Suppose you attend a town meeting at which some experts tell the audience that they have performed a cost-benefit analysis of a proposed transit system that would probably reduce overall air pollution and fossil fuel consumption. The analysis, however, reveals that ticket prices will not cover the cost of operating the system when fuel, wages, and equipment are taken into account. As a biologist, you know that if ecosystem services had been included in the analysis, the experts might have arrived at a different answer. Why are ecosystem services rarely included in economic analyses?

#Question id: 4627

#Section 2: Evolution

Which of the following is not one of Charles Darwin's observations?

#Question id: 4628

#Section 2: Evolution

Which group is composed entirely of individuals who maintained that species are fixed (i.e., unchanging)?

A) Linnaeus

B) Lyell

C) Darwin

D) Aristotle

E) Cuvier

#Question id: 4629

#Section 2: Evolution

In the mid-1900s, the Soviet geneticist Lysenko believed that his winter wheat plants, exposed to ever-colder temperatures, would eventually give rise to ever more cold-tolerant winter wheat. Lysenkoʹs attempts in this regard were most in agreement with the ideas of

#Question id: 4630

#Section 2: Evolution

Which pair would have been likely to agree that strata such as those depicted here were deposited gradually over long periods of time by subtle mechanisms that are still at work?

#Question id: 4631

#Section 2: Evolution

As a young biologist, Charles Darwin had expected the living plants of temperate South America would resemble those of temperate Europe, but he was surprised to find that they more closely resembled the plants of tropical South America. The biological explanation for this observation is most properly associated with the field of

#Question id: 4636

#Section 2: Evolution

Given a population that contains genetic variation, what is the correct sequence of the following events, under the influence of natural selection?

1. Well-adapted individuals leave more offspring than do poorly adapted individuals.

2. A change occurs in the environment.

3. Genetic frequencies within the population change.

4. Poorly adapted individuals have decreased survivorship.