UPDATED ACTUAL Exam Questions and
CORRECT Answers
Homologous - CORRECT ANSWER - A trait that is inherited from a common ancestor
Analogous - CORRECT ANSWER - A trait that performs the same function in highly
unrelated species
Synapomorphy - CORRECT ANSWER - A shared derived trait
Symplesiomorphy - CORRECT ANSWER - A homologous ancestral trait (shared
characteristic that has evolved much earlier)
Autapomorphy - CORRECT ANSWER - A unique derived trait found only in a tip lineage
Convergent - CORRECT ANSWER - A trait that has evolved independently multiple
times on a phylogeny
Monophyletic Group - CORRECT ANSWER - An ancestor and all of its descendants
Node - CORRECT ANSWER - Part of a phylogeny where speciation has occurred
Polytomy - CORRECT ANSWER - Part of a phylogeny showing uncertainty in
evolutionary relationships
Paraphyletic Group - CORRECT ANSWER - An ancestor and some but not all of its
descendants
, Evolution and Natural Selection refer to the same process - CORRECT ANSWER - False
Genetic drift acts to increase genetic variation within a population - CORRECT
ANSWER - False
Mutation is a completely random process - CORRECT ANSWER - True
founder effect - CORRECT ANSWER - Genetic drift that occurs when a few individuals
become isolated from a larger population and form a new population whose gene pool
composition is not reflective of that of the original population.
Bottleneck Effect - CORRECT ANSWER - Genetic drift resulting from the reduction of a
population, typically by a natural disaster, such that the surviving population is no longer
genetically representative of the original population.
The founder effect is an example of gene flow - CORRECT ANSWER - False
Mutation is the ultimate source of all variation - CORRECT ANSWER - True
Non-random mating causes allele frequencies to change - CORRECT ANSWER - False
Populations can still evolve even if they lack genetic variation - CORRECT ANSWER -
False
It only takes a single generation for a population to return to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium if all
of the assumptions of the model are met - CORRECT ANSWER - True
Adaptation is the result of natural selection - CORRECT ANSWER - True