Final Study Questions

1) Your phenotype

a. reflects the environment's influence on your genotype

b. changes during your life

c. is influenced by cultural factors

*d. All of the above.

e. None of the above.

2) The way in which we regulate our body temperature suggests that we evolved in

a. a tropical jungle

b. a desert where water was in short supply

c. a well watered area where the temperature and relative humidity was high

*d. a well watered area where the temperature was high and the relative humidity was low

e. a cold, dry temperate zone

3) Human responses to fluctuating food supplies include

a. evolution of the capacity to store energy in the form of subcutaneous fat

b. increased metabolic rate

c. development of more complex technology

d. ability to last up to a week without food or water

*e. a and c

4) Galapagos finches appear to be a result of

a. convergent evolution operating on a variety of dissimilar species to adapt them to similar niches

*b. the effects that population growth and natural selection have on geographically isolated populations

c. continuous gene flow between the islands and the mainland over many thousands of years

d. continuous gene flow among the islands (and not the mainland)

e. All of the above

5) The heliocentric theory

a. explains why directional selection results in a normal distribution of phenotypes

*b. conflicted with the belief that human beings and their planet were at the center of the universe

c. holds that European civilization should serve as a model for the perfect human society

d. proved that the earth was much older than the Bible stated.

e. None of the above

6) Race is not a useful term for biologists or anthropologists because

*a. biophysical diversity has no social meaning except what we assign to it.

b. the differences between humans have no biological functions.

c. most differences are in skin color and facial features, characteristics we have already studied.

d. one’s appearance has no social consequences.

e. it is better to study behavior, which is linked to appearance.

7) Sexual dimorphism

a. can result from natural selection

b. can result from sexual selection

c. is a disgusting congenital disease caused by a point mutation

d. refers to morphological differences between males and females

*e. a, b, and d

8) Thomas Malthus proposed An Essay on Population that said

a. the geometric growth of population inevitably outpaces the food supply

b. the only way to stop people from having so many children is to institute social security programs so that they will be confident of being taken care of in old age

c. famine, disease, warfare served to maintain a balance between population and resources

d. "preventive" checks such postponing marriage, birth control, and so on, are relatively ineffective in maintaining a balance between population and resources

*e. a, c and d

9) Allen's rule

a. states that the larger members of a species will tend to be found in colder areas where a small body size is needed to conserve energy.

b. may be explained in part by natural selection for longer appendages in organisms who live in tropical areas.

c. states that relatively short appendages tend to be found among the members of widely distributed species that live on cool areas.

d. may be explained in part by differences in the diet and health of people who live in tropical and temperate areas.

*e. b and c

10) Which of the following biological adaptations make humans better adapted to heat than other primates?

*a. presence of eccrine sweat glands

b. ability to swim

c. ability to walk

d. proportionally long limbs

e. all of the above