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9 HEREDITY AND EVOLUTION

TEXTBOOK QUESTIONS AND THEIR ANSWERS

Q.1. How does the creation of variation in a species promote
survival?
Ans. The differences or dissimilarities between the parents and the
children as individuals of the same species are called variations.
Variation is beneficial to the species as
(i) They enable the organisms to adapt themselves in changing
environment.
(ii) Variations from the basis of heredity.
(iii) They from raw materials for evolution and development
of new species.
Q.2. How is the sex of the child determined in human beings?
Ans. In human beings 23 pairs of chromosomes are found. Out of
these 22 pairs are autosomes and one pair is sex chromosome.
In man, the 23rd pair consists of X and Y chromosomes whereas
in woman X and X chromosomes are present. When a male
gamete carrying X chromosome fertilizes a female gamete, the
offspring produced is a female. When male gamete carrying Y
chromosome fertilizes a female gamete the zygote develops
into a male.

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Q.3. What are fossils? What do they tell about the process of
evolution?
Ans. The preserved traces or impressions of the body parts of living
organisms are called fossils.
Since fossils reveal evolutionary changes through time, they
trace evolutionary relationships among different organisms.
Q.4. If a trait A exists in 10% of a population of an asexually
reproducing species and a trait B exists in 60% of the same
population, which trait is likely to have arisen earlier?
Ans. Since the trait B is present in more members of the population,
so it will arise earlier. Trait A is present in only 10% members
of population so it will arise later.
Q.5. How do Mendel’s experiments show that traits may be
dominant or recessive?
Ans. When Mendel crossed a pure tall pea plant with a pure dwarf
pea plant, he got only tall plants in F1 generation. When F1 tall
plants were self pollinated both tall and dwarf plants in F2
generation in 3 : 1 ratio are obtained. In this experiment tall
character that hides the phenotype of another allele in F1
generation is known as dominant character and dwarf character
as recessive.
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Inheritance of traits over two generations

Q.6. How do Mendel’s experiments

show that traits are inherited
independently?
Ans. Mendel took two pairs of
alternative expression of two traits
of a pea plant and crossed them.
In F 1 progeny only dominant
phenotype was expressed. But in
F2 progeny, in addition to parent
phenotype, new phenotypes were
also present. This indicates that
pair of alternate characters behave
independently of the other pair and
thus inherited independent of each
other.
Independent inheritance of two
separate traits, shape and colour
of seeds
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Q.7. What are the different ways in which individuals with a
particular trait may increase in a population?
Ans. (i) Natural selection, (ii) Genetic drift.
Q.8. Why are traits acquired during the life time of an individual
not inherited?
Ans. The traits acquired during the life time are changes in non-
reproductive cells that are not capable of being passed on to
next generation.
Q.9. Why are small numbers of surviving tigers a cause of worry
from the point of view of genetics?
Ans. Tigers are surviving in limited numbers. If some natural
calamity kills these small population of tigers, they will
suddenly become extinct as per genetic drift phenomenon.
Q.10. What factors could lead to the rise of a new species?
Ans. Accumulated variations favourable to the natural environment,
geographical isolation of a population, action of different
environmental factors on these isolated populations and
reproductive isolation result in the formation of new species.
Q.11. Will geographical isolation be a major factor in the
speciation of a self-pollinating plant species why or why
not?
Ans. Geographical isolation will not be a major factor for the
speciation of a self-pollinating plant species because the
pollination is occuring on the same plant and a natural barrier
can occur between different organisms.
Q.12. Will geographical isolation be a major factor in speciation
of an organism that reproduces asexually? Why or why
not?
Ans. Geographical isolation will not be major factor in speciation
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of an organism that reproduces asexually because, asexual
reproduction involves single parent.
Q.13. Give an example of characteristics being used to determine
how close two species are in evolutionary terms?
Ans. Some characteristics in different organisms are similar because
they are inherited from a common ancestor. These characteristics
are used to determine evolutionary relationships. Mammals,
birds, reptiles and amphibians all have four limbs. The basic
structure of limbs in all these animals is same though it has
been modified to perform different functions. Such organs that
have similar basic structure but perform different functions are
called homologous organs. These are used to find out
evolutionary relationships.
Q.14. Can the wing of butterfly and wing of a bat be considered
homologous organs? Why or why not?
Ans. The wings of a butterfly and bat are structurally different
although they perform the same function of flying. So they are
analogous organs.
Q.15. Why are human beings who look so different from each
other in terms of size, colour and looks said to belong to
the same species?
Ans. Although the human beings look different from each other in
terms of size, colour and looks but, they are not reproductively
isolated. Organism of the same species can reproduce to produce
offsprings. So all human beings belong to same species.
Q.16. A Mendelian experiment consisted of breeding toll pea
plants bearing flowers with short pea plants bearing white

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flowers. The progeny all bore violet flowers, but almost
half of them were short. This suggest that the genetic make-
up of the tall parent can be depicted as
(a) TTWW (b) TTww
(c) TtWW (d) TtWw
Ans. (c) TtWW.
Q.17. An example of homologous organ is
(a) our arm and dog’s fore leg
(b) our teeth and elephant’s tusk
(c) potato and runner of grass
(d) all of the above
Ans. (d) all of the above.
Q.18. In evolutionary terms, we have more in common with
(a) a Chinese school boy (b) a chimpanzee
(c) a spider (d) a bacterium
Ans. (a) a Chinese school boy.
Q.19. A study found that children with light-coloured eyes are
likely to have parents with light-coloured eyes. On the basis,
can we say anything about whether the light eye colour
trait is dominant or recessive? Why or why not?
Ans. The character which is expressed in F1 generation is called a
dominant character. In the question, light colour of eye is
expressed in F1 generation, so it is a dominant character.
Q.20. How are the areas of study-evolution and classification-
interlinked?
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Ans. Classification of organisms is based on relative similarities
and dissimilarities among organisms. Resemblances in
organisms are because then have arisen from common ancestor
and differences all due to adaptation to different types of
environment. Gradation of organisms in order of increasing
complexity indicates direction of evolution.
Q.21. Explain the terms analogous and homologous organs with
examples.
Ans. (i) Homologous organs : Organs which are similar in structure
and origin but different in function and appearance are
called homologous organs e.g., forearm of man, wing of a
bat, flipper of a seal etc.
(ii) Analogous organs : Organs which are similar in
appearance and function but different in structure and origin
are known as analogous organs e.g., wings of a bird and
wings of a butterfly.
Q.22. Outline a project which aims to find the dominant coat
colour in dogs?
Ans. The dominant allele of a character expresses in the F1
generation. This characteristic can be utilized to find out a
dominant allele of a character. When a black homozygous dog
is mated with a white homozygous female, the character that
appear in F1 generation (in this case black coat colour) will be
the dominant one.
Q.23. Explain the importance of fossils in deciding evolutionary
relationships.
Ans. The preserved traces or impressions of the body parts of living
organisms are called fossils. Since fossils reveal evolutionary
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changes through time, they trace evolutionary relationships
among different organisms. e.g., Archaeopteryx is a fossil that
has both reptelian and avian features, proving that birds have
evolved from reptiles.
Q.24. What evidence do we have for the origin of life from
inanimate matter?
Ans. Miler and Urey in 1953 conducted an experiment in which
they assembled an atmosphere similar to that thought to exist
an early earth and maintained a temperature just below 100°C
and pass sparks over the mixture of gases. At the end of week,
15% of carbon was converted to simple compounds of carbon
including amino acids which are the building blocks of protein.
This shows that the complex organic molecule can arise from
simple inorganic molecules under certain conditions which
prevailed during the early period in earth’s life. These complex
molecules are building blocks of cells and they can give rise
to a living organism capable of self duplication.
Q.25. Explain how sexual reproduction gives rise to more viable
variations than asexual reproduction. How does this affect
the evolution of those organisms that reproduce sexually?
Ans. Sexual reproduction involves regregation of chromosomes into
gametes by meiosis. The process of gamete formation introduces
many variations in the chromosomes. When the gametes fuse
at the time of fertilization, normal chromosome complement is
restored but the chromosomes have become different from the
parents. At each change in generation there is a notable variation
in the genetic material, which over time makes the progeny
very different from the ancestors. In case of asexual
reproduction only the very small changes due to DNA copying
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are seen in the progeny which is more often genetically similar
to parent. Thus, it can be concluded that evolution in sexually
reproducing organisms proceeds at a faster rate than the
asexually reproducing organisms.
Q.26. How is the equal genetic contribution of male and female
parents ensured in the progeny?
Ans. Genetic material in sexually reproducing organisms is present
in pairs of chromosomes gametes in sexually reproducing
organisms are formed by the process of meiosis. During which
the number of chromosomes reduced to half. At the time of
fertilization when both the gametes fuse together, the number
of chromosomes are restored.
Q.27. A man with blood group A marries a woman with blood
group O and their daughter has blood group O. Is this
information is enough to tell you which of the traits blood
group A or O is dominant? Why?
Ans. The information given in the question is not sufficient to tell
which trait is dominant.
Any character exists in two alternative forms which are called
alleles. A person having ‘A’ blood group may have two possible
genotypes. These are AO or AA. To find out a dominant
character actual genotype of parent should also be known.

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