AP Biology 7.6.A: Evidence for Evolution

Practise AP Biology 7.6.A questions by evaluating experimental and mathematical evidence within the broader scientific evidence for evolution.

Exam points

identify geographical, geological, physical, biochemical and mathematical data as evidence relevant to evolution
state a null hypothesis and calculate or interpret a chi-square test when evaluating experimental data
use reliability information and statistical comparisons to judge whether data support an evolutionary claim

[Maximum number: 1]

Questions 14-17
Stickleback fish are found in both marine and freshwater habitats. The marine fish have no scales but have
hardened, armorlike plates along their sides. The plates are thought to protect sticklebacks from certain predators.
In the late 1980s, sticklebacks from a marine population colonized Loberg Lake, a freshwater lake in Alaska.
Starting in 1990, researchers sampled fish from the lake every four years and recorded the armor-plate phenotypes of
the male sticklebacks in each sample. The armor-plate phenotypes were categorized as either complete (plates
extending from head to tail), partial (plates extending from head to abdomen), or low (a few plates near the head
only). The results are shown in the table below.

ARMOR-PLATE VARIATION IN THE STICKLEBACK POPULATION OF LOBERG LAKE

To evaluate the reliability of the results, it would
be best to know which of the following?

The surface area of Loberg Lake

The number of males in each sample

The average daily temperature of
Loberg Lake

The age of the sticklebacks in each sample

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7.6.A—Describe the types of data that provide evidence for evolution question 1