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3.1 Origin of Life & Theories — Test 1
Q1. The term 'hot dilute soup' for the primitive, chemical-rich primordial ocean was coined by:✓ J. B. S. Haldane
Q2. Which gas was NOT present in the primitive (reducing) atmosphere assumed by Oparin?✓ Oxygen
Q3. In the Miller–Urey experiment, the gases used to simulate the primitive atmosphere were ammonia, hydrogen, water vapour and:✓ Methane
Q4. As per Stanley Miller's simulation, which substance was absent from the primitive atmosphere?✓ O2 (oxygen)
Q5. The 'thermal proteinoid' theory of the origin of life was proposed by:✓ Sidney Fox
Q6. Oparin's coacervate droplets were prepared experimentally using:✓ Gum arabic and histone (protein)
Q7. RNA is regarded as the first self-replicating 'living molecule' chiefly because of its:✓ Combined ability to store information and act as an enzyme
Q8. The book 'The Origin of Life on Earth', laying out a chemical theory of life's origin, is attributed to:✓ A. I. Oparin
Q9. According to current evidence, life first appeared on Earth as primitive cells about:✓ 3.5 billion years ago
Q10. Lamarck's theory of organic evolution is popularly known as the theory of:✓ Inheritance of acquired characters
Q11. The theory of inheritance of acquired characters was proposed by:✓ J. B. Lamarck
Q12. The 'use and disuse of organs' concept was elaborated by:✓ Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Q13. Which of the following is NOT a part of Lamarckism?✓ Mutations bring about changes in organs
Q14. August Weismann is best known for proposing the theory of:✓ Continuity of germplasm
Q15. The theory of evolution by natural selection was independently developed by:✓ Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace
Q16. While developing his theory, Darwin was strongly influenced by the works of:✓ Lyell (geology) and Malthus (population)
Q17. Which principle was NOT part of Darwin's original theory of evolution?✓ Saltation (sudden large jumps)
3.1 Origin of Life & Theories — Test 2
Q18. The author of 'The Descent of Man' is:✓ Charles Robert Darwin
Q19. In relation to natural selection, evolution is best described as the:✓ Outcome (result) of selection acting on variation
Q20. Which statement about evolution is NOT true?✓ Evolution is goal-oriented toward perfection
Q21. The four conditions necessary for evolution by natural selection include variation, heritability and differential fitness, but NOT necessarily:✓ A change in the environment
Q22. Directional selection on a trait results in:✓ A shift in the population's mean toward one extreme
Q23. Stabilising selection acts by:✓ Favouring intermediate phenotypes and removing extremes
Q24. When more individuals acquire phenotypes at both extremes of a trait's range, the pattern is:✓ Disruptive (diversifying) selection
Q25. House sparrows killed in a severe snowstorm tended to have wings markedly longer or shorter than average, while survivors had average-length wings. This illustrates:✓ Stabilising selection
Q26. For positive frequency-dependent selection, the fitness of a genotype:✓ Increases as it becomes more common
Q27. Industrial melanism in the peppered moth (Biston betularia) is a classic demonstration of:✓ Natural selection (directional)
Q28. The rise of the dark (melanic) peppered moth during the Industrial Revolution is an example of:✓ Directional selection
Q29. Aposematic (warning) colouration in an animal serves to:✓ Signal to predators that the animal is toxic or distasteful
Q30. The bright orange-and-black colouration of the monarch butterfly, warning of its toxicity, is an example of:✓ Aposematism
Q31. A harmless species that has evolved to imitate the warning signals of a harmful species shows:✓ Batesian mimicry
Q32. In Batesian mimicry, an increase in the relative abundance of the mimic will:✓ Negatively affect the protection of both model and mimic
Q33. Two genuinely unpalatable butterfly species that resemble each other and share a common warning pattern illustrate:✓ Mullerian mimicry
3.1 Origin of Life & Theories — Test 3
Q34. The migratory desert locust, which exists as a solitary green form and a gregarious dark form depending on density, is an example of:✓ Polyphenism
Q35. The ability of a single genotype to alter its growth and development in response to the environment is called:✓ Phenotypic plasticity
Q36. Environmentally induced morphological variation that improves survival, without any change in genes, is termed:✓ Phenotypic plasticity
Q37. Creationism is rejected by evolutionary biologists mainly because it:✓ Offers no testable, natural explanation for the origin of adaptations
Q38. In an uncrowded, resource-rich environment, natural selection tends to favour:✓ r-strategists (rapid reproducers)
Q39. According to the theory of punctuated equilibrium, evolution is characterised by:✓ Long periods of stasis broken by short bursts of rapid change
Q40. Biston betularia is most closely associated with the study of:✓ Natural selection (industrial melanism)
Q41. Which statement about modes of selection is NOT true?✓ In diversifying (disruptive) selection, no extreme phenotypes are favoured
Q42. According to Darwinism, the correct sequence of events leading to the origin of a new species is:✓ Variation → struggle for existence → natural selection (survival of the fittest) → inheritance of favourable variations
Q43. Which of the following is NOT necessary for the evolution of increased nectar production by natural selection?✓ Nectar quantity must be unrelated to fruit set
Q44. Which factor is NOT responsible for altering allele frequencies in a population?✓ Random mating
Q45. The Oparin–Haldane hypothesis proposes that life arose through:✓ Gradual chemical (abiotic) synthesis of organic molecules
Q46. Pasteur's swan-neck flask experiment is important in origin-of-life debates because it:✓ Disproved spontaneous generation of life from non-living matter
Q47. Neo-Darwinism (the modern synthesis) explains evolution as natural selection acting on variation that arises mainly from:✓ Mutation and genetic recombination
Q48. De Vries' mutation theory of evolution proposed that new species arise by:✓ Sudden large heritable changes (mutations)
Q49. The RNA-world hypothesis is supported by the discovery of:✓ Ribozymes (catalytic RNA molecules)