Ch 22-24 AP BIO

Catastrophism, meaning the regular occurrence of geological or meteorological disturbances (catastrophes), was Cuvierʹs attempt to explain the existence of

The fossil record

Which of the events described below agrees with the idea of catastrophism?

The sudden demise of the dinosaurs, and various other groups, by the impact of a large extraterrestrial body on Earth

What was the prevailing notion prior to the time of Lyell and Darwin?

Earth is a few thousand years old, and populations are unchanging.

During a study session about evolution, one of your fellow students remarks, ʺThe giraffe stretched its neck while reaching for higher leaves; its offspring inherited longer necks as a result.ʺ Which statement is most likely to be helpful in correcting this studentʹs misconception?

Characteristics acquired during an organismʹs life are generally not passed on through genes.

Which group is composed entirely of individuals who maintained that species are fixed (i.e., unchanging)?

In the mid-1900s, the Soviet geneticist Lysenko believed that his winter wheat plants, exposed to ever-colder temperatures, would eventually give rise to ever more cold-tolerant winter wheat. Lysenkoʹs attempts in this regard were most in agreement with the ideas of

Lamarck

Which stratum should contain the greatest proportion of extinct organisms?

D

If ʺxʺ indicates the location of fossils of two closely related species, then fossils of their most-recent common ancestor are most likely to occur in which stratum?

C

Who would have proposed that the boundaries between each stratum mark the occurrence of different localized floods?

Cuvier

Which pair would have been likely to agree that strata such as those depicted here were deposited gradually over long periods of time by subtle mechanisms that are still at work?

Hutton and Lyell

Darwinʹs mechanism of natural selection required long time spans in order to modify species. From whom did Darwin get the concept of Earthʹs ancient age?

Charles Lyell

As a young biologist, Charles Darwin had expected the living plants of temperate South

America would resemble those of temperate Europe, but he was surprised to find that they

more closely resembled the plants of tropical South America. The biological explanation for

this observation is most properly associated with the field of

biogeography

Which of these naturalists synthesized a concept of natural selection independently of Darwin?

Alfred Wallace

Charles Darwin was the first person to propose

a mechanism for evolution that was supported by evidence.

In Darwinʹs thinking, the more closely related two different organisms are, the

more recently they shared a common ancestor.

Which of these conditions should completely prevent the occurrence of natural selection in a population over time?

All variation between individuals is due only to environmental factors.

Natural selection is based on all of the following except

individuals adapt to their environments and, thereby, evolve.

Which of the following represents an idea that Darwin learned from the writings of Thomas Malthus?

Populations tend to increase at a faster rate than their food supply normally allows.

Which statement about natural selection is most correct?

Well-adapted individuals leave more offspring, and thus contribute more to the next generationʹs gene pool, than do poorly adapted individuals.