80 Evolution And Natural Selection Trivia Questions with Answers
80 public questions with answers, drawn from the well. How many can you answer?
Which hominin species is represented by the partial skeleton nicknamed “Ardi,” found in Ethiopia?
Answer
Ardipithecus ramidus
Which 1859 book by Charles Darwin presented evolution by natural selection to a wide audience?
Answer
On the Origin of Species
Which genetic process allows bacteria to acquire DNA from their surroundings without cell division?
Answer
Natural transformation
Which mass extinction, about 66 million years ago, eliminated all non-avian dinosaurs?
Answer
Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction
Which fossil bird from Germany had feathers, teeth, and a long bony tail?
Answer
Archaeopteryx
What is the name of the equilibrium principle stating that allele frequencies remain constant without evolutionary forces?
Answer
Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium
In evolutionary biology, what type of natural selection favors one extreme version of a trait over others?
Answer
Directional selection
Which evolutionary force can make a rare allele become common purely through chance?
Answer
Genetic drift
What evolutionary process transfers DNA directly between unrelated organisms instead of from parent to offspring?
Answer
Horizontal gene transfer
What evolutionary process creates an extra copy of a gene that may later gain a new function?
Answer
Gene duplication
Which hominin species made the 3.66-million-year-old Laetoli footprints in Tanzania?
Answer
Australopithecus afarensis
Which 1942 book by Julian Huxley popularized the modern evolutionary synthesis linking natural selection with genetics?
Answer
Evolution: The Modern Synthesis
Which disease-causing organism became resistant to methicillin soon after the antibiotic was introduced in 1959?
Answer
Staphylococcus aureus
Which hominin species is represented by the 3.2-million-year-old fossil skeleton known as Lucy?
Answer
Australopithecus afarensis
Which evolutionary process reduces genetic variation when a population passes through a severe temporary decline?
Answer
Population bottleneck
Which evolutionary theory did Motoo Kimura propose in 1968 to explain many molecular changes as selectively neutral?
Answer
Neutral theory of molecular evolution
Which evolutionary scientist coined the term “dinosaur” in 1842?
Answer
Richard Owen
In evolution, what is the name for a reproductive barrier that acts before fertilization?
Answer
Prezygotic isolation