Free Concept of Evolution MCQs with Answers

• A. August Weismann
• B. Charles Darwin
• C. Gregor Mendel
• D. Louis Pasteur

Explanation: Every generation was still born with a tail, proving that injuries acquired during life are not transmitted.

• A. are always harmful
• B. do not alter the genes in the gametes
• C. are dominant traits
• D. affect only the nervous system

Explanation: Only changes in the DNA of eggs or sperm can be inherited, and exercise reshapes muscle without touching the germ line.

• A. Darwin
• B. Wallace
• C. Lamarck
• D. Aristotle

Explanation: Although wrong in mechanism, Lamarck was the first to offer a coherent, published explanation of how species change.

• A. a trait inherited from both parents
• B. a mutation in the germ cells
• C. a sex linked trait
• D. a change produced during an individual's lifetime by use, disuse or the environment

Explanation: Acquired traits develop within one lifetime, such as a tan or a learned skill, and vanish with the individual unless written into the…

• A. the inner needs and desires of the organism
• B. random mutation
• C. genetic drift
• D. hybrid sterility

Explanation: Lamarck imagined that a new need creates a new habit, the habit uses or abandons an organ, and the change is then inherited.

• A. natural selection
• B. disuse of wings over many generations
• C. genetic engineering
• D. mutation only

Explanation: In Lamarck's scheme, ground living birds stopped flying, their wings weakened from disuse and the reduction was passed on.

• A. after Darwin's Origin of Species
• B. at exactly the same time as Darwin's
• C. about half a century before Darwin's
• D. in the twentieth century

Explanation: Philosophie Zoologique appeared in 1809 and the Origin of Species in 1859, so Lamarck preceded Darwin by fifty years.

• A. Endeavour
• B. Mayflower
• C. Santa Maria
• D. HMS Beagle

Explanation: The Beagle surveyed South American coasts from 1831 to 1836, giving Darwin fossils, finches and biogeography to think about for the next…

• A. Thomas Malthus
• B. Herbert Spencer
• C. Charles Lyell
• D. Alfred Wallace

Explanation: Malthus argued that human populations grow faster than food supply, and Darwin saw the same pressure in nature: far more offspring are…

• A. the survival of the largest individuals
• B. the differential survival and reproduction of the individuals best suited to their environment
• C. the deliberate breeding of the best plants by farmers
• D. the migration of animals to better habitats

Explanation: What matters is leaving more offspring, not mere survival or size, so the fittest are those whose inherited traits match the environment.

• A. universal survival
• B. genetic uniformity
• C. competition, the struggle for existence
• D. instant formation of new species

Explanation: Overproduction plus limited food and space means only some individuals survive to breed, and which ones depends on their traits.

• A. Charles Darwin
• B. Alfred Wallace
• C. Charles Lyell
• D. Herbert Spencer

Explanation: Spencer, the philosopher, coined the phrase after reading Darwin, and Darwin later adopted it in later editions of the Origin.

• A. human beings
• B. parasites only
• C. the largest individual in the population
• D. the environment

Explanation: Climate, food, predators and disease together decide which variants survive and reproduce.

• A. natural selection favouring camouflaged variants over many generations
• B. the insect stretching its body towards twigs
• C. Lamarck's inner need for safety
• D. pure chance in every individual

Explanation: Birds removed the conspicuous insects generation after generation, leaving the better disguised to breed, until resemblance became…

• A. Lamarck's inheritance of acquired characters
• B. genetics and the study of mutation
• C. the idea of spontaneous generation
• D. the theory of catastrophes

Explanation: Mendel's genetics supplied the missing mechanism of inheritance, and mutation supplied the source of variation, completing what Darwin…

• A. Vatican Academy
• B. French Academy of Sciences
• C. Linnean Society of London
• D. Royal Institution of Edinburgh

Explanation: Lyell and Hooker arranged for both men's work to be presented together at the Linnean Society, establishing their joint priority a year…

• A. Convergent evolution
• B. Divergent evolution
• C. No evolutionary relationship
• D. Analogous functions

Explanation: Homologous structures (same origin, different function) indicate divergent evolution from a common ancestor.

• A. Same habitat
• B. Geographic isolation
• C. Polyploidy
• D. Sympatric conditions

Explanation: Allopatric speciation occurs when populations are separated by a geographic barrier, leading to reproductive isolation.

• A. Common ancestry
• B. Convergent evolution
• C. Divergent evolution
• D. Vestigial development

Explanation: Analogous structures (different origin, same function) result from convergent evolution, e.g., wings of bats and insects.

• A. Essential for survival
• B. Reduced non-functional remnants
• C. Newly evolved structures
• D. Only found in embryos

Explanation: Vestigial organs (appendix, coccyx) are reduced remnants of structures functional in ancestors.