AP Biology Questions on Natural Selection

🧬 Quick Study Guide

• 🌍 Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype.
• 🌱 Key principles include variation, inheritance, differential survival, and adaptation.
• 🎯 Fitness is a measure of reproductive success. Individuals with higher fitness are more likely to pass on their genes.
• 🧪 Natural selection acts on phenotypes, but evolution consists of changes in allele frequencies.
• 🕰️ Evolution occurs over generations, not within an individual's lifetime.
• 📈 Types of selection include directional, stabilizing, and disruptive selection.
• 🗺️ Genetic drift, gene flow, and mutation are also mechanisms of evolution.

🤔 Practice Quiz

1. Which of the following is NOT a condition for natural selection to occur?
   1. A) Variation in traits
   2. B) Heritability of traits
   3. C) Constant environmental conditions
   4. D) Differential reproductive success
2. What is the measure of an organism's ability to survive and reproduce called?
   1. A) Mutation rate
   2. B) Fitness
   3. C) Genetic drift
   4. D) Gene flow
3. Which type of selection favors individuals at one extreme of a phenotypic range?
   1. A) Stabilizing selection
   2. B) Disruptive selection
   3. C) Directional selection
   4. D) Artificial selection
4. A population of birds has beaks that are either small or large. Over time, the birds with medium-sized beaks die off, while those with small and large beaks thrive. This is an example of:
   1. A) Directional selection
   2. B) Stabilizing selection
   3. C) Disruptive selection
   4. D) Sexual selection
5. The change in the allele frequencies of a population due to chance is called:
   1. A) Natural selection
   2. B) Mutation
   3. C) Gene flow
   4. D) Genetic drift
6. What is the source of new genetic variation in a population?
   1. A) Natural selection
   2. B) Genetic drift
   3. C) Mutation
   4. D) Gene flow
7. Which of the following is an example of adaptation?
   1. A) A change in the weather
   2. B) A plant developing thorns in response to herbivore pressure
   3. C) A volcanic eruption
   4. D) Random mating in a population