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

What is a genus?

  1. A group of individual organisms with fundamental similarities

  2. A group of organisms having common features and morphological or developmental similarities

  3. A group of related species having more common characters

  4. The assemblage of families which exhibit a few similar characters
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Genus comprises a group of related species which has more characters in common in comparison to species of other genera.

Multiple choice

Lamarck’s theory of evolution is also called

  1. survival of the fittest

  2. theory of special reaction

  3. inheritance of acquired characters

  4. all of the above
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Lamarck in his book ‘Philosophic Zoologique' postulated that environment influenced the morphological characters and that these changes were inherited in the next generation.

Multiple choice

Which of the following evidences does not favour the Lamarckian concept of inheritance of acquired characteristics?

  1. Absence of limbs in snakes

  2. Presence of webbed toes in aquatic birds

  3. Melanisation in peppered moth

  4. Lack of pigment in cave dwelling animals
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Melanisation in peppered moth does not favour the Lamarckian concept of inheritance of acquired characteristics. This concept of melanisation was put forward by Darwin.

Multiple choice

What does Archezoa hypothesis indicate?

  1. Difference between eubacteria and archaebacteria

  2. Eukaryotic endosymbiosis

  3. Chlorophyll c presence in Chromists

  4. Presence of domain archea
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Archezoa hypothesis proves eukaryotic endosymbiosis, i.e kingdom Diplomadida and kingdom Parabasala originally had mitochondria, but lost them before mitochondria became symbionts of protists.

Multiple choice

Which of the following statements is/are false?

a. The wings of an insect and a bird are an example of analogous organs. b. The changes in the non-reproductive body cells of an organism can be inherited by its offsprings. c. Evolution is the sequence of gradual changes that take place in the primitive organisms over million of years in which new species are produced.

  1. Only a

  2. Only a and b

  3. Only b

  4. Only b and c

  5. Only c
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

This is the correct option as this statement is false. The changes in the non-reproductive body cells of an organism cannot be inherited by its offsprings.

Multiple choice

Why is the first anatomically modern human female called a mitochondria eve?

  1. Because mitochondrial DNA is inherited without replication.

  2. Because mitochondria is the first formed cell organelle.

  3. Because mitochondria is the energy producing organelle.

  4. Because mitochondria DNA has uracil in place of guanine.

  5. Because mitochondria DNA forms non-coding genes.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Because all mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) generally (but see paternal mtDNA transmission) is passed from mother to offspring without recombination, all mtDNA in every living person is directly descended from hers by definition, differing only by the mutations that over generations have occurred in the germ cell mtDNA, since the conception of the original mitochondrial eve.

Multiple choice

What does the homologous organs indicate?

  1. Parallel evolution

  2. Natural selection

  3. Convergent evolution

  4. Common descendent

  5. Genetic drift
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Homologous organs have the same ancestral origin, same structure but different function.

Multiple choice

Which of the following statements are true regarding inclusive fitness? A. It is the sum of direct and indirect fitness effects of an individual’s behavior B. It provides evolutionary explanation for altruistic behavior C. It is judged by the number of offsprings

  1. A and B

  2. Only A

  3. Only B

  4. Only C

  5. A, B and C
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
E Correct answer
Explanation

The inclusive fitness of an organism is judged by the number of offspring it has, how they support them, and how their offspring could support others. The concept serves to explain how natural selection can perpetuate altruism. If there is an 'altruism gene (or complex of genes) that influences an organism's behavior to be helpful and protective of relatives and their offspring, this behavior also increases the proportion of the altruism gene in the population, because relatives are likely to share genes with the altruist due to common descent.

Multiple choice

Which of the following books are authored by Charles Darwin?

  1. Philosophic Zoologique and Origin of species

  2. Essay on population and Descent of Man

  3. Systema Naturae and Philosophic Zoologique

  4. Origin of species and Descent of Man

  5. Essay on population and Origin of species
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Origin of species: Charles Darwin Descent of Man: Charles Darwin

Multiple choice

If genomic sequence of the organism is done, which of the following theory will be supportive of the organism?

Directions: Rickettsia prowazekii is an obligate intracellular parasite.

  1. Parasitic bacteria have large genomes.

  2. Parasitic bacteria and viruses share similar genomic sequence.

  3. Mitochondria have evolved from endosymbiotic bacteria.

  4. Bacteria evolved from viruses.

  5. Parasitic bacterial genome has more of exons than introns.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

 Mitochondria have evolved from endosymbiotic bacteria. According to researchers, the modern mitochondria that generate energy in eukaryotic cells have actually evolved from endosymbiotic bacteria. Since these bacteria lived within cells, they have become a part of the cells producing ATP. Rickettsia prowazekii genome is very close to mitochondria.

Multiple choice

Consider the following facts:

  1. The term biological diversity was first used by wildlife scientist and conservationist Raymond F. Dasmann.
  2. It is estimated that only half of the species which existed on Earth are extant today.

Which of the above statements is/are true?

  1. Only 1

  2. Only 2

  3. Both 1 and 2

  4. Neither 1 nor 2
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The term biological diversity was first used by wildlife scientist and conservationist Raymond F. Dasmann in the 1968 lay book 'A Different Kind of Country' advocating conservation. The term was widely adopted only after more than a decade, when in the 1980s it came into common usage in science and environmental policy. Rapid environmental changes typically cause mass extinctions. One estimate is that less than 1% of the species that have existed on Earth are extant. A variation of this estimate pegs the percentage of extant species to 2%.