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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 5.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Dawkins compare point mutation to?
(a) A misspoken word.
(b) A misprint on a book.
(c) A card getting shuffled into the wrong deck.
(d) A stray mark on a photocopy.

2. In the science fiction story Dawkins cites, is the machine created by the instructions beneficial or dangerous?
(a) It is dangerous.
(b) It is neither dangerous nor beneficial.
(c) It is beneficial.
(d) It is both beneficial and dangerous, at different times.

3. What does Dawkins postulate maintains sexual reproduction as a feature?
(a) The need for genetic variation.
(b) The impossibility of asexual reproduction.
(c) The sexual reproduction gene trying to copy itself.
(d) The desireability of genetic mutations.

4. What is a "war of attrition" based on in ESS?
(a) How often a goal will be abandoned.
(b) The amount of will and effort it takes to achieve a goal.
(c) How much time and energy a goal is worth.
(d) How many possible routes there are to a particular goal.

5. To what does Dawkins compare ESS conclusions about individual behaviors within a species?
(a) Cell development within an organ.
(b) Gene development within DNA.
(c) Species behavior within an ecosystem.
(d) DNA development within chromosomes.

Short Answer Questions

1. What hazard does the author identify in killing a rival?

2. What does the author compare nerves to?

3. In the set of bees Dawkins mentions that deal with this disease, what does one gene the bees have do?

4. How does Dawkins define communication?

5. What is the name of the bee disease that Dawkins mentions in his example?

(see the answer key)

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