple choice

Which of the following is a missing link in evolution?

  1. Peripatus

  2. Limulus

  3. Pheretima

  4. Archaeopteryx
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Archaeopteryx is widely recognized as a classic missing link (transitional fossil) between non-avian dinosaurs and birds, possessing features of both groups. Peripatus is a link between Annelida and Arthropoda, not a missing link in the same sense.

Multiple choice

Select the pair that does not match.

  1. Linnaeus -Species are dynamic entities

  2. Darwin's finches - Unique to Galapagos

  3. Hugo de Vries - Evolution is discontinuous

  4. Coacervates -Aggregates of organic compounds bound by organic membrane
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Linnaeus is known for the binomial nomenclature system and the concept of species as fixed and immutable entities, not dynamic ones. The other pairings correctly describe their respective evolutionary concepts.

Multiple choice

Evolutionary history of an organism is known as

  1. Ancestry

  2. Paleontology

  3. Ontogeny

  4. Phylogeny
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Phylogeny refers to the evolutionary development and diversification of a species or group of organisms, often represented as a tree showing ancestral relationships.

Multiple choice

Which one of the following phenomena supports Darwin's concept of natural selection in organic evolution?

  1. Development of transgenic animals.

  2. Production of 'Dolly', the sheep by cloning.

  3. Prevalence of pesticide resistant insects.

  4. Development of organs from 'stem cells' for organ transplantation.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The emergence of pesticide resistance in insects is a direct observation of natural selection in action, where individuals with a random mutation that confers resistance survive and reproduce, passing the trait to offspring.

Multiple choice

Presence of gill slits in the embryos of all vertebrates support the theory of

  1. organic evolution

  2. biogenesis

  3. metamorphosis

  4. recapitulation
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The presence of gill slits in vertebrate embryos is a classic example used to support the recapitulation theory (biogenetic law), which suggests that an organism's development (ontogeny) repeats its evolutionary history (phylogeny).

Multiple choice

Possible early source(s) of energy was/were

  1. Chlorophyll

  2. CO2

  3. UV radiations and lightning

  4. Green plants
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

In the prebiotic atmosphere, high-energy sources such as UV radiation and lightning were necessary to drive the synthesis of simple organic compounds from inorganic precursors.

Multiple choice

Evolutionary divergence is characterized by

  1. development of dissimilar characters in closely related groups.

  2. development of a common set of characters in the groups of different ancestry.

  3. development of characters by random mating.

  4. development of characters by inbreeding.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Evolutionary divergence (divergent evolution) occurs when a common ancestor gives rise to different species that adapt to different environments, leading to the development of dissimilar characters in closely related groups.

Multiple choice

Ontogeny repeats phylogeny is also known as

  1. Recapitulation theory

  2. Biogenetic theory

  3. Biogenetic law

  4. Both 1 and 3
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The theory that 'ontogeny repeats phylogeny' is known as the Recapitulation Theory or the Biogenetic Law, proposed by Ernst Haeckel.

Multiple choice

Which one represents a connecting link as an evidence from comparative anatomy in favour of organic evolution?

  1. Whale between fishes and mammals.

  2. Duck-billed platypus between reptiles and mammals.

  3. Java ape man between modern man and Peking man.

  4. Archaeopteryx between birds and mammals.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The duck-billed platypus is a monotreme mammal that lays eggs like a reptile but produces milk like a mammal, serving as a connecting link between these two groups.

Multiple choice

Which of the following is not correctly paired?

  1. Mesozoic − Age of mammals

  2. Study of fossils − Palaeontolgy

  3. Mutation theory − Hugo de Vries

  4. Origin of Species − Charles Darwin
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The Mesozoic is the 'Age of Reptiles', not the 'Age of Mammals'. The Cenozoic is the 'Age of Mammals'.