Evolution : Theories and Evidences

Syllabus
Evolution: Origin of life; Biological evolution and evidences for biological evolution from
Paleontology, comparative anatomy, embryology and molecular evidence); Darwin’s
contribution, Modern Synthetic theory of Evolution; Mechanism of evolution-Variation
(Mutation and Recombination) and Natural Selection with examples, types of natural selection;
Gene flow and genetic drift; Hardy-Weinberg’s principle; Adaptive Radiation; Human
evolution.

Chapter Index

 Theories on the Origin of Life  Modern Synthetic Theory of Evolution

 Evidences of Evolution  Neutral Theory of Evolution
 Brief Account of Evolution  Human Evolution
 Theories of Evolution  Modern Humans
 Artificial Selection  Some Important Points
 Speciation & Isolation  Summary

 The theory of evolution maintains that the different kinds of organisms that we see today have
evolved from common ancestors over millions of years.
 This theory is one of the most important concepts in biology.
 The distinguished scientist Theodosius Dobzhansky has said : "Nothing in biology makes
sense except in the light of evolution".
 For more than a century, the theory of evolution has exerted a very strong influence on our
thinking about biology, also on developments in other disciplines such as sociology, politics,
economics and religion.
 Life originated on the earth between 3000 and 4000 million years ago, in the form of
unicellular organisms.
 How did these simple cells lead to (or evolve into) organisms as large as a whale or a Sequoia
(redwood) tree, and structures as complex and delicate as the eye and the brain?
 The "Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection", was put forward by Charles Darwin and
Alfred Russel Wallace towards the middle of the ninteenth century.
 It has provided us with a scientific framework for understanding the evolutionary changes that
have occurred, and continue to take place in the biological world.
From Origin of Earth to Origin of Life
1. Evolution is a slow, continuous and irreversible process of change.
2. Origin of Earth: The Big Bang Theory proposes that the universe had an explosive
beginning. The universe originated about 20 billion years ago by a big bang (thermonuclear
explosion) of a dense entity. About 4.6 billion years ago, our solar system was probably
created when the gaseous cloud called Solar Nebula started to collapse under the force of its
own gravity, until it became a flattened spinning disc of atoms and particles. Its central region
heated up and became a star.
3. Earth is about 4.6 billion years old, and the oldest rocks that have persisted in recognizable
form are about 3.8 billion years old. For many years, scientists believed that such ancient rocks
did not contain any fossils, but they knew that fossils were simply too small to be seen clearly
without an electron microscope.
4. The oldest microfossils discovered so far are that of cyanobacteria that appeared 3.3 to 3.5
billion years ago.
5. Massive limestone deposits called Stromatolites became frequent in the fossil record about 2.8
billion years ago. Produced by cyanobacteria, stromatolites were abundant in virtually all
freshwater and marine communities until about 1.6 billion years ago.
6. The fossil records indicate that unicellular protists -the first eukaryotes -appeared about 1.5
billion years ago.
7. Basic unit of evolution is population.
According to recent literature, the first non-cellularforms of life could have originated 3
billion years back. They would have been giant molecules (RNA, protein, polysaccharides
etc.) These capsules reproduced their molecules perhaps. The first cellular form of life
did not possibly originate till about 2000 million years ago.

THEORIES ON THE ORIGIN OF LIFE

1. Theory of special creation states that the life was created by supernatural power in the form
which has not undergone any change. It was given by Father Suarez. God created life in six
days from materia prima and man was created by Him on the sixth day. According to this
theory, earth is about 4000 years old.
2. Theory of catastrophism was given by Cuvier, according to which after a gap of certain
period ( called age), the world undergoes a catastrophe (sudden calamity) which kills almost all
the living organisms and then God creates a new generation or new life from inorganic matter.
3. Theory of biogenesis (i.e. life from life, omnis vivum ex. vivo) was proved by Redi,
Spallanzani and Pasteur independently. They disproved (refuted) theory of spontaneous
generation (abiogenesis). Francesco Redi (1668) proved that flies could not arise from
putrefying meat without their eggs. Spallanzani (1767) demonstrated that putrefaction of meat
is due to microbes in the air and it can be prevented by boiling and sealing the meat in air tight
containers. Pasteur gave a definite proof of life arising from pre-existing life using
microbes and sterilization methods. He performed "swan neck flask" experiment.
 4. Cosmozoic theory (Theory of panspermia) given by Richter (1865); Helmholtz (1884),
Arrhenius (1908) suggested that life reached the earth from some heavenly body through
meteorites. Panspermia (primitive form of life, as suggested by Arrhenius, 1908) consisted of
spores or seeds (sperms) and microbes that existed throughout universe and produced different
forms of life on this earth.

Abiogenic or Chemical Origin of Life

 Majority of the scientists are ofthe opinion that life originated from inanimate matter. Since the
theory of abiogenic origin or chemical evolution of life is the only one that provides an
explanation, which can be tested, most scientists have tentatively accepted it.

Oparin-Haldane Hypothesis
1. Alexander I. Oparin (1894-1980), a Russian biochemist, and J.B.S. Haldane (1892-1964), a
British scientist, put forward the concept that the first living organism evolved from non-living
material. They also suggested that the sequence of events that might have occured. In 1923,
Oparin postulated that life originated on Earth at some point of time in the remote past, and
under the conditions no longer observed. In his book, The Origin of Life (1938), Oparin
submitted" abiogenesis first, butbiogenesis eversince". Oparin's theory is known as primary
abiogenesis.
2. According to Oparin and Haldane (1929), spontaneous generation of early molecules might
have taken place ifthe earth once had more reducing atmosphere compared to the present
oxidising atmosphere. Oparin and Haldane agreed that the primeval Earth contained little, if at
all, oxygen. Perhaps, in the primitive atmosphere oxygen in the free gaseous state was virtually
absent. Therefore, no degradation of any organic compound arising in the primeval Earth could
have taken place.
3. As there was no ozone layer in the atmosphere, any absorption of UV radiations, that is lethal
to our present lives, was not possible in the primeval Earth.
4. The early gas cloud was rich in hydrogen, being present in the combined form in methane
(CH4), ammonia (NH3) and water vapour (H2O).
5. Moreover, the atmospheric water vapour along with early gas cloud condensed into drops of
water and fell as rain that rolled down the rock surfaces and accumulated to form liquid pools
and oceans. In the process, erosion of rocks and washing of minerals (e.g., chlorides and
phosphates) into the oceans were inevitable. Thus, Haldane's hot dilute soup was produced and
the stage was set for combination of various chemical elements.
6. Atmospheric chemicals and those in water produced small precursor molecules, like amino
acids, sugars, nitrogenous bases etc. These precursor molecules then combined resulting in the
appearance of proteins, polysaccharides and nucleic acids.
7. The energy sources for such reactions of organic synthesis were the UV radiations (solar
radiation), cosmic rays, electrical discharges (lightning), intense dry heat (volcanic eruption)
and radioactive decay of various elements on the Earth's surface. Once formed, the organic
 molecules accumulated in water because their degradation was extremely slow in the absence
of any life or enzyme catalysts. Such transformation is not possible in the present oxidising
atmosphere because oxygen or micro organisms will decompose or destroy the living particle
that may arise by mere chance.

Conceptual Questions
What does the term spontaneous generation mean?
Explain how Redi's experiment disproved the hypothesis that flies formed in the food by
spontaneous generation.
What would have happened if Pasteur had tipped one of his flasks so that the broth in the flask had
come into contact with air?
Ans. 1. Spontaneous generation is the principle that living things ariselram non-living things.
2. In Redi's experiment, maggots appeared only on meat that had been exposed to contact
with adunllies.
3. The broth would have come in contact with microorganisms that were otherwise trapped in
the curve of the neck thus the broth would have been contaminated and microorganisms
would have grown in the flask.

Experimental Evidence for Abiogenic Molecular Evolution of Life

 Harold C.Urey (1893 -1981), an astronomer, accorded the first adequate recognition of Oparin-
Haldane's view on the origin of life in 1952.
 Urey asked his student Stanely L. Miller, a biochemist, to replicate the primordial atmosphere
as propounded by Oparin and Haldane.
 Miller (1953) made the first successful simulated experiment to assess the validity of the claim
for origin of organic molecules in the primeval Earth's conditions.

Concept Builder
1. Mllier sealed in a spark chamber a mixture of water (H2O), methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3)
and hydrogen gas (H2). He made arrangement for insertion of two electrodes to provide
electrical energy (simulation of lightning) to the spark chamber. CH4, NH3, H2 were in 2 : 1 : 2
ratio and water vapour at 800ºC. Electric sparks of 75,000 volt was provided to the mixture.
2. The spark chamber was connected to another flask with arrangement for boiling water
(provision for evaporation). The other end of the spark chamber was connected to a trap by a
tube that passed through a condenser (an arrangement for condensation and collection of
aqueous solution, equivalent to rain and Haldane's soup). The trap, in turn, was connected with
the flask for boiling water (arrangement for circulation).
3. The control apparatus contained every arrangement except that it was devoid of energy
source.
 4. After eighteen days, significant amount of the simple organic compounds (monomers), such
as amino acids and peptide chains began to appear in the aqueous sample of the experimental
set. Amino acids found were alanine, glycine and aspartic acid. Therefore, the obvious
inference was that abiotic synthesis of organic monomers occurred in the simulated
experimental condition. By analogy, such synthesis could have occurred in the primitive
atmospheric condition. Later on many scientists repeated Miller's experiment using slightly
different starting materials and UV radiation or other energy sources. All of them could
successfully synthesise amino acid and related compounds. With hydrogen cyanide (HCN),
even adenine and other nitrogen bases were produced.

Abiotic synthesis of biomolecules is studied under following headings:

1. Chemogeny: Synthesis of organic molecules by chemical reactions.
2. Biogeny: Formation of self replicating biomolecules in broth (primordial hot soup or warm
little pond).
3. Cognogeny: Evolution of various forms of life or diversification of existing groups.

Enclosing the Prebiotic Systems

 The experiments of Miller and other scientists demonstrate that prebiotic molecules could have
been formed under the conditions which most likely existed on early Earth.
 Still, the formation of prebiotic soup of small molecules does not necessarily lead to the origin
of life.
 For origin of life, atleast three conditions needed to have been fulfilled:
1. There must have been a supply of self-replicators i.e., self-producing molecules.
 2. Copying of these replicators must have been subject to error via mutation.
3. The system of replicators must have required a perpetual supply of free energy and partial
isolation from the general environment.
 The high temperature prevailing in early Earth would have easily fulfilled the second
condition, that is, the requirement of mutation. The thermal motion would have continually
altered the prebiotic molecules.

Concept Builder

 The third condition, partial isolation, has been attained within aggregates of artificially
produced prebiotic molecules.
 These aggregates called protobionts can separate combinations of molecules from the
surroundings; maintain an internal environment but are unable to reproduce.
 Two important protobionts are coacervates and microspheres.
 Oparin (1924) observed that if a mixture of a large protein and a polysaccharide is shaken,
coacervates form.
 Their interiors, which are primarily protein and polysaccharide, with some water, become
separated from the surrounding aqueous solution.
 The later has much lower concentration of proteins and polysaccharide.
 Oparin's coacervates also exhibits a simple form of metabolism.
 As these coacervates do not have lipid outer membranes and cannot reproduce, they fail to
fulfil the requirement as a candidate of probable precursors of life.
 Microspheres were formed when mixtures of artificially produced organic compounds were
mixed with cool water.
 If the mixture contains lipids, the surface of the microspheres consists of a lipid bilayer,
reminiscent to the lipid bilayer of cell membranes.
 Sydney Fox (1950) obtained protenoid microspheres.
 There is considerable discussion among biologists as to how the first cells may have evolved.
 The discovery made in the 1980's that RNA can act like enzyme to assemble new RNA
molecules on an RNA template raised the interesting possibility that Coacervates may not
have been the first step in the evolution of life.
 Perhaps the first macromolecules were RNA molecules, and the initial steps on the
evolutionary line were ones leading to more complex and stable RNA molecules.
 Later, the stability might have been improved by surrounding the RNA within a coacervate.
 Still other scientists reject the notion of 'RNA world', entirely, pointing out that some RNA
components are too complex to have been present on the primitive earth.
 Self Assessment
Following is the diagrammatic representation of Miller's experiment. What is correct
labelling? Choose the correct option.

A B C D
(1) Electrodes CH4 + NH3 + H2 + H2O Condenser Vacuum pump
(2) Electrodes NH2 + H2O + CH4 Hot water Trap
(3) Electrodes NH3 + CH4 Steam Trap
(4) Electrodes NH3 + CO2 + H2 + H2O Hot water Vacuum
Which of the following is not true about coacervates?
(1) They are protein aggregates
(2) They do not have lipid membrane and cannot reproduce
(3) The work on coacervates was done by Oparin
(4) They are protoblonts with polysaccharides, proteins and water
Extraterrestrial origin of life was proposed by theory of
(1) Catastrophism (2) Spontaneous generation
(3) Special creation (4) Panspermia
Q.4 Which of the following is Incorrect about protobionts in a biogenic origin of life?
(1) They were partially isolated from the surroundings
(2) They could maintain an internal environment
(3) They were able to reproduce
(4) They could separate combination of molecules from the surroundings
Q.5 Miller's experiment provided evidence for the theory of
(1) Special creation (2) Abiogenesis
(3) Biogenesis (4) Chemical evolution
Q.6 Select the wrong pair:
(1) Haldane : Hot dilute soup (2) Oparin : Coacervate
(3) Fox Microspheres (4) Spallanzani Abiogenesis
Q.7 The first cellular form of life did not possibly originate till about
(1) 3 billion years ago (2) 2000 million years ago
(3) 4.5 billion years ago (4) 50,000 years ago
Q.8 The theory of special creation has three connotations. Which of the following is not true?
(1) The diversity was always the same since creation and will be the same in future also
(2) Earth is about 4000 years old
(3) Species are immutable
(4) There has been gradual evolution of life forms
Q.9 The earliest cells were
(1) Chemoautotrophs (2) Chemoheterotrophs
(3) Eukaryotes (4) Photoautotrophs
Q.10 Who said that "Life arises from pre-existing life"?
(1) Aristotle (2) Louis Pasteur (3) Oparin (4) Darwin
Ans. Q.1 (1), Q.2 (1), Q.3 (4), Q.4 (3), Q.5 (4), Q.6 (4), Q.7 (2), Q.8 (4), Q.9 (2), Q.10 (2)

EVIDENCES OF EVOLUTION
1. EVIDENCES FROM ANATOMY
(i) Homologous organs :
 These organs have the similar basic structure and developmental origin.
 The organisms which possess such organs are said to have originated from common ancestor.
 Consider, for example, the seal's flipper, the bat's wing, the horse's foot, the cat's paw and the
human hand.
 In plants, a thorn of Bougainvillaea differs from a tendril of Cucurbita in its function, both are
located in a similar (axillary) position and have similar origin.
 Thorns and tendrils are considered homologous.

Example of homologous organs in (a) Plants and (b) Animals

 Homologous organs show divergent evolution which means that the similar structures
developed along different directions due to adaptions to different needs or Adaptive Radiation
which is the development of dissimilar functional structures in closely related group of
organisms.
(Homology indicates common ancestry. Other examples are comparison of heart and
brain of vertebrates)

(ii) Analogous organs :

 These organs which are not anatomically similar though they perform similar functions.
 For example, the wings of birds and of butterfly look alike, they perform the similar function
of flying but they are not anatomically or structurally similar.
 Even the wings of birds and bats are also analogous structures which have different origins.
 Other examples are flippers of penguin and dolphin (the former is a bird and the later is a
mammal); eye of an octopus and the eye of a mammal, both differ in retinal position, still the
function is same.
 In plants, sweet potato (root modification) and potato (stem modification) is another example
of analogy.
 Both are meant for storage of food but modifications of different parts of plant.
 Now, what is the reason of development of analogous structures?
 The possible explanation may be that it is the similar habitat that has resulted in selection of
similar adaptive features in different (distantly related) groups of organisms put toward the
same function.
 This phenomenon is termed adaptive convergence or convergent evolution which is the
opposite of adaptive radiation as seen in the homologous structures.
(iii) Vestigial organs:
 They are believed to be remnants of organs which were complete and functional in their
ancestors.
 The study of vestigial organs offer an evolutionary explanation of such rudimentary vestiges
by stating that adaptations to new environment of the organism have made these structures
redundant.
 Such structures are called vestigial organs.
 The rudiment of the reptilian jaw apparatus, the rudiment of the hind limbs of python and
Greenland whales are some of the examples of vestigial organs.
 In humans, many vestigial structures indicate a relationship to other mammals, including the
primates.
 For instance, muscles of the external ear and scalp are rudimentary and often non-functional.
 But these are common to many mammals where they are functional.
 The reduced tailbones and nictitating membrane of the eye, the appendix of the caecum,
rudimentary body hair and wisdom teeth -all are examples of vestigial organs.
 The appendix of man is thought to be a remnant of the large caecum -the storage organ for
cellulose digestion in herbivorous mammals.
 Similarly, the non-functional vestiges of the pelvic girdle in python and porpoise show, for
instance, that the snake and the porpoise originally evolved from four footed ancestors.

(iv) Atavism:
 Sudden reappearance of ancestral character is called atavism.
 For example, tail in new born human baby.
 The winged petiole of Citrus represents that the unifoliate condition is derived from the
trifoliate leaf.
2. BIOGEOGRAPHICAL EVIDENCES
 The study of patterns of distribution of animals and plants in different parts of the earth is
called Biogeography.

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823 -1913) divided the whole world into six major biogeographical
regions or realms.
1. Palaearctic : Europe and Asia north of the tropics, north-western corner of Africa, including
the Atlas Mountains.
2. Nearctic : North America exclusive of the tropics, Alaska, Canada, United States and Mexico.
3. Neotropical : Central America including low lands of Mexico, islands of the Caribbean and all
of South America.
4. Ethiopian Africa (with exception of the Atlas Mountains), Madagascar and adjacent islands.
 5. Oriental Tropical part of Asia (including India) south of the Himalaya Mountains and
eastward through Sumatra, Java, Borneo and the Philippines.
6. Australian Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea and all islands of the Indonesian archipelago that
lie east of Borneo, beginning with Celebes.
 Biogeographic map of the world is that in which the six major biogeographic realms are
present.
 Geologists believe that millions of years ago, all the continents we demarcate today, were in
the form of a single land mass.
 On account of geological changes, especially movements of crustal plates below the surface of
the earth, huge land masses broke off and drifted apart from one another.
 As these land masses (continents) moved away, the seas separated them and acted as barriers to
the free movement of organisms among the continents.
 Because of variable environmental conditions prevailing on the different continents, over
centuries, plants and animals evolved independently in each biogeographical region.

Concept Builder
India falls under Oriental realm. Two geographical regions separated by a high mountain
ranges are Palaearctic and Oriental.

 Consider, for example, two instances which show similarities in the pattern of distribution of
plants and animals between two land masses which were once part of a larger land mass.
1. The flora and fauna on each of the Galapagos Island -a chain of 22 islands in the Pacific
ocean on the west coast of South America resemble those of the South American mainland
with which the Galapagos Islands were once connected.
2. Magnolias, Tulips and Sassafras are found naturally growing in the eastern USA and in
China. Hence, these show disjunct distribution which means that these flora have different
groups that are related but widely separated geographically.
 The distribution pattern of the present-day animals and plants as well as the distribution of
fossils are best explained on the basis of the theory of evolution.
 The birds in Galapagos Islands show differences in bills and feeding habits.
 The bills of several of these species resemble those of different, distinct families of birds on the
mainland.
 All these birds are thought to have evolved from a single common ancestor.

WHAT IS ADAPTIVE RADIATION?

 Galapagos Islands are chain of 22 islands, present on the west coast of South America.
 During his journey, Darwin went to Galapagos Islands.
 There he observed an amazing diversity among creatures.
 Of particular interest, small black birds, later called Darwin's finches, amazed him.
 He realised that there were many varieties of finches in the same island.
  All the varieties, he conjectured, evolved on the island itself.
 From the original seedeating features, many other forms with altered beaks arose, enabling
them to become insectivorous and vegetarian finches.
 These birds in Galapagos island show differents in bills and feeding habits, but still resemble
with the birds present on original mainland.
 Hence, we have seen different species have evolved from single common ancestor.

 And this process of evolution of differentm species in a given geographical area starting from a
point and literally radiating to other areas of geography (habitats) is called adaptive radiation
of which the Darwin's finches represent one of the best example.

Concept Builder
 The evolution of Darwins finches on the Galapagos Islands is a classic example of species
formation and illustrates how adaptation to local conditions produces the divergence, that is the
heart of species formation, i.e., such an evolutionary process, giving rise to new species
adapted to new habitats and ways of life, is called Adaptive Radiation or Divergent
Evolution.

 The clusters of species that have been formed on the Galapagos Islands are thus a Tasmanian
wolf clear example of species formation arising by microevolutionary divergence from an
ancestral form occupying different habitats of microevolution leading to macroevolution.
 Another example is Australian marsupials.
 A number of marsupials, each different from the others, evolved from an ancestral stock, but
all within the Australian continent.
 When more than one adaptive radiation appeared to have occurred in isolated geographical
areas (representing different habitats), one can call this convergent evolution.
 Placental mammals in Australia also exhibit adaptive radiation in evolving into varieties of
such placental mammals each of which appears to be 'similar' to a corresponding marsupial
(e.g., Placental wolf and Tasmanian wolf marsupial)

 Placental mammals in Australia also exhibit adaptive radiation in evolving into varieties of
such placental mammals each of which appears to be 'similar' to a corresponding marsupial
(e.g., Placental wolf and Tasmanian wolf marsupial)
Placental mammals Australian marsuplants

Mole Marsupial mole

Anteater Numbat (anteater)

Mouse Marsupial Mouse

 Lemur Spotted cuscus

Flying squirrel Flying phalanger

Bobcat Tasmanian tiger cat

Wolf Tasmanian wolf

Picture showing convergent evolution of
Australian marsupials and placental mammals

3. EMBRYOLOGICAL EVIDENCES
 The sequence of embryonic development in
different vertebrates show striking similarities.
 Gill clefts and notochord appear in the
embryonic development of all vertebrates from
fishes to mammals.
 The notochord is replaced by the vertebral
column in all adult vertebrates.
 Similarly, gills are replaced by lungs in adult
amphibians, reptiles and mammals.
 Such similarities in embryonic development
once again reinforce the idea of evolution from
common ancestors.
 Occasionally, embryonic features such as the
tail and gill slits persist in adults.
  According to Ernst Haeckel, ontogeny (development of embryo) is recapitulation of phylogeny
(the ancestral sequence).
 This view was summarised by his Biogenetic Law : Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny.
 Developmental evidence for evolution is also available from plants.
 It is generally believed that mosses and ferns are more evolved than algae.
 Protonema of mosses resembles certain green algae.
 This provides a clue to their evolutionary relationship.
 Both bryophytes and pteridophytes have ciliated sperms and require water for fertilisation.
 Gymnosperms do not need water for fertilisation.
 But Cycads and Gingko, the primitive gymnosperms, have ciliated sperms like the
pteridophytes.
 This suggests that gymnosperms have descended from pteridophyte-like ancestors.
 The occurrence of ancestral traits in embryo is called Palaeogenesis.

4. PALAEONTOLOGICAL EVIDENCES
 Fossils are the remains and/or impressions of organisms that lived in the past last few centuries
and palaeontologists have painstakingly built up extensive collections of fossils from all over
the world.
 The fossil record has helped in building the broad historical sequence of biological evolution.
 Phylogeny, the evolutionary history of the organism,
can sometimes be reconstructed with the help of
fossils.
 Horse, elephant and man are good examples of
relatively complete reconstructions of phylogeny.
 Besides form and structure, the habits and behaviour
of extinct species can be inferred from the well-
preserved fossils.
 It is also possible to reconstruct the entire habitat of
an organism from fossils.
 Fossils also indicate the connecting links between
two groups of organisms.
 Archaeopteryx shows features of both reptiles and
birds.
Reptilian characters of Archaeopteryx.
(a) The body axis is more or less lizard-like
(b) A long tail is present.
(c) The bones are not pneumatic.
(d) The jaws are provided with similar teeth.
(e) Presence of a weak sternum.
(f) Presence of free caudal vertebrae as found in lizards.
(g) The hand bears typical reptilian plan and each finger terminates in a claw.
 Avian characters of Archaeopteryx.
(a) Presence of feathers on the body.
(b) The two jaws are modified into a beak.
(c) The fore limbs are modified into wings.
(d) The hind-limbs are built on the typical avian plan.
(e) An intimate fusion of the skull bones as seen in the birds.
 By careful analysis of the distribution of fossils in different strata of rocks, the time in history
when different species were formed or became extinct can be inferred.

Time Line of Evolution

 When scientists first began to study and date fossils, they had to find some way to organise the
different time periods from which the fossils came.
 They divided the earth's past into large blocks of time called eras.
 Eras are further sub-divided into smaller blocks of time called periods, and some periods, in
turn, are sub-divided into epochs.
 The major geological eras, with their approximate dates in millions of years as given in the
table.
 "The geological time scale."

Table-I: THE GEOLOGICAL TIME SCALE

ERA PERIOD EPOCH AGE SOME IMPORTANT EVENTS
(MILLION IN THE HISTORY OF LIFE
OF YEARS)
Quaternary Recent 0.01 Historic time
holocene 1.8 Ice ages; humans appear
Pleistocene
Cenozoic Tertiary Pliocene 5 Apelikeancestors of humans appear
(Age of Miocene 23 Continued radiation of mammals
mammals) (Golden age of and angiosperms
mammals)
Oligocene 34 Origin of most modern mammalian
orders, including apes
Eocene 57 Angiosperm dominance increases;
further increase in mammalian
diversity
Palaeocene 65 Major radiation of mammals, birds,
and pollinating insects
Mesozoic Cretaceous 144 Flowering plants (angiosperms)
(Age of appear; dinosaurs and many groups
reptiles) of organisms become extinct. First
modern birds appeared.
 Jurassic 208 Gymnosperms continue as
dominant plants; dinosaurs
dominant; first birds
Triassic 245 Gymnosperms dominate landscape;
first dinosaurs and mammals
Paleozoic Permian 285 Radiation of reptiles, origin of
mammal like reptiles and most
modern orders of insects;
extinction of many marine
Carboniferous 360 invertebrates
Extensive forests of vascular
plants; first seed plants; origin of
reptiles; amphibians dominant. Age
Devonian 408 of amphibians
Diversification of bony fishes; first
Silurian 438 amphibians dominant. Age of
fishes.
Diversity of jawless vertebrates;
Ordovician 505 colonization of land by plants and
arthropods; origin of vascular
plants
Cambrian 544 First vertebrates (Jawless fishes);
marine algae abundant. Age of
invertebrates
Origin of most invertebrate phyla;
diverse algae
Precambrian 700 Origin of first animals
or 1500 Oldest eukaryotic fossils
Proterozoic 2500 Oxygen begins accumulating in
atmosphere
3500 Oldest definite fossils known
(prokaryotes)
4600 Approximate origin of Earth

Concept Builder
Types of Rocks –
(a) Sedimentary Rocks –
These are formed at the bottom of ancient oceans by deposition of sediments of sand, lime,
coal and minerals which slowly change into hard layers.
Sedimentry rocks are also called as stratified rocks.
Eg. Lime Stone, Sand Stone.
Fossils are mostly found in sedimentary rocks.
(b) Igneous rocks –
Such rocks are formed by ancient volcanic deposits which slowly cooled down and hardened
as rocks. Fossiles are absent in it. e.g., Granite rocks.
(c) Metamorphic rocks –
These are formed by change in chemical composition of sedimentary rock and igneous rocks or
metamorphosis. Such metamorphosis may be caused by pressure heat and physical
movements. e.g. Marble Slate rocks. Fossils are also absent in it – due to chemical changes in
the fossils are destroyed.
Types of Fossils
(a) Unaltered Fossils :
In this type whole bodies of extinct organisms are found frozen in ice at the polar regions eg.
Wooly mammoths (25000 yrs before extinct fossils were found from Siberian region)
(b) Petrified fossils – Most common type of fossil.
Replacement of organic part by mineral deposits is called petrification.
These fossils consists of only the hard parts e.g. bones, teeth, shells, wood etc. of extinct
organisms.
In human body first fossilization occurs of teeth.
(c) Mould fossils –
Here no part of the original organism is present, only an impression of the external structure of
body is preserved in wet soil.
(d) Cast fossils –
Sometimes minerals fills in the mould, resulting in cast fossils.
(e) Print Fossils –
Foot print or prints of wings, skin, leaves, stems etc made in soft mud which subsequently
become fossilized are a common type of fossils.
(f) Coprolites –
These fossils include the fossil preservation of contents of the intestine or excreta of many
ancient animals including particularly the reptiles or fishes.
By studying fossils following facts about organic evolution are evident –
1. Fossils found in older rocks are of simple type and those found in newer rocks are of complex
types.
2. In the beginning unicellular protozoans were formed from which multicellular animals
evolved.
3. Some fossils represents connecting links between two groups
4. Angiosperms among plants and mammals among animals are highly developed and modern
organism
5. By fossils, we can study the evolutionary pedigree of an animal like stages in evolution of
horse, elephant and man etc.
Fossil Parks
 Our country has rich deposits of fossil plants spanning a gap of 3500 million years.
 Twenty million years old fossil forests have been discovered and studied by the Birbal Sahni
Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow. These forests need to be systematically studied and
conserved for scientific understanding and enlightenment. Some of the excellent localities that
can be raised to the status of national fossil parks are:
1. Fifty million years old fossil forests preserved in the sediments between the streaming lava
flow that poured out into the Deccan country at Mandla district, Madhya Pradesh.
2. One hundred million years old fossil forest located in Rajmahal Hills, Bihar.
3. Two hundred and sixty million years old coal-forming forests in Orissa.

Microfossils and Fossil Fuel Exploration

 Palaeobiological study helps in understanding and locating coal and hydrocarbon sources.
 Palynofossils -tiny microscopic spores, pollen and other vegetal remains of the past -assist us
in interpreting ancient environmental conditions favourable for organic matter accumulation
and its conversion to fossil fuels by transformation and subsequent thermal alteration.
 By quantitative analysis of microfossils, it is possible to determine the approximate location
and configuration of near shore marine deposits, which are in turn responsible for formation
and accumulation of hydrocarbons.
 The main source of hydrocarbons are phytoplankton, marine and terrestrial algae as well as
lipid-rich plant remains.
 Thus, the study of fossil plants offers an effective tool in stratigraphical geology and can be
exploited in tapping organic fuel resources.

Concept Builder
Dating Fossils
 Naturally occurring radioactive isotopes of certain elements are employed in this process.
 Such isotopes are unstable and decay over the course of time at a steady rate, producing other
isotopes.
 One of the most widely employed methods of dating -the carbon -14 (14C) method uses
estimates of the different isotopes present in samples of carbon.
 Most carbon atoms have an atomic weight of 12.
 But a fixed proportion of the atoms in a given sample of carbon consists of carbon with an
atomic weight of 14 (14C).
14
 C is produced from 12C as a result of bombardment by particles from space.
 But after an organism dies and is no longer incorporating carbon, its 14C gradually decays over
time, by the loss of neutrons.
 The common radioactive elements which lose their radioactivity and change into their non
radioactive isotopes at a fixed rate are :
1. Potassium40  Argon40
2. Carbon14  Nitrogen14
 3. Uranium238  Lead207
4. Rubidium87  Strontium87
6. Thorium232  Lead207
 The half life of C-14 is 5730 ± 40 years which means in every 5730 ± 40 years, half of C14 will
 decay back to N14.
 Radioactive carbon can be used to determine the age of fossils upto 70,000 years old.
 Half life of potassium40 is 1.3 × 109 years.
 Potassium -Argon method is useful because potassium is a common element found in all sorts
 of rocks.
 Potassium decays into Argon extremely slowly.
 Electron spin resonance method is relatively most accurate method for dating of fossils.

Evolution of Modern Horse

Eohippus (=Hyracotherium)
 The evolution of modern horse began in the Eocene epoch.
 The first fossil named Eohippus, 'dawn horse', was in North America.
 This horse was about the size of a fox or terrier dog (a type of small dog for unearthing foxes),
only 40 cm high at the shoulders.
 It had short head and neck.
 The fore limbs were with four complete fingers (2, 3, 4 and 5) and one splint of first finger and
the hind limbs with three functional toes (2, 3 and 4) and one splint of fifth toe.
 Splints are non-functional reduced fingers and toes of horse.
 Teeth were with incomplete cement.
 Molar teeth had no serrations.
 Low-crowned molar teeth were adapted to browse soft lush vegetation.
Mesohippus.
 Mesohippus, the intermediate horse, evolved from Hyracotherium about three crore years ago
during Oligocene epoch.
 It was of the size of modern sheep, about 60 cm high at the shoulders.
 Fore feet had three fingers and one splint of fifth finger and hind feet possessed three toes, but
the middle one was longer than others and supported most of the body weight.
 Molar teeth had some serrations.
Merychippus
 Merychippus, the ruminating horse, arose from Mesohippus in Miocene epoch about two crore
years ago.
 It was of the size of small pony, about 100 cm high at the shoulders.
 It had a longer neck.
 Its fore and hind limbs had three fingers and three toes, the middle finger and toe being longer
than others and supported entire body weight.
 There was no splint.
 Teeth were longer with cement.
 Molar teeth had well developed serrations.
Pliohippus
 Pliohippus, the Pliocene horse, evolved from Merychippus in Pliocene epoch about one crore
years ago.
 It was the size of modern pony, about 120 cm high at the shoulders.
 Its each fore and hind limbs had one complete finger and one complete toe and two splints
hidden beneath the skin.
 Pliohippus is, therefore, referred to be the first one toed horse.
 The, molar teeth were long with well developed cement and serrations.
 Teeth were adapted for eating grass.
Equus
 This is the modern horse which arose from Pliohippus in Pleistocene epoch about nine to ten
lakh years ago in North America and later spread throughout the world except Australia.
 It is about 150 cm high at the shoulders.
 It has a long head and a long neck.
 Each fore and hind limb of the modern horse has one finger and one toe and two splints.
 The crowns of molar teeth are elongated with enameled ridges and are highly suitable for
grinding.
 During evolution of horse, there was:
(i) General increase (with occasional decrease) in size,
(ii) Progressive loss of toes,
(iii) Lengthening of toes that was retained,
(iv) Lengthening of limbs in general,
(v) Enlargement of brain, especially cerebral hemispheres,
(vi) Increase in height,
(vii) Increase in the complexity of molar teeth and an enlargement of the last three premolars
until they came to resemble molars.

Concept Builder
Connecting Links :
The organisms which possess the characters of two different groups. Examples
1. Proterospongia : A link between Protozoa and Porifera.
2. Neopilina : A connecting link between Annelida and Mollusca.
3. Peripatus : A connecting link between Annelida and Arthropoda.
4. Lungs fishes, e.g., Protopterus, Lepidosiren, Neoceratodus are considered the connecting links
between the fishes and amphibians.
5. Egg laying mammals; example duck billed Platypus (Ornithorhynchus) and spiny ant eater
(Echidna) are considered connecting links between reptiles and mammals.

Conceptual Questions
What is phylogeny?
What do you understand by the principle of superposition?
What evidence supports the hypothesis that whales evolved from land dwelling mammals?
The statement given below is true/false. If false, why? liThe match between many flowers and their
pollinators is an example of artificial selection"
Large leg muscles built up in an individual, is an example of acquired or inherited characteristic.

Ans. 1. The ancestral relationships among groups of organisms.

2. The principle states that if the rock strata at a location have not been disrurbed, the lowest
stratum was fonned before the strata above it. Successive strata are newer, and the most
recent stratum is on the top.
3. Modern whales have non-functional pelvic bones.
4. False - It is an example of co-evolution
5. Acquired characteristic
Evolution of Vertebrates and Major Groups of Plants
 The patterns of evolution of vertebrates and major groups of plants are conspicously different.
 The major groups of vascular plants have left relatively small number of fossils which even
show gaps (fossilless dark periods).
 There are relatively few major lineages, and all the lineages are very distinct from one another.
 Instead of showing gradual and continuous change through time, the major lineages appear
suddenly in the fossil record.
 After that, they persisted with little fundamental change for hundreds of millions of years.
 The existence of many of the major subdivisions of the vascular plants living today can be
recognised about 345 million years ago on the basis of their distinctive reproductive structure.
 All primitive land plants reproduce via tiny spores contained in the sporangia. The major
taxonomic groups are distinguished by the position of sporangia on the plant.

Evolution of vertebrates (Hypothetical)

 The sporangia are terminal, located at the tip of the plant in the most primitive Psilopsida.
 These are placed at the base of the leaves in the Lycopsida (represented in the modern flora by
Lycopodium and Selaginella).
 The sporangia are arranged in whorls at the top of the plant in Sphenopsida (horsetails).
 Fossil evidences document that these basic patterns have been maintained for more than 350
million years.
 Few, if any, intermediates are known between these patterns.
 The origin of seeds in the land plants was achieved about 345 million years ago in lineages
recognised as ancestral to all more advanced vascular plants.
 The last major evolutionary advancement among the vascular plants was the emergence of
flowering plants (the angiosperms) about 140 million years ago.
 But the fossils left no clue as to their ancestors.
  The fossil records also indicate that nearly all the living orders of angiosperms and most of the
characters of their modern-day representatives evolved from them.
 The continuous change of a character within an evolving lineage is termed as evolutionary
trend.
 A lineage is an evolutionary sequence, arranged in linear order from an ancestral group to a
descendant group.
 The number of trends in any lineage is, therefore, same as the number of characters evolving.
 A trend may be progressive (a general increase in size of organs) or retrogressive (a general
degeneration and loss of organs).

Evolution of plants (Hypothetical)

BRIEF ACCOUNT OF EVOLUTION

 About 2000 million years ago (mya) the first cellular forms of life appeared on earth.
 The mechanism of how non-cellular aggregates of giant macromolecules could evolve into
cells with membranous envelop is not known.
 Some of these cells had the ability to release O2.
 The reaction could have been similar to the light reaction in photosynthesis where water is split
with the help of solar energy captured and channelised by appropriate light harvesting
pigments.
 Slowly, single-celled organisms became multi-cellular life forms.
 By the time of 500 mya, invertebrates were formed and active.
 Jawless fishes probably evolved around 350 mya.
 Sea weeds and few plants existed probably around 320 mya.
 We are told that the first organisms that invaded land were plants.
 They were widespread on land when animals invaded land.
 Fish with stout and strong fins could move on land and go back to water.
 There are no specimens of these left with us.
 However, these were ancestors of modern day frogs and salamanders.
 The amphibians evolved into reptiles.
 They lay thickshelled eggs which do not dry up in sun unlike those of amphibians.
 Again we only see their modern day descendents, the turtles, tortoises and crocodiles.

Representative evolutionary history of vertebrates through geological period

 This was about 350 mya.
 In 1938, a fish caught in South Africa happened to be a Coelacanth which was earlier thought
to be extinct.
 These animals called lobefins evolved into the first amphibians that lived on both land and
water.
 In the next 200 millions years or so, reptiles of different shapes and sizes dominated on earth.
 Giant ferns (pteridophytes) were present but they all fell to form coal deposits slowly.
 Some of these land reptiles went back into water to evolve into fish like reptiles probably 200
my a (e.g. Ichthyosaurs).
 The land reptiles were, of course, the dinosaurs.
 The biggest of them, i.e., Tyrannosaurus rex was about 20 feet in height and had huge
fearsome dagger like teeth.
 About 65 mya, the dinosaurs suddenly disappeared from the earth.
 We, do not know the true reason. Some say climatic changes killed them.
 Some say most of them evolved into birds.

A family tree of dinosaurs and their living

modern day counterpart organisms like crocodiles and birds
  The truth may live in between.
 Small sized reptiles of that era still exist today.
 The first mammals were like shrews.
 Their fossils are small sized.
 Mammals were viviparous and protected their unborn young inside the mother's body.
 Mammals were more intelligent in sensing and avoiding danger at least.
 When reptiles came down mammals took over this earth.
 There were in South America mammals resembling horse, hippopotamus, bear, rabbit, etc.
 Due to continental drift, when South America joined North America, these animals were over
ridden by North American fauna.
 Due to the same continental drift, pouched mammals of Australia survived because of
lack of competition from any other mammal.
 Lest we forget, some mammals live wholly in water.
 Whales, dolphins, seals and sea cows are some examples.
 Evolution of horse, elephant, dog, etc., are special stories of evolution.
 You will learn about these in higher classes.
 The most successful story is the evolution of man with language skills and self-consciousness.

Self Assessment

Q.11 Which of the following is incorrect sequence?

(1) Palaeozoic -Mesozoic –Coenozoic (2) Triassic -Jurassic -Cretaceous
(3) Silurian -Devonian –Carboniferous (4) Devonian -Permian -Carboniferous
Q.12 The cretaceous period during which the flowering plants appeared, occurred approximately
(1) 220 million years ago (2) 140 million years ago
(3) 280 million years ago (4) 345 million years ago
Q.13 Variety of beaks of finches that Darwin found in Galapagos Islands, is an example of
(1) Adaptive radiation (2) Convergent evolution
(3) Adaptive convergence (4) Analogous organs
Q.14 Placental wolf and Tasmanian wolf marsupial exhibit
(1) Adaptive radiation (2) Divergent evolution
(3) Convergent evolution (4) Homology
Q.15 Which of the following animals show adaptive radiation based on locomotion?
(1) Scorpion, elephant, human (2) Cheetah, kangaroo, mole
(3) Praying mantis, seal, python (4) Cockroach, squirrel, toad
Q.16 Which of the following is not an example of homologous organ?
(1) Vertebrate hearts or brains
(2) Thorns of Bougainvillea and tendrils of Cucurbita
(3) Leg of cheetah, and flipper of whale
(4) Eye of octopus and of mammals
Q.17 The fossil remains of Archaeopteryx is a connecting link between
(1) Fishes and amphibians (2) Reptiles and birds
(3) Reptiles and mammals (4) Amphibians and reptiles
Q.18 Darwin's finches are example of
(1) Biogeographical evidence (2) Palaeontological evidence
(3) Embryological evidence (4) Analogous organs
Q.19 What are the anatomical structures called that share a common ancestry?
(1) Analogous structures (2) Homologous structures
(3) Evolutionary structures (4) Vestigial structures
Q.20 Mass extinction at the end of Mesozoic era was probably caused by
(1) Continental drift (2) Massive glaciation
(3) Collision of earth with large meteorite (4) Both (2) and (3)
Ans. Q.11 (4), Q.12 (2), Q.13 (1), Q.14 (3), Q.15 (2), Q.16 (4), Q.17 (2), Q.18 (1), Q.19 (2),
Q.20 (4)

THEORIES OF EVOLUTION
1. LAMARCK'S THEORY OF EVOLUTION
 His theory is often called as the Theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characters or the
Theory of Use and Disuse of Organ.
 The first attempt to explain origin of species and their adaptation to the environment was done
by Jean Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829).
 He was the greatest French naturalist.
 Lamarck's theory was published in 1809 (year of Darwin 's birth) in his book 'Philosophie
Zoologique'.
 According to this theory the organisms undergo changes to adapt themselves to the
environment.
 The changes acquired by the organisms during their life time are passed on to the next
generation.
 He took the example of long neck of Giraffe, they continuously stretched their neck to reach to
the vegetation on trees.
 This acquired change was passed to the next generation.
 He also gave the principle of Use and Disuse.
 Use of an organ leads to strengthening of the organ, and disuse will lead to weakening of the
organ.
 Lamarck arranged his theory in the form of four postulates.
(i) Internal forces tend to increase size of the body.
(ii) Formation of new organs is the result of the need or want continuously felt by organisms
Doctrine of Appetency/Desires.
(iii) Development and power of action of an organ is directly proportional to its use.
(iv) All changes acquired by the organism during its life are transmitted to the offsprings by the
process of inheritance.
Concept Builder
 Lamarck's theory was discarded by A. Weismann who gave the Theory of Germplasm.
 He cut the tail of new born mice generation after generation but could not get tailless mice nor
the mice developed shorter and shorter tail.
 Today, again the faith in Lamarck's theory has been revived as it is said that if the environment
influences the genes of the organisms, the acquired change will be transmitted to the next
generation.

2. DARWIN'S THEORY OF EVOLUTION

 Charles Robert Darwin put forward the concept of natural selection as the mechanism of
evolution.
 The theory was put forward along with Alfred Russell Wallace.
 Darwin had written the book 'Origin of Species'.
 Darwin was greatly influenced by 'An Essay on Population' written by Thomas Rev
Malthus and he was also influenced by Charles Lyell's essays on "Principles of Geology".
 Darwin was a British naturalist.
 In 1831, at the age of 22, he was appointed upon a world survey ship of British government,
H.M.S. Beagle.
 For five years on his ship, Darwin explored the fauna and flora of continents and islands.
 Branching descent and Natural Selection are the two key concepts of Darwinian Theory of
Evolution.
 According to Wallace's Chart, the main points of Darwin's theory of Natural Selection were as
follows:
(i) High rate of reproduction
(ii) Total number almost constant
(iii) Struggle for existence
(iv) Variations
(v) Survival of fittest
(vi) Natural selection
 All the successful organisms have a high Biotic Potential or Reproductive Rate.
 The organisms produce a large number of offsprings that can possibly survive, example a mice
produces a dozen of mice at one time.
 A rabbit produces 6 young ones in a litter and there are four litter in a year.
 A rabbit starts reproducing at the age of six months.
1. Not all but only some individuals which survive, reach adulthood, and those which reach
adulthood, reproduce at different rates, this is called 'Differential Reproduction'.
2. The success in survival and reproduction depends upon the characteristic traits of an organism,
example only those rabbits will survive which are fastest. There is 'Struggle for Existence'
and in this there will be 'Survival of Fittest'. The Phrase 'Survival of Fittest' was first used
by Herbert Spencer. The same context was asserted by Darwin as 'Natural Selection'.
  So, evolution is the change in the genetic composition of the population which is brought about
by natural selection which acts upon the variability in population.
Causes of Variations
1. Mutation is the ultimate source of variations.
2. At the next level is recombination .
3. Intermingling of two widely separated populations.
Weakness of Darwinism
 He was not able to explain the cause of discontinuous variations observed by himself in nature
and the mode of transmission of variants to the next generation.
 In 1868, Darwin put forward the Theory of Pangenesis.
 According to this theory, every organ of the body produces minute hereditary particles, called
Pangenes or Gemmules and they are carried through the blood into the gametes.
 Weismann's 'Theory of Germplasm' (1892) rejected Darwin's theory of pangenesis.
 He established that the germ (sex), cells are set apart from other body (somatic) cells early in
the embryonic development, so, only the changes in the germplasm affect the characteristics of
future generations.
 Alfred Wallace had written the book 'On the Tendencies of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely
from the Original Type'.
 Alfred Wallace (1823-1923), a naturalist from Dutch East Indies, was working on Malay
Archipelago (present Indonesia).

Concept Builder
Erasmus Darwin :
 Charles Darwin's grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, wrote about evolution more than 60 years
before his grandson's theory was presented.
 Erasmus Darwin cited things such as the metamorphosis of insects, the new varieties produced
by selective breeding, the variations among similar organisms in different climates, and the
similarities of vertebrate structure as evidence that all life was "produced from a similar living
filament".

Conceptual Questions
Explain the relationship between evolution and natural selection.
Mammalian species that live in very cold environments are usually larger than species of the same
genus that live in the warmer climates. Why?
What is a feature called that provides a selective advantage to a population?
At what level of grouping of organisms does evolution occurs?
Which two organisms would likely have the least similar nucleotide sequences in a given gene?
A -Chimpanzee and Gorilla B -Gorilla and dog
C -Dog and shark D -Shark and butterfly
Ans. 1. Natural selection is the primary driving force for evolution.
2. Larger animals lose heat more slowly than smaller animals.
3. An adaptation.
4. The population level
5. (D) The shark is a vertebrate and the butterfly is an invertebrate. They are the least related
and would have the least similar nucleotide se uences.

3. MUTATION THEORY
 In 1901, Hugo de Vries proposed the Mutation Theory on the basis of his observation on the
wild variety of evening primrose Oenothera lamarckiana.
 According to mutation theory, new species originate as a result of large, discontinuous
variations which appear suddenly.
 The main features of mutation theory are as follows :
1. Mutations arise from time to time amongst the individuals of a naturally breeding population.
2. Mutations are heritable and establish new forms or species.
3. Mutations are large and sudden and are totally different from fluctuating variations of Darwin,
which are small and directional.
4. Mutations may occur in any direction.

4. HARDY -WEINBERG PRINCIPLE the

 Five basic processes affect the Hardy Weinberg equilibrium and cause variations at genetic
level. These are:
(i) Mutation
(ii) Gene migration
(iii)Genetic drift
(iv)Recombination
(v) Natural selection
 The Hardy-Weinberg principle states that the proportions of different alleles will stay the same
in a large population if mating occurs at random and the above mentioned forces are absent.
 In algebraic terms, the Hardy-Weinberg principle is written as an equation.
 Its form is what is known as a binomial expansion.
 For a gene with two alternative alleles, called A and a, the frequency of allele A can be
expressed as p and that of alternative allele a as q, because these are only two alleles, p + q
must always be equal to one. The equation looks like this
(p + q)2 = p2 + 2pq + q2
Individuals Individuals Individuals
homozygous heterozygous homozygous
for allele A for alleles for allele a
A and a
  For example, if q is the frequency of the allele a, then the Hardy-Weinberg equation states that
q2 = percentage individuals homozygous for allele a say 16%.
q2 = 0.16, q = 0.4

Concept Builder
Factors of Evolutionary Change
(i) Mutation (ii) Migration (iii) Genetic Drift
(iv) Recombination (v) Natural Selection

(I) MUTATION
Replica Plate Experiment of Lederberg and Lederberg
1. Mutations are random (indiscriminate) with respect to the adaptive needs of organisms.
2. Most mutations are harmful or with no effect (neutral) on their bearer.
3. Mutation rates are very slow.
 The Lederberg Replica Plating Experiment, a beautiful example of the genetic basis of a
particular adaptation was demonstrated in bacteria by an ingeneous method devised by Joshua
Lederberg and Esther Lederberg.
 E.coli bacteria are usually grown in the laboratory by plating dilute suspensions of bacterial
cells on semi-solid agar plates.
 After a period of growth, discrete colonies appear on the agar plates.
 Each of these colonies originates from a single bacterium through a large number of cell
divisions.
 The Lederbergs inoculated bacteria on an agar plate and obtained a 'master plate' containing
several bacterial colonies.
 They, then created several replicas of this master plate by a simple procedure.
 A sterile velvet disc, mounted on a wooden block, was gently pressed on the master plate.
 Some bacteria from each colony adhered to the velvet.
 By pressing this velvet on to new agar plates, they obtained exact replicas of the master plate,
because the few bacteria transferred by the velvet formed colonies on the new agar plates.
 However, when they attempted to make replicas using plates containing an antibiotic such as
penicillin, most colonies found on the master plate did not grow on the replica plates.
 The few colonies that did grow were obviously resistant to penicillin.
 How did the bacteria acquire the ability to grow in a new environment (here, agar medium,
containing penicillin)? In other words, what was the origin of this adaptation?
 A Lamarckian interpretation of this adaptation would have been that penicillin somehow
induced a change in one or more bacteria, enabling them to grow in the presence of penicillin.
 A Darwinian view is that there were, in the original suspension of bacteria from which the
master plates were prepared, a few bacteria carrying mutant genes which conferred on them the
ability to survive the action of penicillin and form colonies.
  These mutations, which had arisen by chance, and not induced by penicillin, were present only
is small numbers in the original suspension.
 Lederberg's experiment provided evidence that mutations are actually preadaptive.
 These kinds of mutations are regarded as advantageous mutations.
 They appear without exposure to the environment.
 Actually, the preadaptive mutations express themselves only after exposure to the new
environment to which the organisms are to adapt themselves.
 The new environment does not induce the formation, it only selects the preadaptive
mutations that occurred earlier.

(II) MIGRATION
 Migration, defined in genetic terms as the movement of individuals from one population into
another, can be a powerful force in upsetting the genetic stability of natural populations.
 If the characteristics of the newly arrived animal differ from those already there, the genetic
composition of the receiving population may be altered, if the newly arrived individual or
individuals can adapt to survive in the new area and mate successfully.
 Gene pool : A total collection of all genes and its allele in a population is called gene pool.
Thus, gene pool will have all genotypes i.e., genes of the organisms.
 Gene flow: If genes are exchanged between two different populations of a species, it is gene
flow.
(III) GENETIC DRIFT I SEWALL WRIGHT EFFECT I NON-DIRECTIONAL FACTOR
 Natural selection is not the only force responsible to bring about changes in gene frequencies.
There is the role of chance or Genetic Drift also.
 Genetic Drift causes the change in gene frequency by chance in a small population.
 In a small population, the one individual alleles of a gene are represented by a few individuals
in a population.
 These alleles will be lost if these the individuals fail to reproduce.
 Allele frequencies appear to change randomly, as if the frequencies were drifting, Janes thus, a
random loss of alleles in small population is Genetic Drift.
 A series of small populations that are isolated from one another may come to differ strongly as
a result of Genetic Drift.
 Genetic Drift has two ramifications are described below.
1. Bottle neck effect:
 It is the decrease in genetic variability in a population, e.g., cheetah population in Africa
decreased due to hunting.
 Theirdecreased numbers have limited cheetahs genetic variability, with serious consequences.
 The present cheetah population is susceptible to a number of fatal diseases.
 If any of these diseases attacks the cheetah population, the path of extinction of cheetah cannot
be reversed.
2. Founder's effect:
 When one or a few individuals are dispersed and become the founders of a new, isolated
population at some distance from their place of origin, the alleles that they carry are of special
significance.
 Even if these alleles are rare in the source population, they will be a significant fraction of the
new population's genetic endowment.
 This effect by which rare alleles and combinations of alleles may be enhanced in new
populations -is called the founder's effect.
 The founders effect is particularly important in the evolution of organisms on islands, such as
Galapagos Islands which Darwin visited.
 Most of the kinds of organisms that occur in such areas were probably derived from one or a
few initial founders.
Fixation of new mutations:
 Genetic drift fixes new alleles, genes that arise by mutation, from time to time and eliminate
the original gene, thereby changing the genetic make up of small population.

(IV) RECOMBINATION
 Gene recombination is also an important source of variations.
 It occurs during crossing over at the time of meiosis, free assortment (selection) of genes at the
time of gamete formation, random union of gametes at the time of fertilization and even
chromosomal aberrations.
  They cause reshuffling of gene recombinations which provide new combinations of existing
genes and alleles.
 This is the entity of gene recombination.
 Gene recombination can occur not only between genes but also within genes resulting in the
formation of a new allele.
 Since it adds new alleles and combination of alleles to the gene pool, it is an important process
during evolution which causes variations.

(V) NATURAL SELECTION

 It causes allele frequencies of a population to change. Depending upon which traits are
favoured, natural selection can produce different results.
Forms of Selection: There are three kinds of natural selections
Stabilizing Selection (Normalizing selection) :
 When selection acts to eliminate both extremes from an array of phenotypes, the frequency of
the intermediate type which is already the most common, is increased.
Directional Selection (Progressive selection) :
 When selection acts to eliminate one extreme from an array of phenotypes, the genes
determining this extreme become less frequent in the population. The industrial melanism is
peppered moth, Biston betularia provides good example of directional selection from nature.
Disruptive Selection (Diversifying selection) :
 In some situations, selection acts to eliminate, rather than favour, the intermediate type. The
individuals at both the extremes are favoured.

Examples of Natural Selection-Industrial Melanism

 First studied by R.A. Fisher and E.B. Ford and in recent time by H.B.D. Kettlewell.
 One of the most striking examples, which demonstrates the action of natural selection, is the
industrial melanism in England.
 The peppered moth Biston betularia, with a dull grey colour or white was abundant in England
before the Industrial Revolution.
 A black coloured form of the same moth (melanic, a dominant mutant differing in a single
gene), carbonaria, was very rare.
 Within a couple of hundred years, however, the proportion of carbona ria increased to almost
90 per cent.
 The moths rest on tree trunks.
 Before the Industrial Revolution, the tree trunks used to be covered with grey coloured lichen.
 The dull grey moth easily blended with this background, while the black moth stood out
conspicuously, and was therefore more susceptible to predation by birds.
 With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, large-scale burning of coal became common.
 The enormous amount of smoke produced resulted in the deposition of particulate matter on
tree trunks, turning them black.
 As a result, the grey moths now became more conspicuous than the black variety, and hence
more susceptible to predation.
 The frequency of black coloured moths in the population therefore increased.
 Gradual replacement of coal by oil and electricity, as well as the improved methods of
controlling soot production, reduced the soot desposition on the trees.
 Conditions then became more suitable for the survival of grey moths, consequently their
frequency once again increased.
 Thus, reduction in pollution is now correlated with reverse evolution.
 Industrial melanism, as this phenomenon is called, is thus a particularly interesting example
which clearly brings out the action of natural selection.
 This has been observed in about 70 different species of moths, and in several other European
countries as well.

 This understanding is supported by the fact that in areas where industrialisation did not occur
e.g., in rural areas, the count of melanic moths was low.
 This showed that in a mixed population, those that can better-adapt, survive and increase in
population size.
 Remember that no variant is completely wiped out.
 Similarly, excess use of herbicides, pesticides, etc., has only resulted in selection of resistant
varieties in a much lesser time scale.
  This is also true for microbes against which we employ antibiotics or drugs against eukaryotic
organisms/cell.
 Hence, resistant organisms/cells are appearing in a time scale of months or years and not
centuries.
 These are examples of evolution by anthropogenic action.
 This also tells us that evolution is not a direct process in the sense of determinism.
 It is a stochastic process based on chance events in nature and chance mutation in the
organisms.
Change In Genotypic Frequencies
 If the alleles for grey and black colours are denoted by G and B, the genotypes of the moths
would be GG, GB and BB.
 Since B is dominant, GB and BB will be black.
 Due to greater predation by birds on the black (melanic) phenotype the proportion of B in the
population was maintained at a much lower value than G.

Resistance of Mosquitoes to Pesticides

 Mosquitoes have always been a major health hazard, especially as they are responsible for the
spread of diseases such as malaria and filaria.
 When DDT was first introduced to control mosquitoes, it was tremendously successful; most
mosquitoes were sensitive to DDT and were therefore killed.
 However, DDT has now become ineffective against mosquitoes.
 This is explained as follows:
In the original population of mosquitoes, some individuals were resistant to DDT.
However, in the absence of DDT, such resistant individuals were few because they had no
advantage over the DDT-sensitive mosquitoes.
However, when DDT was used on a large-scale, only the resistant genotypes were able to
survive and reproduce.
As a result, over a period of time, almost the entire population came to consist of the resistant
type, which made DDT quite ineffective.
Evolution is thus a change in gene frequencies in the population in response to changes in the
environment-in this case the introduction of DDT.
The principle of natural selection thus helps us to understand, why such chemical insecticides
would remain useful only for a limited time.

Concept Builder
Plants Growing Around Mines
 A few plants are now known to grow on the tailings or refuse around mines. Professor A.D.
Bradshaw studied one such grass, the bent grass Agrostis tenuis growing on tailings of lead
mines in Wales, U.K.
  He took some of these and planted them in soil from a pasture nearby.
 Similarly, he transplanted live Agrostis plants from the pasture to the lead-rich soil.
 The bent grass from the mine soil grew very slowly on normal pasture soil.
 The one from the pasture, on the other hand, could not survive in the lead-rich soil.
 A very small percentage (three out of sixty), however, could grow in the soil rich in lead.
 These were undoubtedly the kind, from which the race of bent grass capable of growing in
lead-rich mine soil evolved originally.
 Plants tolerant to selenium such as Astragalus and Haplopappus have been reported from the
U.S.A.
 These plants are not only capable of growing in seleniferous soils, but require selenium as an
essential element.
 In our country, Professor Y.D. Tyagi discovered populations of Impatiens balsamina growing
around Zwar zinc mines in Udaipur, Rajasthan.
 The presence of such plants, which have evolved metal tolerance, can indicate the occurrence
of specific metal deposits.
 Such plants are called bioindicator plants.
Sickle Cell Anaemia Is an example of balancing selection.
(i) In few RBCs, 1-2% became sickle shaped during lack of oxygen.
(ii) The heterozygotes (HbA / HbS), who have one copy of sickle cell allele, coupled with one
normal allele are better survivors in the areas where malaria is endemic; because the malarial
parasite spends a part of the life cycle in the RBC; if they enter into the RBC which are sickle
shaped, they will die.
(iii) The women who are heterozygote have higher fertility; that's why natural selection has not
eliminated the allele.
(iv) The loss of deleterious recessive genes through deaths of hornozygotes (HbS / HbS) is being
balanced by the gain resulting from successful reproduction by heterozygotes in malaria prone
areas. For this reason, the selection is called balancing selection.
(v) Heterozygotes enjoy some resistance to malaria, so they survive the malarial parasite more
successfully than either normal or sickle cell homozygotes.

ARTIFICIAL SELECTION
 Some genetic variability is always present in a population.
 Some alleles make organisms better adapted to the environment, and thus make them more
successful in survival and reproduction.
 As a result, the frequency of such alleles in a population gradually increases.
 This is called selection; these alleles are thus 'selected' over the other alleles.
 This process operating in natural populations is therefore called 'Natural Selection'.
 The process of natural selection, acting on variability inherent in the population, over millions
of years, has given rise to the great diversity we see in the biological world.
 Variation among breeds of domestic pigeons.
Ancestry of different breeds can be traced to wild rock pigeon. (Artificial Selection)
 Man has been using a similar process for improving the qualities of domesticated plants and
animals for centuries.
 Plant-breeding and animal-breeding are very similar to the action of natural selection, the
difference being that the role of nature is played by man.
 The criteria for selection are based on human interests.

Cabbage, Cauliflower, Kohlrabi are descendants

of a common ancestor, colewort (Artificial Selection)
  To obtain cows with high milk yield, the dairy scientists monitor milk production of a large
number of cows.
 Only the calves produced by cows which are high-yielders, are chosen to breed and form the
next generation.
 When this process is repeated (i.e., artificial selection is applied) for many generations, a
population of cows with high milk yield is obtained.
 Here, the work of selection is done by man.

Concept Builder
 Mimicry: It is a kind of adaptation. The term mimicry was introduced in Biology by Bates
(1862). It is defined as "the resemblance of one organism to another or to any natural object for
the purpose of concealment, protection or for some other advantages. The organism which
exhibits mimicry is called a mimic. The organism or object which is mimicked or imitated is
called a model.
 Bateslan Mimicry : It is a form of mimicry in which an edible species resembles an inedible
one.
 Mullerian Mimicry : When two or more inedible or unpalatable species resemble each other
the mimicry is termed Mullerian mimicry.
 Both Batesian and Mullerian mimicries are two forms of protective mimicries.

Self Assessment
Q.21 Fitness, according to Darwin refers ultimately and only to
(1) Dominance over others (2) Ability to defend
(3) Strategy for obtaining food (4) Number of offsprings
Q.22 Which one is correctly matched?
(1) Hugo de Vries Natural selection
(2) Darwin Theory of Pangenesis
(3) Pasteur Theory of continuity of germplasm
(4) Mendel Inheritance of acquired characters
Q.23 Select the correct statement :
(1) Darwinian variations are small and directionless
(2) Mutations are random and directional
(3) Fitness is the end result of the ability to adapt and get selected by nature
(4) All mammals except whales and camels have seven cervical vertebrae
Q.24 Industrial melanism as found in peppered moth proves that
(1) Melanic form has no selective advantage in industrial area
(2) Lighter form has no selective advantage in polluted industrial area and non-polluted area
(3) Melanism is pollution generated feature
(4) True black melanic form develops by recurring random mutation
 The two key concepts of Darwinian theory of Evolution are
(1) Fitness (2) Branching descent
(3) Natural selection (4) Both (2) & (3)
In modern synthetic theory, the unit of evolution is
(1) Genus (2) Species (3) Population (4) Individual
Gene pool of a population tends to remain stable if the population is large, without large scale
mutations, s without migration and with
(1) Random mating (2) Moderate environmental changes
(3) Natural selection (4) No predator control
Neo-Darwinism believes that new species develop through
(1) Mutations with natural selection (2) Continuous variations with natural selection
(3) Hybridisation (4) Mutations
Which is not a concept of Lamarckism?
(1) Rate and survival of organisms are different due to variations
(2) Environmental pressure produces variations
(3) An organ in constant use will grow in size
(4) Inheritance of acquired characters
Genetic drift :
(1) Is random change in gene frequency
(2) Has nothing in common with inbreeding
(3) Is appearance of recessive genes
(4) Produces greatest fluctuation in large populations
Ans. Q.21 (4), Q.22 (2), Q.23 (3), Q.24 (4), Q.25 (4), Q.26 (3), Q.27 (1), Q.28 (1), Q.29 (1),
Q.30 (1)

SPECIATION AND ISOLATION

 Speciation is the formation of one or more new species from an existing species.
 The crucial episode in the origin of species occurs when the gene pool of a population is
severed from other populations of the parent species and gene flow no longer occurs.
 Speciation can take place in two modes based on the geographical relationship of a new
species to its ancestral species.
1. When a population, formerly continuous in range, splits into two or more geographically
isolated populations and form new species, the mode of speciation is called allopatric
speciation.
This can happen by subdivision of the original population, when a geographical barrier, such as
a creeping glacier, a land bridge (e.g., Isthmus of Panama) or ocean or mountain, cuts across a
species range.
Alternatively, a small number of individuals may colonise a new habitat which is
geographically separated from the original range.
 Darwin's finches that formed separate species in the Galapagos islands and the Australian
marsupials that radiated to form new species are its examples.
2. In the second speciation mode, a subpopulation becomes reproductively isolated in the midst of
its parent population; this is sympatric speciation.
So, sympatric speciation is the formation of species within a single population without
geographical isolation.
The usually quoted example of sympatric speciation comes from polyploidy, which is the
multiplication of the normal chromosome number.
This can happen when chromosomes fail to segregate at meiosis or replicate without
undergoing mitosis.

Concept Builder
(I) Multiplicative speciation (Cladogenesis) : It is the formation of two or more species from a
single species, example, allopatric speciation, sympatric speciation. This can be gradual or
abrupt.
(II) Fusion species : It is an allogenous transformation. Isolation mechanism may break down due
to a mutation. The two species will interbreed and merge to form a single species.
(III) Phyletic speciation (Anagenesis) : It is autogenous transformation of a species with passage
of time due to piling up of variations.

3. Species concept:
 Species is the basic unit of classification.
 The term was coined by John Ray (1693).
 Most taxonomists define species as morphologically distinct and reproductively isolated
natural population or group of populations where individuals resemble one another more
closely than with members of other species, have a similar anatomy, karyotype and
biochemicals, interbreed freely and form a genetically closed system. There are three basic
concepts about the species.
4. Morphospecies concept:
 It is the earliest concept of species.
 Davis and Heywood (1963) have defined it as "assemblage of individuals with morphological
features in common and separable from other such assemblages by correlated morphological
discontinuities in a number of features."
 However, the number of morphological characters chosen for separating species varies from
taxonomist to taxonomist.
 "Lumpers" will combine all the populations with broadly similar traits into a single species
while "Splitters" will separate various populations with even minor morphological differences
into distinct species.
5. Biological species concept:
 Though first proposed by Buffon (1753), biological species concept was formulated by
Mayr(1942).
 According to it, a biospecies (biological species, Biological Species Concept) is sexually
interbreeding or potentially interbreeding group of individuals which is reproductively isolated
from other species and is therefore, separated from others by absence of genetic exchange.
 Normally species are distinct from one another by both morphological traits and reproductive
isolation.
 However, sibling species are those distinct species which are almost identical morphologically
but are distinct from each other due to absence of interbreeding, e.g., Drosophila
pseudoobscura and D. persimilis.
 Biological species concept is, therefore, mainly based on absence of cross fertilisation between
members of two species.
 Cross fertilisation tests carried out by taxonomists between individuals of morphological and
geographically separated populations have, resulted in revision of species and grouping of
many of them into single species, e.g., several species of North American sparrows as
subspecies and races of a single song sparrow, Passarella melodia.
 The only problem of using reproductive isolation is the absence of sexual reproduction in
several organisms -prokaryotes, some protists, some fungi, some plants (e.g., commercial
Banana) and animals.
 Further, cross fertilisation experiments cannot be performed on such a large number of species
that occur in varied geographical areas.
 Reproductive isolation cannot be used as a criterion in case of fossils.
 The living organisms and fossils can be grouped only on the basis of their morphology and
biochemistry.
 Mayr (1987) has named morphologically grouped asexual species as paraspecies while
Ghiselin (1987) has named them pseudospecies.
6. Evolutionary species concept:
 All evolutionary taxonomist have been in search of a proper definition of species which is
basic unit of classification.
 One such definition has been given by Simpson.
 According to Simpson (1961) "an evolutionary species is a lineage (an ancestor-descendent
sequence of population) evolving separately from others and with its own unitary evolutionary
role and tendencies."
 The concept stresses on evolutionary isolation with sexual isolation being its one aspect.
 It is more dependent on differences which can be morphological, genetical, behavioural and
ecological, to know evolutionary distance.
 However, evolution does not occur simultaneously in all the traits.
 Neither its rate nor direction (in which it is occurring) are the same.
 7. Reproductive isolation may be defined as the existence of intrinsic barrier to the interbreeding
in natural populations. Each of these intrinsic barriers is called a reproductive isolating
mechanism. According to Mayr (1942), reproductive isolating mechanisms are the biological
properties of individuals which prevent the interbreeding of naturally sympatric populations.
8. Reproductive isolation in the form of hybrid sterility is known since long. In the laboratory or
in zoos, hybrids can be produced between species that do not interbreed in nature. Horses and
donkeys are two different species; a hybrid, mule, is produced from the mating of a male
donkey and a mare (female horse).
9. Similarly, mating between stallion (male horse) and female donkey results in a hybrid
called hinny. Both mule and hinny are sterile.
10. There are examples of species, which can produce fertile hybrids in captivity. You might have
heard about the famous 'tigons', a hybrid of African lioness (Panthera leo) and Asian tigers
(Panthera tigris), which is fertile. No barrier to hybridisation between these species has
evolved during their long isolation from each other Natural selection has not favoured a
reduction in hybridisation for the simple reason that no hybridisation has been possible. Other
examples of species that breed in captivity and produce fertile hybrids are mallard (a duck) and
the pintail duck, the polar bear and the Alaskan brown bear and the platy and swordtail fishes.
But these species do not interbreed at all in natural condition.

Concept Builder
BARRIERS TO HYBRIDISATION
Prezygotic Mechanisms: (Prevent mating or formation of zygote)
1. Ecological isolation : Two species live in different habitats and do not meet. (One may be
living in fresh water and the other in the sea).
2. Temporal isolation : Breeding seasons or flowering time may be different in the two species.
3. Behavioural isolation: The males of one animal species are unable to recognise the females of
another species as potential mates.
4. Mechanical isolation: The structural differences in genitalia of individuals belonging to
different animal species interfere with mating.
5. Gametic isolation : The sperms and ova of different species of animals are unable to fuse. In
plants, the pollen coming from a different species may be rejected by the stigma.
Postzygotic Mechanisms : A hybrid zygote is formed but it may not develop into a viable fertile
adult.
1. Hybrid Inviability : Hybrid zygotes fail to develop. In plants, embryos arising from
interspecific crosses abort.
2. Hybrid sterility : Hybrid adults do not produce functional gametes. (Mules and hinny are
common examples in mammals. Several hybrid ornamental plants are sterile.)
3. Hybrid breakdown : The offspring of hybrids are inviable or infertile.
MODERN SYNTHETIC THEORY OF EVOLUTION
1. Evolution on the grand scale of geological time is called macroevolution.
2. Evolution at genetic level is called microevolution.
3. Studies of how individual traits evolve within natural populations provide powerful evidence
that natural selection can be a powerful agent of microevolutionary change within species. The
progressive change in allele frequencies within the population is micro-evolution.
4. Units of evolution is population.
5. Unit of natural selection is individual.
The modern synthetic theory of evolution is the result of the work of a number of scientists as
T. Dobzhansky, R.A. Fisher, J.B.S. Haldane, Sewall Wright, Stebbins.
The synthetic theory includes the following factors.
(i) Gene mutations
(ii) Changes in chromosome structure and number
(iii) Genetic recombination
(iv) Natural selection
(v) Reproductive isolation
(vi) Migration lied
(vii) Hybridisation

NEUTRAL THEORY OF EVOLUTION

 According to Kimura most of the mutations are neutral, and are not eliminated from the
population.
 This is against natural selection.
 Kimura proposed that speciation is not due to selection of advantageous genotypes no but
elimination of deleterious alleles and random selection of neutral alleles.
 It emphasized that most mutations are of neutral value and genetic drift is responsible for
divergence.
 It means that all mutations are alike in adaptive value.
 It is only chance or random drift which delineates a novel collection of mutants into a group
divergent from the parental population.

Self Assessment
Q.31 Sexually interbreeding or potentially interbreeding group of individuals which is
reproductively isolated from other species is
(1) Biological species (2) Morphospecies
(3) Evolutionary species (4) Sibling species
Q.32 Mule is a product of
(1) Mutation (2) Inbreeding
(3) Cross-breeding (4) Interspecific hybridisation
 Speciation in geographically separated region forms
(1) Sibling species (2) Allopatric species (3) Sympatric species (4) Paraspecies
Reproductive isolation is
(1) Inability to interbreed in natural populations
(2) Ability to interbreed in natural populations
(3) Breeding in isolation
(4) Intraspecific breeding
Sympatric speciation is caused by
(1) Genetic isolation (2) Interbreeding
(3) Geographical isolation (4) Reproductive isolation
In which of the following barriers to hybridisation, "Breeding seasons or flowering time may
be different in the two species"?
(1) Ecological isolation (2) Temporal isolation
(3) Behavioral isolation (4) Gametic isolation
In plants, embryos arising from interspecific crosses abort, due to
(1) Hybrid inviability (2) Hybrid sterility
(3) Hybrid breakdown (4) Gametic isolation
The offsprings of hybrids are inviable or infertile in
(1) Hybrid inviability (2) Hybrid breakdown
(3) Hybrid sterility (4) Post zygotic barrier
Closely related, morphologically similar reproductively isolated, sympatric population are
called as
(1) Clones (2) Demes (3) Sibling species (4) Biological species
Which is most important for speciation?
(1) Ecological isolation (2) Reproductive isolation
(3) Temporal isolation (4) Behavioural isolation

Ans. Q.31 (1), Q.32 (4), Q.33 (2), Q.34 (1), Q.35 (4), Q.36 (2), Q.37 (1), Q.38 (2), Q.39 (3),
Q.40 (2)

Place of Humans in the Animal Kingdom

 Today human evolution is being studied by:
(i) Homology in the chromosomes of man and great apes. The banding pattern of human
chromosome number 3 and 6 are compared with those of particular autosomes in the
chimpanzee. It shows a common origin for man and chimpanzee.
(ii) Today, besides the autosomal chromosomes, V-chromosomes and mitochondrial DNA are
being studied, as they are uniparental in origin and do not take part in recombination.
(iii) Evidence from blood proteins -It has been proved by the blood protein tests that man is most
closely related to great apes (chimpanzee and gorilla).
(iv) Evidence from blood groups -The blood groups A and B are found in apes and not in monkeys.
 (v) Evidence from haemoglobin -There is 99 percent homology in haemoglobin of man and
gorilla.
 Human beings are vertebrates and belong to the class mammalia.
 Mammals evolved from primitive reptiles in early Triassic period, about 210 million years ago.
 But for nearly 150 million years, mammals existed as relatively inconspicuous group of small
rat-like creatures, completely dominated by the large number of gigantic reptiles of the
Mesozoic age.
 It is only after the great extinction of dinosaurs and other large reptiles, that mammals
diversified and began to occupy the earth's many different habitats.
 Within the class mammalia, human beings belong to the order primates, a group that originated
about 65 million years ago and includes not only monkeys and apes but also the lorises, lemurs
and tarsiers.
 The Anthropoid apes or the ancestors of monkeys, apes and humans evolved about 36 million
years ago and the hominids or the ancestors of apes and humans evolved about 24 million
years ago.
 Today, the apes are represented by two families, namely, Pongidae which include
chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans and Hylobatidae which includes gibbons.
 The chimpanzee and gorilla are restricted to Africa, whereas the orangutans and gibbons are
found only in Asia.
 Humans belong to the family Hominidae in which Homo sapiens is the only living species.

Early Human Ancestors

 Tracing the evolution of human beings, both by fossil hunting and molecular methods, is one
of the most exciting and active areas of research in biology.
 The fossil evidence clearly indicated that such genera as Ramapithecus and Sivapithecus were
the forerunners of Hominids.
 A genus called Australopithecus appeared in Africa about five million years ago and
ultimately gave rise to Homo about two million years ago.
 But even Australopithecus had a brain measuring only about 350-450 cm3.
  The most important change that must have occurred during the three million years or so,
between the appearance of Australopithecus and that of our genus, must therefore have been a
phenomenal increase in brain size, all the way up to 1400 to 1450 cm3, that is characteristic of
our species.
 A combination of molecular data and a modern interpretation of the fossil record suggests that
the gibbons probably diverged from the main line of Hominoid evolution about ten
million years ago, that the orangutan did so about eight million years ago and that the
ancestors of gorilla and chimpanzee, about four million years ago.
 The gorilla and chimpanzee have become separated from each other only 2.3 million
years ago.

Place and Sequence of Human Evolution

 There is evidence that almost all of Hominid evolution occurred in Africa, and Asia and that
the evolution of the human species took place in Africa.
 Several species belonging to the genus Homo can be recognised from the fossil record. For
example, Homo habilis lived in Africa, about two million years ago and was characterised by
having a larger brain than Australopithecus, used tools and was bipedal.
 Another species, Homo erectus appeared about 1.7 million years ago, used fire and is believed
to have migrated to Asia and Europe.
 Fossils of the socalled 'Java man' and 'Peking man', belong to Homo erectus. Homo erectus
was replaced by Homo sapiens.
 A primitive form of Homo sapiens, called Neanderthal man (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis),
was common in Europe and Asia.
 The Neanderthal men resembled us, though they were relatively short and stocky and more
powerfully built.
 The Neanderthals made tools and used animal hides as clothing.
 They built hut-like structures for dwelling and buried their dead.
 There is evidence that an abrupt transition occurred all over Europe whereby the Neanderthal
man was wiped out and gave way to the more efficient cousin, the ero-Magnon, about 34,000
years ago.
 The Cro-Magnon people left behind very elaborate cave paintings showing the attainment of a
form of culture not unlike our own.
 After the last glacial period (about 10,000 years ago), modern Homo sapiens sapiens began to
spread all over the globe, cultivated plants, domesticated animals and reached enormous
population sizes.
 Homo sapiens appeared in Africa about 500,000 years and probably replaced Homo erectus
there.
 But in Asia, Homo erectus appears to have survived for another 250,000 years when it was
finally replaced by Homo sapiens migrating from Africa.
HUMAN EVOLUTION
Place or origin of man :
 It has been established that Dryopithecus is one of the oldest fossil which in turn evolved into
apes and men.
 The origin and evolution of man can be studied in the following three major headings : prior to
ape men, ape men including prehistoric man and true men including the living modern man.
A. Prior to Ape Men
1. Dryopithecus. Discovery:
 The fossil of Oryopithecus africanus was discovered from Miocene rocks of Africa and
Europe.
 It lived about 15 million years ago.
 Dryoplthecus and Ramapithecus were hairy and walked like gorillas and chimpanzees.
 Ramaplthecus was more man like while Dryoplthecus was more ape like.
 Dryopithecus is the direct ancestor of modern day apes.
Characteristics :
 It was ape-like, but had arms and legs of the same length.
 Heels in its feet indicate its semierect posture.
 It had large brain, a large muzzle and large canines.
 It was without brow ridges.
 It was arboreal, knuckle-walker and ate soft fruits and leaves.
 Oryopithecus africanus is regarded a common ancestor of man and apes (gibbons, orangutan,
chimpanzee and gorilla).
 It is also called proconsul.
2. Proconsul. Discovery:
 Proconsul africanus or o. africanus was discovered by Louis S.B. Leakey in 1948 from the
rocks around lake Victoria of Kenya, Africa.
 It lived in early Miocene epoch.
Characteristics :
 It was morphologically intermediate between apes and man in many features.
 It had rounded man-like forehead and long, pointed ape like canines.
 It moved upon land on all the four limbs and hence is not considered amongst the direct
ancestors of man.
 Proconsul gave rise to the ancestors of chimpanzee and gorilla in the Pliocene, about 4 million
years ago.
 The chimpanzee and gorilla diverged from each other only about 2.3 million years ago, in the
Pleistocene epoch.
3. Sivapithecus. Discovery :
 This fossil was discovered from middle and late Pliocene rocks of Shivalik Hills of India,
hence it is named Shivapithecus.
 Characteristics :
It was like Dryopithecus. Its fore limbs, skull and brain were like those of monkeys, while the
face, jaws and teeth resembled those of apes.
4. Ramapithecus. Discovery:
 It has been established that in late Miocene epoch, Oryopithecus gave rise to Ramapithecus
('Rama' =The hero of Indian legend, Pithecus =Ape) which was on the direct line of human
evolution.
 Ramapithecus survived from late Miocene to Pliocene.
 Thus, he appeared about 14-15 million years ago.
 Fossil of Ramapithecus was discovered by Edward Lewis (1932) from Pliocene rocks of
Shivalik Hills of India.
 Kenyapithecus wickeri was discovered by L.S.B. Leakey (1962) from Pliocene rocks of Kenya
(Africa).
 It was similar to Ramapithecus. But Ramapithecus was older than Kenyapithecus.

B. Ape-men Including Prehistoric Men

1. Australopithecus (First Ape-man) :
 The early human stock gave rise to Australopithecus.
 It is the connecting link between apes and man.
 Discovery. Raymond Dart (1924), South African anthropologist, discovered the fossil of
Australopithecus africanus (African Ape-man) from Pliocene rocks near Tuang in Africa.
 They appeared about 5 million years ago.
 Actually skull discovered by Dart was of 5-6 year old baby so it is also called "Tuang baby".
 Some fossils of A. africanuswere also discovered from Pleistocene epoch.
 Two mya, Australopithecines probably lived in east African grasslands.
 Evidence shows they hunted with stone weapons but essentially ate fruits.
Characteristics :
 Australopithecus africanus was about 1.5 metres high and had human as well as ape characters.
 It was with bipedal locomotion, omnivorous diet and had erect posture.
 It had human like teeth, but it had more of an ape brain than a human brain.
 Its brain capacity was about 500 cc., similar to that of an ape.
 He lived in caves.
 Brow ridges projected over the eyes.
 It did not have chin.
 There was lumbar curve in the vertebral column.
 The pelvis was broad. Australopithecus africanus existed until about 1.5 million years ago and
gave rise to Homo habilis, about two million years ago.
 Australopithecus africanus also gave rise to man-like apes called Australopithecus robustus
and Australopithecus boisei along a separate line that ended blindly (They did not give rise to
any other creatures).
 In 1981 Donald Johanson, found a 3.2 million years old skeleton of a female human ancestor.
 He nicknamed it Lucy.
 Lucy's scientific name is Australopithecus afarensis.
 Six species of Australopithecus are known.
 These are A. africanus (African Ape man, Southern Ape or Tuang baby), A. afarensis, (Lucy),
A. ramidus, A. aethiopicus, A. robustus and A. boisei. So we can say that Australopithecus had
two main types.
(i) Gracile type: Austratopithecus afarensis (Johanson) represented by fossil Lucy with small
brain, small molar teeth pelvic girdles and short fingers like human.
(ii) Robust type: A. robustus had heavier body structure and massive check tooth (also called
originally Paranthropus) cranial capacity -600cm2.
(Other examples -Zinjanthropus / A. boisei of R. Leakey -Africa, Meganthropus from -Java)

Australopithecus
Skull and reconstructed head
2. Homo habilis (Able or Skillful man, The tool maker, or 'Handy man'). Discovery:
 Louis S.B. Leakey and his wife Mary Leakey (1960) discovered the fossils of Homo habifis
from Pleistocene rocks of Olduvai Gorge in East Africa.
 He lived in Africa, about 2 million years ago.
 The first human like being the hominid was Homo habilis. They probably did not eat meat.
Characteristics:
 He was about 1.2 to 1.S metres tall.
 He had bipedal locomotion and moved erect.
 It had about 650-800 cc. cranial capacity.
 The teeth were like that of modern man.
 Homo habilis (habilis = mentally able or skillful) was the first tool maker and used tools of
chipped stones extensively.
 It is also called handy man because heaps of tools found with these fossils included sharpened
stones which indicate that Homo habilis was capable of 'making tools'.
 He also led community life in caves and greatly cared for the young ones.
3. Homo erectus (Erect man) :
 Homo erectus appeared about 1.5 million years ago, in middle Pleistocene.
 Homo erectus probably ate meat.
 He is called middle pleistocene man. H. erectus evolved from Homo habifis.
 He was about 1.5-1.8 metres tall.
 Homo erectus males were probably larger than females. He had erect posture.
 His skull was flatter than that of modern man.
 He had protruding jaws, projecting brow ridges and small canines and large molar teeth.
 The cranial capacity was 900 cc.
 Cranium was domed to accommodate the large brain.
 He was omnivorous.
 He made more elaborate tools of stones and bones, hunted big game and perhaps knew the use
of fire.

Homo erectus
Skull and reconstructed head

Homo erectus includes three fossils : Java Ape-man, Peking man and Heidelberg man.
(a) Java Ape-man. Discovery:
 In 1891, Eugene Dubois discovered a fossil from Pleistocene rocks in central Java (Island of
Indonesia).
 Eugene Dubois named it as Pithecanthropus erectus.
 Pithecanthropus means 'ape man' Mayer in 1950 assigned it as Homo erectus erectus.
Characteristics :
 Body 1.65 to 1.75 metres tall and weight about 70 kg.
 Legs long and erect, but body slightly bent when moving.
 Inconspicuous chin and somewhat broader nose.
 Forehead low and receding, but brow ridges high, like those of apes.
 Skull cap thick and heavy, flattened infront.
 Cranial capacity 800 to 1000 ce. (average 950 cc).
 Lower jaw large and heavy.
 Teeth large, but quite like those of modem man, except larger canines of the lower jaw.
 Lips thick and protruding.
 He was omnivorous and cannibal.
 Perhaps, he was the first prehistoric man to make use of fire for hunting, defence and cooking.
(b) Peking Man. Discovery:
 W.C. Pei (1924) discovered the fossils of Peking man from the lime stone caves of
Choukoutein near Peking (Beijing -capital of China was formerly known as Peking) and
named them Sinanthropus.
 Davidson Black (1927) named it Sinanthropus pekinensis.
 Mayer (1950) renamed it as Homo erectus pekinensis (a subspecies).
 The Pleistocene rocks from which fossils of Peking man were excavated are about 6 lakh years
old.
 Characteristics :
 Placing Java ape man and Peking man as subspecies of Homo erectus has a sound basis,
because of close similarities between these.
 The body structure was quite similar in both.
 Being about 1.55 to 1.60 metres tall, Peking man was slightly shorter and a little lighter and
weaker.
 The only noticeable difference of Peking man from Java ape man was its large cranial capacity,
which ranged from 850 to 1100 cc.
 Like Java ape man, the Peking man was omnivorous and cannibal.
 There is a clear evidence of use of fire by it.
 It has been confirmed that both Java and Peking men used to live in caves in small groups or
tribes.
 The tools of Peking man were relatively more sophisticated.
(c) Heidelberg man. Discovery :
 In 1908 one of the most perfect fossil jaws belonging to middle Pleistocene was found by
workmen working near Heidelberg, Germany.
 It was shown to Otto Schoetensack, who gets the credit for its discovery. It was named Homo
erectus heidelbergensis.
Characteristics :
 It had lower jaw with all the teeth.
 The teeth were human like.
 The massive jaw was ape-like.
 He used the tools and fire.
 The cranial capacity is believed to be about 1300 cc; which is intermediate between those of
erect man (H. erectus) and Neanderthal man (H. sapiens neanderthalensis).
 Thus, it is regarded as intermediate between pithecanthropines and Neanderthals.

C. True Men Including the Living Modern Man

1. Neanderthal Man (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis). Discovery:
 Fossils of Neanderthal man were first obtained from Neanderthal Valley in Germany from the
late Pleistocene epoch by C. Fuhlrott (1856).
 Later, many other fossils were excavated in various countries by different palaeontologists.

Neanderthal man
Skull and reconstructed head
Characteristics:
 He had slightly prognathous face.
 Neanderthal man walked upright, as we do, and had low brows, receding jaws, and high domed
heads.
 If there was anything truly different about them, it was that they were much stockier than we
are.
 The cranial capacity was 1,300 to 1,600 cubic centimetres.
 Neanderthal man existed half a million years ago, but was most numerous from about 100,000
years ago.
 Became extinct 30,000 years ago.
 Neanderthal man was the legendary cave dweller, having heavy brow ridge and humped back.
 He was adapted to a cold environment, who encountered a succession of glaciers that passed
over most of the northern temperate regions of the world.
 He was not only skilled hunter but true predator, a specialization that did not occur among
hominids before or after them.
 The Neanderthal man was cannibal and fashioned the skin into clothing to protect himself
against the harsh climate.
 Natural caves became campsites that were illuminated and heated by fire.
 It is believed that he buried his dead with flowers and tools. He may have had a religion.
 It is usually considered that Homo sapiens neanderthalensis did not evolve into Homo sapiens.
2. Cro-magnon man (Homo sapiens tossilis). Discovery:
 It has been known as Cro-Magnon man, because its fossils were first discovered in 1868 from
Cro-Magnon rocks of France by MacGregor.
 Cro-Magnon man emerged about 34,000 years ago in Holocene epoch.
 Thus, he is regarded as most recent ancestor of today's man.
Characteristics:
 The Cro-Magnon man had, like us, about 1.8 metres tall, well-built body.
 His face was perfectly orthognathous with an arrow, elevated nose, braad and arched forehead,
moderate brow-ridges, strong jaws with man-like dentition, and a well developed chin.
 His cranial capacity was, however, somewhat more than ours, being about 1650 cc.
 It is, therefore, believed that Cro-Magnon man was somewhat more intelligent and cultured
than the man of today.
 It could walk and run faster and lived with families in caves.
 It made excellent tools and even ornaments, not only of stones and bones, but also of elephant
tusks.
 Its tools included spears, bows and arrows, as he was omnivorous.
 Use of the skin clothes by this man is also confirmed.
 A number of cave paintings done by Cro-Magnon man have been discovered.
 The Cro-Magnon man was the direct ancestor of the living modern man.
 Prehistoric cave art developed about 18,000 years ago.
 3. The Living Modern Man (Homo sapiens sapiens). Discovery :
 Further evolution of man after Cro-Magnon involves the evolution of culture rather than that of
anatomy.
 Homo sapiens sapiens appeared about 25,000 years ago in Holocene epoch and started
spreading all over the world about 10,000 years ago.
 Agriculture came around 10,000 years back and human settlements started.

MODERN HUMANS
Homo sapiens
 The evolutionary journey to modern humans ends with the appearance, about five hundred
thousand years ago, of Homo sapiens ("wise man"), our own species.
 We are newcomers to the human family -H. sapiens has not been around nearly as long as H.
erectus was.
 Still, humans have changed quite a bit, since those first days.

Concept Builder
Out of Africa -Again
 The origin of human races is a much-debated point among scientists studying human evolution.
 Many argue that the different races evolved from H. erectus independently, and that each
adapted to a different place -Orientals in Asia, Caucasians in Europe, Aborigines in Australia,
and so on.
 Others believe that the same species would be unlikely to evolve more than once and argue that
human races appeared after H. sapiens evolved from H. erectus.
 Recently, scientists studying mitochondrial DNA from living humans all over the world have
argued that their research shows that all human races originated from one H. sapiens ancestor
in Africa.
 Scientists looked at mitochondrial DNA to study evolution, because the DNA within
mitochondria is transmitted only by females.
 Female's eggs carry many mitochondria within them that become part of a new baby, while
sperms contribute no mitochondria to the new baby.
 Sperms carry their mitochondria wrapped around their tails and so do not inject them into the
egg during fertilization.
 For that reason, particular versions of a mitochondrial gene can be traced back through a
family tree, from mother to grandmother to great-grandmother.
 Human races evolved only recently in the evolutionary scale of things, and there has not been
enough time for many mitochondrial DNA differences to accumulate, so the exact human tree
cannot be reliably traced using this approach.
 So far, however, the greatest number of different mitochondrial DNA sequences occur among
modern Africans.
  Since DNA accumulates mutations over time, the oldest DNA should show the largest number
 of mutations.
 This result thus argues, that humans have been living in Africa longer than on any other
 continent.
 While researchers are not in complete consensus, this line of investigation appears to suggest
 that H. sapiens evolved in Africa and that the human races evolved after that, and not

independently from separate species of H. erectus.
 If this Is correct, then H. sapiens was born in Africa and from there spread to all parts of the
world, retracing the path taken by H. erectus half a million years before.

A comparison of the skulls of adult modern human being,

baby chimpanzee and adult chimpanzee. The skull of baby chimpanzee is
more like adult human skull than adult chimpanzee skull

Homology In Chromosomes of Man and Great Apes

 The somatic cells of humans contain 46 chromosomes (44 autosomes and 2 sex-
chromosomes).
 Human chromosomes are usually obtained by culturing certain types of white blood cells from
the peripheral blood.
 They can then be treated with specific stains to produce characteristic bands along the length of
each chromosome.
 The pattern of banding so obtained is unique for each pair of chromosomes.
 Banding techniques enable the identification of individual chromosomes and their parts.
 The diploid number of chromosomes in gorilla, chimpanzee and orangutan is 48.
 Comparisons have been made between banded chromosomes of man and those of the great
apes.
 The total amount of DNA in human diploid cells and that of the great apes are not dissimilar.
  But what is most interesting from an evolutionary
viewpoint, is that the banding pattern of individual
human chromosomes is very similar and in some
instances, identical to the banding pattern of
apparently homologous chromosomes in the great
apes.
 Diagrammatic representations of the banding pattern
of human chromosome numbers 3 and 6 are
compared with those of particular autosomes in the
chimpanzee.
 This remarkable similarity in the fine structural
organisation of the chromosomes is understandable
only in terms of a common origin for man and
chimpanzee.

Concept Builder
 Cope's Law: It states that there is a tendency for animals to increase in size during the long
course of evolution.
 Bergman's Law : It states that warm blooded animals become larger in the northern and
colder parts of their range.
 Allen's Law : It states, that in animals which live in very cold climates, their extremities such
as ears, tails etc. become progressively smaller.
 Gause's Law: (Gause, 1934) or the Competitive exclusion Principle (Hardin, 1960). It states
that two species having the same ecological requirements cannot continue to occupy
indefinitely the same habitat.
 Gloger's rule: It states that among warm blooded animals, those living in warm and moist
climate develop more melanin pigment (are darker than animals in cold, dry climates) whereas
forms in dry, hot climates have more yellow and red pigment.
 Jordan's rule: Temperature also influences the morphology of certain fishes and is found to
have some relation with the number of vertebrae. Fishes inhabiting water of low temperature
tend to have more vertebrae than those of warmer water.

Conceptual Questions
Identify and explain the evidence that closely links humans to chimpanzees.
What evidence would help the scientists to establish whether a primate was bipedal?
(i) Skull size (ii) Femur weight
(iii) Pelvis shape (iv) Number of ribs
What advantage do forward facing eyes confer to those animals that posses this trait?
What is the most important aspect of human evolution?
Q.5 What species is most likely to have been the direct ancestor of our own species, Homo
sapiens?
Ans. 1. DNA nucleotide sequences in chimpanzees and humans may differ by only about 5%. 287
amino acids in human hemoglobin are identical to those amino acids in chimpanzee
hemoglobin.
2. Pelvis shape
3. Binocular vision
4. Increasin brain size
5. Homo erectus

Self Assessment
Q.41 Which of the following is not true?
(1) About 15 mya, primates called Oryopithecus and Ramapithecus were existing
(2) Ramapithecus was more ape like
(3) Homo erectus had a large brain around 900 cm3
(4) The brain capacities were between 650 to 800 em3 of Homo habilis
Q.42 Who were the first to use hides to protect their body and buried their dead?
(1) Neanderthal man (2) Homo erectus (3) Cromagnon man (4) Homo habilis
Q.43 Modern Homo sapiens arose
(1) Near east and central Asia between 1,00,000 to 40,000 years back
(2) During ice age between 75,000 to 10, 000 years ago
(3) About 10,000 years back
(4) About 18,000 years ago
Q.44 The most apparent change during the evolutionary history of Homo sapiens is traced in
(1) Loss of body hair (2) Walking upright
(3) Shortening of the jaws (4) Remarkable increase in the brain size
Q.45 The first human like being the hominid was called
(1) Australopithecus (2) Homo erectus (3) Homo habilis (4) Homo sapiens
Q.46 What evidence suggests that chimpanzee is more closely related to humans than other
hominoid apes?
(1) DNA from sex chromosomes only
(2) Chromosome morphology only
(3) Fossil remains
(4) DNA of both autosomes and the sex chromosomes
Q.47 Centre of human evolution was
(1) Ethiopian realm (2) Oriental realm (3) Palaearctic realm (4) Neotropical realm
Q.48 A well preserved and most complete homonid fossil named Lucy belongs to the genus
(1) Oryopithecus (2) Australopithecus (3) Homo (4) Pithecanthropus
Q.49 Which of the following is direct ancestor of Homo sapiens?
(1) Homo erectus (2) Homo sapiens neanderthalensis
(3) Ramapithecus (4) Australopithecus
Q.50 Modern man differs from apes in
(1) Protruding eyes (2) Sparse body hair
(3) Arms shorter than legs (4) Wearing of clothes

Ans. Q.41 (2), Q.42 (1), Q.43 (2), Q.44 (4), Q.45 (3), Q.46 (4), Q.47 (1), Q.48 (2), Q.49 (1),
Q.50 (3)

Some Important Points

1. Mars has CO2, water vapours and supposed to have life. CO2 is present in traces. It has no
green house effect, hence it is very cold and does not support life. Mercury and moon do not
have any sign of life due to the absence of water vapours. This extra terrestrial origin of life
was visualised by Hoyle and Wickremsinghe.
2. Darwin used the term 'warm little pond' for early hot sea, rich in biomolecules. These
primitive seas were alkaline.
3. K. Bahadur exposed ammonia, formaldehyde, and ferrous chloride to strong sunlight and
obtained a mixture of amino acids called Jivam.
4. Variation In behaviour -Cicada insect has a life span of 17 years and it emerges from soil,
remains alive for 5 weeks and then dies after mating and laying eggs. Dolphins can imitate and
laugh. Bat can detect small insects of size (o.oa mm). Male baya (weaver's bird) of India builds
its elaborate nest and decorates it with colourful petals to attract female.
5. Multiformity among organisms -Internal differentiation increases with the progress in
evolution. Human beings are one of the most recently evolved animals. They show the
following features :
(a) Total length of blood vessels in our body is 96,000 km.
(b) Fastest nerve impulse travels at the rate of 532 km per hour.
(c) Internal area of our lungs is 93-100 m2 which is 40 times than the external surface area of
our body.
(d) Human brains have 10,000 million nerve cells.
(e) We have more body hair than apes but shorter and softer.
(f) O2 disappears from atmosphere at 16 km height.
(g) We remain blind for 30 minutes per day by blinking our eyes.
(h) Bones are as strong as concrete and as hard as granite but far lighter than both.
(i) We retain only 18% of total that we learnt yesterday.
6. Synapsid reptiles were mammal like reptiles that gave rise to mammals. They had a single
temporal fossa on the lateral side of skull and heterodont teeth. They are extinct. They
originated in Permian period.
7. In 1858 Dr. P.L. Sclater divided for first time the earth into six regions (realms) according to
the distribution of birds. Later on Alfred Russel Wallace (1876) classified the earth into six
regions (realms) for all animals and plants.
8. In all animals, early development is similar i.e., passes through morula  blastula  gastrula
stages, showing their common origin.
9. Early embryos of all the vertebrates show basic similarity in having somites, tail, gill clefts,
notochord etc. These traits can be explained as a character of evolution.
10. Any vertebrate organ also passes through different stages during development. e.g.,
mammalian heart is initially two chambered, then becomes three chambered and then becomes
four chambered.
Development of all triploblastic animals starts from zygote, undergoes similar changes to
form gastrula having 3 primary germ layers (ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm) which have
same fate in organogenesis. Early embryos of different vertebrates resemble in possessing
similar structures like gill slits, notochord, tail etc. Not only this, in the course of development,
at different stages, an embryo looks like the embryo of different phyla form, which the given
organism has evolved.
It can be explained on the basis of Recapitulation theory (Von Baer) / Biogenetic law
(Haeckel) which states that "ontogeny (developmental history of an individual) repeats
phylogeny" (developmental history of race).
11. Types of fossils
(i) Macrofossils: Larger than 1 cm in size.
(ii) Unusual fossils: Sudden preservation of entire organism e.g., Solenhofen Limestone quarry of
Southern Germany -containing fossils of Archaeopteryx.
(iii) Bioclast: Fossils or fragments of fossils enclosed in sediments. The term is usually applied to
thin sections of fossils under microscope.
(iv) Gastroliths: These are found in abundance in the body cavities of certain reptiles.
(v) Moulds and casts: The material surrounding the fossil hardens and preserves the outer details.
The actual bodies diSintegrate and are removed by slippage of the ground leaving the harden
cavities called moulds. When moulds are filled with natural deposits, they are·called as casts
e.g., fossils of Pompeii city buried in volcanic ash of mount Vesuvious in A.D. 79.
(vi) Tracks and trails : The footprints or tracks left in the soft moist mud gets hardened up e.g.,
tracks of amphibians discovered near Pittsburg, Germany from Pennsylvanian period.
12. Preservation in ice : Woolly mammoths from Siberia. The flesh is so well preserved that it
can be fed to dogs. Discovered from Lena delta in 1790 and Siberia in 1901.
13. Fossils in petroleum springs and asphalts : Rancho La Brea now in Los Angeles.
14. Fossils in resins and ambers: Fossil fly in amber from Baltic forests of Europe during
Oligocene period.
15. The process of fossilization to preserve the finer details is known as histometabasis.
16. Mummies: Bodies of dead animals or plants become dehydrated in the deserts and are
preserved as mummies.
17. T. Dobzhansky wrote the book 'Genetics and origin of species'.
18. Darlington wrote the book 'The evolution of genetic systems'.
19. Darwin wrote 'Descent of Man and Selection in relation of sex' in which he put forward his
theory of evolution of man from ape like ancestors.
20. Law of Superposition : The lower strata of a geological formation was first to be deposited
and is the oldest.
21. Willston's Rule : During evolution of lineage, serially homologue parts tend to reduce in
number but get more and more differentiated e.g., prawn's leg.
22. Allometry: The study of differential growth rate was called allometry.
23. Missing links : The fossils which act as transition between two present day groups of
organisms ego Archaeopteryx -a fossil of crow sized toothed bird act as a link between reptiles
and birds.
24. Empedocales (493 -435 B.C.) -regarded as "Father of the Concept of Evolution".
25. Seymouria (Extinct Reptile) is a connecting link between amphibia and reptilia.
26. Lycaenops (Extinct Reptile) is a connecting link between reptiles and mammals.
27. Wallace's Line: In 1863 A.R. Wallace drew an imaginary dividing line on the map between
the Oriental and Australian realms (regions). This line is known as Wallace's line.
28. Sibling species: Species which are morphologically looking similar but are reproductively
isolated, are called sibling species.
29. Living Fossils: A living fossil is a living animal of ancient origin with many primitive
characters. A living fossil has been living as such from the time of origin without many
changes.
30. Eugenics: It is the branch of science which deals with improvement of human race genetically.
It can also be divided into two types : Negative eugenics and Positive eugenics. Under
negative eugenics, people with inferior and undesirable (dysgenic) traits are prevented from
reproducing.
31. PRIMATE ORDER

SUB ORDER PROSIMIAN ANTHROPOIDEA

SUPER FAMILY Lemuroidea Tarsiodiea Ceboidea Cercopithecoidea

(Tarsier) New world Old world monkeys
Monkeys Catarrhine
FAMILY Lemuridae Loridae
Platyrrhine
(Lemurs) (Galago, loris)

Callithricidae Cebidae Cercopithecidae Hylobatidae Pongidae Hominidae

Marmoset Cebus Monkey (Baboon and (Gibbon) Gorilla Man e.g., Man
Howler Monkey Macaque) (Asia) Great apes,
Spider Monkey Chimpanzee
(Africa)
Orangutan
(Asia)
32. Homo sapiens or modern man is a member of the order primate, sub-order Anthropoidea.
Primates have supposed to have evolved from primitive, tiny, insect eating quadruped, similar
to modern tree shrews, which lived between 75 and 60 MYA during Eocene period. These
belong to order Insectivora. Two evolutionary lines diverged leading to present day prosimians
(treeshrews, lemurs, loris and tarsier) and the Anthropoidea (including old world and new
world monkey, Ape and man)
33. The first (Ape + Man) ancestor originated in Oligocene period 30-35 MY A under the name
Propliopithecus. (Fayiim deposits of Egypt). It is represented by fossil jaws and teeth.
Aegyptopithecus is contemporary of Prppliopithecus (Kahira).
34. Dryopithecus -The Oligocene ancestor gave rise to Miocene group of (Apes + Man) called
Dryopithecus (formerly known as proconsul). It lived in Africa and Asia. It had semi-erect
posture with hind limbs and fore limbs of the same size. Hands and skull were monkey like,
fore head like humans, jaw and dentition like apes. Shivapithecus discovered by Chopra Simon
team is another fossil ape from Shivalik hills in India (derived from Dryopithecian stock).
An aberrant branch from Oryopithecus evolved in late Miocene early Pliocene, Oreopithecus
which later on became extinct. Ramapithecus (= kenyapithecus) 14-15 MYA few teeth and
fragments of jaw. Believed to have evolved from Dryopithecus in Shivalik hills in India during
late Miocene and early Pliocene.
35. Gremaldi -From caves in a village Grimaldi on the Mediterranean coast, cranial capacity 1655
cc., believed to have given rise to Negroid stock.
Chancelade -Rock shelter near chancelede in Dordogne France, Cranial capacity -1450 cc.,
gave rise to Modern Eskimos.
36. Modern Man -H.sapiens sapiens evolved about 25,000 years ago but spread to various parts
of world about 10000 -11000 years ago. There is thining of skull bones, slight reduction in
cranial capacity (1400 -1450 cm3), four flexors in vertebral column and slight raising of skull
cap. Modern man underwent cultural evolution. Paleolithic (age of tools of stones, bones, cave
paintings). Mesolithic (age of animal husbandry, development of language reading and
writings). Neolithic (development of agriculture, manufacture of pottery and clothes). Bronze
age followed by iron age.
Forgery of Piltdown Man (Eoanthropus dawsoni) Charles Dawson in 1921 reconstructed the
skull from the cranium of modern man and lower jaw of ape. The fossil skull known as
Piltdown, the English hamlet where it was found.
37. Cranial Capacities
Gorilla - 550 cc. Chimpanzee - 400 cc.
Gibbon - 100 cc. AustraJopithecus - 350-450 cc.
Homo habilis - 650-800 cc. Java Man - 915-1225 cc.
(Pithecanthropus)
Peking Man - 915-1225 cc. Neanderthal Man - 1200-1600 cc.
(Homo erectus) (Homo sapiens neaderthalensis)
Cro-Magnon Man - 1650 cc. Modern Man - 1400-1450 cc.
(H. sapiens tossilis) (Homo sapiens sapeins)
38. Transitional forms connecting Home erectus with Homo sapiens have been uncovered from
Europe -Steinheim skull (Germany) Swanscombe skull (2nd Interglacial period) Fontechvade
skulls (France 3rd Interglacial period) Ehringsdore skull. The above all are called as early
H.sapiens.
The course of evolution of man started in Africa.
 Summary
 The origin of life on earth can be understood only against the background of origin of universe
especially earth.
 Most scientists believe chemical evolution, i.e., formation of biomolecules preceded the
appearance of the first cellular forms of life.
 The subsequent events as to what happened to the first form of life is a conjectured story based
on Darwinian ideas of organic evolution by natural selection.
 Diversity of life forms on earth has been changing over millions of years.
 It is generally believed that variations in a population result in variable fitness.
 Other phenomena like habitat fragmentation and genetic drift may accentuate these variations
leading to appearance of new species and hence evolution.
 Homology is accounted for by the idea of branching descent.
 Study of comparative anatomy, fossils and comparative biochemistry provides evidence for
evolution.
 Among the stories of evolution of individual species, the story of evolution of modern man is
most interesting and appears to parallel evolution of human brain and language.
 About 15 mya, primates called Oryopithecus and Ramapithecus were existing.
 They were hairy and walked like gorillas and chimpanzees.
 Ramapithecuswas more man-like while Oryopithecus was more ape-like.
 Few fossils of man-like bones have been discovered in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
 These revealed hominid features leading to the belief that about 3-4 mya, man-like primates
walked in eastern Africa.
 They were probably not taller than 4 feet but walked up right.
 Two mya, Australopithecines probably lived in East African grasslands.
 Evidence shows they hunted with stone weapons but essentially ate fruit.
 Some of the bones among the bones discovered were different.
 This creature was called the first human-like being the hominid and was called Homo habilis.
 The brain capacities were between 650-800cc.
 They probably did not eat meat.
 Fossils discovered in Java in 1891 revealed the next stage, i.e., Homo erectus about 1.5 mya.
 Homo erectus had a large brain around 900cc.
 Homo erectus probably ate meat.
 The Neanderthal man with a brain size of 1400cc lived in near east and central Asia between
1,00,000-40,000 years back.
 They used hides to protect their body and buried their dead.
 Homo sapiens arose in Africa and moved across continents and developed into distinct races.
 During ice age between 75,000-10,000 years ago modern Homo sapiens arose.
 Pre-historic cave art developed about 18,000 years ago.
 Agriculture came around 10,000 years back and human settlements started.
 The rest of what happened is part of human history of growth and decline of civilisations.
 Exercise –1
Section–A
Basic unit of evolution is
(1) Species (2) Population (3) Individual (4) Mutation
Evolution is defined as
(1) History of race
(2) Development of race
(3) History and development of race with evolution
(4) Progressive history of race
Origin of earth dates back to
(1) 3500 million years ago (2) 4600 million years ago
(3) 2900 million years ago (4) 10,000-20,000 million years ago
Eukaryotes developed around
(1) 1,600 million years ago (2) 459 million years ago
(3) 3,800 million years ago (4) 4,200 million years ago
Simple one-celled cyanobacteria like organisms appeared on earth
(1) 5600 million years ago (2) 5000 million years ago
(3) 4600 million years ago (4) 3.3 to 3.5 billion years 8g0
Theory of abiogenesis or spontaneous generation was finally disapproved by
(1) Louis Pasteur (2) A.I. Oparin (3) AR. Wallace (4) Sydney Fox
Which of the following experiments suggests that simplest living organisms could not have
originated spontaneously from the non-living matter?
(1) Larvae could appear in decaying organic matter
(2) Microbes did not appear in stored meat
(3) Microbes appeared from unsterilized organic matter
(4) Meat was not spoiled, when heated and kept sealed in a vessel
The proponent of the theory of spontaneous generation was
(1) Louis Pasteur (2) Von Helmant (3) Spallanzani (4) Francesco Redi
According to cosmozoic theory, life comes on earth from other planets in space in the form of
(1) Spores (2) Seeds (3) Gametes (4) All of these
The theory that living organisms on the earth came from outer space is based on the study of
(1) Igneous rocks (2) Sedimentary rocks (3) Meteorites (4) Moon soil
One of the following appeared on the earth with the coming of the plants and was absent in the
past
(1) Carbon dioxide (2) Methane (3) Ammonia (4) Oxygen
The scientist related with the theory of biogenesis and experiments with swan-necked flasks is
(1) Von Helmont (2) Louis Pasteur (3) Miller (4) Haeckel
The atmosphere became oxidising with the appearance of
(1) Autotrophic bacteria (2) Autotrophic cyanobacteria
(3) Land plants (4) Algae
Which one of the following gas was not present in free form at the time life originated on
earth?
(1) Ammonia (2) Oxygen (3) Hydrogen (4) Methane
An experiment to prove that organic compounds were the basis of life, was performed by
(1) Von Helmont (2) Opann (3) S. Miller (4) Fox
Stanley Miller had put the Oparin-Haldane theory to test in 1953 by creating in the laboratory,
the probable conditions on the primitive earth. In the experiment simple amino acids were
synthesized from which of the following mixtures, as observed after eighteen days?
(1) H2, O2, N2, and H2O (2) CH2, CN, H2, and O2
(3) H2, NH3 , CH4 and water vapour (4) NH3, CH4, and O2
The English scientist who worked on the origin of life and settled in India?
(1) A. I. Oparin (2) J. B. S. Haldane (3) Louis Pasteur (4) Van Helmont
Which ones are the most essential for origin of life?
(1) Enzymes (2) Proteins (3) Carbohydrates (4) Nucleic acid
Russian scientist who proposed the theory of origin of life was
(1) Opann (2) Haldane (3) Miller (4) None of these
Presence of NaCl in body fluid indicates that life originated in
(1) Primitive ocean (2) Rain water lakes (3) Salt solution (4) All of these
Origin of life from nonliving matter is known as
(1) Coaoervates (2) Abiogenesis (3) Biogenesis (4) None of these
A.I. Oparin wrote
(1) Origin of species (2) Origin of life
(3) Philosophic zoologique (4) The planet
The first organisms appeared on earth were
(1) Chemoheterotrophs (2) Chemoautotrophs
(3) Photoautotrophs (4) Decomposers
Most important condition for origin of life is the presence of
(1) Water (2) Oxygen (3) Nitrogen (4) Carbon
H.C. Urey wrote the following book
(1) The Planets (2) Origin of Life
(3) The Origin of species (4) None of these
During the origin and evolution of life, key biological compounds were progressively
synthesised in ocean with the help of energy obtainable from
(1) Lightning (2) Ultraviolet light
(3) Lightning as well as ultra-violet light (4) Combustion of certain compounds
Which of the type of respiration probably arose first?
(1) Aerobic as it releases more energy
(2) Anaerobic as it releases more energy
(3) Aerobic as it is more complex
(4) Anaerobic as early atmosphere contained little or no oxygen
Early atmosphere contained methane and other hydrocarbons. They have been now replaced by
(1) Nitrogen (2) Oxygen (3) Carbondioxide (4) Hydrogen
According to the discovery made in 1980's. RNA can act like enzyme to assemble new RNA
molecules on RNA template. Which of the following statements is not proved by this theory?
(1) Coacervates may not have been the first step in the evolution of life
(2) Perhaps the first macromolecule was RNA
(3) Coacervates were the basis for the first cell
(4) After formation of RNA, stability of molecule improved by surrounding RNA within a
coacervate
Aggregates of artifically produced prebiotlc molecules are called as
(1) Protobionts (2) Microspheres (3) Coacervates (4) Procaryotes
Evolutionary process, giving rise to new species adapted to new habitats and ways of life, is
called as adaptive radiation, for example
(1) Darwin's Finches in Galapagos Islands
(2) Australian marsupials that radiated to form new species
(3) Wolf and Tasmanian Wolf
(4) Both (1) & (2)
Humming birds and Hawk illustrate
(1) Convergent evolution (2) Homology
(3) Adaptive radiation (4) Parallel evolution
Convergent evolution is illustrated by
(1) Rat and Dog (2) Bacterium and Protozoan
(3) Star fish and Cuttle fish (4) Dog fish and Whale
All the following are examples of homologous organs, except
(1) Arm of man and flipper of whale
(2) Thorn of Bougainvillaea and tendril of Cucurbita
(3) Eye of an octopus and eye of a mammal
(4) Brain of frog and man
The homologous organs are
(1) Wings of pigeon and housefly (2) Wings of housefly and bat
(3) Wings of pigeon and forelimbs of man (4) Wings of butterfly, bat and housefly
Anatomically and structurally different, but functionally similar structures are called
(1) Analogous (2) Divergent (3) Homologous (4) Convergent
Organs which have similar origin and developmental plan, but different functions are called
(1) Vestigial organs (2) Analogous organs
(3) Homologousorgans (4) Physiological organs
Find the odd one out
(1) Trunk of an elephant and hand of a chimpanzee
(2) Ginger and sweet potato
(3) Wings of bat and insect (4) Nails of human beings and claws of a cat
The convergent evolution of two species is usually associated with
(1) A recent common ancestor (2) Analogous organ
(3) Homologous organ (4) Different habitat
Find the odd one out w.r.t evolution
(1) Seal's flipper (2) Bat's wing (3) Horse's foot (4) Butterfly's wings
Which of the following s not vestigeal organ in human beings?
(1) Rudimentary ear muscles and third molars (wisdom 1eeth), body hair
(2) Coccygeal tail vertebrae and scalp muscles
(3) Vermiform appendix and nictitating membrane of the eye
(4) Ear pinna, patella, olecranon process
Which of the following are the vestigial organs of man?
(1) Hair, olecranon process, coccyx, patella
(2) Coccyx, vermiform appendix, ear muscles
(3) Wisdom tooth, mammary gland, coccyx, patella
(4) Coccyx, hair, ear ossicles and vermiform appendix
Which of the following is a vestigial organ?
(1) Vermiform appendix (2) Atfas
(3) Premolars (4) Incisors
Which of the following is not a vestigial organ?
(1) Scalp hair (2) Epiglottis
(3) Vermiform appendix (4) Wisdom tooth
Archaeopteryx is a connecting link between
(1) Birds and reptiles (2) Reptiles and mammals
(3) Annelids and arthropods (4) Amphibians and fishes
The 'Recapitulation Theory' was put forth by
(1) Haeckel (2) Cuvier (3) Wallace (4) Lamarck
Gill clefts and notochord appear in the embryonic development of all vertebrates from fishes to
mammals. This supports the theory of
(1) Recapitulation (2) Metamorphosis (3) Biogenesis (4) Abiogenesis
Cycas and Ginkgo are connecting links between
(1) Bryophytes and pteridophytes (2) Pteridophytes and gymnosperms
(3) Gymnosperms and angiosperms (4) Thallophyla and bryophyla
Which one of the following is not a living fossil?
(1) Peripatus (2) King crab (3) Archaeopteryx (4) Sphenodon
Haeckel's Biogenetic law states
(1) Life originates from lifeless beings
(2) Course of evolution of a race is repeated in the life history of an individual
(3) Progeny of an organism resembles its parents
(4) Life originates from pre existing life
Presence of tail and coarse hair in human baby is
(1) Radiation (2) Atavism (3) Mutation (4) Crossing over
Origin of mammal-like reptiles occurred in
(1) Triassie period (2) Permian period (3) Jurassic period (4) Tertiaryperiod
Excreta preserved as a fossil is called as
(1) Stromatolite (2) Compression fossil
(3) Intact fossil (4) Caprolite
Ape like ancestors of human appear in epoch
(1) Pleistocene (2) Pliocene (3) Miocene (4) Oligocene
Which of the following is incorrect match?
(1) Devonianperiod - Age of fishes (2) Carboniferous period - Age of amphibians
(3) Ordovician period - Age of invertebrates (4) Cretaceous period - Age of reptiles
Mesozoic era is called the
(1) Age of Fishes (2) Age of Reptiles (3) Age of Mammals (4) Age of Birds
One of the following is known as age of mammals
(1) Mesozoic (2) Palaeozoic (3) Coenozoic (4) Archaeozoic
First mammals appeared around
(1) 459 million years back (2) 220 million years back
(3) 1600 million years back (4) 3800 million years back
Which of the following arrangement of periods of the mesozoic era gives a correct sequence
from the earliest to the latest?
(1) Jurassic, triassic, cretaceous (2) Triassic, jurassic, cretaceous
(3) Permian, jurassic, triassic (4) Devonian, permian , jurassic
Jurassic period of the Mesozoic era is characterised by which of the following
(1) Gymnosperms are dominant plants and first birds appear
(2) Dinosaurs become extinct and angiosperms appear
(3) Flowering plants and first dinosaurs appear
(4) Radiation of reptiles and orig in of mammal like reptiles
The flowering plants originated in which of the following periods?
(1) Cretaceous (2) Tertiary period (3) Triassic (4) Carboniferous
Amphibia first appeared in which of the following period?
(1) Permian (2) Carboniferous (3) Devonian (4) Silurian
 The Permian period, during which the first most modern orders of insects appeared, occurred
approximately
(1) 80 million years ago (2) 150 million years ago
(3) 280 million years ago (4) 550 million years ago
Dinosaurs were abundant in
(1) Jurassic period (2) Devonian period (3) Permian period (4) Pleistocene period
Fossils of Archaeopteryxwere found from
(1) Jurassic rocks (2) Triassic rocks (3) Cretaceous rocks (4) Cenozoic rocks
The epoch of human civilization is
(1) Pliocene (2) Holocene (3) Pleistocene (4) Palaeocene
Continental drift explains
(1) Mass extinctions (2) Distribution of fossils on earth
(3) Geographical upheavals (4) All of these
Which one provides direct and solid evidence in favour of organic evolution through ages?
(1) Atavism (2) Palaeontology
(3) Vestigealorgans (4) Galapagosislandfauna
The origin of seeds in the land plants was achieved about 345 million years ago, in lineages
recognised as ancestral to all more advanced vascular plants in
(1) Rhynia (2) Tracheophyteancestor
(3) Seed ferns (4) Conifers
The last major evolutionary advancement among the vascular plants was the emergence of
flowering plants (angiosperms) about
(1) 350 million years ago (2) 140 million years ago
(3) 16,00 million years ago (4) 220 million years ago
An evolutionary trend in which there is general degeneration and loss of organs is
(1) Progressive (2) Vestigeal (3) Retrogressive (4) Stasigenesis
As horse evolved, there was progressive reduction in number of toes. Which of the following is
correct sequence in the evolution of horse?
(1) Orohippus, Hyracotherium, Mesohippus, Callipus, Merychippus, Pliohippus, Equus
(2) Hyracotherium, Orohippus, Mesohippus, Merychippus, Pliohippus, Equus
(3) Orohippus, Callipus, Hyracotherium, Mesohippus, Merychippus, Pliohippus, Equus
(4) Hyracotherium, Mesohippus, Orohippus, Gallipus, Merychippus, Pliohippus and Equus
Replacement of original hard parts or even the soft tissues of the organisms by minerals is
known as
(1) Compression (2) Petrification (3) Moulds (4) Amber
The study of the fossil plants is known as
(1) Palaeontology (2) Palaeobotany (3) Palynology (4) Palaeoanatomy
Which of the following is richest in fossil?
(1) Basalt (2) Granite (3) Lava (4) Sedimentary rock
Why do we dig fossils and study them?
(1) To find new fossils that have not yet been recorded
(2) Fossil finding gives occupation to scientists
(3) Fossil fill the gaps in the evolutionary records of animals
(4) Fossils throw light on evolution of animals of the past
Which one of the following is used for dating archaeological specimens in wood, bones and
shells?
(1) Uranium-238 (2) Argon isotope (3) Carbon-14 (4) Strontium - 90
Age of fossils was previously determined by radioactive elements. More precise and recent
method which has led to revision of evolutionary period is
(1) Study of carbohydrate and protein in fossils
(2) Study of conditions of fossilisation
(3) Electron spin resonance and fossil DNA
(4) Presence of carbohydrate and protein in rocks
Fossil X is older than fossil Y. Most evident statement is
(1) Fossil Y has got some of the vestigial organs which are functional in X
(2) Fossil Y has got homologous and analogous organs of fossil X
(3) Fossil X is found in deeper sedimentation than Y
(4) Fossil Y was found in better state than that of Y
Oldest fossil of modern horse is known as
(1) Eohippus (2) Mesohippus (3) Merychippus (4) Equus
Theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characters or the Theory of Use and Disuse of Organ was
given by
(1) Wallace (2) Lamarck (3) Charles Darwin (4) Hugo de Vries
Weissman cut the tails of new born mice generation after generation, butthe tails neither
disappeared nor shortened showing that
(1) Tail has the power of regeneration
(2) Mutation theory is wrong
(3) Lamarckism was wrong in inheritance of acquired characters
(4) Tail is an essential organ
A scientist kept 80 generations of Drosophila in darkness, and even after that, the flies had
normal eyes. This disapproves law of
(1) Natural selection (2) Neo-Darwinism (3) Use and disuse (4) Synthetic theory
Who among the following is associated with concept of appetency?
(1) Lamarck (2) Charles Darwin (3) Wallace (4) Erasmus Darwin
Penguin is a bird that lost the use of its wings by not flying. Such statement would express the
views of
(1) Darwin (2) Wallace (3) Lamarck (4) Huxley
Concept of appetency was given by
(1) Lamarck (2) Darwin (3) Oparin (4) Haldane
 Which of the following is correct sequence of events in the origin of new species according to
Darwinism?
(1) Natural selection, variation and their inheritance, survival of fittest, struggle for existence,
high rate of reproduction
(2) High rate of reproduction, constancy in number, struggle for existence, inheritable
variations, survival of fittest, natural selection
(3) High rate of reproduction, variations, constancy in number, struggle for existence and
survival of fittest
(4) Variation, high rate of reproduction, constancy in number, struggle for existence, survival
of fittest, natural selection
The main drawback of Darwin's theory of Natural Selection was that it could not provide
satisfactory explanation of
(1) Survival of fittest
(2) Struggle for existence
(3) Mimicry
(4) Basis of variation and the mode of transmission of the variants to the next generation
According to the theory proposed by T.R. Malthus
(1) Population and the existing means of subsistence increase at the same rate
(2) Population increases arithmatically while existing means of subsistence increase
geometrically
(3) Population increases geometrically while the means of subsistence increase arithmetically
(4) Population increases at a fast rate butthe means of subsistence do not increase
Successful adaptation means
(1) Moving to a new means (2) Producing more offsprings
(3) An increase in fitness (4) Evolving new characteristics
Frequency of a character increases when it is
(1) Recessive (2) Dominant (3) Inheritable (4) Adaptable
"Descent of man and selection in relation to sex" was written by
(1) Nicolaus Copernicus (2) Darwin
(3) Carolus Linnaeus (4) Francesco Redi
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 offsprings
(4) Code determines which species should evolve
Darwin's theory of pangenesis proposes
(1) Development of useful organs and degeneration of useless organs
(2) Development of an organ due to will power
(3) Increase in organ size with age
(4) Every organ of the body produces minute hereditary particles called as gemmules, carried
through the blood from every organ and collected together into gametes
 Which of the following theories refused Darwin's theory of pangenesis, mentioned in the book
'On the Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication'?
(1) Lamarck's theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characters
(2) Weismann's Theory of Germplasm
(3) Haeckel's Recapitulation Theory
(4) Hugo de Vries's Mutation Theory
Hugo de Vries's contribution is
(1) Mutation Theory - on the basis of his observation on the wild variety of evening primrose
(Oenothera lamarckiana)
(2) Theory of Natural Selection
(3) Law of Dominance
(4) Law of Segregation
The Neodarwinism is a synthesis of theories proposed by
(1) Lamarck and Charles Darwin (2) Charles Darwin and A.R. Wallace
(3) Hugo de Vries and Chanes Darwin (4) Charles Darwin and F. Redi
Evolution at the genetic level, due to changes in the hereditary materials at level of population
is called
(1) Macroevolution (2) Microevolution (3) Saltation (4) Sports
Coevolution does not occur in case of
(1) Parasitism (2) Mutualism (3) Both (1) & (2) (4) Commensalism
Which of the following statements is not applicable to replica plate experiment of Lederberg
and Lederberg?
(1) Mutations are actually pre-adaptive
(2) Pre-adaptive mutations appear without exposure to new environment
(3) The new environment induces mutations
(4) The new environment only selects the pre-adaptive mutations that occurred earlier
In Lederberg's replica plating, streptomycin resistant strain can develop by using
(1) Minimal medium and streptomycin (2) Complete medium and streptomycin
(3) Only minimal medium (4) Only complete medium
Using imprints from a plate with complete medium and carrying bacterial colonies, you can
select streptomycin resistant mutants and prove that such mutations do not originate as
adaptation. These imprints need to be used
(1) On plates with and without streptomycin
(2) On plates with minimal medium
(3) Only on plates with streptomycin
(4) Only on plates without streptomycin
Experimental evidence for selection of bacteria by using the replica technique was
demonstrated by
(1) Prof. A.D. Bradshaw (2) Prof. YD. Tyagi
(3) J. Lederberg & E. Lederberg (4) Alfred Russel Wallace
Lederberg's replica plating experiment suggest
(1) Characters are heritable
(2) Natural selection plays an important role in fixing a mutation of srvival value
(3) Genes are independent entities
(4) Bacteria can multiply in culture medium
Ultimate source of variation is
(1) Recombination
(2) Mutation
(3) Genetic drift
(4) Intermingling of two widely separated populations

Section–B
Concept of genetic drift was introduced by
(1) Hardy Weinberg (2) Sewall Wright (3) Huxley (4) Hugo de Vries
Random genetic drift in a population results from
(1) Highly genetically variable individuals (2) Large population size
(3) Constant low mutation rate (4) Interbreeding within small populations
In a small population, the increase in the frequency of a character by chance that has little
adaptive value is due to
(1) Genetic drift (2) Natural selection (3) Artificial selection (4) Migration
Reduction in allele frequencies in apopulation, which often prevents the species from reversing
its path of extinction is called as
(1) Founder effect (2) Genetic mutation
(3) Genetic bottle neck (4) Microevolution
Unit of natural selection is
(1) Indwidual (2) Population (3) Species (4) Mutation
Industrial melanism is an example of
(1) Neo-Lamarkism (2) Natural selection (3) Neo-Darwinism (4) Mutation
Which of the following statement is Incorrect?
(1) Industrial melanism is an example of Natural Selection
(2) Before industrial revolution Biston betularia with grey colour was abundant
(3) Blackcoloured form of the same moth (melanic), dominant mutant, carbonaria variety
increased after industrial revolution
(4) The grey colour of Biston betuJaria was due to dominant allele
Which one of the following phenomena supports Darwin's concept of natural selection in
organic evolution?
(1) Developmentoftransgenicanimals
(2) Production of 'Dolly' the sheep by cloning
(3) Prevalence of pesticide resistant insects
(4) Developmentof organs from 'stem cells' for organ transplantation
 When selection actstoeliminate both extremes from array of phenotypes, the frequency of
intermediate type, which is already more is increased. This is called as
(1) Disruptive selection (2) Balancing selection
(3) Stabilising selection (4) Non-directional selection
Which of the following are examples of artificial selection?
(1) Kohlrabi (2) Cabbage (3) Cauliflower (4) All of these
If a sub-population becomes reproductively isolated in the midst of its parent population this
mode of speciation is called as
(1) Sympatric speciation (2) Allopatric speciation
(3) Sibling species (4) Mutation
Reproductive isolation is
(1) Inability interbreed (2) Ability to interbreed
(3) Breeding in isolation (4) Intraspecific breeding
Which of the following is not a true species?
(1) Members of a species can interbreed
(2) Gene flow does not occur between the populations of a species
(3) Each species is reproductively isolated from every other species
(4) Variations occur amongst members of a species
Mule which is produced from the mating of male donkey and a mare (female horse). is an
example of which type of reproductive isolation?
(1) Hybrid breakdown (2) Hybrid sterility
(3) Hybrid inviability (4) Reverse evolution
When a hybrid produces sterile or infertile offspring, it is known as
(1) Hybrid sterility (2) Hybrid breakdown
(3) Hybrid inviability (4) Gametic isolation
Modern synthetic theory of evolution is based upon
(1) Genetic and chromosomal mutations (2) Genetic recombination and natural selection
(3) Reproductive isolation (4) All of these
Transfer of genes from one gene pool to another is
(1) Genetic drift (2) Gene flow (3) Speciation (4) Mutation
Gene flow is
(1) Transfer of genes between genetically distinct but interbreeding populations
(2) Transfer of genes from females to males of an organism
(3) Transfer of genes from outside to chromosomes
(4) Transfer of genes from sperm to egg
Gene pool of a population tends to remain stable, if the population is large, without large scale
mutations, without migration and with
(1) Random mating (2) Moderate environmental changes
(3) Natural selection (4) Reduction in predators
Primates originated about
(1) 210 million years ago (2) 150 million years ago
(3) 65 million years ago (4) 36 million years ago
Anthropoid apes were ancestors of
(1) Monkeys (2) Apes (3) Homo habilis (4) All the these
Which one of the following is closest relative of man?
(1) Chimpanzee (2) Orangutan (3) Gorilla (4) Gibbon
Evolution of man is believed to have taken place in
(1) Central America (2) Australia (3) Asia (4) Africa
Cradle of human evolution is
(1) Grassland of South Africa (2) Savannah of Central Africa
(3) Subarctic Europe (4) Arabia
Proconsul is ancestor of
(1) Apes only (2) Man only (3) Both (1) & (2) (4) All primates
One thing is not similar in great apes and man
(1) Posture (2) DNA content
(3) Protein homology (4) Banding pattern of chromosome
The family to which Homo sapiens belongs is
(1) Pongidae (2) Hylobatidae (3) Hominidae (4) None of these
The brain of Australopitheeus measured
(1) 350-450 cm3 (2) 1400-1450 cm3 (3) 700-900 cm3 (4) 800-1400 cm3
Ancestor of man who first stood erect was
(1) Australopithecus (2) Java ape man (3) Peking man (4) Cromagnon man
The earliest man who used tools was
(1) Homo habilis (2) Homo erectus (3) Java man (4) Peking man
Connecting link between ape and man is
(1) Cro-magnon man (2) Australopithecus (3) Neanderthal man (4) Lemur
Bipedal locomotion is advantageous because it
(1) Increases speed (2) Reduces body weight
(3) Provides better support to body (4) Releases fore limbs for other purposes
Fossils of so called 'Java Man' and 'Peking Man' belong to
(1) Homo sapiens (2) Homo ereetus (3) Homo habilis (4) None of these
Dubois in 1891 found the fossil of Java ape man. It is
(1) Sinanthropus pekinensis (2) Pithecanthropus erectus
(3) Homo rhodesiensis (4) Homo sapiens
The smallest cranial capacity is that of the
(1) Modem man (2) Cra-Magnon man (3) Neanderthal man (4) Java man
Which of the following fossil man possessed a cranial capacity almost equal to that of modern
man?
(1) Neanderthal man (2) Java ape man
(3) Peking man (4) Australopithecus africanus
Fire was first used for protection and cooking by
(1) Java man (2) Neanderthal man (3) Peking man (4) Cro-magnon man
'Lucy' is the fossil of
(1) Australopithecus afarensis (2) Homosapiens
(3) Homo erectus (4) Cromagnon man
Fossils of Neanderthal were first obtained from Neander Valley in
(1) Germany (2) Italy (3) America (4) France
First evidence of ceremonial burial of dead have been found with fossils of
(1) Cro-Magnon man (2) Javaape man (3) Neanderthal man (4) Peking man
Who were first to built hut like structure for dwelling and buried their dead?
(1) Neanderthal man (2) Cro-magnon man (3) Java man (4) Homo sapiens sapiens
Man (Homo) originated in
(1) Palaeocene (2) Miocene (3) Oligocene (4) Pleistocene
Which is correct?
(1) Neanderthal man is direct ancestor of humans
(2) Homo erectus is direct ancestor of man
(3) Cro-Magnon man was found in Ethiopia
(4) Australopithecusis real ancestor at modern man
Cro-Magnon was
(1) Camivorous (2) Omnivorous (3) Herbivorous (4) Frugivorous
Cranial capacity of Neanderthal man was
(1) 1400 cc (2) 1300 cc (3) 1200 cc (4) 1100 cc
Chronological sequence of evolution of the genus Homo are
(1) Homo habilis- H. erectus-H.sapiens neander - thalensis-H.sapiens sapiens
(2) Homo habilis-H. sapiens neanderthalensis -H. sapiens sapiens
(3) Homo erectus-H. habilis-H. sapiens sapiens -H.neanderthalensis
(4) H.neanderthalensis-H.erectus-H. sapiens sapiens - H. habilis
A common ancestory for man & great apes has been deduced from similarities in
(1) Proteins (2) Banding pattern of chromosomes
(3) DNA content (4) All of these
In gorilla, great apes and chimpanzee, the number of chromosomes is
(1) 2n = 46 (2) 2n = 44 (3) 2n = 48 (4) None of these
Trends in human evolution have been
(1) Erect posture (2) Opposable thumb (3) Bipedal (4) All of these
Coloured rock-paintings were presumably first made by
(1) Cro-Magnon man (2) Neanderthal man (3) Java ape man (4) Peking man
The characteristic of modem man are
(1) Small teeth without large canines and slight curvature of vertebral column
(2) Flattened face without muzzle and brow ridges
(3) Rounded skull with downward looking foramen magnum
(4) All of these
Which is direct ancestor of Homo sapiens?
(1) Homo erectus (2) H. sapiens neanderthalensis
(3) Ramapithecus (4) Australopithecus
Which is correct regarding evolution of mankind?
(1) Homo erectus was preceded by Homo habilis
(2) Australopithecus lived in Australia
(3) Neanderthal man and Cro-Magnon man lived together
(4) None of these
Common origin of man and chimpanzee is best shown by
(1) Cranial capacity (2) Binocular vision (3) Chromosomes (4) Dental formula
Who amongst the following diverged from the main line of hominid evolution about 10 million
years ago?
(1) Gibbon (2) Orangutan (3) Gorilla (4) Chimpanzee
Which is correct order in evolutionary history of man?
(1) Peking man  Habilis man  Neanderthal man  Cromagnon man
(2) Peking man  Heidelberg man  Neanderthal man  Cromagnon man
(3) Peking man  Neanderthal man  Homo sapiens  Heidelberg man
(4) Peking man  Homo sapiens  Neanderthal man  Cromagnon man
Fossil of Cromagnon man was found in
(1) Southern France (2) Northern France
(3) Northern Germany (4) South Africa
Dryopithecus is also called as
(1) Parapithecus (2) Proconsul (3) Oreopithecus (4) Pithecanthropus
In recent years, DNA sequences of mitochondrial DNA and V-chromosomes were considered
for the study of human evolution because
(1) They can be studied from the sample of fossil remains
(2) They are small and therefore, easy to study
(3) They are uniparental in origin and do not take part in recombination
(4) Their structure is known in greater detail
Some of the bio-indicator plants have evolved metal tolerance, and can indicate the occurrence
of specific metal deposits. The plant which is bio-indicator of lead is
(1) Agrostis tenuis (2) Astragalus (3) Haplopappus (4) Impatiens balsamina
A baby has been born with a small tail. It is a case of exhibiting
(1) Retrogressive evolution (2) Mulation
(3) Atavism (4) Metamorphosis
In which condition gene ratio remains constant in a species?
(1) Gene flow (2) Mutation (3) Random mating (4) Sexual selection
Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution. This statement was given by
(1) Thedosius Dobzhansky (2) Darwin
(3) Wallace (4) Malthus
The phrase 'Survival of Fittest' was used by
(1) Charles Darwin (2) Herbert Spencer
(3) Jean Baptiste Lamarck (4) Hugo de Vries
Degradation, aggregation and diastrophism have resulted in
(1) Folding of land masses (2) Raising of land masses
(3) Lowering of land masses (4) All of these
It is useful to study the origin and evolution of life because
(1) We learn that life cannot exist anywhere else
(2) We learn about the unity and diversity of living organisms
(3) We learn that the human species has the responsibility to conserve nature
(4) The human species is most evolved, so no harm can come to us
The role of isolation in evolution is
(1) Differentiation of species (2) Maintenance of species
(3) Extermination of species (4) Evolutionary divergence
Which of the following animals exhibit poisonous mullerian mimicry?
(1) Bees (2) Wasps (3) Hornets (4) All of these
One of the following plants is tolerant to selenium
(1) Astragalus (2) Agrostis tenuis
(3) Impatiens balsamia (4) Prosopis juliflora
Which one of the following animal has been extinct recently?
(1) Dodo (2) Dinosaur (3) Pterodactyla (4) Mammoth
Two bands of a population come together after a period of isolation. Speciation will have taken
place if the two groups
(1) No longer mate (2) Cannot interbreed or produce fertile offsprings
(3) Compete for the same food supply (4) No longer intermingle
Organic evolution would not have taken place if
(1) Individual in a population did not show genetic variation
(2) Individual did not transmit the characters acquired during their life time to offsprings
(3) Somatic variations were not inherited
(4) Somatic variations were not transformed into genetic variation
What is wrong about evolution?
(1) Evolution is a slow and continuous process of change
(2) All diversity of organisms have arisen due to evolution
(3) Evolution is due to natural selection only
(4) Evolution is due to variations arising from changes in genetic material
Survival due to geographic isolation is best exemplified by mammalian fauna of
(1) Oriental region (2) Ethiopean region
(3) Palaearctic region (4) Australian region
Which of the following is irrelevant in the evolution of man?
(1) Loss of tail
(2) Increase in the ability to communicate with others and develop community behaviour
(3) Perteetion of hand for tool making
(4) Change of diet from hard nuts and hard roots to soft food
 According to geological clock (if last 4800 million years = 24 hours), then appearence of
animals took place
(1) At 18.30 hrs, 4600 million years ago (2) At 18.30 hrs, 1100 million years ago
(3) At 13.00 hrs, 220 million years ago (4) At 10.00 hrs, 1-2 million years ago
There are two opposing views about origin of modem man. According 10 one view Homo
erectus in Asia were the ancestors of modern man. A study of variation in DNA, however
suggested African origin of modern man. What kind of observation on DNA variation could
suggest this?
(1) Greater variation in Asia than in Africa
(2) Greater variation in Africa than in Asia
(3) Similar variation in Africa and Asia
(4) Variation only in Asia and no variation in Africa
Which of the following is the relatively most accurate method for dating of fossils?
(1) Radio-carbon method (2) Potassium-argon method
(3) Electron-spin resonance method (4) Uranium-lead method
Evolution due to genetic changes within a species is
(1) Micro evolution (2) Macro evolution (3) Mega evolution (4) Co-evolution
Future human generations will be less adapted, due to
(1) Genetic drift (2) Mutation (3) Natural selection (4) Gene flow
Today the tiger population in India has reduced. This is because of
A. Tigers exist in geographically isolated population
B. Hunting and habitat destruction
C. Genetic drift
D. Homogenising effect of gene flow
Choose the correct option
(1) A and B only (2) A, B and C (3) B and C only (4) A, B, C and D
What molecular evidence suggests that Homo sapiens originated in Africa and then radiated
out to other places?
A. Maximum variations are found in the mitochondrial DNA of Africans
B. Variations in V-chromosome
C. Similarity in skull of apes and man
D. Binocular vision
(1) A only (2) A and B (3) A, B and C (4) A, B, C and D
The eyes of first primates faced forward. All the following are advantages of these, except
(1) Binocular vision
(2) This gave the primates excellent depth perception, which enabled them to judge distances
accurately when moving through the trees
(3) The field of vision of two eyes is different
(4) Binocular vision results in three dimensional image
As pangaea broke apart
(1) Dinosaurs became more alike (2) Mammals became dominant
(3) Dinosaur species flourished (4) World climates changed
 The illustration below shows the skull of two different mammals. Use the illustration to answer
the question that follows

Which of the following accurately describes the differences between these skulls?
(1) Skull A has more teeth than skull B
(2) Skull A has more brain capacity than skull B
(3) Skull A is of primate and skull B is not of a primate
(4) Skull A is the skull of an ape because of simian gap and skull B is the skull of human

Answer Key

Section–A
Q.1 2 Q.2 3 Q.3 2 Q.4 1 Q.5 4 Q.6 1 Q.7 4
Q.8 2 Q.9 4 Q.10 3 Q.11 4 Q.12 2 Q.13 2 Q.14 2
Q.15 3 Q.16 3 Q.17 2 Q.18 4 Q.19 1 Q.20 1 Q.21 2
Q.22 2 Q.23 1 Q.24 1 Q.25 1 Q.26 3 Q.27 4 Q.28 3
Q.29 3 Q.30 1 Q.31 4 Q.32 3 Q.33 4 Q.34 3 Q.35 3
Q.36 1 Q.37 3 Q.38 4 Q.39 2 Q.40 4 Q.41 4 Q.42 2
Q.43 1 Q.44 2 Q.45 1 Q.46 1 Q.47 1 Q.48 2 Q.49 3
Q.50 2 Q.51 2 Q.52 2 Q.53 4 Q.54 2 Q.55 4 Q.56 2
Q.57 3 Q.58 2 Q.59 2 Q.60 1 Q.61 1 Q.62 3 Q.63 3
Q.64 1 Q.65 3 Q.66 3 Q.67 4 Q.68 2 Q.69 3 Q.70 2
Q.71 3 Q.72 2 Q.73 2 Q.74 2 Q.75 4 Q.76 4 Q.77 3
Q.78 3 Q.79 3 Q.80 1 Q.81 2 Q.82 3 Q.83 3 Q.84 1
Q.85 3 Q.86 1 Q.87 2 Q.88 4 Q.89 3 Q.90 3 Q.91 4
Q.92 2 Q.93 1 Q.94 4 Q.95 2 Q.96 1 Q.97 3 Q.98 2
Q.99 4 Q.100 3 Q.101 2 Q.102 1 Q.103 3 Q.104 2 Q.105 2

Section–B
Q.1 2 Q.2 4 Q.3 1 Q.4 3 Q.5 1 Q.6 2 Q.7 4
Q.8 3 Q.9 3 Q.10 4 Q.11 1 Q.12 1 Q.13 2 Q.14 2
Q.15 2 Q.16 4 Q.17 2 Q.18 1 Q.19 1 Q.20 3 Q.21 4
Q.22 1 Q.23 4 Q.24 2 Q.25 3 Q.26 1 Q.27 3 Q.28 1
Q.29 1 Q.30 1 Q.31 2 Q.32 4 Q.33 2 Q.34 2 Q.35 4
Q.36 1 Q.37 1 Q.38 1 Q.39 1 Q.40 3 Q.41 1 Q.42 4
Q.43 2 Q.44 2 Q.45 1 Q.46 1 Q.47 4 Q.48 3 Q.49 4
Q.50 1 Q.51 4 Q.52 1 Q.53 1 Q.54 3 Q.55 1 Q.56 2
Q.57 1 Q.58 2 Q.59 3 Q.60 1 Q.61 3 Q.62 3 Q.63 1
Q.64 2 Q.65 4 Q.66 2 Q.67 4 Q.68 4 Q.69 1 Q.70 1
Q.71 2 Q.72 1 Q.73 3 Q.74 4 Q.75 1 Q.76 2 Q.77 2
Q.78 3 Q.79 1 Q.80 3 Q.81 2 Q.82 2 Q.83 3 Q.84 4
Q.85 4
Exercise –2 Previous Years Questions
Most advanced theory of origin of life is that of [CET Chd. 2000]
(1) Catastrophic (2) Haldane and Oparin
(3) Cosmozoic (4) Spontaneous
Possible early source of energy was [AIIMS 2000]
(1) Chlorophyll (2) CO2
(3) UV radiations and lightning (4) Green plants
Swan-necked flask experiment was performed by [KCET 2001]
(1) Louis Pasteur (2) Robert Koch (3) Francisco Redi (4) Aristotle
Spark discharge apparatus for testing chemical origin of life was designed by [KCET 2001]
(1) Urey and Miller (2) Jacob and Monod
(3) Oparin and Haldane (4) Dixon and Joly
Which is the most important for origin of life? [Pb. PMT 2000]
(1) Oxygen (2) Water (3) Nitrogen (4) Carbon
Theory of spontaneous generation was supported by [AFMC 2000]
(1) Van Helmont (2) Redi (3) Spallanzani (4) Pasteur
One of the greatest advocates of the theory of special creation was [Pb. PMT 2000]
(1) C. Darwin (2) Aristotle (3) Father Saurez (4) Huxley
A compound important in prebiotic evolution was [Har. PMT 2000]
(1) SO2 (2) CH4 (3) SO3 (4) NO
Which ones are the most essential for origin of life ? [AIIMS 2001]
(1) Enzymes (2) Proteins (3) Carbohydrates (4) Nucleic acids
Approximate age of earth (in million years) is [HPPMT 2001]
(1) 3600 (2) 4600 (3) 7200 (4) 6000
According to theory of abiogenesis, life originates from [DPMT 2009]
(1) Non-living (2) Spontaneously (3) Chemicals (4) Other planets
A biogenesis is [CPMT 2002]
(1) Origin of life from non-living organisms (2) Origin of microbes from living organisms
(3) Spontaneous (4) Origin of microbes and viruses
Experimental proof that organic compounds formed the basis of evolution was given by
[DPMT 2002]
(1) Oparin (2) Pasteur (3) Miller and Urey (4) Spallanzani
Which of the following has been basic to origin of life [CET Chd. 2003]
(1) Carbohydrates (2) Proteins (3) Nucleic acids (4) Nucleoproteins
Coacervates were experimentally produced by [KCET 2004]
(1) Oparin and Sidney Fox (2) Fischer and Huxley
(3) Jacob and Monod (4) Urey and Miller
Who disapproved abiogenesis for the first time? [Manipal 2004]
(1) Lamarck (2) F. Redi (3) Pasteur (4) Darwin
 Which experiment suggests that simplest living organisms could not have originated
spontaneously from non-living matter ? [CBSE 2005]
(1) Microbes did not appear in stored meat.
(2) Microbes appeared from unsterilised organic matter.
(3) Larvae could appear in decaying organic matter.
(4) Meat was not spoiled when heated and kept in sealed vessel.
Origin of life from pre-existing life is propounded by [JKCMEE 2005, Har PMT 2007]
(1) Biogenesis theory (2) Abiogenesis theory
(3) Special creation theory (4) Extra terrestrial theory
Extra terrestrial origin of life was proposed by theory of [DPMT 2005]
(1) Catastrophism (2) Spontaneous generation
(3) Special creation (4) Panspermia
Stanley Miller's experiment supports [Manipal 2005]
(1) Abiogenesis (2) Biogenesis (3) Pangenesis (4) Chemical theory
Cyanobacteria originated on earth about [HPPMT 2005]
(1) 4·3–4·8 billion years ago (2) 3·3–3·8 billion years ago
(3) 2·3–2·8 billion years ago (4) 1·3–1·8 billion years ago
Coacervates belong to the category of [Pb. PMT 2005]
(1) Protozoans
(2) Molecular aggregates
(3) Molecular aggregates surrounded by lipid membrane
(4) Cyanobacteria
The oldest fossil record of blue-green alga is 2.9 billion years old. It is [Pb. PMT 2005]
(1) Stromatolites (2) Archaeopteryx
(3) Archaeopteroides (4) Chlamydomonas
First life consisted of [Pb. PMT 2005]
(1) Provirus (2) Virus (3) Bacteria (4) Protovirus
Which of the following amino acids was not found to be synthesised in Miller's experiment?
[CBSE 2006, AFMC 2008]
(1) Alanine (2) Glycine (3) Aspartic acid (4) Glutamic acid
Miller and Urey performed an experiment to prove the origin of life. They took gases ammonia
and hydrogen alongwith [AMU PMDC 2006, 2008]
(1) N2 and H2O (2) CH4 and N2 (3) H2O and CH4 (4) CO2 and NH3
The term hot dilute soup was given by [HPPMT 2007, DPMT 2008]
(1) Haldane (2) Urey (3) Oparin (4) None of the above
Coacervates are [DPMT 2007]
(1) Protein aggregates
(2) Protein and lipid aggregates
(3) Chemical aggregates
(4) Protobionts with polysaccharides, proteins and water
Concept of chemical evolution of life is based on [CBSE 2007]
(1) Effect of solar radiations on chemicals
(2) Interaction of water, air and clay under intense heat
(3) Combination of chemicals under hot moist environment coditions
(4) Crystallisation of chemicals
The living form resulting from the final stage of chemical evolution of life is called
[COMED-K's 2007]
(1) Prebiont (2) Protobiont (3) Protenoid (4) Probiont
Scientists believe that life on earth originated by [HPPMT 2007, Orissa 2010]
(1) Spontaneous generation (2) Chemical evolution/Abiogenesis
(3) Special creation (4) Extraterrestrial transfer
Which of the following was formed in S. Miller's exeriment ? [CPMT 2008]
(1) Microspheres (2) Nucleic acids (3) Amino acids (4) UV radiations
S.L. Miller's closed flask contained [JKCMEE 2008]
(1) CH4 (2) NH3 and water vapours
(3) H2 (4) All the above
Microspheres possessed a membrane of [DPMT 2008]
(1) Lipid and protein (2) Lipid
(3) Carbohydrates (4) Fats
Which is incorrect about protobionts in abiogenic origin of life ? [CBSE 2008]
(1) They were partially isolated from surroundings
(2) They could maintain an internal environment
(3) They were able to reproduce
(4) They could separate combination of molecules from the surroundings.
Origin of life occurred in [MPPMT 2009, 2010]
(1) Precambrian (2) Coenozoic (3) Palaeozoic (4) Mesozoic
In their experiment to prove origin of life, Miller and Urey took gases [CPMT 2009]
(1) Methane, ethane, hydrogen, ammonia
(2) Methane, ethane, ammonia, water vapours
(3) Methane, ethane, ammonia, water vapours
(4) Ammonia, water vapours, butane, hydrogen
Miller performed experiment to prove abiogenetic molecular evolution of life. Which molecule
was not present in Miller's experiment [CPMT 2010]
(1) Water (2) Methane (3) Oxygen (4) Ammonia
Which is incorrect [CPMT 2010]
(1) J.B.S Haldane – Law of continuity of germplasm
(2) Lauis Pasteur – Germ theory of disease and immunology
(3) De vries – Mutation theory
(4) Lemaitre – Big bang theory
Fossils are studied for [CET Chd. 2000]
(1) Tracing evolutionary history of organisms
(2) Studying extinct organisms
(3) Filling gaps in our study
(4) Providing jobs to scientists
Theory 'Ontogeny recapitulates Phylogeny' was proposed by [AMU 2000]
(1) Mendel (2) Haeckel (3) Erasmus (4) Weismann
Monkeys and some lower groups have certain blood groups which are [AMU 2000]
(1) Identical to those of man (2) Identical to those of anthropod apes
(3) Identical to those of anthropod apes (4) Some what similar to white persons
(5) Not identical to those of man
Organic evolution is change in [AMU 2000]
(1) Single individual (2) A few members of population
(3) Major portion of population (4) Entire population
Heart is four chambered in [AMU 2000]
(1) Amphibia (2) Fishes (3) Mammals (4) Reptiles
Homologus organs are [AMU 2000]
(1) Humna eyes and Squid eyes (2) Gills of Fish and lungs of Man
(3) Hands of Man and wings of Bat (4) Leaf of Moss and frond of Fern
Coal has been mainly formed by [AFMC 2000]
(1) Bryophytes (2) Pteridophytes/pteridosperms
(3) Angiosperms (4) Algae
Darwin's finches provide evidence evolution from [CBSE 2000, AFMC 2007]
(1) Anatomy (2) Morphology (3) Biogeography (4) All the above
Which one is not vestigial in humans ? [CBSE 2000, AFMC 2007]
(1) Third molar (2) Coccyx
(3) Segmental abdominal muscles (4) Finger nails
Vestigial pelvic girdle and bone remnants of hind limbs are characteristic of
[Har. PMT 2000]
(1) Whale (2) Dolphin (3) Shark (4) Seal
The sequence in evolution of horse was [Kerala 2000]
(1) Equus, Eohippus, Mesohippus, Merychippus
(2) Eohippus, Mesohippus, Merychippus, Equus
(3) Mesohippus, Eohippus, Equus, Mesohippus
(4) Merychippus, Mesohippus, Eohippus, Equus
Origin of life occurred in [Kerala 2000]
(1) Carboniferous (2) Cambrian (3) Pre-cambrian (4) Ordovician
Age of evolution of man is measured by [CPMT 2001]
(1) Electron microscope (2) Chemical reaction
(3) Radioactive dating (4) Ultraviolet radiation
Modern birds rose in [CPMT 2001]
(1) Palaeozoic (2) Coenozoic (3) Mesozoic (4) Archaeozoic
Tasmanian Wolf is a marsupial while Wolf is a placental mammal. This shows [DPMT 2001]
(1) Convergent evolution (2) Divergent evolution
(3) Parallelism (4) Inheritance of acquired characters
Pioneers in the field of organic evolutio were [KCET 2001]
(1) Darwin, Lamarck, Landsteiner and De Vries
(2) Darwin, De Vries, Lamarck, Huxley
(3) Lamarck, Landsteiner, Malthus, De Vries
(4) Lansteiner, De Vries, Malthus, Darwin.
Occurrence of higher number of endemic species in South America and Australia is due to
[CBSE 2001, AFMC 2007]
(1) Retrogressive evolution
(2) Continental separation
(3) These species have become extinct from other regions
(4) Absence of terrestrial links between these places.
Similarities between organisms of different genotypes is due to [CBSE 2001]
(1) Convergent evolution (2) Divergent evolution
(3) Microevolution (4) Macroevolution
Which of the following is not atavistic in humans ? [CPMT 2001]
(1) Tail in some babies (2) Enlarged canines
(3) Six fingers (4) Dense body hair
Which are not homologous ? [CPMT 2001]
(1) Fore arm of humans and fins of fishes
(2) Wings of bat and insects
(3) Fins of fishes and flippers of Whales
(4) Human fore arms, Bat's wings and flippers of Whale
Presence of tail and coarse hair in human baby is [Pb. PMT 2007, MPPMT 2007]
(1) Radiation (2) Atavism (3) Mutation (4) Crossing over
Unit of evolution is [MHTCET 2001, Orissa 2008]
(1) Population (2) Species (3) Individual (4) Subspecies
Possibility of occurrence of coal in an area is determined by study of [BHU 2002]
(1) Microfossils (2) Ecology
(3) Economic Botany (4) Mining contents
Darwin's finches occur in [Wardha 2002, Orissa 2007]
(1) Australia (2) Galapagos islands (3) Siberia (4) India
Covolution does not occur in case of [BHU 2002]
(1) Parasitism (2) Mutualism (3) Both A and B (4) Commensalism
Ancestral amphibians were tetrapods that evolved during [BHU 2002]
(1) Carboniferous period (2) Cretaceous period
(3) Jurassic period (4) Devonian period
Interacting populations are [AMU 2002]
(1) Symbiotic (2) Mutualistic (3) Parasitic (4) Coevolved
Archaeopteryx, toothed fossil bird occurred during [AMU 2002, MPPMT 2002]
(1) Jurassic (2) Triassic (3) Cretaceous (4) Permian
Mesozoic era is known as golden age of [Kerala 2003, MPPMT 2007]
(1) Fishes (2) Amphibians (3) Reptiles (4) Molluscs
Continental drift explains [AMU 2002]
(1) Mass extinctions (2) Distribution of fossils on earth
(3) Geographical upheavals (4) All the above
Reptilian feature of Archaeopteryx is [EAMCET 2002]
(1) U-shaped furcula (2) Beak
(3) Abdominal ribs (4) Feathers
Archaeopteryx is connecting link between [CPMT 2007, MHTCET 2007]
(1) Fishes and amphibians (2) Amphibians and birds
(3) Amphibians and reptiles (4) Reptiles and birds
Which is not vestigial in man ? [Kerala 2002, BHU 2008]
(1) Tail vertebrae (2) Nails
(3) Nicttitating membrane (4) Vermiform appendix
Development of adaptations along parallel lines in unrelated groups of animals is
[MPPMT 2002]
(1) Adaptive convergence (2) Adaptive radiation
(3) Adaptive divergence (4) Adaptive induction
Which of the following is vestigial in humans [AFMC 2002]
(1) Mammary glands in males (2) Knee bones
(3) Nictitating membrane (4) Ear pinna
Which is a pair of vestigial organs ? [AIIMS 2002]
(1) Coccyx and intercostal muscles (2) Coccyx and auricular muscles
(3) Facial hairs in ladies (4) Coccyx and premolars
Which one is used for dating archaeological specimens like bones, shells and wood ?
[JIPMER 2002]
(1) 3 H (2) 14 C (3) 121 I (4) 32 P
Convergent evolution is illustrated by [CBSE 2003]
(1) Rat and Dog (2) Bacterium and Protozoan
(3) Starfish and Cuttle fish (4) Dogfish and Whale.
Which one correctly describes homologous structures [CBSE 2003, Pb. PMT 2003]
(1) Organs with anatomical similarities but performing different functions
(2) Organs with anatomical similarities but performing different functions
(3) Organs that have no function now but had an important function in ancestors
(4) Organs appearing only in embryonic stage and disappearing later in the adult.
The early stage human embryo distinctly possesses [AIIMS 2003]
(1) Gills (2) Gill slits
(3) External ear (pinna) (4) Eye brows
Mesozoic era was dominated by [CPMT 2003]
(1) Birds (2) Fishes (3) Reptiles (4) Mammals
Age of fossils was previously determined by redioactive elements. More precise recent method
which has led to revision of evolutionary periods is [CBSE 2004, AIIMS 2007]
(1) Study of carbohydrate and protein in fossils
(2) Study of conditions of fossilisation
(3) Electron spin resonance and fossil DNA
(4) Presence of carbohydrate and protein in rocks
Flippers of Seal are modified [AFMC 2004]
(1) Hind limbs (2) Fore limbs (3) Fins (4) Gills
Potato and Sweet Potato have edible parts which are [AIIMS 2004, DPMT 2008]
(1) Homologous (2) Analogous
(3) Recent introductions (4) Two species of the same genus
The classical example of adaptive radiation during formation of new species is [CPMT 2004]
(1) Marsupials of Australia (2) Darwin's finches
(3) Giant Tortoise (4) All the above
Mammals like Whale, Dolphin, Bat, Monkey and Horse have some common characters but
also show conspicuous differences. This is due to phenomenon of [MPPMT 2004]
(1) Divergence (2) Convergence (3) Genetic drift (4) Normalisation
Which of the following pairs of structures is homologous ? [MPPMT 2004]
(1) Wings of Grasshopper and forelimbs of Flying Squirrel
(2) Tentacles of Hydra and arms of Starfish
(3) Forelimbs of a Bat and forelegs of a Horse.
(4) Wings of a bird and wings of a Moth.
Which is relatively most accurate method of dating of fossils ? [CBSE 2005]
(1) Radiocarbon method (2) Potassium–Argon method
(3) Electron spin–resonance method (4) Uranium–lead method
What is correct arrangement of periods of palaeozoic era in ascending order in geological time
scale ? [EAMCET 2005]
(1) Cambrian  Devonian  Ordovician  Silurian  Carboniferous  Permian
(2) Cambrian  Ordovician  Silurian  Devonian  Carboniferous  Permian
(3) Cambrian  Ordovician  Devonian  Silurian  Carboniferous  Permian
(4) Silurian  Devonian  Cambrian  Ordovician  Permian  Carboniferous
An important evidence in favour of oranic evolution is the occurrence of
[CBSE 2006, DPMT 2008]
(1) Homologous and analogous organs (2) Homologous and vestigial organs
(3) Analogous and vestigial organs (4) Homologous organs only
Jurassic period of mesozoic era is characterised by [CBSE 2006]
(1) Flowering plants and first dinosaurs appear
(2) Gymnosperms are dominant plants and first birds appear
(3) Radiation of reptiles and angiosperms appear
(4) Dinosaurs become extinct and angiosperms appear
Evolutionary history of an organism is known as [CBSE 2006, AFMC 2008]
(1) Ontogeny (2) Phylogeny (3) Ancestry (4) Palaeontology
Duck-billed Platypus is connecting link between [Orissa 2007, AFMC 2009]
(1) Echinodermata and chordata (2) Arthropoda and mollusca
(3) Reptilia and mammalia (4) Reptilia and aves
Tendrils of Cucurbita and thorns of Bougainvillea are [DPMT 2007, CBSE 2008]
(1) Homologous organs (2) Analogous organs
(3) Vestigial organs (4) Atavistic divergance
Parallism is due to [DPMT 2007]
(1) Adaptive divergence
(2) Adaptive convergence
(3) Adaptive convergence of unrelated species
(4) Adaptive convergence of closely ralated species
Which one is correct [CBSE 2007]
(1) There is no evidence of presence of gills in mammalian embryos
(2) Ontogeny repeats phylogeny
(3) All plant and animal cells are totipotent
(4) Stem cells are specialised cells
Finches of Galapogos provide evidence for [CBSE 2007]
(1) Retrogressive evolution (2) Special creation
(3) Biogeographical evolution (4) Evolution due to mutation
Two species of different geneology show resemblance due to similar adaptation. The
phenomenon is [CBSE 2007]
(1) Convergent evolution (2) Divergent evolution
(3) Micro-evolution (4) Co-evolution
Adaptive radiation is [CBSE 2007]
(1) Evolution of different species from a common ancestor
(2) Adaptation due to geographical isolation
(3) Migration of members of a species to different geographical areas
(4) Power of adaptation of an individual to a variety of environments
What is common to Whale, Seal and Shark [CBSE 2007]
(1) Homoiothermy (2) Seasonal migration
(3) Thick subcutaneous fat (4) Convergent evolution
Life has existed on earth for the last [HPPMT 2007]
(1) 2·3 billion years (2) 3·9 billion years (3) 4·3 billion years (4) 5.0 billion years
Darwin's finches show [HPPMT 2007, CBSE 2008, 2010]
(1) Adaptive radiation (2) Parallel evolution
(3) Homology (4) Natural selection
Connecting link between annelida mollusca is [BHU 2007, AFMC 2010]
(1) Nautilus (2) Neopilina (3) Glochidium (4) Veliger larva
Which period is largely associated with extinction of dinosaurs, increase in flowering plants
and reptiles ? [DPMT 2009]
(1) Triassic (2) Jurassic (3) Cretaceous (4) Permian
Tachyglossus is connecting link between [DPMT 2009]
(1) Reptiles and mammals (2) Reptiles and birds
(3) Amphibians and reptiles (4) Birds and mammals
Phylogeny is [CET Chd. 2009]
(1) Evolutionary history (2) Life history
(3) Group of phyla (4) Genetics of animals
As per Allen's rule, mammals of cold regions conserve body heat through [AMU 2009]
(1) Larger body mass (2) Small body mass
(3) Longer extremities (4) Smaller extremities
Peripatus is connecting link between [CBSE 2009]
(1) Porifera and coelenterata (2) Ctenophora and platyhelminthes
(3) Mollusca and echinodermata (4) Annelida and arthropoda.
A living connecting link that provides evidence of organic evolution is [CPMT 2009]
(1) Sphenodon between reptiles and birds
(2) Archaeopteryx between reptiles and birds
(3) Lung fishes between pisces and reptiles
(4) Duck-billed Platypus between reptiles and mammals
After the industrial revolution, melanic moths survived because [COMED-K's 2010]
(1) They had black colour (2) They had grey body colour
(3) They shifted to different habitat (4) They reproduced vigorously
Vesitiges of girdles are found in [AMU 2010]
(1) Rattle snake (2) Krait (3) Cobra (4) Python
An evolutionary pattern characterised by a rapid increase in number of kinds of closely related
species is called [AMU 2010]
(1) Divergent evolution (2) Convergent evolution
(3) Adaptive radiation (4) Parallel evolution
The first seed plants appeared in [MPPMT 2010]
(1) Cretaceous era (2) Carboniferous era (3) Devonian era (4) Silurian era
Given below are four statements (a–d) with one or two blanks. Select the option which fills up
the blanks in two statements.
(a) Wings of butterfly and birds look alike and are the result of ....(i) .... evolution
(b) Miller showed that CH4, H2, NH3 and ....(i) .... when exposed to electric discharge in a flask
resulted in formation of .... (ii) evidence of evolution
(c) Vermiform appendix is a ....(i)....organ and ....(ii)....
(d) According to Darwin evolution took place due to ....(i).... and ....(ii) .... of the fittest
[CBSE Mains 2010]
(1) d – (i) small variations, (ii) survival, a – (i) convergent
(2) a – (i) convergent, b – (i) oxygen, (ii) nucleolides
(3) b – (i) water vapours (ii) amino acids c – (i) rudimentary (ii) anatomical
(4) c – (i) vestigial (ii) anatomical, d – (i) mutations (ii) multiplication.
What was the most significant trend in the evolution of moden man (Homo spiens) from his
ancestors ? [AIPMT Pre 2012]
(1) Binocular vision (2) Increasing cranial capacity
(3) Upright posture (4) Shortening of jaws
Which one of the following options gives one correct example each of convergent evolution
and divergent evolution? [AIPMT Pre 2012]
Convergent evolution Divergent evolution
(1) Thorns of Bougainvillia and tendrils of Wings of butterflies and birds
Cucurbita
(2) Bones of forelimbs of vertebrates Wings of butterfly and birds
(3) Thorns of Bougainvillia and tendrils of Eyes of Octopus and mammals
Cucurbita
(4) Eyes of octopus and mammals Bones of forelimbs of vertebrates

The extinct human who lived 1,00,000 to 40,000 years ago, in Europe, Asia and parts of
Africa, with short stature, heavy eye brows, retreating fore heads, large jaws with heavy teeth,
stocky bodies, a lumbering gait and stooped posture was : [AIPMT Pre 2012]
(1) Neanderthal human (2) Cro-magnan humans
(3) Ramapithecus (4) Homo habilis
Evolution of different species in a given area starting from a point and speading to other
geographical areas is known as : [AIPMT Pre 2012]
(1) Naturation (2) Migration
(3) Divergent evolution (4) Adaptive radiation
The process by which organisms with different evolutionary history evolve similar phenotypic
adaptations in response to a common environmental challenge, is called: [AIPMT 2013]
(1) Convergent evolution (2) Non-random evolution
(3) Adaptive radiation (4) Natural selection
 Variation in gene frequencies within populations can occur by chance rather than by natural
selection. This is referred to as : [AIPMT 2013]
(1) Genetic drift (2) Random mating (3) Geneticload (4) Genetic flow
According to Darwin, the organic evolution is due to : [AIPMT 2013]
(1) Interspecific competition.
(2) Competition within closely related species.
(3) Reduced feeding efficiency in one species due to the presence of interfering species.
(4) Intraspecific competition.
Forelimbs of cat, lizard used in walking; forelimbs of whale used in swimming and forelimbs
of bats used in flying are an example of : [AIPMT 2014]
(1) Homologous organs (2) Convergent evolution
(3) Analogous organs (4) Adaptive radiation
Which one of the following are analogous structures? [AIPMT 2014]
(1) Thorns of Bougainvillea and Tendrils of Cucurbita
(2) Flippers of Dolphin and Legs of Horse.
(3) Wings of Bat and Wings of Pigeon.
(4) Gills of Prawn and Lungs of Man.

Answer Key

Q.1 2 Q.2 3 Q.3 1 Q.4 1 Q.5 2 Q.6 1 Q.7 3

Q.8 2 Q.9 4 Q.10 2 Q.11 1 Q.12 3 Q.13 3 Q.14 3
Q.15 1 Q.16 2 Q.17 4 Q.18 1 Q.19 4 Q.20 4 Q.21 2
Q.22 2 Q.23 3 Q.24 4 Q.25 4 Q.26 3 Q.27 1 Q.28 4
Q.29 3 Q.30 2 Q.31 2 Q.32 3 Q.33 4 Q.34 2 Q.35 3
Q.36 1 Q.37 3 Q.38 3 Q.39 1 Q.40 2 Q.41 2 Q.42 1
Q.43 3 Q.44 3 Q.45 3 Q.46 2 Q.47 3 Q.48 4 Q.49 1
Q.50 2 Q.51 3 Q.52 3 Q.53 2 Q.54 1 Q.55 2 Q.56 2
Q.57 1 Q.58 3 Q.59 2 Q.60 2 Q.61 1 Q.62 1 Q.63 2
Q.64 4 Q.65 4 Q.66 4 Q.67 2 Q.68 3 Q.69 4 Q.70 3
Q.71 4 Q.72 2 Q.73 1 Q.74 3 Q.75 2 Q.76 2 Q.77 4
Q.78 1 Q.79 2 Q.80 3 Q.81 3 Q.82 2 Q.83 2 Q.84 4
Q.85 1 Q.86 3 Q.87 3 Q.88 2 Q.89 1 Q.90 2 Q.91 2
Q.92 3 Q.93 1 Q.94 4 Q.95 2 Q.96 3 Q.97 1 Q.98 1
Q.99 4 Q.100 2 Q.101 1 Q.102 2 Q.103 3 Q.104 1 Q.105 1
Q.106 4 Q.107 4 Q.108 4 Q.109 1 Q.110 4 Q.111 3 Q.112 2
Q.113 1 Q.114 2 Q.115 4 Q.116 1 Q.117 4 Q.118 1 Q.119 1
Q.120 1 Q.121 1 Q.122 4
Exercise –3 AIIMS Special Questions
In the following questions, a statement of assertion (A) is followed by a statement of reason
(R).
(1) If both Assertion & Reason are true and the reason is the correct explanation of the assertion,
then mark (1).
(2) If both Assertion & Reason are true but the reason is not the correct explanation of the
assertion, then mark (2).
(3) If Assertion is true statement but Reason is false, then mark (3).
(4) If both Assertion and Reason are false statements, then mark (4).
A : Interspecific hybrids are usually sterile.
R : Interspecific hybrids receive chromosomes from two different species.
A : Magnolias, Tulips and Sassafras are found in eastern United States and eastern China only.
R : These are example of restricted distribution.
A : Cretaceous period is called age of Dinosaurs.
R : Fishes originated in Devonian period.
A : Theory of special creation attributes the origin of life to a vitalistic event.
R : According to this theory God is creator of life.
A : Both mule and hinny are sterile.
R : These are the examples of hybrid sterility.
A : The earliest organisms, were anaerobes, having arisen in a sea of organic molecules and were
chemoheterotrophs.
R : Before the supply of organic molecules was exhausted, some of the heterotrophs might
have evolved into autotrophs.
A : There are chances of breakdown of isolating mechanism in allopatric speciation.
R : Allopatric speciation is rapid process of speciation.
A : Balanced polymorphism is directly related with directional selection.
R : Directional selection favours the maximum dominacy of characters
A : Artificial selection is highly beneficial for human.
R : Artificial selection is carried out by man.
A : Batesian mimicry is a form of mimicry in which an edible species resembles an inedible one.
R : Batesian mimicry is a form of protective mimicry.
A : There is no life on moon.
R : Water is absent on moon.
A : The first living organism on earth were autotrophs.
R : They were capable to performing chemosynthesis.
A : Base analogous induced transition.
R : Base analogous performs forbiddan pairing.
A : Sympatric species are geographically isolated.
R : Sympatric species are reproductively isolated.
A : Somatic mutations are sometime inheritable.
R : Some organism show vegetative propagation.
 A : Plant having odd number of sets of chromosomes are fertile.
R : Plant having even number of sets of chromosomes are sterile.
A : Colchicine induces polyploidy.
R : Colchicine causes disjunction of chromosomes.
A : Change in structure of chromosome is called chromosomal aberration.
R : Substitution is an example of chromosomal aberration.
A : First life originated in water.
R : Conditions were favourable for origin of life in water.
A : A single mutation may produce a new species.
R : Mutation may cause major variation in genetic material and these are inheritable.
A : Evolution is not occuring at present.
R : Evolution take a very long time to occur.
A : Analogous organs show common ancestory.
R : Analogous organ show evolution.
A : Lung fish is a connective link between fishes and amphibia.
R : Lung fish show characters of both fishes and amphibia.
A : Bird’s embryo show tooth bud’s for some time.
R : Ontogeny repeats phylogeny.
A : Liger in a hybrid animal.
R : Liger is fertile.
A : Jurrasic period is considered the age of reptiles.
R : Reptiles dominated in all habitats during jurassic period.
A : Muscles of external ears are fully developed in humans.
R : Ear muscles close the ears during excessive noise.
A : Human and apes have a common ancestry.
R : Man and chimpanzee have similar banding pattern of chromosome.
A : Homologous organs suggest same origin.
R : Organs which are similar in function and dissimilar in internal morphology called as
Homologous organs.
A : Presence of tail in children is a vestigial character.
R : This happens due to the phenomenon called atavism.
A : In mammals the forelimbs perform, different functions.
R : The forelimbs in different mammals consist of different sets of bones.
A : There is no scientific explanation to organic evolution.
R : Evolution is a discontinuous process.
A : Analogous organs suggest same origin.
R : Fore legs of horse and hand of human are analogous organs.
A : Mammals have evolved from egg laying species.
R : Prototherians are oviparous.
A : Missing links are most important to study evolutionary history.
R : They fill the gaps of closely related groups
A : Ear muscles of external ear in man are vestigial.
R : These muscles in man are useful which move external ear freely to detect sound
efficiently.
A : Vestigeal organs are those parts of body which are greatly reduced and are useless.
R : These are the ramnants of once fully developed organs which are gradually lost as there
were no longer necessary.
A : Snakes lost their legs. They donot have use of legs.
R : All the living organism can reduced or increase the organ with the help of internal vital
force.
A : Translocation is a illigal crossing over.
R : Translocation is exchange of chromosomal segments between non-homologous
chromosomes.
A : Chemical mutagens are more harmful then substitution or point mutation.
R : Acredine and proflavin induces frame shift mutation.
A : Chemical mutagens are more harmful then radiations.
R : Chromosomal mutagens are cause more variations.
A : Substitution or point mutations are more harmful as compared to frame shift mutation.
R : Substitution cause major change in structure of protein.
A : Chromosomal abbreation are more harmful as compared to gene mutation.
R : Substitution are less harmful as compare to frame shift mutation.
A : In sickle cell anaemia disease Hbs gene is presented in the population.
R : The lose of Hbs gene is balanced by balancing selection.
A : Australopithecus was first ancestor of man who show bipedal locomotion.
R : Mutation are raw material for evolution.
A : Reducing atmosphere was essential for origin of life on earth.
R : The early proteins and nucleic acids are formed by non enzymetic process.
A : Probably DNA evolved after the RNA.
R : RNA has both catalytic and genetic information transfer function.
A : Electron spin resonance method is used to determine the age of fossils.
R : Fossils mainly present in igenous rocks.
A : Life originated about 3.9 billion years ago.
R : Life originated in pre cambrian era.
A : A.R. Wallace divide whole world into six major realms.
R : India is present in oriental realm.
A : Mimicry is a kind of adaptation.
R : Mullarian mimicry is an example of aggressive mimicry.
A : Evolution occurs with in populations.
R : Relative frequencies of different variations of DNA change over time.
A : Duckbilled platypus and spiny anteaters lay egg’s like birds (Cleidoic egg) but they are
mammals.
R : Presence of cleiodic egg in prototherism show reptilian ancestory of mammals.
 A : Nucleoprotein were first sign of life.
R : The protocell represented the beginning of life.
A : Origin of virus like structure is an example of retrograssive evolution.
R : “Descent with modification” is a fundamental concept of evolution.
A : Sedimentry rocks are also called as slate rocks.
R : Rocky mountain revolution took place after paleozoic era.
A : When the two species are morphologically similar but do not normally interbreed, such species
are called sibling species.
R : Stabilising selection reduces variation but does not change the mean value.
A : Lamarck published the theory of evolution in 1809 the year Charles Darwin was born.
R : According to Lamarckism if an organ in used constantly, it will tend to become developed,
whereas disuse result in degeneration.
A : The aquatic mammals like dolphins whales etc. do not contain gills slits.
R : Their adaptation to aquatic life is secondary.
A : Unaltered fossils are mostly found in ice-laden areas.
R : These fossils consist of only the hard parts of organisms.
A : Dinosaurs disappeared due to mass extinction.
R : Mass extinction occurred due to spread of epidermic.
A : The homologous organs show convergent evolution.
R : The analogous organs show divergent evolution.
A : Intraspecific struggle occurs between the individuals of different species.
R : Lobester culture in aquarium is an example of interspecifc struggle.
A : Without variations, evolution is impossible.
R : Only useful variations are transmitted to the next generation.
A : Australopithecus is called African ape-man.
R : It had both human as well as ape characters.
A : Homo habilis was the first tool maker.
R : He was cave-dweller.

Answer Key

Q.1 2 Q.2 3 Q.3 4 Q.4 2 Q.5 2 Q.6 2 Q.7 3

Q.8 4 Q.9 2 Q.10 2 Q.11 1 Q.12 4 Q.13 1 Q.14 4
Q.15 1 Q.16 4 Q.17 3 Q.18 3 Q.19 1 Q.20 1 Q.21 4
Q.22 4 Q.23 1 Q.24 1 Q.25 2 Q.26 1 Q.27 4 Q.28 1
Q.29 3 Q.30 4 Q.31 3 Q.32 4 Q.33 4 Q.34 1 Q.35 1
Q.36 3 Q.37 1 Q.38 4 Q.39 1 Q.40 2 Q.41 2 Q.42 4
Q.43 2 Q.44 1 Q.45 2 Q.46 2 Q.47 1 Q.48 3 Q.49 2
Q.50 2 Q.51 3 Q.52 1 Q.53 1 Q.54 2 Q.55 2 Q.56 4
Q.57 2 Q.58 2 Q.59 1 Q.60 3 Q.61 3 Q.62 4 Q.63 3
Q.64 3 Q.65 1 Q.66 2
 Quick Review Table
Instruction to fill
(A) Write down the Question Number you are unable to solve in column A below, by Pen.
(B) After discussing the Questions written in column A with faculties, strike off them in the
manner so that you can see at the time of Revision also, to solve these questions again.
(C) Write down the Question Number you feel are important or good in the column B.

Exercise No. Column A Column B

Question I am unable to solve in
Good/Important questions
first attempt

Exercise – 1(a)

Exercise – 1(b)

Exercise – 2

Exercise – 3

Other Exercise

Advantages
1. It is advised to the students that they should prepare a question bank for the revision as it is
very difficult to solve all the questions at the time of revision.
2. Using above index you can prepare and maintain the questions for your revision.