Question 1

In the mid-seventeenth century, Irish cleric Archbishop James Ussher calculated the age of the earth to be 4 million years.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 2

One of the major components in the development of the idea of evolution was an understanding of the age of the earth

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 3

For Lamarck, the process of evolutionary change by the inheritance of acquired characteristics was accompanied by

Accepted Answer

A)   organisms always having changing needs.
B)   change in future generations that was more and more rapid.
C)   environmental conditions that provided organisms with all they needed.
D)   organisms inevitably remaining imperfectly adapted to the environments.
E)   organisms exhibiting a progressive move towards greater complexity and perfection.F) C) and D)
G) D) and E)

Question 4

English natural scientist Robert Hooke

Accepted Answer

A)   had virtually ignored fossils.
B)   had thought erosion must have destroyed most of the fossils that ever existed.
C)   had thought extinct plants and animals were not fossilized.
D)   had thought that fossils were merely tricks of nature.
E)   had thought that fossils were the remains of plants and animals that became extinct as the earth changed.F) A) and E)
G) D) and E)

Question 5

Sociocultural anthropologist Marshall D. Sahlins has suggested that both biological and cultural evolution move in two directions at the same time, producing diversity and progress.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 6

Once speciation has occurred

Accepted Answer

A)   evolution can still be reversed.
B)   the new species can no longer mate with other species related to the parent population.
C)   offspring of the new species are not viable.
D)   mutations are limited.
E)   offspring are sterile.F) A) and B)
G) B) and C)

Question 7

The force of natural selection may involve easily perceivable changes over time, making it easy to observe directly.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 8

Lamarck argued that lower forms of life progress toward greater complexity and perfection.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 9

Who co-presented the theory of natural selection with Darwin at a meeting of the Linnaean Society of London?

Accepted Answer

A)   James Hutton.
B)   Herbert Spencer.
C)   Henry Morgan.
D)   Alfred Russel Wallace.
E)   Thomas Chalmers.F) A) and E)
G) B) and E) D

Question 10

According to Darwin's theory of evolution, humans descended from monkeys.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 11

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Buffon, Hutton and Lyell used this sort of evidence to advance the concept of uniformitarianism.

Accepted Answer

A)   anthropological
B)   biological
C)   geological
D)   geographical
E)   sociologicalF) B) and C)
G) A) and E)

Question 12

The increased prevalence of drug resistant forms of diseases is a result of

Accepted Answer

A)   natural selection.
B)   acquired inheritance.
C)   poor medical condition.
D)   migration.
E)   increased medical costs.F) A) and E)
G) All of the above

Question 13

What is one adaptations to terrestrial life exhibited by reptiles?

Accepted Answer

development of amniotic eggs for reproduction.

Question 14

In evolutionary terms, adaptations represent

Accepted Answer

A)   traits that enable an organism to enjoy the taste of food items.
B)   traits that ensure an organism will live an average life.
C)   traits that individual organisms learn in their lifetimes.
D)   traits that improve the probability of surviving and leaving offspring that, themselves, survive and reproduce.
E)   traits that give all individuals in a breeding population an equal likelihood of survival.F) A) and E)
G) A) and B)

Question 15

Cuvier's theory of catastrophism presented a shrewd philosophical argument because

Accepted Answer

A)   it convincingly argued that lamarck was only half right -- life was divinely created and then changed through the inheritance of acquired characteristics.
B)   it allowed that extinctions could occur through natural disasters, and these were followed by the divine creation of new life forms.
C)   it assumed that just as species were fixed and unchanging, the earth's geology must also be stable and unchanging.
D)   it argued forcefully that global catastrophes could never really wipe out all life on earth.
E)   it argued that Noah's Flood was the only catastrophic event in the earth's history and, therefore, the earth must be young.F) B) and C)
G) D) and E)

Question 16

Evolution will ensure that new strains of common diseases will become less frequent than their original ones because of natural selection.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 17

Humans were classified in the order Primates, along with monkeys and apes, by

Accepted Answer

A)   Linnaeus.
B)   Lamarck.
C)   Darwin.
D)   Aristotle.
E)   Plato.F) A) and B)
G) B) and C)

Question 18

A major contribution of Darwin's work was that

Accepted Answer

A)   evolution has no direction.
B)   evolution acts on existing variation.
C)   new variation comes from mutation.
D)   all of the above
E)   A and B onlyF) D) and E)
G) All of the above E

Question 19

Once speciation occurs, the evolutionary process cannot be reversed.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 20

The extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago apparently contributed to

Accepted Answer

A)   the near extinction of all reptiles.
B)   the diversification of mammals into a variety of new evolutionary niches.
C)   many evolutionary niches remaining permanently unoccupied.
D)   the evolution of mammal-like reptiles.
E)   the evolution of the amniotic egg.F) C) and D)
G) A) and B)

Exam 4: Historical Development of Evolutionary Theory

In the mid-seventeenth century, Irish cleric Archbishop James Ussher calculated the age of the earth to be 4 million years.

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

One of the major components in the development of the idea of evolution was an understanding of the age of the earth

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

For Lamarck, the process of evolutionary change by the inheritance of acquired characteristics was accompanied by

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

English natural scientist Robert Hooke

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Sociocultural anthropologist Marshall D. Sahlins has suggested that both biological and cultural evolution move in two directions at the same time, producing diversity and progress.

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Once speciation has occurred

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

The force of natural selection may involve easily perceivable changes over time, making it easy to observe directly.

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Lamarck argued that lower forms of life progress toward greater complexity and perfection.

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Who co-presented the theory of natural selection with Darwin at a meeting of the Linnaean Society of London?

Correct AnswerverifiedD

According to Darwin's theory of evolution, humans descended from monkeys.

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Buffon, Hutton and Lyell used this sort of evidence to advance the concept of uniformitarianism.

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

The increased prevalence of drug resistant forms of diseases is a result of

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

What is one adaptations to terrestrial life exhibited by reptiles?

Correct Answerverifieddevelopment of amniotic eggs for reproduction.

In evolutionary terms, adaptations represent

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Cuvier's theory of catastrophism presented a shrewd philosophical argument because

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Evolution will ensure that new strains of common diseases will become less frequent than their original ones because of natural selection.

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Humans were classified in the order Primates, along with monkeys and apes, by

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

A major contribution of Darwin's work was that

Correct AnswerverifiedE

Once speciation occurs, the evolutionary process cannot be reversed.

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

The extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago apparently contributed to

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

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D

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development of amniotic eggs for reproduction.

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E

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