Vocabulary 1
A group of similar organisms that can reproduce and produce fertile offspring is called:
Species
Which of the following is a behavioral trait:
Having a thick layer of brown fur.
The body of a desert rabbit releasing heat through its ears.
Brown bears hibernating during the winter
Brown bears hibernating during the Winter.
A segment of DNA that acts as instruction used to make a protein:
Gene
A 1 in 4 chance of inheriting a particular trait is a ____ of 25%
Probability
Drought, temperature, and predator numbers are examples of _____ _____.
Environmental conditions
All the gray wolves living in Yellowstone National Park at the same time are known as a:
Population
A polar bear’s thick blubber helps it stay warm in the arctic. This is an example of how polar bear’s ________ with this inherited survival feature?
Adapted to their environment
A scientist compares a finch's beak shape with a suntan from sun exposure Which is heritable, and why?
The finch’s beak shape because it is passed through DNA/genetics. The sun tan is an acquired trait.
After a forest fire darkens tree bark, dark beetles are less visible to predators. What is the advantage of their inherited coloring called?
An adaptation
A forest has 40 deer, 12 wolves, and 200 rabbits. Why are all the animals together not identified as a population?
A population contains individuals of one species in the same area at the same time; these animals are three different species.
Eye Color, fur thickness, and bird song patterns are examples of:
Structural Traits
Hemoglobin and enzymes are examples of:
Proteins
A random change in the DNA sequence that does not actually change the overall trait is known as a:
Silent Mutation
A lab worker says that breeding dogs for a preferred coat color is natural selection. Is this correct? Why or why not?
No. Humans are selecting which dogs breed, so this is artificial selection.
A mule is the offspring of a horse and a donkey and is a sterile organism. Can a group of mules be considered to be a part of a species?
No, because a species must be capable of producing fertile offspring; mules cannot have offspring.
A feature passed on from parent to offspring through DNA is called:
An Heritable Feature
A dog learns to sit on command. Is this an adaptation? Why or why not?
No, it is an acquired trait. An adaptation is an inherited feature that evolves over generations
Two populations of the same dark colored moth species live in two forests with different bark colors, one dark and one light. Is the dark colored trait in each forest beneficial, harmful, or neither and why?
In the dark colored forest, it is beneficial because the moths will camouflage with their environment and be hunted less.
In the light colored forest, it is harmful because predators will easily see and hunt them.
A student dyes their hair red and says their future children will inherit red hair because it is now their hair color trait. Is this true? Explain.
Dyed hair is an acquired change, not a heritable DNA-based trait.
In a field, some insects have a mutation linked to pesticide survival. After repeated spraying over many years, most insects start to survive after being sprayed. Explain the roles of mutation, heritability, environmental conditions, and natural selection.
The environmental condition is the pesticide being sprayed. A random mutation resulted in genetic variation where even though most insects died to the pesticide, a few survived because of their different trait. This trait made it more likely for those insects to survive and reproduce due to natural selection, so after many generations, resistance to the pesticide became the common trait in the population.
One isolated rabbit is not a population. Explain what additional requirements must be met for a group to be considered a population.
Must be multiple organisms, a part of the Sam species, and living in the same geographic area at the same time.
Some insects survive pesticide because they already carry a heritable DNA variant. Explain why the pesticide does not cause each insect to develop resistance when sprayed.
Genetic variation must already exist to allow some insects to survive. Those insects reproduce, so natural selection increases resistance in the population over generations.
A drought leaves mostly hard seeds that can only be picked up with strong beaks. Finches vary in beak strength. Explain how environmental conditions, and natural selection could change the population over several generations.
If stronger beaks are heritable, finches with stronger beaks can eat more seeds, and are more likely to survive, and reproduce more. Their offspring inherit the trait, so it becomes more common in the population over several generations.
A DNA mutation changes the instructions for a protein in some plants. Describe a possible chain of events connecting this mutation to natural selection.
The changed gene may alter a protein shape and its function and lead to a different trait. If that trait improves survival or reproduction under certain environmental conditions, it can become more common over generations through natural selection.
A mutation changes a gene involved in an insect’s body color. Explain how a gene change can affect a visible trait. Is this considered rare or common?
A gene provides instructions used to produce a protein; altering those instructions can affect how the protein is shaped and how a protein works. If the function of the protein is changed, it can affect the visible trait.
It is considered rare for the mutation in the DNA sequence to lead to a visible trait change.