On the Galapagos, Darwin collected mockingbirds from several different islands. Which of these is an observation he recorded rather than a conclusion he drew?

In South America Darwin dug up fossils of huge extinct armored mammals in the same region where living armadillos are found. Which statement is a conclusion he drew rather than something he observed?

Darwin's Beagle notebooks hold both what he saw and what he thought it meant. Which entry is a record of what he saw?

A dark form of the peppered moth was first recorded near Manchester in 1848, and by 1895 about 98% of the moths collected there were dark. Which of these is data the collectors recorded rather than an explanation of it?

In the 1977 drought on Daphne Major, small soft seeds ran out and mostly large hard seeds were left. Peter and Rosemary Grant studied the ground finches there. Which statement reports a measurement rather than an interpretation?

A bacterial infection is treated with an antibiotic. Most of the bacteria die, but the infection returns and the drug no longer works on it. Which account explains this by natural selection?

Fish living in a lightless cave have much smaller eyes than their relatives in the river outside. Which statement explains this in terms of natural selection?

Two students explain why an insecticide no longer kills a crop pest. Which explanation is the one Lamarck would have given rather than Darwin?

Pocket mice living on a dark lava flow are mostly dark-furred, while mice on the pale sand nearby are mostly light-furred. Which account explains the dark population by natural selection?

After repeated droughts, the average root depth of a meadow wildflower increased over about 15 generations. Which account uses natural selection?

A weightlifter trains for ten years and builds very large arm muscles. Her children are not born with unusually large muscles. Which principle does this illustrate?

Darwin's argument uses these: 1 - helpful traits grow more common; 2 - a frog lays more eggs than can reach adulthood; 3 - the young frogs differ in heritable traits; 4 - those whose traits help them escape predators breed. In which order does it run?

Which statement about resources and offspring is the starting point of Darwin's argument?

A student lists three conditions natural selection needs: individuals vary; more offspring are produced than can survive; the survivors' traits grow more common over generations. Which condition is missing from the list?

In a population whose members are all genetically identical, why can natural selection not shift the population's traits?

A student writes: 'The peppered moths turned dark so they could hide on the soot-covered trees.' What is wrong with this account?

A student writes: 'After the leaf-eating beetles arrived, each plant in the meadow evolved tougher leaves.' What is wrong with this account?

A student writes: 'Natural selection makes every species perfectly suited to its environment.' Which correction is best?

A student writes: 'When the pond began drying earlier each year, the frogs learned to breed earlier and taught their offspring to do the same.' What is wrong with this account?

A student writes: 'The individuals with the highest fitness are the biggest and strongest in the population.' What is wrong with this claim?