Natural Selection & Evolution
100 — What is natural selection?
Answer: Survival and reproduction of the best-adapted organisms
100 — What is the difference between homozygous and heterozygous alleles?
Answer: Homozygous means same alleles; heterozygous means different alleles
100 — What is fragmentation?
Answer: Breaking habitats into smaller pieces
100 — Why is boldness helpful for urban junco birds?
Answer: It helps them access food and resources
100 — Who popularized the theory of Survival of the Fittest?
Answer: Charles Darwin
200 — Why is warfarin considered a selection pressure?
Answer: It affects which rats survive and reproduce based on their adaptations (like immunity)
200 — What is the difference between genotype and phenotype?
Answer: Genotype is genes; phenotype is physical traits
200 — Why are feathery seeds disadvantageous in cities?
Answer: They often land in unsuitable places like concrete
200 — What are the risks and benefits of boldness in animals?
Answer: More access to resources but greater danger from predators or humans
200 — What species’ males will always be born without fathers?
Answer: Bees
300 — Why did resistant rats become more common over time?
Answer: Resistant rats survived and reproduced more
300 — What is a Punnett square used for?
Answer: Predicting possible offspring genotypes and phenotypes
300 — Why are non-feathery seeds favored in urban environments?
Answer: They stay in usable soil areas
300 — What hormone affects stress response in junco birds?
Answer: Corticosterone
300 — What is the largest desert in the world?
Answer: Antarctica (barren, arid region of land that receives extremely low amounts of precipitation)
400 — Did resistant mutations appear because rats needed them?
Answer: No, mutations appeared randomly before selection too, only spreading/popularity increase when poison selection pressure applied
400 — If a BR rat crosses with a BB rat, what percentage of offspring are expected to be resistant?
Answer: 50%
400 — Why do scientists use common garden experiments?
Answer: To control environmental variables and isolate genetics
400 — Why does natural selection differ between urban and non-urban habitats?
Answer: Different environments favor different traits, e.g. boldness
400 — The Turritopsis dohrnii, can revert back to its juvenile polyp stage when faced with environmental stress or injury, theoretically cheating death indefinitely, what is it?
Answer: The Immortal Jellyfish
500 — Predict what could happen if warfarin poison use stopped.
Answer: Resistance may decrease because the selection pressure is removed, B Allele dominant again
500 — Why are Punnett square probabilities not guarantees?
Answer: They show likelihood, not exact outcomes
500 — How does fragmentation act as a selection pressure?
Answer: It changes survival conditions and favors traits suited for fragmented habitats
500 — How can behavior evolve over time?
Answer: Helpful behaviors increase because individuals with those traits survive and reproduce more
500 — What sense do plants have that allow them to know when to release chemical defenses?
Answer: Hearing