The evolution of lactase persistence in Africa and Europe was the result of
a. convergent adaptation.
b. drift acting on isolated populations.
c. gene flow between Africans and Europeans.
d. the retention of an ancestral trait.
To understand third-party relationships, a primate must
a. have knowledge of the nature of relationships among other individuals.
b. live in a large group.
c. be able to predict food distribution in an environment.
d. understand the reproductive rates of other primates.
Height and stature are
a. not heritable within most human populations.
b. heritable within human populations.
c. can change if environments change.
d. both b and c.
The normal version of the FOXP2 gene spread throughout human populations less than
a. 10,000 years ago.
b. 500,000 years ago.
c. 200,000 years ago.
d. 75,000 years ago.
Mendel’s first principle (of segregation) states that
a. characteristics from the parents blend together to produce intermediate offspring.
b. characteristics from the parents do not blend together in offspring.
c. only paternally derived characteristics segregate into gametes during meiosis.
d. only maternally derived characteristics segregate into gametes during meiosis.
Behavioral traits are
a. less genetic than morphological traits.
b. more canalized than morphological traits.
c. less canalized than morphological traits.
d. both a and c.
In recent studies of chimpanzees, researchers found that
a. possessors of food were less likely to share their food with individuals who had
recently groomed them.
b. grooming is not reciprocal.
c. grooming is sometimes a precursor for food sharing.
d. grooming is exchanged for mating opportunities.
The tools of Homo heidelbergensis are
a. more similar to those of modern humans than to those of Homo erectus.
b. more similar to those of Homo erectus than to those of modern humans.
c. in between those of Homo erectus and modern humans.
d. never made of chipped stone tools.
The organelles that splice the mRNA in eukaryotes after the introns have been snipped
out are called
a. splitosomes.
b. ribosomes.
c. spliceosomes.
d. Golgi bodies.
Australopithecus africanus‘s maturation rate was determined by
a. the cranial suture closure.
b. the long bone suture closure.
c. relative tooth eruption.
d. relative nail growth.
Homologous characters are similar because of
a. convergent evolution.
b. similar selection pressures acting on unrelated species.
c. common ancestry.
d. similar environments in different parts of the world.
Consider all three species of the genus Happy: the Eastern Mugwump, the Western
Mugwump, and the Middle Mugwump. All of these species evolved from a six-legged
common ancestor. The Eastern and Middle Mugwumps have six legs, and the Western
Mugwumps have eight legs. For the genus Happy, six-leggedness is
a. ancestral.
b. derived.
c. convergent.
d. a mutation.
Fossil candidates for the “first” hominins include
a. Pan, Pongo, Hylobates
b. Sahelanthropus, Orrorin, Ardipithecus
c. Paranthropus, Homo erectus, Homo ergaster
d. Homo heidelbergensis, Neanderthals, Homo sapiens
Cercopithecines
a. typically live in small one-male groups.
b. typically live in groups where all the females are related.
c. typically live in groups where all the males are related.
d. are typically monogamous.
Population expansions after the expansion of modern humans from Africa 60 kya
include
a. an expansion of farming peoples between 4,000 and 1,000 years ago.
b. an expansion due to the domestication of the horse and associated military
innovations between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago.
c. an expansion of European populations because of military organization during the
last 4,000 years.
d. an expansion of seafaring people 1,000 years ago.
Which of the following statements is correct?
a. Hidden variation is not always present in continuously evolving traits.
b. Selection causes genotypic frequencies to reach equilibrium in one generation, and
the distribution of phenotypes does not change.
c. Selection can lead to cumulative, long-term change.
d. Genetic variation is always expressed as phenotypic variation.
Taiwanese minor marriages
a. produce about 80% fewer children than other arranged marriages.
b. are much less likely to end in separation or divorce.
c. rarely result in infidelity.
d. were possible when parents had greater control over their children’s actions.
A new species appeared in Africa around 1.8 mya. Called Homo erectus by some
paleontologists, others refer to these hominins as Homo ________.
a. rudolfensis
b. heidelbergensis
c. ergaster
d. neanderthalensis
Chromosomes are contained in
a. the gametes of prokaryotes.
b. the nuclei of eukaryotes.
c. the ribosomes.
d. the mitochondria.
The first hominoid, known as Proconsul, appeared
a. after Kenyapithecus.
b. during the Miocene.
c. in a woodland environment.
d. in Africa.
A key derived primate trait is a relatively large brain relative to body size, with humans
having among the largest. How much metabolic energy do human brains consume in a
day?
a. 15%
b. 20%
c. 25%
d. 30%
Natural selection acted on the medium ground finch on Daphne Major because
a. birds with medium beak sizes experienced higher mortality.
b. a drought changed the environment where the finches lived.
c. offspring of finches with small beaks did not survive the juvenile period.
d. the population reached equilibrium.
Body size varies among human groups. This variation may be caused in part by
a. twin studies.
b. heterozygote advantage.
c. mutation”selection balance.
d. selection.
Allopatric speciation can involve
a. recolonization without reproductive isolation.
b. gene flow.
c. genetic drift.
d. sharing habitat.
Darwin could not convince his contemporaries of natural selection because
a. Darwin thought that discontinuous variation was important for evolution.
b. they believed in genetic inheritance.
c. Darwin believed in blending inheritance, which reduces variation.
d. they believed that traits were inherited from only one parent.
Which of the following is a typical outcome of the dictator game?
a. Proposers allocate 20% to 30% of their endowments to the other player.
b. Proposers allocate 80% to 90% of their endowments to the other player.
c. Proposers refuse to allocate any of their endowments to the other player.
d. Proposers receive a 20% bonus for being generous.
Ecological hypotheses about the evolution of intelligence include the ability to
a. allocate investment to many offspring.
b. use complex behavior to acquire or access hard-to-find or extracted food.
c. enter into reciprocal relationships with conspecifics.
d. understand how dominance influences access to food.
________ are important in electron-spin-resonance dating.
a. Apatite crystals
b. Volcanic rocks
c. Unstable carbon isotopes
d. High-energy nuclear particles
New World monkeys are
a. all arboreal and diurnal.
b. all arboreal and some have prehensile tails.
c. almost exclusively terrestrial.
d. generally all the same small body size.
Exact replication of DNA is possible because
a. the low number of possible nucleotides.
b. base-pair complementarity.
c. the sequence of nucleotides along the DNA, which is always the same.
d. both a and c are correct.
Imagine a caregiver who helps raise a conspecific’s offspring. Such caregiving reduces
her fitness by 50% and increases the fitness of the conspecific by 50%. According to
Hamilton’s rule, in which of the following scenarios could this behavior evolve?
a. Groups of full siblings
b. Groups of half siblings
c. Both types of groups
d. Neither type of group
Which of the following sequences is accurate for transcription and translation?
a. DNA tRNA mRNA protein
b. DNA mRNA protein
c. Protein tRNA DNA
d. Protein tRNA DNA
Pair-bonded groups and active defense of territories are typical of the
a. great apes.
b. monkeys.
c. lesser apes.
d. lorises.
Which of the following is true of primates in general?
a. Pair-bonded groups have the least amount of sexual dimorphism in body size.
b. One-male, multifemale groups have less dimorphism in body size than do
pair-bonded species.
c. Multimale, multifemale groups are not dimorphic in body size.
d. Multimale, multifemale groups tend to have greater sexual dimorphism than
one-male, multifemale groups.
Which of the following is NOT a contributing factor in the current disagreements over
how to classify Middle Pleistocene hominins?
a. There are very few fossils of Middle Pleistocene hominins, and no two appear to be
from the same species.
b. The time scale of the Middle Pleistocene fossil record is very short, so evolutionary
changes may be more subtle than for earlier time periods for which there is less
disagreement.
c. Different anthropologists have different ideas about what processes shape human
evolution during this period.
d. Regardless of which model is correct, the hominins were distributed over a huge area
and may have resided in diverse ecological niches, with changing levels of interaction
and isolation among them.