Evolution and Natural Selection Quiz

Grade 8 · Science · Quiz

Test your understanding of how natural selection drives evolutionary change in populations over time.

Questions

1. Who is credited with developing the theory of natural selection?

   1. Gregor Mendel
   2. Louis Pasteur
   3. Charles Darwin
   4. Albert Einstein
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   Answer: Charles Darwin

   Charles Darwin developed the theory of natural selection after his voyage on the HMS Beagle, publishing 'On the Origin of Species' in 1859.

2. Natural selection acts on individuals, but evolution occurs in:

   1. cells
   2. populations
   3. ecosystems
   4. organisms
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   Answer: populations

   Evolution is a change in the genetic makeup of a population over generations — not something that happens to a single individual.

3. Traits that help an organism survive and reproduce are called adaptations.

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   Answer: True

   Adaptations are inherited traits that increase an organism's fitness (survival and reproduction) in its environment.

4. In a population of beetles, green beetles survive better on leaves than brown beetles. Over time, we would expect:

   1. Brown beetles to become more common
   2. Green beetles to become more common
   3. Both colors to disappear
   4. The beetles to change color immediately
   Show answer

   Answer: Green beetles to become more common

   Green beetles are more fit in this environment, so they survive longer, reproduce more, and pass on the green trait — making it more common over generations.

5. Which type of evidence for evolution comes from comparing the bone structures of different species?

   1. Fossil evidence
   2. Genetic evidence
   3. Comparative anatomy
   4. Embryological evidence
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   Answer: Comparative anatomy

   Comparative anatomy studies structural similarities between species (like the similar bone arrangements in a human arm, whale flipper, and bat wing) as evidence of common ancestry.

6. The process by which organisms better adapted to their environment survive and reproduce more is called natural ___.

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   Answer: selection

   Natural selection is the mechanism Darwin proposed: nature 'selects' organisms with favorable traits, which then pass those traits to offspring.

7. Fossils provide evidence for evolution because they show:

   1. That living species have always looked the same
   2. How Earth's climate changes
   3. How organisms have changed over time
   4. That all species appeared at the same time
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   Answer: How organisms have changed over time

   Fossils document the history of life on Earth, showing organisms that lived in the past and how species have changed or gone extinct over millions of years.

8. An individual organism can evolve during its own lifetime through natural selection.

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   Answer: False

   Natural selection acts on variation that already exists in a population across generations — an individual cannot evolve; populations evolve.

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