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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who is one individual that Darwin mentions as helping him in every way prior to the publication of The Origin of Species?
(a) Dr. Lovette.
(b) Dr. Hooker.
(c) Rev. W. Horbert.
(d) Edward Forbes.

2. What do most organisms have a very good ability to do?
(a) Alter their biological makeup.
(b) Adapt.
(c) Migrate.
(d) Reproduce.

3. What does natural selection say about the most distinct characteristic of a species?
(a) It will be the largest change.
(b) It will be the smallest change.
(c) It is the most recently changed.
(d) The change is seen in ancestors.

4. What term refers to exactly how species change over time?
(a) Laws of variation.
(b) Laws of heredity.
(c) Darwin's Law.
(d) Laws of change.

5. Which of the following is a radical change in the structure or behavior of an organism?
(a) Increased illness.
(b) Extinction.
(c) Monstrosities.
(d) Growth.

6. What type of work is presented in The Origin of Species?
(a) Metaphysical.
(b) Chemical.
(c) Spiritual.
(d) Biological.

7. In Chapter 1: Variation Under Domestication, what animal does Darwin give as an example for being perfectly adapted for catching its food?
(a) Beaver.
(b) Bull.
(c) Tiger.
(d) Woodpecker.

8. What results as a climate becomes more hostile?
(a) Better cooperation between species.
(b) Less food.
(c) More competition.
(d) Fewer species.

9. What do scientists attribute to organs that cannot be explained by natural selection?
(a) Inheritance.
(b) Disuse.
(c) Use.
(d) Overuse.

10. With respect to breeders, what leads to the development of different varieties of species when breeding?
(a) Purposeful selection.
(b) Accidental selection.
(c) Natural selection.
(d) Genetic selection.

11. What do Naturalists suggest is one definite distinction between a species and a variety?
(a) Life span.
(b) Geographical range.
(c) Domestication.
(d) Size of groups.

12. Why are some useless organs sill found in animals?
(a) They were used by ancestors.
(b) Selection takes time.
(c) They have not been bred out.
(d) All organs have a purpose.

13. What term refers to those organisms that survive despite the struggle for resources?
(a) Circle of life.
(b) Natural selection.
(c) Hereditary modification.
(d) Artificial selection.

14. In extreme environments, what are species in competition with?
(a) Food source distruction.
(b) Migration needs.
(c) Climate.
(d) Other species.

15. What may hinder positive traits from being passed on during natural selection?
(a) Interbreeding.
(b) Normal breeding.
(c) Single organism breeding.
(d) Crossbreeding.

Short Answer Questions

1. What term refers to change from one generation to the next?

2. What bodily system do some scientists believe is responsible for producing individual differences?

3. What do species survive to do?

4. What does the process of species growth suggest about species that are transported into foreign regions?

5. What do some scientists say is the reason that cultivated plants do not produce seeds?

(see the answer keys)

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