BSC 108 Exam 4 Final Questions and
Actual Answers 2026-2027 Updated.
What was the name of Darwin's Ship? - Answer HMS Beagle
What are the S and J curve related to? - Answer population growth patterns
What is the pattern of growth for the S curve? - Answer logistic growth pattern
What is the pattern of growth for the J curve? - Answer exponential growth pattern
What is the average amount of energy available at one trophic level as it passes to the next? -
Answer 10%
What was the full name of the publication that Darwin published? - Answer On the Origins of
Species by Means of Natural Selection
What is the basic idea of natural selection? - Answer -organisms can change over generations
and individuals with
-certain heritable traits leave more offspring than others
What is the result of natural selection? - Answer evolutionary adaptation
Darwin based his theory of natural selection on two key observations. What are the two
observations? - Answer overproduction (of offspring) and individual variation
Overproduction - Answer -All species tend to produce excessive numbers.
-This leads to a struggle for existence.
Individual Variation - Answer -Variation exists among individuals in a population.
-Much of this variation is heritable.
What is unequal reproductive success? - Answer (natural selection)
-Those individuals with traits best suited for the local environment leave more fertile offspring.
, What is a fossil? How are fossils formed? - Answer preserved remnants or impressions left by
organisms that lived in the past; sediment
Where are fossils found? - Answer in sedimentary rocks
What type of scientist studies fossils? - Answer Paleontologist
What is biogeography? - Answer study of the geographic distribution of species
What is comparative anatomy? - Answer the comparison of body structure between different
species
What is comparative embryology? - Answer the comparison of structures that appear during
the development of different organisms
Name 3 examples of natural selection in action. - Answer -Pesticide resistance in insects.
-The development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
-Drug-resistant strains of HIV.
What is a mutation? - Answer changes in the DNA of an organism
What is sexual recombination? - Answer Shuffling alleles during meiosis
What is directional selection? What does the phenotypic graph look like compared to the
original population curve? - Answer -Shifts the phenotypic "curve" of a population.
-Selects in favor of some extreme phenotype.
leaning the bell curve to one side
What is disruptive selection? What does the phenotypic graph look like compared to the
original population curve? - Answer two separate bell curves, splits the phenotypic curve of a
population (m shape vs. the original n shape)can lead to a balance between two or more
contrasting morphs in a population
What is stabilizing selection? What does the phenotypic graph look like compared to the
original population curve? - Answer stretches the phenotypic curve of a population to be taller
and thinner
maintains variations for a particular train within a narrow range
Actual Answers 2026-2027 Updated.
What was the name of Darwin's Ship? - Answer HMS Beagle
What are the S and J curve related to? - Answer population growth patterns
What is the pattern of growth for the S curve? - Answer logistic growth pattern
What is the pattern of growth for the J curve? - Answer exponential growth pattern
What is the average amount of energy available at one trophic level as it passes to the next? -
Answer 10%
What was the full name of the publication that Darwin published? - Answer On the Origins of
Species by Means of Natural Selection
What is the basic idea of natural selection? - Answer -organisms can change over generations
and individuals with
-certain heritable traits leave more offspring than others
What is the result of natural selection? - Answer evolutionary adaptation
Darwin based his theory of natural selection on two key observations. What are the two
observations? - Answer overproduction (of offspring) and individual variation
Overproduction - Answer -All species tend to produce excessive numbers.
-This leads to a struggle for existence.
Individual Variation - Answer -Variation exists among individuals in a population.
-Much of this variation is heritable.
What is unequal reproductive success? - Answer (natural selection)
-Those individuals with traits best suited for the local environment leave more fertile offspring.
, What is a fossil? How are fossils formed? - Answer preserved remnants or impressions left by
organisms that lived in the past; sediment
Where are fossils found? - Answer in sedimentary rocks
What type of scientist studies fossils? - Answer Paleontologist
What is biogeography? - Answer study of the geographic distribution of species
What is comparative anatomy? - Answer the comparison of body structure between different
species
What is comparative embryology? - Answer the comparison of structures that appear during
the development of different organisms
Name 3 examples of natural selection in action. - Answer -Pesticide resistance in insects.
-The development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
-Drug-resistant strains of HIV.
What is a mutation? - Answer changes in the DNA of an organism
What is sexual recombination? - Answer Shuffling alleles during meiosis
What is directional selection? What does the phenotypic graph look like compared to the
original population curve? - Answer -Shifts the phenotypic "curve" of a population.
-Selects in favor of some extreme phenotype.
leaning the bell curve to one side
What is disruptive selection? What does the phenotypic graph look like compared to the
original population curve? - Answer two separate bell curves, splits the phenotypic curve of a
population (m shape vs. the original n shape)can lead to a balance between two or more
contrasting morphs in a population
What is stabilizing selection? What does the phenotypic graph look like compared to the
original population curve? - Answer stretches the phenotypic curve of a population to be taller
and thinner
maintains variations for a particular train within a narrow range
