Natural selection and evolution
Correctly complete the following paragraph to explain the relationship between natural selection and evolution.
Terms may be used more than once.
Within a population of fish, ____________ exists in the form of body color. Some fish are orange and some fish are red.
The fish population lives on an orange reef bed. Because of this, fish that are ____________ are able to blend in and resist predation.
Because fish that are ____________ are more likely to blend in and resist predation, they are more likely to survive to reproduce.
Fish produce ____________ offspring which ____________ the genes for body color.
After several generations, one can expect the fish population to have a ____________ portion of orange individuals compared to red individuals.
In this manner, ____________ is driving ____________ .
Choice of words:
natural selection
genetic variation
red
evolution
smaller
many
inherit
larger
orange
few
Natural selection and evolution
Correctly complete the following paragraph to explain the relationship between natural selection and evolution.
Terms may be used more than once.
Within a population of fish, ____________ exists in the form of body color. Some fish are orange and some fish are red.
The fish population lives on an orange reef bed. Because of this, fish that are ____________ are able to blend in and resist predation.
Because fish that are ____________ are more likely to blend in and resist predation, they are more likely to survive to reproduce.
Fish produce ____________ offspring which ____________ the genes for body color.
After several generations, one can expect the fish population to have a ____________ portion of orange individuals compared to red individuals.
In this manner, ____________ is driving ____________ .
Choice of words:
natural selection
genetic variation
red
evolution
smaller
many
inherit
larger
orange
few
Related textbook solutions
Related questions
Which statement about evolution by natural selection isfalse?
| Natural selection allows organisms with higher fitness toreproduce more successfully. |
| Natural selection favors those traits that confer higherfitness in the environment. |
| Natural selection is a random change in characteristics of apopulation over generations. |
| Evolution by natural selection affects populations oforganisms, not individual organisms. |
An organism's fitness depends on its _____.
| ability to survive and reproduce |
| ability to swap genetic material with other organisms |
| physical size |
| ability to mutate |
| population |
Consider the heavily armored stickleback fish population thatcolonized the lake. If all the individuals in that population weregenetically identical, what do you predict would happen when theycolonized the freshwater lake?
| The population would increase, as it has increased foodresources. |
| The population would evolve through natural selection to bebetter adapted to its environment. |
| The population would decrease due to more juvenile fish beingeaten. |
| No answer text provided. |
Which of the following are adaptations?
| Thicker beaks on finches that allows them to eat large seeds,when large seeds are the most abundant. |
| Less armor on stickleback fish in freshwater that allows themto grow faster to avoid predation. |
| More armor on stickleback fish in the ocean that prevents themfrom being eaten by larger predators. |
| None of the above. |
| All of the above. |
For each scenario, indicate which evolutionary process is most likely to be dominant.
| 1. | Genetic drift. |
| 2. | Outbreeding depression. |
| 3. | Directional selection. |
| 4. | Stabilizing selection. |
| 5. | Balancing selection. |
| 6. | Disruptive selection |
| SCENARIOS |
A) A population of rabbits is primarily preyed upon by coyotes. Only the fastest rabbits escape once seen.
B) In a population of cone snails, the individuals of the most common color suffer the heaviest predation.
C) In widowbirds, males with longer tails attract more mates, but also suffer higher predation.
D) Fledging success is highest among bluebirds with four or five eggs per clutch, although bluebirds lay two to seven eggs per nesting attempt.
F) Among a certain species of fish, both large males that defend high quality nest sites, and smaller males that resemble female fish fertilize many eggs.
G) A Puerto Rican parrot population was decimated by a recent hurricane. It appears that most birds within the path of the storm were killed.
H) In a population of sparrows, scientists noted that the sparrows killed in a particular storm were birds with much longer or shorter than average wings.
I) Fossil evidence indicates that the small, forest dwelling ancestor of modern horses gave rise to much taller (more recent) ancestors as the environment changed to grassland.
J) A population of solid gray ground snakes is well camouflaged on the rocky beaches of the island it occupies. Snakes born to island snakes that mate with the banded snakes from the mainland that occasionally arrive on the island are more likely to be eaten by birds.
K) In ground finches, both small beaked and large beaked birds have higher survivorship than those with intermediate beak sizes.
