Biology

Genetics and Evolutionary Biology

1,156 Questions

Genetics and evolutionary biology explain how traits are passed from parents to offspring and how species change over time. Key concepts include genetic drift, inbreeding, and heredity. This topic is fundamental for the biology section of many competitive tests.

Heredity and traitsGenetic variations and driftInbreeding conceptsEvolutionary mechanisms

Genetics and Evolutionary Biology Questions

Multiple choice zoology the paths traversed by life evidences for evolution - taxonomy, molecular biology and cytology evidences of evolution evidences of biological evolution

Why is similarity misleading when it comes to inferring evolutionary relationships?

  1. Organisms that look alike may be very distantly related to one another.

  2. Similarities between two species may be due to common descent, without indicating how closely the two are related to one another.

  3. A and B only.

  4. The presence of a shared derived character state is often misleading when it comes to inferring relationships between species .
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Similarity can be misleading due to convergent evolution (A) or shared ancestral traits that do not reflect recent specific relationships (B). Both are valid reasons why similarity alone is insufficient for inferring phylogeny.

Multiple choice zoology the paths traversed by life evidences for evolution - taxonomy, molecular biology and cytology evidences of evolution evidences of biological evolution

Type of selection operating in:

(i) Average weight of the new born - X.

(ii) Industrial melanism - Y.

(iii) Sunflower population in Sacramento valley of California - Z.

Here if X, Y and Z are representing the types of natural selection, then X, Y and Z will be:

  1. X - Directional selection, Y - Balancing selection, Z - Diversifying selection.

  2. X - Balancing selection, Y - Directional selection, Z - Diversifying selection.

  3. X - Diversifying selection, Y - Balancing selection, Z - Directional selection.

  4. X - Diversifying selection, Y - Directional selection, Z - Balancing selection.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Stabilizing selection (balancing) maintains the average (birth weight), directional selection shifts the trait (industrial melanism), and disruptive (diversifying) selection favors extremes (sunflower population).

Multiple choice microsporophyll vs megasporophyll plant kingdom biology

Assertion : Most evolutionary trees place information about the pattern of relationship among organisms on the vertical axis and information about time on the horizontal axis.

Reason : An evolutionary tree depicts the pattern of relationships among parents and their offsprings.

  1. If both the assertion and the reason are true and the reason is a correct explanation of the assertion

  2. If both the assertion and reason are true but the reason is not a correct explanation of the assertion

  3. If the assertion is true but the reason is false

  4. If both the assertion and reason are false

  5. If the assertion is false but reason is true
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

An evolutionary tree depicts the pattern of relationships among major groups of organisms. Most evolutionary trees place information about the pattern of relationships among organisms on the horizontal axis and information about time on the vertical axis.

Multiple choice evs - i growth and personality development heredity and other supporting factors for development all together community work and its importance

The transmission of characters from the parents to their offspring is called as

  1. Heredity

  2. Speciation

  3. Natural selection

  4. All of the above
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation
Heredity is the passing of phenotypic traits from parents to their offspring, either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction. This is the process by which an offspring cell or organism acquires or becomes predisposed to the characteristics of its parent cell or organism. 
Speciation is the evolutionary process by which new biological species arise. The biologist Orator F. Cook was the first to coin the term 'speciation' .
Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction (i.e., fitness) of individuals that differ in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution.
Multiple choice evs - i growth and personality development heredity and other supporting factors for development all together community work and its importance

What does 'Eugenics' pertains to?

  1. Improvement of mankind by improving his heredity

  2. Preservating human sperms for artificial insemination

  3. Study of human genetics

  4. Controlling size of a human family
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Eugenics is a social philosophy advocating the improvement of human genetic traits through the promotion of higher reproduction of people with desired traits and reduced reproduction of people with less-desired or undesired traits.

Multiple choice botany plant breeding plant breeding for disease resistance and insect resistance method of plant breeding for crop improvement plant breeding for food production

What is a clone?

  1. A heterozygote produced by sexual means.

  2. A homozygote produced by asexual means.

  3. A heterozygote produced by asexual means.

  4. A homozygote produced by sexual means.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Clone is a group of plants produced from a single plant through asexual reproduction or progeny of single plant obtained by asexual reproduction is known as clone.

Multiple choice zoology biodiversity and conservation hotspots and methods of conservation biodiversity: conservation conservation of biodiversity basis of classification in animals basis of the classification of animals criteria for animal classification

The loss of the sum total and variety of all the genes and their alleles present in a population or species is called as

  1. Genetic conservation

  2. Genetic erosion

  3. Species extinction

  4. Gene pooling
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Genetic erosion is a process whereby an already limited gene pool of an endangered species of plant or animal diminishes even more, when individuals from the surviving population die off without getting a chance to meet and breed with others in their endangered low population. 

The term is sometimes used in a narrow sense, such as when describing the loss of particular alleles or genes, as well as being used more broadly, as when referring to the loss of varieties or even whole species.
Genetic erosion occurs because each individual organism has many unique genes, which get lost when it dies without getting a chance to breed. 

Multiple choice zoology biodiversity and conservation hotspots and methods of conservation biodiversity: conservation conservation of biodiversity basis of classification in animals basis of the classification of animals criteria for animal classification

Which one will be searched for obtaining maximum genetic diversity?

  1. Recent varieties

  2. Old varieties

  3. Wild relatives

  4. All of the above
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Genetic diversity refers to the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of the species. Genetic diversity serves as a way for populations to adapt to changing environments.
In order to capture the maximum genetic diversity of a species, recent, old, wild - all kind of varieties will be considered and taken into account and searched.
Thus, the correct answer is option (D),  'All of the above'.

Multiple choice zoology selection and evolution extinction extinctions environmental science

Choose the correct answers from the alternatives given.
The biological definition of a species depends on

  1. differences in the adaptations of two groups of organisms

  2. reproductive isolation of two groups of organisms

  3. anatomical and developmental differences between two groups of organisms

  4. geographic distribution of two groups of organisms
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Species a group of closely related organisms that are very similar to each other and are usually capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. In reproductive isolation refers to the inability of related species to breed. In species, the only same member of an organism can interbreed due to reproductive isolation.

So the correct option is B, reproductive isolation of two groups of organisms.

Multiple choice zoology variation examples of natural selection selection natural selection

Which of the following is a result of natural selection?

  1. Seedless grapes

  2. Insecticide - resistant mosquitoes

  3. Disease - resistant crop plants

  4. Cattle for high milk yield
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

When the insecticides are used on a large scale, the genes in the organism are mutated and then there is no effect of the insecticide on the organism. This is the phenomenon of resistance evolved due to natural selection which allows the development of the mosquitoes which are resistant.

Thus, the correct answer is option B. 

Multiple choice zoology evolution examples of natural selection selection natural selection

The inherited character long neck in giraffe is an example of 

  1. Genetic variation

  2. Natural selection

  3. Gene drift

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

Long necks and long legs and can reach food high in the trees does not mean that a need to reach high browse was a causative factor in the evolution of those characteristics. Clearly, both Darwin's and Lamarck's conceptions of giraffe evolution were highly speculative.

So, the correct answer is "Natural selection".

Multiple choice zoology evolution examples of natural selection selection natural selection

Which of the following process is responsible for inheritance during natural selection?

  1. Crossover

  2. Mutation

  3. Variation

  4. All of the above
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Natural selection:- The differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over.

principles of natural selection:-
  • 1) Variation. Organisms (within populations) exhibit individual         variation in appearance and behavior.
  • 2) Inheritance. Some traits are consistently passed on from parent to offspring.
  • 3) High rate of population growth.
  • 4) Differential survival and reproduction.    So, the correct answer is"All of the above".                                                                                  

Multiple choice zoology variation examples of natural selection selection natural selection

Maximum ............ increase the chance of survival.

  1. Variation

  2. Adaptation

  3. Mutation

  4. None of the above
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Adaptation:- process by which an animal or plant species becomes fitted to its environment; it is the result of natural selection's acting upon heritable variation.

So, the correct answer is "Adaptation".

Multiple choice zoology variation examples of natural selection selection natural selection

Which of the following is considered during natural selection?

  1. Genetic variation

  2. Differential reproduction

  3. Competition

  4. All of the above
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Natural selection:- The basic mechanisms of evolution, along with mutation, migration, and genetic drift. Darwin's grand idea of evolution by natural selection is relatively simple but often misunderstood. To find out how it works, imagine a population of beetles: There is variation in traits.

So, the correct answer is "All of the above".

Multiple choice zoology variation examples of natural selection selection natural selection

Replacement of the lighter-coloured variety of peppered moth (Biston betularia) to its darker variety (Biston carbonaria) in England is the example of

  1. Natural selection

  2. Regeneration

  3. Genetic isolation

  4. Temporal isolation
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation
In England, before industrialisation in $1860$, it was observed that there were more white-winged moths on tree trunks than dark-winged or melanised moths. But after industrialisation in $1920$, there were more dark-winged moths in the same area. Before industrialisation, the tree trunks were covered by white-coloured lichens. In that background, the white-winged moths survived but the dark-winged moths were eaten by predators. During post industrialisation period, the tree trunks became dark due to industrial smoke and soot. Therefore, the white winged moths could not survive due to predators but dark-winged moths survived, i.e., the moths that were hidden in background survived. Thus, industrial melanism supports evolution by natural selection.

So, the correct answer is 'Natural selection'.