1. Darwin used the Galapagos finches as an illustration of what?
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| A. Nut cracking
B. Speciation
C. Colonization
D. Interbreeding
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2. Species are groups of actually or potentially interbreeding populations, which are ____________ isolated from other such groups.
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| A. Never
B. Arbitrarily
C. Conceptually
D. Reproductively
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3. What caused the scales of the Peppered Moth to turn dark?
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| A. Soot
B. Lichen
C. Genetic alleles
D. British law
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4. Which unusual characteristic did Archaeopteryx have that modern birds do not have?
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| A. Lips
B. Claws on its wings
C. Fur
D. A scaly head
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5. All the following suggest that rock layers were deposited quickly by a catastrophe EXCEPT what?
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| A. Upright trees fossilized in coal mines
B. Fossilized footprints
C. The amount of sediment deposited by the Colorado River every day
D. The nautiloids in Nautiloid Canyon
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6. Which of the following terms is/are descriptive of science, but not of evolution?
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| A. Falsifiable
B. Laws
C. Repeatable
D. Certainty
E. A and D only
F. B and C only
G. A and C only
H. A, B, C, and D
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7. Under what conditions would the following statement be "scientific" by the textbook definition of science?
"The Big Bang was the ultimate cause that initiated the formation of the universe." | |
| A. If we could observe a Big Bang event and see stars, galaxies, and the universe develop.
B. If we could repeat the Big Bang.
C. If we could go back in time and observe the Big Bang event and see our universe develop.
D. If the Big Bang model can explain everything in the universe.
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8. The Bible says in Genesis that creatures and plants brought forth after their "kind." What is a "kind"?
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| A. A generally interfertile group of organisms that possesses variant genes for a common set of traits, but that does not interbreed with other groups of organisms under normal circumstances.
B. An isolated population of interbreeding organisms.
C. All types of dogs, such as domestic dogs, wolves, and foxes
D. A generally interfertile group of organisms that possesses variant genes for a common set of traits, but that does not interbreed with other groups of organisms.
E. All the above
F. A and B
G. C and D
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9. What logic term describes the type of statement used in the following phrase? "Natural selection ensures the survival of the fittest. The "fittest" are those that produce the most offspring."
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| A. Teleological argument
B. Tautologous argument
C. Ontological argument
D. Causality
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10. To what does the term mosaic refer in biology?
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| A. Unique combinations of non-unique characteristics
B. Similarities in siblings and parents
C. Offspring which have deformities that are heritable
D. The production of viable offspring
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11. Identify in what way the following excerpt makes unscientific claims.
"Paleoanthropologists have said that the new fossil remains found in Africa are the remains of a transitional form between Homo erectus and archaic Homo sapiens."
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| A. Paleoanthropologists are not really scientists, and paleoanthropology is not a science.
B. There is no way to prove that the remains were of a transitional form because it lived in the past and no one observed it.
C. Since evolution is not true, the fossils are not of a transitional form.
D. This statement would only be true if another similar fossil were found because that would make the occurrence repeatable.
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12. Evaluate the following quote:
"As a result of natural selection, populations become better adapted to their environment."
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| True
False
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13. Which of the following scenarios is an example of natural selection?
I. "A lion flushes out a zebra, a gazelle, and a deer. The deer runs most slowly and is caught by the lion.
II. "A lion flushes out a herd of deer. One deer has an inherited hip problem and is caught by the lion."
III. "Two lions are chasing a herd of antelope. One catches an antelope, but the other steals his food."
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| A. I
B. II
C. All of the above
D. None of the above
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14. Is the following situation an example of speciation?
"The Flamingo butterfly has two color variations: one with pale, anterior spots, and one without spots. A female Flamingo butterfly with spots lays eggs on a ship mast. Most of the eggs are destroyed by irradiation by the sun, but two spotted butterflies survive. They are taken on board the ship to an island with no Flamingo butterflies and the sibling pair reproduces. The island now has a population of only spotted Flamingo butterflies."
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| A. Yes, this is speciation.
B. No, this is not speciation.
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15. How would you best respond to the claim that evolution is science, but creation is religion?
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| A. "Neither evolution nor creation fulfills the qualifications for science, and both require a system of beliefs."
B. "Evolution is religious because belief in the Big Bang necessarily denies belief in God, and that is a religious claim."
C. "It doesn't matter because the authors of the Constitution never meant for a separation of church and state."
D. "Creation is scientific because there are no transitional forms in the fossil record just like creationists predicted."
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16. Stephen Jay Gould made a comment about the directionality of horse evolution (quoted in Sidebar 4 of Module 2).
"If a clade has been markedly unsuccessful and now lies at the brink of extinction with but one surviving twig, then our anagenetic biases click in, and we often read the single extant path as an anagenetic trend. Thus, we celebrate little, many-toed Eohippus marching towards the large, noble, single-toed Equus. But Equus is the sole survivor of a tree once lush and vibrant (in early Tertiary world with few artiodactyls and abundant perissodactyls). We speak of the anagenesis of horses only because our biases abstract bushes as ladders, and the clade of horses has been so depleted that only one lineage remains to be misread as the terminus of a trend. All our textbooks site horses as the prototypical evolutionary trend, but there is no classical tale about the evolutionary 'trend' of antelopes, rodents, or bats—though these are the true success stories of mammalian evolution by the more appropriate criterion of increasing representation."
How could this quote fit into the creationist's interpretation of the variety of extinct horse fossils?
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| A. The original horse "kind" had much more potential for variety than the modern horse does, but most of the information was lost.
B. The horse series should be the best example of evolution because there is so much potential variety that ranges from the Shetland pony to the heavyweight work horses.
C. The best evidence of evolution would be decreasing representation and variety as less fit animals become extinct.
D. The horse series is a good example of a created kind because it has little variation now, and even less in the fossil record.
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17. Following a rainy season on the Galapagos Islands, three different species of finches were observed to hybridize and produce viable offspring.
Interpret this observation.
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| A. The offspring were a new species and showed more vigor indicating that they were more fit.
B. This was actually an instance of "despeciation" in which the three species were not really different species.
C. The hybrids were a new species that will eventually out-populate and replace their parents.
D. The hybrids were formed, however, they will not be able to produce viable offspring with their parents' species.
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18, 19, 20. Which group(s) of people would agree with the following statements?
18. "The Colorado River slowly removes particles from the riverbed and carries them downstream."
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| A. Uniformitarian evolutionists
B. Neo catastrophists
C. Young-earth Creationists
D. A and B
E. A, B, and C
F. None of the above
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19. "Flood water erosion could account for the carving of the Grand Canyon."
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| A. Uniformitarian evolutionists
B. Neo catastrophists
C. Young-earth Creationists
D. B and C
E. A, B, and C
F. None of the above
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20. "The geologic sedimentary layers were created on day 3 of the creation week."
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| A. Uniformitarian evolutionists
B. Neo catastrophists
C. Young-earth Creationists
D. B and C
E. A, B, and C
F. None of the above
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21. Essay: Module 2 compares the two models of origin—Creation and the Evolution. Four topics are discussed—Natural Selection, Speciation, Fossil Record and Age of the Earth. Identify predictions made by each model in these four areas. Compare the predictions to the evidence that has been found.
After completing your essay, check your answer here. | |
