Biology

Genetics and Evolutionary Biology

1,123 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

Why can mutations be beneficial to organisms?

  1. recombined genes can improve DNA stability

  2. mitosis becomes the main way to reproduce asexually

  3. DNA creates more additional nucleotides

  4. Phenotypic change may create an advantage for survival
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Mutations introduce new genetic variations. If a mutation results in a phenotype that provides a survival or reproductive advantage in a given environment, it is considered beneficial.

Multiple choice

Why are mutations important to natural selection?

  1. It gives nature different variations/traits to pick from.

  2. It lets an organism change its DNA to be more adaptive.

  3. It causes individuals to change.

  4. It causes cancer, killing an entire population- extinction.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Natural selection requires variation to function. Mutations are the ultimate source of new genetic variation, providing the raw material upon which natural selection acts.

Multiple choice

A major benefit of sexual reproduction is:

  1. Offspring inherit variety of genetic information.

  2. Offspring are identical to parents.

  3. It happens more quickly than asexual reproduction.

  4. Viruses are incapable of killing the species.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Sexual reproduction involves the combination of genetic material from two parents, which results in offspring with unique genetic combinations. This genetic diversity is a key advantage for species survival.

Multiple choice

What does reproduction mean?

  1. make more living things of the same kind

  2. double

  3. the process of an animals life

  4. Traits that are not passed on from parents to offspring
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Reproduction is the biological process by which new individual organisms, or offspring, are produced from their parents. It is essential for the continuation of a species.

Multiple choice

When major events cause rapid changes it is called?

  1. Tragitism

  2. Castratrophism

  3. Bottleneck Effect

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

Catastrophism (misspelled as Castratrophism) proposes that rapid, catastrophic events drive major biological or geological changes, as opposed to gradual change over long periods.

Multiple choice

What kind of traits can natural selection act upon?

  1. Dominant

  2. Genotype

  3. Phenotype

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

Natural selection acts on the phenotype, which is the physical expression of the genotype, because the phenotype determines an organism's interaction with the environment.

Multiple choice

What is the survival of the fittest, acts on individuals called?

  1. Natural Selection

  2. Artificial Selection

  3. Lazy Selection

  4. Homozygous
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Natural selection is the process where individuals with traits better suited to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. This is the core mechanism of evolutionary change.

Multiple choice

What is heredity?

  1. The passing on of traits from parent to offspring

  2. The scientific term for asexual reproduction
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Heredity is the biological process by which genetic traits are passed from parents to their offspring through reproduction.

Multiple choice

Blue eyes _____

  1. Are a mutation

  2. Didn't exist at one point

  3. Some from a single common ancestor

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

Scientific research suggests that blue eyes are the result of a genetic mutation that occurred in a single common ancestor, and they did not exist in humans prior to that point.

Multiple choice

The most important reason that one can see evolution in a population of mosquitoes more easily than one can in us is

  1. have a higher mutation rate

  2. are exposed to toxic chemicals

  3. have a shorter life cycle

  4. lay eggs rather than bearing live offspring
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The primary reason evolution is observed more quickly in mosquitoes than in humans is their short life cycle, which allows for many generations to pass in a short amount of time.

Multiple choice

What would happen if a mutation created a new allele that decreased fitness?

  1. The new allele would have to change back to an allele of higher fitness

  2. the indv with the new allele would wait for an env change to inc its fitnes

  3. new allele would decrease the fitness & offspring # of the person having it

  4. new allele will spread through the population&decrease fitness of whole pop
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Fitness is defined by the ability to survive and reproduce. A mutation that decreases fitness will naturally reduce the individual's survival or reproductive success, leading to fewer offspring.