Pre Post Questions for Darwins Finches and Natural

Pre / Post Questions for “Darwin’s Finches and Natural Selection” Cheryl Heinz and Eric Ribbens

PQ 1: Mosquitoes have heritable variation for insecticide resistance (amount and kind); however, all mosquitoes require standing water for the development of offspring. To which of the following control methods would be the mosquitoes be least likely to develop resistance? A: Removing all standing water. B: Using one sprayed insecticide consistently. C: Rotating between several sprayed insecticides. D: Increasing sources of standing water. E: Alternating years between spraying and not spraying insecticide.

PQ 2: Which is the most appropriate description of evolution by natural selection? A: Organisms can evolve to match their environment out of need. B: A population can become more adapted to its environment via natural selection. C: Individuals can evolve to perfectly match their environment. D: Natural selection is a random process.

PQ 3: John is studying lizards with a maximum lifespan of eight years. How long will it take for John to see these lizards evolve? A: He can’t. Evolution only occurs across centuries or eons. B: He can’t. Evolution doesn’t happen any more. C: He could see evolution if he compares lizards in years one and eight after a period of environmental stability. D: He could see evolution if he compared lizards from one generation to lizards from another generation in a period of environmental flux. E: He could see evolution by observing changes in the individual lizards.

PQ 4: A population of mice lives in a habitat that has mostly black soil. Most mice are very dark in color, which protects them from visually-orienting predators. If the habitat becomes completely covered with white sand, what do you expect to be the most likely result of natural selection? A: The dark-colored mice become more numerous. B: The mice attempt to remove all of the sand. C: All dark-colored mice immediately die. D: More light-colored mice survive and reproduce. E: Nothing – the principles of natural selection do not apply here.

PQ 5: In a population of guppies, male fish vary considerably in the number, size, and colors of spots. Females prefer to mate with males with large, colorful spots. The most colorful males are also the easiest for visually hunting predators to find. Which of the following is true? A: The traits of each guppy within a population gradually change over time. B: Successful behaviors learned by guppies are passed along to offspring. C: The proportions of guppies having different traits within a population will change. D: Mutations occur to meet the needs of the guppies as the environment changes.

TQ 1: Beaver in North America used to be more active during the daytime (diurnal), but are now largely nocturnal, probably a result of intensive trapping and hunting during the 1800 s. Assuming that this behavior is partially or completely genetically determined, what can we predict happened to the population? A: Beaver have evolved to be more nocturnal because they had to be more secretive. B: Beaver have evolved to be more nocturnal because natural selection selectively removed daytime beavers. C: Beaver have not evolved; the population just changed. D: Beaver have not evolved, because both diurnal and nocturnal beavers were trapped, it’s just that more of the diurnal ones were killed. E: At this point we cannot make any predictions about beaver evolution, because they have not become a different species yet.