Q.1 If a trait A exists in 10% of a population of an asexually reproducing species and a trait B exists in 60% of the same population, which trait is likely to have arisen earlier?
Ans:As the population of the given species reproduce asexually there would be only very minor differences generated due to small inaccuracies in DNA copying, so trait B is likely to be arisen earlier as it is present in 60% of the population. Trait A which exists in 10% of the population may be originated due to variations.
Q.2 How does creation of variations in a species promote survival?
Ans: Favourable variations help a species to adapt to changes in their environment and they promote survival of a species.
Q.3 How do Mendel’s experiments show that traits may be dominant or recessive?
Ans: Mendel took one tall pea plant and one short pea plant and produced progeny from them.
From this cross he found that in nature tallness is dominant over shortness. Because in F2 generation heterozygous plant contains one gene of tallness and one of shortness of which tallness expressed itself. Thus he concluded that in a contrasting pair of characters one character is dominant and another is recessive.
Q.4 How is the sex of the child determined in human beings?
Ans: Human male has one X-chromosome and one Y-chromosome. In other words, half the male gametes have X-chromosomes and the other half have Y-chromosomes. On the other hand, a female has two X-chromosomes. Thus all female gametes have only X-chromosomes. If a sperm carrying Y-chromosome fertilizes an ovum then the child born will be a boy. On the other hand, if a sperm carrying X-chromosomes fertilizes an ovum then the child born will be a girl.
Q.5 What are the different ways in which individual with a particular trait may increase in a population?
Ans:The population of individuals with particular traits may increase in the following ways:
(i) By the natural selection of variations brought during the course of time.
(ii) By accidental changes in the frequency of some genes in a population i.e. genetic drift.
(iii) Variations
Q.6 Why are traits acquired during life time of an individual not inherited?
Ans: Traits acquired by an organism during its lifetime are known as acquired traits. These traits are not inherited because they do not cause any change in the DNA of the organism.
Q.7 Why are the small numbers of surviving tigers a cause of worry from the point of view of genetics?
Ans: (i) Small numbers of tigers means that fewer variations in terms of genes are available. This means that when these tigers reproduce, there are less chances of producing progeny with some useful variations.
(ii) If any natural calamity occurs and kills these small numbers of surviving tigers, they will become extinct resulting in the loss of these genes forever.
(iii) Less number of species means less number of diversity and lesser number of traits which reduces the chances of adaptability with respect to change in the environment.
Q.8 What factors could lead to the rise of a new species?
Ans: Factors responsible for the rise of a new species are:
(i) Genetic variation
(ii) Natural selection
(iii) Genetic drift.
Q.9 Will geographical isolation be a major factor in the speciation of a self pollinating plant species? Why or why not?
Ans:No, However, since the plants are self-pollinating, which means that the pollens are transferred from the anther of one flower to the stigma of the same flower or of another flower of the same plant, so geographical isolation cannot prevent speciation in this case.
Q.10 Will geographical isolation be a major factor in the speciation of an organism that reproduces asexually? Why or why not?
Ans: No. Geographical isolation prevents gene flow between populations of a species whereas asexual reproduction generally involves only one individual. In an asexually reproducing organism, variations can occur only when the copying of DNA is not accurate. Therefore, geographical isolation cannot prevent the formation of new species in an asexually reproducing organism.
Q.11 Give an example of characteristics being used to determine how close two species are in evolutionary terms.
Ans:Analogous organs are one such evidence that is used to determine how close two species are related. The presence of feathers in dinosaurs and birds indicates that they are evolutionarily related. Dinosaurs had feathers not for flying but instead these feathers provided insulation to these warm-blooded animals. However, the feathers in birds are used for flight. This proves that reptiles and birds are closely related and that the evolution of wings started in reptiles.
Q.12 Can a wing of a butterfly and the wing of a bat be considered homologous organs? Why or why not?
Ans: No, wing of a butterfly and wing of a bat cannot be considered as homologous organs because wings of a bat are skin folds in between the fingers and wings of an insect are membrane supported by muscles. They are analogous organs which have different basic structure but have similar appearance and perform similar functions.
Q.13 What are fossils? What do they tell us about the process of evolution?
Ans: Fossils are dead remains (may be a part of the organism or the whole organism) of plants and animals that existed on earth millions of years ago.
Fossils help us in the following ways:
(i) To trace the path of evolution.
(ii) They help us in establishing evolutionary relations between present organisms. Example: Archaeopteryx (connecting link between reptiles and birds).
Q.14 Why are human beings who look so different from each other in terms of size, colour and looks said to belong to the same species?
Ans: Though human beings look so different from each other still they belong to same species because
(i) The number of chromosomes are same.
(ii) They have a common ancestor.
(iii) They interbreed among themselves. So, they are able to produce fertile offsprings.
Q.15 In evolutionary terms, can we say which among bacteria, spiders, fish and chimpanzees have a ‘better’ body design? Why or why not?
Ans: In evolutionary terms, we can say that bacteria has a ‘better’ body design than spiders, fish and chimpanzees because though bacteria is one of the simplest and primitive life forms but still it inhabits and survives in some of the most inhostpitable habitats such as hot springs, deep-sea thermal vents and ice in Antarctica. Other organisms cannot survive in such harsh habitats.
Q.16 A Mendelian experiment consisted of breeding tall pea plants bearing violet flowers with short pea plants bearing white flowers. The progeny all bore violet flowers, but almost half of them were short. This suggests that the genetic make-up of the tall parent can be depicted as:
(a) TTWW
(b) TTww
(c) TtWW
(d) TtWw
Ans:(c) TtWW
Q.17 An example of homologous organs is
(a) Our arm and a dog’s fore-leg.
(b) Our teeth and elephant’s tusk.
(c) Potato and runners of grass.
(d) All the above.
Ans:(d) All of the above
Q.18 In evolutionary terms, we have more in common with
(a) A Chinese school- boy.
(b) A chimpanzee.
(c) A spider.
(d) A bacterium.
Ans: (b) A Chinese school- boy.
Q.19 A study found that children with light-coloured eyes are likely to have parents with light-coloured eyes. On the basis, can we say anything about whether the light eye colour trait is dominant or recessive? Why or why not?
Ans: Only dominant traits are transferred from the parents to the offspring in the first generation. Therefore, it can be concluded that light eye colour is dominant.
Q.20 How are areas of study – evolution and classification – interlinked?
Ans: The field of evolution and classification are interlinked in the following manner:
(i) The more characteristics two species have in common, the more closely they are related. Classification of species is a reflection of their evolutionary relationship.
(ii) The more number of characteristics shared by two organisms more is the probability of them having common ancestor. Thus, classification of an organism is the reflection of its evolutionary path.
Q.21 Explain the terms analogous and homologous organs with examples.
Ans: Analogous organs: Those organs which have different basic structure but have similar appearance and perform similar functions are called analogous organs. Example – wings of bird and insect.
Homologous organs: Those organs which have same basic structure but different functions are called homologous organs. Example: fore limb of humans and fore limb of lizard.
Q.22 Outline a project which aims to find the dominant coat colour in dogs.
Ans: Dogs have a variety of genes that govern coat colour. There are at least eleven identified. Gene series (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, M, P, S, T) that influence coat colour in dog. A dog inherits one gene from each of its parents. The dominant gene gets expressed in the phenotype. For example, in the B series, a dog can be genetically black or brown.
Let us assume that one parent is homozygous black (BB), while the other parent is homozygous brown (bb) gametes of black parent will be (B,B) and brown parent will be (b,b). In the F1 generation, all offsprings will be heterozygous (Bb). (1 mark) Since black (B) is dominant, all the offsprings will be black. However, they will have both B and b alleles. If such heterozygous pups are crossed, they will produce 25% homozygous black (BB), 50% heterozygous black (Bb), and 25% homozygous brown (bb) offsprings.
Q.23 Explain the importance of fossils in deciding evolutionary relationships.
Ans: By studying characters of fossils, we are able to find their descendants and thus we can know what new variations have come. They provide evidence and missing links between two classes. They are helpful in forming a sequence of organisms in the pathway of evolution. Thus, fossils have an importance in deciding evolutionary relationship.
Concept insight: List the importance of fossils.
Q.24 What evidences do we have for the origin of life from inanimate matter?
Ans: J.B.S.Haldane suggested that life must have developed from the simple inorganic molecules which were present on earth soon after it was formed. He speculated that the conditions on earth at that time could have given rise to more complex organic molecules that were necessary for life. The first primitive organisms would have evolved from further chemical synthesis.
Later, Stanley L.Miller and Harold C.Urey conducted experiment to find out about the origin of organic molecules. They assembled an atmosphere similar to that thought to exist on early earth (molecules like ammonia, methane and hydrogen sulphide, but no oxygen over water. This was maintained at a temperature just below 100oC and sparks were passed through the mixture of gases to stimulate lightning. At the end of a week, 15% of the carbon had been converted to simple compounds of carbon including amino acids which make up protein molecules. This is how life originated from inanimate matter.
Q.25 Explain how sexual reproduction gives rise to more viable variations than asexual reproduction. How does this affect the evolution of those organisms that reproduce sexually?
Ans: Sexual reproduction gives rise to more viable variations than asexual reproduction because the genes of the traits are transmitted from one generation to another and dominant characters are expressed. While in the asexual reproduction, genes cannot be separated from the offspring, only the DNA of one parent is copied.
Variations affects the evolution of those organisms that reproduce sexually.By this process, more and more variations are produced in the subsequent generationS. In this way, genetic drift will accumulate which causes the formation of new species.
Q.26 How is the equal genetic contribution of male and female parents ensured in the progeny?
Ans: During sexual reproduction, a female gamete (egg) fuses with a male gamete (sperm) which are haploid and forms a zygote. Zygote is diploid which contains 23 chromosomes from mother and 23 from father. In this way, an equal genetic contribution of male and female parents is ensured in the progeny.
Q.27 Only variations that confer advantage to an individual organism will survive in a population. Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?
Ans: Yes, because if the variation is not advantageous and does not help individual to survive in a particular environment, the individual will die and the variation will be lost. Thus, variations which are advantageous to an organism will help him to survive as they will help in natural selection. However, there can be some other variations, which do not offer any survival advantage and arise only accidentally. Such variations in small populations can change the frequency of some genes even if they are not important for survival. This accidental change in the frequency of genes in small populations is referred to as genetic drift. Thus, genetic drift provides diversity (variations) without any survival advantage.