CBSE Class 12 Biology Evolution MCQs Set E

Question: Natural selection is sometimes described as “survival of the fittest”. Which of the following most accurately measures an organism’s fitness?
a) Its mutation rate
b) How many fertile offspring it produces
c) How much food it is able to make or obtain
d) Its ability to withstand environmental extremes
Answer: b

Question: The process by which organisms with different evolutionary history evolve similar phenotypic adaptations in response to a common environmental challenge is called
a) Convergent evolution
b) Non-random evolution
c) Adaptive radiation
d) Natural selection
Answer: a

Question: Early mammals were
a) Small
b) Large
c) Monkeys
d) Human
Answer: a

Question: The extinct human who lived 1,00,000 to 40,000 years ago, in Europe, Asia and parts of Africa, with short stature, heavy eyebrows, retreating foreheads, large jaws with heavy teeth, stocky bodies, a lumbering gait and stooped posture was
a) Homo habilis
b) Neanderthal human
c) Cro-magnon humans
d) Ramapithecus
Answer: b

Question: A large population of cockroaches was sprayed with a newly developed, fast-acting insecticide. The appearance of some cockroaches that are resistant to this insecticide supports the concept that
a) species traits tend to remain constant
b) insecticides cause mutations
c) the environment does not change
d) variation exists within a species
Answer: d

Question: Variation in gene frequencies within populations can occur by chance rather than by natural selection. This is referred to as
a) Genetic drift
b) Random mating
c) Genetic load
d) Genetic flow
Answer: a

Question: You are shown a skull from one of the Australopithecus species. How can you tell that it is not from a modern human?
a) Age
b) Shape and Size
c) Type of teeth
d) All of the above
Answer: b

Question: The biologist who has been called the “Darwin of the 20th century” was
a) Linnaeus
b) Ernst Mayr
c) Diener
d) Whittaker
Answer: b

Question: Many animals exist today in a form that is almost identical to the form they had a million years ago. What is the most probable explanation for this lack of evolutionary change?
a) Genetic mutations have occurred among animals
b) The environment of these animals remained about the same
c) These animals reproduce by sexual reproduction
d) Complex organisms evolved into simpler ones
Answer: b

Question: According to Darwin, two different areas within a continent have different species because they have different
a) evolutionary mechanisms
b) ancestors
c) environments
d) evolutionary times
Answer: c

Question: Your measurements indicate that a fossilized skull you unearthed has a ¹⁴C-to-¹²C ratio about one-sixteenth that of the atmosphere. What is the approximate age of the skull?
a) 22,400 years
b) 11,200 years
c) 5,600 years
d) 200,000 years
Answer: a

Question: Which statement is best supported by fossil records?
a) Many organisms that lived in the past are now extinct
b) Species occupying the same habitat have identical environmental needs
c) The struggle for existence between organisms results in changes in populations
d) Structures such as leg bones and wing bones can originate from the same type of tissue found in embryos
Answer: c

Question: Biogenetic law as given by Haeckel states that
a) ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny
b) phylogeny recapitulates ontogeny
c) ontogeny and phylogeny go together
d) there is no relationship between phylogeny and ontogeny
Answer: a

Question: Scientists believe that over millions of years, Australian mammals have become very different from other mammals as a direct result of
a) Evolving pouches in which to rear their young
b) Following their own course of evolution in isolation
c) Developing reproductive systems homologous to placentals
d) Evolving in climatically unique ecosystems
Answer: b

Question: The origin of mammal-like reptiles occurred in
a) Triassic period
b) Permian period
c) Jurassic period
d) Tertiary period
Answer: b

Question: An Australian mole is actually a marsupial rather than a placental mammal like the North American or European mole. The two animals are similar in appearance because
a) There are practically no placental mammals in Australia
b) The selection pressures on both were similar
c) They have undergone a long period of coevolution
d) Marsupials and placental mammals are closely related
Answer: b

Question: Which situation would most likely result in the highest rate of natural selection?
a) Reproduction of organisms by an asexual method in an unchanging environment
b) Reproduction of a species having a very low mutation rate in a changing environment
c) Reproduction of organisms in an unchanging environment with little competition and few predators
d) Reproduction of organisms exhibiting genetic differences due to mutations and genetic recombinations in a changing environment
Answer: d

Question: Which one of the following options gives one correct example each of convergent evolution and divergent evolution?
a) Eyes of octopus and mammals; Bones of forelimbs of vertebrates
b) Thorns of Bougainvillea and tendrils of Cucurbita; Wings of butterflies and birds
c) Bones of forelimbs of vertebrates; Wings of butterfly and birds
d) Thorns of Bougainvillea and tendrils of Cucurbita; Eyes of octopus and mammals
Answer: a

Question: The eye of octopus and eye of cat show different patterns of structure, yet they perform similar function. This is an example of
a) Homologous organs that have evolved due to divergent evolution
b) Analogous organs that have evolved due to convergent evolution
c) Analogous organs that have evolved due to divergent evolution
d) Homologous organs that have evolved due to convergent evolution
Answer: b

Question: Which statement best illustrates a rapid biological adaptation that has actually occurred?
a) Pesticide-resistant insects have developed in certain environments.
b) Scientific evidence indicates that dinosaurs once lived on land.
c) Paving large areas of land has decreased habitats for certain organisms.
d) The characteristics of sharks have remained unchanged over a long period of time.
Answer: a

Question: Birds with average-sized wings survived in a severe storm more successfully than with longer or shorter wings. It illustrates:
a) stabilizing selection
b) gene flow
c) diversifying selection
d) founder effect
Answer: a

Question: Which of the following statements would Darwin most likely disagree?
a) Individuals within a population vary in the characteristics they possess
b) Evolution is best viewed as a purposeful and directed change over time
c) Natural selection is the mechanism by which biological evolution takes place
d) The fossil record supports the view that biological evolution has occurred
Answer: b

Question: The tendency of population to remain in genetic equilibrium may be disturbed by-
a) Lack of migration
b) Lack of mutations
c) Lack of random mating
d) Random mating
Answer: c

Question: Presence of recessive trait is 16%. The frequency of dominant allele in population is:
a) 0.6
b) 0.32
c) 0.84
d) 0.92
Answer: a

Question: The peppered moth Biston betularia with dull gray or white colour was abundant in England before industrial revolution. During post-industrialization period, the tree trunks became dark due to smoke and soot and the black coloured variants of the moth became more abundant. The black color of the moths was due to
a) Deposition of soot on the tree trunks
b) Recessive mutation
c) Dominant mutation
d) Deposition of soot on the white wings of moths which changed into dark winged, melanized forms
Answer: c

Question: Adaptations:
a) are not common
b) result from genetic drift
c) result from natural selection
d) are features of the organism that hinder its performance in its environment
Answer: c

Question: If the Neanderthals are not the direct ancestors of humans, is it still possible for humans and Neanderthals to be related?
a) Yes, because we share a common ancestor
b) Yes, but only if humans and Neanderthals could have interbred
c) No, because the human evolutionary tree is strictly linear and without branches
d) No, because this means that Neanderthals evolved from an entirely different branch of organisms than humans did
Answer: a

Question: Which of the following factor does not affect Hardy-Weinberg’s equilibrium
a) Gene migration
b) Natural selection
c) Genetic drift
d) Replication of genetic material
Answer: d

Question: The following list includes three Australian marsupial mammals and three placental mammals which occupy similar ecological niches in other continents of the world.
great red kangaroo 2. flying squirrel 3. sloth 4. phalanger 5. koala bear 6. deer
Which of the following correctly pairs each marsupial with the equivalent placental?
a) 1 & 6, 4 & 3, 5 & 2
b) 1 & 3, 4 & 2, 5 & 6
c) 1 & 2, 4 & 3, 5 & 6
d) 1 & 6, 4 & 2, 5 & 3
Answer: d

Question: The origin of species from pre-existing species is:
a) mutation
b) isolation
c) polyploidy
d) speciation
Answer: b

Question: Industrial melanism is related to –
a) Skin darkening due to smoke
b) Drug resistance
c) Defence against UV radiations
d) Protective resemblance to surroundings
Answer: d

Question: Differences between the members of a population will most likely be passed to future generations if they are
a) due to genetic changes and result in unfavorable variations
b) due to genetic changes and result in favorable variations
c) not due to genetic changes and result in unfavorable variations
d) not due to genetic changes and result in favorable variations
Answer: b

Question: Which word does not describe humans?
a) Ape
b) Mammals
c) Amphibian
d) Primate
Answer: c

Question: The first vertebrates to colonize land were
a) Birds
b) Mammals
c) Amphibians
d) Reptiles
Answer: c

Question: Question: Arrange the periods of palaeozoic era in ascending order in a geological time scale:
a) Cambrian -> Ordovician -> Silurian -> Devonian -> Carboniferous -> Permian
b) Cambrian -> Devonian -> Ordovician -> Silurian -> Carboniferous -> Permian
c) Cambrian -> Ordovician -> Devonian -> Silurian -> Carboniferous -> Permian
d) Silurian -> Devonian -> Cambrian -> Ordovician -> Permian -> Carboniferous
Answer: a

Question: Genetic drift occurs when a few individuals of a species colonize an island. This particular phenomenon is known as-
a) The bottleneck effect
b) The founder effect
c) Assortative mating
d) Random mating
Answer: b

Question: Which of the following is correct?
a) The skull of adult chimpanzee is more like adult human skull than baby chimpanzee skull
b) The skull of baby chimpanzee is more like adult human skull than adult chimpanzee skull
c) The Alfred Wallace, a naturalist worked in Malay Archipelago come to same conclusions as Darwinism.
d) Both b and c
Answer: d

Question: The sequence of events in geographic speciation is most likely to be –
a) Genetic divergence -> geographic barrier -> reproductive isolation
b) Geographic barrier -> genetic divergence -> reproductive isolation
c) Reproductive isolation -> genetic divergence -> geographic barrier
d) Geographic barrier -> reproductive isolation -> genetic divergence
Answer: b

Question: Being the hominid, the first human like creature was called
a) Australopithecus
b) Homo habilis
c) Homo erectus
d) Neanderthal man
Answer: b

Question: Cause of mimicry is:
a) attack (offence)
b) protection (defence)
c) Both
d) None
Answer: c

Question: Disruptive selection:
a) eliminates uncommon forms of alleles
b) does not favour intermediate forms of a trait
c) shifts allele frequencies in a steady, consistent direction
d) all of the above
Answer: b

Question: Charles Darwin concluded that the 13 species of finches on the Galapagos Islands:
a) were identical to 13 finch species in northwestern South America 600 miles to the east
b) probably evolved from one ancestral South American species
c) had all adapted to the same food sources
d) B and C
Answer: b

Question: In a population of frogs which would be considered the fittest?
a) The biggest frog
b) The strongest which can eat maximum
c) The frog that leaves the most descendants
d) The frog having largest number of mutations
Answer: c

Question: Geographic and reproductive isolations are most closely associated with:
a) speciation
b) extinction
c) succession
d) competition
Answer: a

Question: Select the correct statement(s).
a) Single-celled organisms evolved slowly into multicellular organisms
b) Invertebrate around 500 million years ago
c) Jawless fish must have evolved around 350 million years ago.
d) All of the above
Answer: d

Question: Existence of coal /petroleum can be known from the study of –
a) Ecology
b) Economic Botany
c) Palaeobotany
d) Bacteriology
Answer: c

Question: Flowers of certain orchids resemble females of certain insects in shape. Male insects take these flowers as females and try to copulate, but instead these only pollinate the flowers. This process is called-
a) mimicry
b) Pseudocerpulation
c) Pseudopollination
d) Pseudoparthenocarpy
Answer: b

Question: Which one(s) is / are correct?
a) Most fossils are found in sedimentary rocks
b) According to Lamarck, a giraffe has a long back because its ancestors stretched their necks to good food.
c) The unit of evolution is population
d) All of the above
Answer: c

Question: The most apparent change during the evolutionary history of Homo sapiens is traced in
a) Loss of body hair
b) Walking upright
c) Shortening of the jaws
d) Remarkable increase in the brain size
Answer: d

Question: Which is the correct option of evolutionary history from reptiles to Dinosaurs –
a) Early reptiles -> Pelycosaurs -> Synapsides -> Thecodonts -> Therapsids -> Dinosaurs
b) Early reptiles -> Synapsides -> Pelycosaurs -> Thecodonts -> Therapsids -> Dinosaurs
c) Early reptiles -> Synapsides -> Pelycosaurs -> Therapsids -> Thecodonts -> Dinosaurs
d) Early reptiles -> Synapsides -> Thecodonts -> Pelycosaurs -> Therapsids -> Dinosaurs
Answer: b

Question: Which of the following must take place for speciation to occur?
a) Hybridization
b) Geographic isolation
c) Polyploidy
d) Reproductive isolation
Answer: d

Question: Natural Selection –
A. Tends to increase the characters that enhance survival and reproduction
B. Causes adaptation
C. Acts on an organisms phenotype
D. Was considered as mechanism of evolution by Darwin
a) All are correct
b) Only A and B are correct
c) Only C and D are correct
d) None is correct
Answer: a

Question: Select the correct statement(s).
A. Microbial experiment show the pre-existing advantageous mutations when selected will result in the observation of new phenotypes. Over few generation this would result in speciation.
B. Neanderthal fossils represent a human relative.
C. In 1938, a fish caught in South Africa happened to be a coelacanth (lobe fins) which was thought to be extinct.
These animals evolved into the first amphibian living on both land and water.
D. Lichens can be used as water pollution indicators.
E. Alfred Wallace, a natur st, who worked in Malay Archepelago (present Indonesia) has also come to similar conclusion on natural selection as reached by Darwinism.
a) A and B only
b) A, B, C and E
c) U and D only
d) D and E only
Answer: b

Question: A. Amphibians evolved into reptiles.
B. Fish with stout and strong fins could move on land and go back to water. This was about 350 mya.
C. Giant ferns were present but they all fell to form coal deposits slowly
C. About 65 mya (in cretaceous period) the dinosaurs suddenly disappeared from the earth.
D. Archeopteryx is the connecting link between birds and reptiles.
a) All are correct
b) All are incorrect
c) C and D are correct
d) A and B are correct
Answer: a

Question: Homoerectus-
A. had a large brain around 900 c.c.
B. probably ate meat.
C. appeared about 1.5 mya year ago
D. evolved from H. habilis.
a) A and B
b) BandC
c) None
d) AII
Answer: d

Question: Which of the following are necessary for evolution by natural selection to take place?
I. Offspring resemble their parents more than other individuals in the population
II. Differences among individuals exist and lead to different numbers of successful offspring being produced
III. Individuals adjust their development depending on the environment
IV. Every individual has a desire to have many offspring
V. Populations tend to grow faster than their food supplies
a) l and ll
b) l and V
c) II, III and IV
d) lll and V
Answer: a

Question: A. Fossils are remained of hard parts of life forms in Rock.
B. A study of fossils in different sedimentary layers indicates the geological period in which they live.
C. Radio isotopes are often used to determine the age of the fossils
D. Study of fossils is called palaentology
a) All are correct
b) All are incorrect
c) A, C & D are correct
d) B & D are correct
Answer: a