Topic 4.10: Natural Selection Questions

Which of the following is a result of natural selection acting on a population over many generations?

Endler studied male guppies in streams with high and low numbers of predators. What did his experiments mainly demonstrate?

How does sexual reproduction increase the genetic variation seen in offspring?

State one result of natural selection acting on a population over many generations.

Which order correctly describes how natural selection produces a change in a population?

Which of the following is the best example of a selection pressure acting on a population?

Selection pressures may be abiotic or biotic. Distinguish between an abiotic and a biotic selection pressure, and give one example of each.

Which process is the only source of completely new alleles in a population?

State the type of selection pressure responsible for the showy, brightly coloured plumage seen in the males of many bird species.

Which statement best describes what a selection pressure is?

Male birds of one species have evolved brilliant, showy plumage and an elaborate courtship dance that females prefer when choosing a mate. Which selection pressure is responsible?

State the only process that can introduce a completely new allele into a population.

State what Endler's experiments on guppy populations demonstrated about natural selection.

Body mass in a population of mice varies smoothly across a whole range of values, with no separate categories. This pattern is best described as which type of variation?

In Darwin's mechanism, why is there a 'struggle for survival' within a population?

Which statement correctly describes what changes during natural selection?

During a dry season, finches with stronger beaks crack the only remaining tough seeds and survive, while weaker-beaked finches starve. Which type of selection pressure is acting here?

Which statement about mutations is correct?

A fungal disease spreads through a forest and kills trees that cannot resist it. In this example, what is the selection pressure?

A student writes that 'during natural selection, individual animals get used to their environment and then pass this on to their young.' State two things that are wrong with this statement, and give the correct biology in each case.