(a) Define ‘natural selection’.
(b) “Only variations that confer an advantage to an individual organism will survive in a population”. Do you agree with this statement ? Give reason for your answer.
(a) Natural selection is the process of evolution of a species whereby characteristics which help individual organisms to survive and reproduce are passed on to their offspring, and those characteristics which do not help are not passed on.
(b) Yes, only those variations that confer advantage to an individual organism will survive in a population. This will become clear from the following example. Suppose there is a population of red beetles in the green bushes and a colour variation arises during reproduction so that one beetle is now green in colour (instead of red). This variation offers advantage of survival because the green beetle can mix up with green bushes, it cannot be spotted and eaten up by a crow and hence its population will increase. If, however, the variation had produced a blue coloured beetle, then this colour could not offer any survival advantage because blue beetle in green bushes could be easily spotted by a crow and eaten by it.
What is meant by the term speciation? List four factors which could lead to speciation. [Delhi]
Will geographical isolation be a major factor in the speciation of an organism that reproduces asexually ? Give reason for your answer.
Name five varieties of vegetables which have been produced from ‘wild cabbage’ by the process of artificial selection.
Explain the mechanism of sex determination in humans. [All India]
Or
With the help of a flow chart explain in brief how the sex of a newborn is genetically determined in human beings. Which of the two parents, the mother or the father, is responsible for determination of sex of a child? [Foreign]
Which of the processes, sexual reproduction or asexual reproduction, brings about maximum variations in the offsprings ?
Choose the one term from the following which includes the other three :
broccoli, wild cabbage, cauliflower, cabbage
”The sex of the children is determined by what they inherit from their father and not their mother.” Justify.
What type of plants were used by Mendel for conducting his experiments on inheritance ?
State one characteristic which shows that the birds are very closely related to dinosaurs.
(a) What will you get in the F1 and F2 generations in the following cross ?
Pure tall pea plant x Pure dwarf pea plant
(b) Is it an example of monohybrid cross or dihybrid cross ?
What name is given to the sequence of gradual changes over millions of years in which new species are produced ?
What are homologous structures? Give an example. Is it necessary that homologous structures always have a common ancestor?
Evolution has exhibited a greater stability of molecular structure when compared with morphological structures. Comment on the statement and justify your opinion.
Study the following cross and showing self-pollination in Flf fill in the blank and answer the question that follows
A study found that children with light-coloured eyes are likely to have parents with light-coloured eyes. On this basis, can we say anything about whether the light eye colour trait is dominant or recessive? Why or why not?
Give one example each of characters that are inherited and the ones that are acquired in humans. Mention the difference between the inherited and the acquired characters. [Delhi]
An individual cannot pass on to its progeny the experiences of its lifetime.” Justify the statement with the help of an example and also give reason for the same. [Foreign]
Mendel said that the characteristics or traits of organisms are carried from one generation to the next by internal factors which occur in pairs. What is the modern name for these factors ?
a) Name the scientist who gave the laws of inheritance.
(b) Name an animal in which individuals can change sex. What does this indicate ?
(a)What is meant by ‘heredity’ ? What are the units of heredity.
(b) State Mendel’s first law of inheritance.
Fill in the following blanks with suitable words :Fill in the following blanks with suitable words :
(a) The human forelimb and bat’s forelimb are an example of……………………organs whereas an insect’s wing and a bat’s wing are an example of…………………organs.
(b) The evolution of eye is an example of evolution by…………………
(c) The scientific name of all human beings is……………………..
(d) Broccoli has evolved from……………..by the process of artificial selection.
(e) The theory of natural selection for evolution was proposed by………………………
Does the occurrence of diversity of animals on earth suggest their diverse ancestry also? Discuss this point in the light of evolution.
Does geographical isolation of individual of a species lead to formation of a new species? Provide a suitable explanation.
Give an example of body characteristics used to determine how close two species are in terms of evolution and explain it. [All India]
State the meaning of inherited traits and acquired traits. Which of the two is not passed on to the next generation? Explain with the help of an example.