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Home › Exam notes › OSSC RHT — Regular High School Teacher › Evolution

Evolution

Life Science / Biology

Useful for: OSSC RHT — Regular High School Teacher, OSEPA Upper Primary — Science, OSSC Science, OSSSC Govt TGT Science — CBZ, SSB Lecturer (Degree Colleges), SSB TGT CBZ

Overview

Evolution explains how living organisms change over generations; Darwin’s natural selection is the central mechanism.

Key points

  • Lamarck proposed inheritance of acquired characters (use and disuse) — not supported by evidence.
  • Darwin’s "On the Origin of Species" (1859) proposed natural selection.
  • Natural selection: variation, struggle for existence, survival of the fittest, inheritance.
  • Homologous organs (forelimbs of humans and bats) show common ancestry.
  • Analogous organs (wings of birds and insects) show similar function but different origin.
  • Fossils provide evidence of past life.

Explanation

  • Speciation occurs when populations become reproductively isolated.
  • Peppered moths in industrial England are a classic example of selection.
  • Antibiotic resistance shows evolution in action.
  • Mutation and recombination create variation.
  • Evolution is not "progress" towards a goal.

Step by step

  1. Identify the concept, law or fact asked.
  2. Recall the definition, formula, example or year.
  3. Apply it and eliminate mismatched options.

Examples

  • Bat wing and human arm → homologous organs.
  • Bird wing and butterfly wing → analogous organs.
  • Bacteria resistant to an antibiotic after its overuse → natural selection.

Traps and advanced points

  • Trap: Mixing homologous and analogous.
  • Trap: Accepting Lamarck’s acquired characters.
  • Trap: Thinking individuals evolve.

Quick revision

  • Darwin 1859; natural selection.
  • Homologous vs analogous.
  • Fossil evidence.

Practice MCQs

  1. "On the Origin of Species" was published in —

    1. 1953
    2. 1809
    3. 1859
    4. 1900

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    Answer: (c) 1859. Darwin, 1859.

  2. Natural selection was proposed by —

    1. Hugo de Vries
    2. Lamarck
    3. Darwin
    4. Mendel

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    Answer: (c) Darwin. Darwin.

  3. Inheritance of acquired characters was proposed by —

    1. Darwin
    2. Lamarck
    3. Wallace
    4. Weismann

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    Answer: (b) Lamarck. Lamarck — not supported by evidence.

  4. The forelimbs of humans and bats are —

    1. unrelated
    2. analogous organs
    3. homologous organs
    4. vestigial organs

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    Answer: (c) homologous organs. Common origin.

  5. Wings of birds and insects are —

    1. homologous organs
    2. analogous organs
    3. vestigial organs
    4. identical organs

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    Answer: (b) analogous organs. Similar function, different origin.

  6. Fossils provide evidence of —

    1. future species
    2. nothing
    3. past life
    4. present weather

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    Answer: (c) past life. Remains of past organisms.

  7. Antibiotic resistance in bacteria is an example of —

    1. mutation only
    2. natural selection
    3. Lamarckism
    4. hybridisation

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    Answer: (b) natural selection. Resistant bacteria survive.

  8. "Survival of the fittest" is part of —

    1. cell theory
    2. Hardy–Weinberg
    3. natural selection
    4. Mendel’s laws

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    Answer: (c) natural selection. Darwinian theory.

  9. New species form when populations become —

    1. larger
    2. warmer
    3. younger
    4. reproductively isolated

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    Answer: (d) reproductively isolated. Speciation.

  10. Evolution acts mainly on —

    1. exercise
    2. inherited variation
    3. acquired traits
    4. individual learning

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    Answer: (b) inherited variation. Only heritable traits pass on.

More topics in this chapter

Notes and questions are written by Kundali IQ for practice. They are not official papers; always check the latest official notification for the syllabus and pattern.