3 minute read
Quiz
QUIZ
1. What is the least effective way of determining that an organism is in a specific species?
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a. Morphology b. Fossil record c. DNA sequence d. Reproductive status
Answer: b. Species are not generally looked at in terms of their fossil record, although some paleontologists use this as a last resort to identify an extinct species.
2. A species concept that is used specifically to define a species that reproduces asexually refers to what type of species?
Answer: c. The term agamospecies defines those that can be defined without reference to sexual reproduction because these species reproduce asexually.
3. What term is used by paleontologists to look at species that have changed their morphology over the course of evolution rather than changed into a different species?
Answer: c. The term Chronospecies is used to define a species that may have changed over the course of time in the evolutionary process but is still the same species.
4. What type of organism has a quasispecies rather than an actual species?
a. Plant b. Archaea c. Bacteria d. Virus
Answer: d. Viruses are not living organisms so they do not have a species name. Instead, they are referred to as having a type of quasispecies organization pattern.
5. What is it called when an ancestor species breaks off into two or more distinct descendants?
a. Ringed species hybridization b. Horizontal gene transfer c. Anagenesis d. Cladogenesis
Answer: d. Cladogenesis is an evolutionary process that has an ancestor organism splitting into two or more separate species along evolutionary lineages.
6. What was Darwin’s major dilemma when he asked why species existed in the first place?
a. Why there weren’t an infinite number of transitional forms between species. b. Why species become extinct over time. c. Why organisms of the same species can look different. d. Why geography seems to support the development of different species.
Answer: a. His major dilemma was why there weren t an infinite number of transitional forms between the species, either in a certain
geographical area or over a period of time in the evolutionary process. He assumed there was a reason that natural selection favored speciation.
7. Which mode of speciation happens when a few founders of a new colony break off from the main colony, with the effect of starting a small group of new species members?
a. Allopatric b. Peripatric c. Parapatric d. Sympatric
Answer: b. Which peripatric speciation, a few organisms separate from the main group in order to have a new species develop with just a few founders.
8. According to the Wallace effect, how does the reinforcement of species separation happen?
a. The organisms operate in different ecological niches b. One organism is a predator to another organism c. The hybrid organism is infertile or subfertile d. The hybrid has increased fitness than either of the separate species
Answer: c. If there are two related species and the hybrid of these is subfertile or infertile, there will be the reinforcement of the species, according to the Wallace effect.
9. What type of evolution is favored by the fossil record and by animal husbandry?
a. Phyletic gradualism b. Stable species after they have developed c. Punctuated evolution d. Frequent mass extinction with rebirth of new species
Answer: c. Punctuated evolution is rapid evolution over a short period of time, which occurs in the fossil record when new species suddenly appear and when animals or plants are quickly speciated artificially over very short periods of time.
10. How much different can the DNA of an organism be unique as a minimum in order to call it a new species?
a. 2 percent b. 16 percent c. 40 percent d. 65 percent
Answer: a. At a minimum, two percent uniqueness in an organism s DNA can be enough to call a species as being different from another.
