Question 1

Which statement best describes Aristotle's 'great chain of being' and its impact on evolutionary thought?

Accepted Answer

It classified organisms into fixed types arranged in a linear hierarchy from 'lower' to 'higher' forms.

Question 2

Typological thinking, as described by Plato and Aristotle, views variation among individuals as:

Accepted Answer

Abnormal deviations from a perfect essence.

Question 3

Lamarck's hypothesis of use and disuse suggested that:

Accepted Answer

Traits acquired during an organism's lifetime can be inherited by offspring.

Question 4

Which of the following is NOT an assumption of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?

Accepted Answer

Natural selection is acting on the trait.

Question 5

If a population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, what prediction can be made about allele frequencies?

Accepted Answer

Allele frequencies will remain constant over generations.

Question 6

Which equation represents the expected genotype frequencies in a population with two alleles under Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?

Accepted Answer

$$p^2 + 2pq$$ + $$q^2 = 1$

Question 7

In a population of pea plants, 36% have white flowers (recessive phenotype). Assuming Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, what is the expected frequency of the dominant allele (W)?

Accepted Answer

$$0.6$$

Question 8

Darwin and Wallace's theory of evolution by natural selection differed from previous ideas by emphasizing:

Accepted Answer

Variation among individuals and environmental selection.

Question 9

Which scenario would violate the Hardy-Weinberg assumption of random mating?

Accepted Answer

Individuals preferentially mate with those of similar genotype.

Question 10

A population of 100 plants has the following genotype counts for a gene with alleles T (tall) and t (short): 34 TT, 38 Tt, 28 tt. What is the frequency of the t allele?

Accepted Answer

$$0.47$$

Question 11

Which of the following best describes the modern synthesis of evolutionary biology?

Accepted Answer

It combines inheritance and molecular variation to explain evolutionary change in populations.

Question 12

If $$p = 0.2$$ for the dominant allele in a population, what is the expected frequency of the heterozygous genotype under Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?

Accepted Answer

$$0.32$$

Question 13

Which evolutionary thinker first formally proposed that species change over time by moving up a scale of complexity?

Accepted Answer

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

Question 14

A population is found to have genotype frequencies that do not match those predicted by Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. What does this suggest?

Accepted Answer

The population is evolving.

Question 15

Which of the following is a real-world example of artificial selection described by Darwin?

Accepted Answer

Selective breeding of Brassicaceae to produce broccoli and cauliflower.

Question 16

Which formula would you use to calculate the expected frequency of the homozygous recessive genotype in a population under Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?

Accepted Answer

$$q^2$$

Question 17

Why does Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium serve as a null model for evolution?

Accepted Answer

It predicts genotype frequencies in the absence of evolutionary forces.

Question 18

Which of the following would NOT cause a population to deviate from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?

Accepted Answer

Random mating

Question 19

In a population, the frequency of allele A is $$0.7$$ and allele a is $$0.3. $$What is the expected frequency of genotype Aa under Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?

Accepted Answer

$$0.42$$

Question 20

Which statement best summarizes Darwin and Wallace's concept of 'descent with modification'?

Accepted Answer

Organisms change over time and are linked by common ancestry.

Evolutionary Thought and the Foundations of Population Genetics

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