PSEB Solutions For Class 12 Biology Evolution Multiple Choice Questions

Question 1. A rapidly growing population experiences increasing genetic variability because:

  1. There is a greater chance for polymorphism in large populations
  2. The mutation rate is higher for large populations
  3. There is less selective pressure
  4. A large population can support more genetic experimentation
  5. Heterozygote superiority is selectively favoured.

Answer: 4. Heterozygote superiority is selectively favoured.

Question 2. When food is distributed in such a way that an animal must spend a large part of its day wandering from one place to another to find enough to eat, what type of mating system would you expect it to have?

  1. Monogamy
  2. Polyandry
  3. Polygamy
  4. Polygyny.

Answer: 3. Polygamy

Question 3. A human male who remains a bachelor is most likely to enhance his evolutionary success by altruistic behaviour towards the children of:

  1. His sister
  2. His brother
  3. His mother
  4. His grandmother.

Answer: 3. His mother

Read and Learn More 12th Class Biology MCQs

Question 4. In light of the definition of evolution, which of the following is not capable of evolving?

  1. A population of deer
  2. The colour of a population of moths
  3. Your biology teacher
  4. The millions of bacteria in your large intestine.

Answer: 3. Your biology teacher

PSEB Solutions Class 12 Biology Evolution MCQs

PSEB Solutions For Class 12 Biology Evolution Multiple Choice Questions

Question 5. Which of the following did Kettlewell conclude from his studies on industrial melanism in moths?

  1. A dark moth lays more eggs than a light moth in industrial areas
  2. Dark moths are more resistant to pollution than are light moths
  3. Pollution caused some moths to become darker than others
  4. Dark moths are more likely to survive in polluted areas than light moths.

Answer: 4. Dark moths are more likely to survive in polluted areas than light moths.

Question 6. Which bird is most evolutionarily successful

  1. Lays 9 eggs, 8 Hatch and 2 reproduce
  2. Lays 2 eggs, 2 hatches and 2 reproduce
  3. Lays 9 eggs, 9 hatches and 2 reproduce
  4. Lays 7 eggs, 5 hatches and 4 reproduce.

Answer: 4. Lays 7 eggs, 5 hatches and 4 reproduce.

Question 7. Suppose that you have a pack of 50 assorted dogs. You select the largest male and the largest female from the group, mate them, and sterilize the other members of the pack. Assuming that food supplies remain adequate, you should expect that, in the next generation of dogs:

  1. The young dogs will be, on average, larger than their two parents
  2. The young dogs will be, on average, larger than the older members of the pack
  3. The young dogs will be the same average size as the older dogs
  4. All of the young dogs will be larger than the older dogs.

Answer: 2. The young dogs will be, on average, larger than the older members of the pack

Question 8. What is petrification?

  1. Evolution of pteridophytes
  2. Decay of nitrogenous materials by bacteria
  3. A process of fossil formation
  4. Origin of birds from reptiles.

Answer: 3. A process of fossil formation

Question 9. The main dictates of Lamarck’s theory is/are:

  1. All the mentioned below
  2. Effect of environment
  3. Effect of use and disuse of organs.
  4. Inheritance of acquired characters.

Answer: 1. All the mentioned below

Question 10. For evolutionary success, a mutation occurs in:

  1. Germplasm RNA
  2. Somatic DNA
  3. Somatic RNA
  4. Germplasm DNA.

Answer: 4. Germplasm DNA.

PSEB Solutions Class 12 Biology Evolution MCQs

Question 11. The idea of natural selection as the fundamental process of evolutionary change was reached by:

  1. Charles Darwin in 1859
  2. Charles Darwin and A.R. Wallace in 1859
  3. C. Darwin and A.R. Wallace in 1890
  4. A.R. Wallace in 1891.

Answer: 2. Charles Darwin and A.R. Wallace in 1859

Question 12. Industrial melanism is an example of:

  1. Neo-Lamarckism
  2. Natural selection
  3. Neo-Darwinism
  4. Mutation.

Answer: 2. Natural selection

Question 13. The role of mutation in evolution is:

  1. Genetic drift
  2. Genetic variation
  3. Reproductive isolation
  4. None of them.

Answer: 2. Genetic variation

Question 14. One of the following is obtained by artificial selection:

  1. Kohlrabi
  2. Cabbage
  3. Cauliflower
  4. All the above.

Answer: 1. Kohlrabi

Question 15. The frequency of a mutant gene in a population is expected to increase if the gene is:

  1. Sex-linked
  2. Recessive
  3. Favourably selected
  4. Dominant.

Answer: 3. Favourably selected

Question 16. The term isolating mechanism was coined by:

  1. Duritez (1930)
  2. Wagner (1868)
  3. Dobzhansky (1937)
  4. Blain (1941).

Answer: 3. Dobzhansky (1937)

Question 17. Who is known as the father of evolution?

  1. Lamarck
  2. Charles Darwin
  3. Wallace
  4. Erasmus Darwin.

Answer: 2. Charles Darwin

Class 12 Biology Evolution Multiple Choice Questions PSEB

Question 18. The evolution resulting in the formation of new species is known as:

  1. Microevolution
  2. Macroevolution
  3. Both (1) and (2)
  4. Mega evolution.

Answer: 2. Macroevolution

Question 19. Macroevolution operates above species level and results in the establishment of:

  1. New genera
  2. New Families
  3. New orders
  4. All of the above.

Answer: 4. All of the above.

Question 20. In speciation which of the following is most important:

  1. Mutation
  2. Natural selection
  3. Isolation
  4. All the above.

Answer: 4. All the above.

Question 21. Darwin’s finches are:

  1. Water birds
  2. A group of ducks occurring in the Galapagos Islands
  3. Birds of the family Geospizidae
  4. Birds of family Galapagos.

Answer: 3. Birds of the family Geospizidae

Question 22. Which of the following statements is false?

  1. Sympatric species originate by the sudden development of reproductive isolation between segments of a species population due to sudden changes in their genotype
  2. The sum total of genes of all the species in an area constitutes the gene pool.
  3. The gene frequency refers to the proportion of an allele in the gene pool as compared with other alleles
  4. A deme is a community of potentially interbreeding individuals at a given locality which share a single gene pool.

Answer: 2. The sum total of genes of all the species in an area constitutes the gene pool.

Question 23. Parallelism is:

  1. Adaptive convergence of closely related species in evolution
  2. Adaptive divergence in evolution
  3. Adaptive convergence of widely different species in evolution
  4. None of these.

Answer: 1. Adaptive convergence of closely related species in evolution

Question 24. Two accessory processes which contribute towards the occurrence of evolution are:

  1. Migration and Inbreeding
  2. Migration and hybridization
  3. Migration and population mixing
  4. Migration and asexual reproduction.

Answer: 2. Migration and hybridization

Question 25. _________ was the first person who considered the real meaning of fossils:

  1. Aristotle
  2. Anaximander
  3. Francisco Redi
  4. None of the above.

Answer: 2. Anaximander

Question 26. Which of the following is a matching set?

  1. Survival of the fittest – Lamarck
  2. Recapitulation Theory – De Vries
  3. Theory of Pangenesis – Darwin
  4. Use and disuse Theory – Wallace.

Answer: 3. Theory of Pangenesis – Darwin

Question 27. Class Reptilia first appears in the fossils records in:

  1. Pennsylvanian period
  2. Permian period
  3. Cretaceous period
  4. None of the above.

Answer: 1. Pennsylvanian period

Question 28. The initial appearance of reptiles from amphibian ancestors to completely terrestrial habitat is an example of:

  1. Microevolution
  2. Macroevolution
  3. Mega evolutions
  4. Speciation.

Answer: 1. Microevolution

Class 12 Biology Evolution Multiple Choice Questions PSEB

Question 29. The complete evolution of the horse has taken about:

  1. 60 million years
  2. 50 million years
  3. 70 million years
  4. 90 million years.

Answer: 3. 70 million years

Question 30. What is the essence of evolution?

  1. Present-day species are the modified descendants of pre-existing ones
  2. Species are changeable and mutable
  3. Progressive development of simpler organisation into complex forms
  4. All the above.

Answer: 4. All the above.

Question 31. In the course of evolution:

  1. Reptiles have given rise to birds
  2. Amphibians have given rise to reptiles
  3. Ferns have given rise to gymnosperms
  4. All the above.

Answer: 4. All the above.

Question 32. The concealing type of protective mimicry is associated with:

  1. White crabs
  2. Flat fishes
  3. Pupae of Swallowtail butterfly
  4. All of the above.

Answer: 4. All of the above.

Question 33. Phyllopteryx equus (Australian sea horse) shows:

  1. Warning mimicry
  2. Concealing mimicry
  3. Both (1) and (2)
  4. None of the above.

Answer: 2. Concealing mimicry

Question 34. Natural selection that favours heterozygotes is called:

  1. Balancing selection
  2. Heterosis
  3. Progressive selection
  4. Stabilizing selection.

Answer: 1. Balancing selection

Question 35. The type of selection that tends to increase the amount of variance within populations is termed:

  1. Stabilizing selection
  2. Frequency-dependent selection
  3. Directional selection
  4. Disruptive selection.

Answer: 4. Disruptive selection.

Question 36. Condensation of the phylogenetic events and the elimination of others in the embryonic development is referred to as:

  1. Pathogenesis
  2. Coenogenesis
  3. Techygenesis
  4. Ontogenesis.

Answer: 3. Techygenesis

Question 37. The theory of natural selection of Darwin was based on:

  1. Variations, which are inherited, will give rise to new species
  2. Good traits are preserved
  3. The prodigality of reproduction, mass production of species, large number of birth rate and survival of the fittest
  4. Mass conservation of mutations.

Answer: 3. Prodigality of reproduction, mass production of species, large number of birth rate and survival of the fittest

PSEB Class 12 Biology Chapter Evolution

Question 38. Persons who do hard manual work with their hands are likely to develop:

  1. Greater number of sweat pores in their hands
  2. A greater quantity of melanin all over the body
  3. Thick subcutaneous fat in their palms
  4. The thick epidermis on their palms.

Answer: 4. Thick epidermis on their palms.

Question 39. Modem synthetic theory of evolution is based on:

  1. Genetic and chromosomal mutations
  2. Genetic recombination and natural selection
  3. Reproductive isolation
  4. All of these.

Answer: 4. All of these.

Question 40. The present giraffe has a long neck as compared to its ancestors. It could be due to:

  1. Isolation
  2. Speciation
  3. Inheritance of acquired characters
  4. Natural Selection.

Answer: 4. Natural Selection.

Question 41. What is important for a species to survive in a changing environment:

  1. Change in morphology.
  2. Ecological variability
  3. Genetic variability
  4. Reproduction.

Answer: 3. Genetic variability

Question 42. The role of isolation in evolution is:

  1. Differentiation of species
  2. Maintenance of species
  3. Extermination of species
  4. Evolutionary divergence.

Answer: 1. Differentiation of species

Question 43. Being all mammals whales, dolphins, bats, and monkeys show important common characteristics but they also show conspicuous differences. This is due to the phenomenon of:

  1. Normalization
  2. Genetic drift
  3. Convergence
  4. Divergence.

Answer: 4. Divergence.

Question 44. Darwin’s theory gets much recognition because:

  1. It tells about natural selection
  2. It tells about the survival of the fittest
  3. It is a logical sequence of events that should have occurred
  4. It was proposed by an intellectual of his time.

Answer: 3. It is a logical sequence of events that should have occurred

Question 45. Birds and mammals in the geological development of earth arose in the period:

  1. Permian
  2. Carboniferous
  3. Jurassic
  4. Ordovician.

Answer: 3. Jurassic

Question 46. “Evolution can be regarded as the effect of natural selection on the continuous appearance of mutant forms.” What reason would you give to it?

  1. Darwinism
  2. Lamarckism
  3. Neo-Darwinism
  4. De Vries Mutation theory.

Answer: 3. Neo-Darwinism

PSEB Class 12 Biology Chapter Evolution

Question 47. Experimental evidence of the selection of bacteria by using the replica technique was demonstrated by:

  1. Prof. A.D. Bradshaw
  2. Prof. Y.D. Tyagi
  3. J. Lederberg and E. Ledcrberg
  4. Alfred Russel Wallace.

Answer: 3. J. Lederberg and E. Ledcrberg

Question 48. Successful adaptation means:

  1. Moving to a new means
  2. Producing fertile offspring
  3. An increase in fitness
  4. Evolving new characteristics.

Answer: 2. Producing fertile offspring

Question 49. Regarding evolution. Darwin’s explanation is that:

  1. Certain species have ‘built-in’ plans of evolution
  2. Those traits used most often persist longer
  3. Progressive adaptations enable one species to have more offspring
  4. Code determines which species should evolve.

Answer: 3. Progressive adaptations enable one species to have more offspring

Question 50. Which of the following is not inheritable?

  1. Point mutation
  2. Chromosomal mutation
  3. Gene mutation
  4. Somatic mutation.

Answer: 4. Somatic mutation.

Question 51. Organic evolution would not have taken place if:

  1. Individuals in a population did not show genetic variation
  2. The individual did not transmit the characteristics acquired during their lifetime to offspring
  3. Somatic variations did not get inherited
  4. Somatic variations did not get transformed into genetic variation.

Answer: 1. Individual in a population did not show genetic variation

Question 52. Under which of the following conditions organic evolution could not have taken place:

  1. Acquired characters were not inherited
  2. Somatic variations are not inherited
  3. Individuals in a population did not exhibit genetic variation
  4. All of them.

Answer: 3. Individuals in a population did not exhibit genetic variation

Question 53. Lederberg’s replica plating experiment suggests:

  1. Characters are heritable
  2. Natural selection plays an important role in fixing a mutation of survival value
  3. Genes are independent entities
  4. Bacteria can multiply in a culture medium.

Answer: 2. Natural selection plays an important role in fixing a mutation of survival value

Question 54. Which phenomenon of evolution was best explained by Darwin?

  1. Variations occurring in a population
  2. Origin of species by reproductive isolation
  3. Natural selection due to the struggle for existence
  4. All of these.

Answer: 3. Natural selection due to the struggle for existence

Question 55. A good example of mechanical isolation in plants is of:

  1. Oxalis
  2. Calotropis
  3. Salvia
  4. Ficus.

Answer: 2. Calotropis

Question 56. The formation of high milk-yielding cows is an example of the:

  1. Natural selection
  2. Artificial selection
  3. Survival of the fittest
  4. Genetic drift.

Answer: 2. Artificial selection

Question 57. According to Goldschmidt’s classification, evolution of subspecies or geographic races is known as:

  1. Mcgacvolution
  2. Macroevolution
  3. Microevolution
  4. Speciation.

Answer: 3. Microevolution

Question 58. A scientist kept 80 generations of Drosophila in darkness, even after that the flies had normal eyes. This disapproves law of:

  1. Natural selection
  2. Acquired characters
  3. Use and disuse
  4. Synthetic theory.

Answer: 3. Use and disuse

PSEB Class 12 Biology Evolution MCQs with Answers

Question 59. Genetic drift:

  1. Is an orderly change in gene frequencies
  2. Produce the greatest fluctuations in large populations.
  3. Is the random change in gene frequencies
  4. Has nothing in common with inbreeding.

Answer: 1. Is an orderly change in gene frequencies

Question 60. Who considered that gene is the vehicle of inheritance and discontinuous variations could be inherited through genes?

  1. Khorana and Nirenberg
  2. Garrod and Johannsen
  3. Lederberg and Tatum
  4. Bateson and Morgan.

Answer: 4. Bateson and Morgan.

Question 61. Who proposed the concept of intraspecific and interspecific struggle?

  1. De Vries
  2. Malthus
  3. Cuvier
  4. Darwin.

Answer: 4. Darwin

Question 62. Which one of the following is the best example of an evolutionary change in a species of an organism?

  1. Change of colour due to altered environment
  2. Development of thick fur on the hare in winter
  3. Alteration in the DNA structure by radiation
  4. Phenotypic changes in adult Drosophila, when larval development occurs at higher than normal temperatures.

Answer: 3. Alteration in the DNA structure by radiation

Question 63. Darwinism is based on:

  1. Multiplication in a geometrical progression
  2. Existence of variations
  3. Operation of natural selection
  4. All the above.

Answer: 4. All the above.

Question 64. The convergent evolution of two species is usually associated with:

  1. A recent common ancestor
  2. Analogous organ
  3. Homologous organ
  4. Different habitat.

Answer: 2. Analogous organ

PSEB Class 12 Biology Evolution MCQs with Answers

Question 65. A detailed classification of isolating mechanisms was provided by:

  1. Darwin
  2. Dobzhansky
  3. Wagner
  4. Peterson.

Answer: 2. Dobzhansky

Question 66. The isolation caused by differences in the habits of organisms such as food and physiological requirements is called:

  1. Ecological isolation
  2. Ethological isolation
  3. Physiological isolation
  4. None of the above.

Answer: 1. Ecological isolation

Question 67. A post-mating isolating mechanism in which the development of a hybrid zygote is often irregular and may end at any stage between fertilization and adulthood, is known as:

  1. Hybrid inferiority
  2. Hybrid sterility
  3. Hybrid inviability
  4. Gametic mortality.

Answer: 3. Hybrid inviability

Question 68. ______ isolation refers to the barriers to mating among individuals of different species in their courtship behaviour:

  1. Ethological
  2. Mechanical
  3. Ecological
  4. Seasonal.

Answer: 1. Ethological

Question 69. Mutation, natural selection, genetic drift and emigration are considered to be essential factors of evolution. The statement that best explains genetic drift is:

  1. The shifting of a species or population from one place to another
  2. The fixation of adaptive traits in the population
  3. The accidental fluctuations in the frequency of an allele in a population.

Answer: 3. The accidental fluctuations in the frequency of an allele in a population.

Question 70. Neo-Darwinism does not appreciate the role in the evolution of:

  1. Natural selection
  2. Adaptation
  3. Mutations
  4. Germplasm.

Answer: 3. Mutations

Question 71. Which of the following statements is false?

  1. Selection is most effective for recessive mutations
  2. Forces of selection pressure and mutation pressure are antagonistic to each other
  3. Directional selection tends to reduce variance
  4. Natural selection is a creative force in evolution.

Answer: 1. Selection is most effective for recessive mutations

Question 72. The barriers which check the free exchange of genes between populations (subspecies) are called:

  1. Gene barriers
  2. Isolating barriers
  3. Exchange barriers
  4. All the above.

Answer: 2. Isolating barriers

Question 73. Galapagos islands in the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of South America is a chain of:

  1. 41 islands
  2. 14 islands
  3. 4 islands
  4. 141 islands.

Answer: 2. 14 islands

Question 74. In addition to the other books, Darwin also wrote:

  1. Origin of man
  2. Ascent of man
  3. Descent of man
  4. Evolution of man.

Answer: 3. Descent of man

PSEB Class 12 Biology Evolution MCQs with Answers

Question 75. One of the following plants is tolerant to selenium:

  1. Astragalus
  2. Agrostis tenuis
  3. Impatiens balsatuia
  4. Both (1) and (2)

Answer: 4. Both (1) and (2)

Question 76. When a hybrid produces sterile or infertile offspring, it is known as:

  1. Hybrid sterility
  2. Hybrid breakdown
  3. Hybrid inviability
  4. Gametic isolation.

Answer: 3. Hybrid inviability

Question 77. The distribution of land snails in Hawaiian islands affords an example of:

  1. Geographical isolation
  2. Seasonal isolation
  3. Climatic isolation
  4. Habitat isolation.

Answer: 1. Geographical isolation

Question 78. Which of the following is a post-mating isolating mechanism?

  1. Physiological isolation
  2. Hybrid sterility
  3. Mechanical isolation
  4. Ethological isolation.

Answer: 2. Hybrid sterility

Question 79. Point out the pre-mating isolating mechanism from the following:

  1. Gametic mortality
  2. Hybrid inviability
  3. Hybrid inferiority
  4. Isolation due to distance.

Answer: 4. Isolation due to distance.

Question 80. Penguins occur at the south pole while the north pole has polar bears and not penguins. Why?

  1. The south pole is colder than the North Pole
  2. Bears are the evolved form of penguins
  3. These areas are separated geographically from each other
  4. It is a question of special creation.

Answer: 3. These areas are separated geographically from each other

Question 81. Chinese women used to keep their feet enclosed in iron shoes for many years so that their feet remained small in size. Is this character passed on to the next generation?

  1. Yes, as the change is somatogenic
  2. Yes, as the change is blastogenic
  3. No, it is an acquired character
  4. It varies from individual to individual.

Answer: 3. No, it is an acquired character

Question 82. A penguin is a bird that lost the use of its wings by not flying. Such a statement would express the views of:

  1. Darwin
  2. Wallace
  3. Lamarck
  4. Huxley.

Answer: 3. Lamarck

Question 83. An Indian and a Japanese though differing in physical features resemble each other precisely at the level of:

  1. Karyotype
  2. Gene pool
  3. Nutritional requirements
  4. Believing in marriage to get offspring.

Answer: 1. Karyotype

Question 84. The mule is a hybrid of:

  1. Female horse and male ass
  2. Male ass and female zebra
  3. Male ass and male zebra
  4. Female and male zebra

Answer: 1. Female horse and male ass

PSEB Class 12 Biology Evolution MCQs with Answers

Question 85. The hybrid zygotes produced in fishes fail to cleave and develop properly. It is due to:

  1. Hybrid non-viability
  2. Hybrid sterility
  3. Failure to attain sexual maturity
  4. F2 generation sterility.

Answer: 1. Hybrid non-viability

Question 86. Darwinism is based on:

  1. Struggle for existence
  2. Survival of the fittest and natural selection
  3. Origin of new species
  4. All of the above.

Answer: 4. All of the above.

Question 87. Who wrote the essay on Population?

  1. Lamarck
  2. Malthus
  3. Darwin
  4. Morgan.

Answer: 2. Malthus

Question 88. Who proposed the concept of intraspecific and interspecific struggle?

  1. De Vries
  2. Malthus
  3. Darwin
  4. None of the above.

Answer: 3. Darwin

 

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