Over Long Periods of Time, Many Cave-Dwelling Organisms Have Lost

question 31

Multiple Choice

Over long periods of time, many cave-dwelling organisms have lost their eyes. Tapeworms have lost their digestive systems. Whales have lost their hind limbs. How can natural selection account for these losses?

• A) Natural selection cannot account for losses, but can only account for new structures and functions.
• B) Natural selection accounts for these losses by the principle of use and disuse.
• C) Under particular circumstances that persisted for long periods, natural selection reduced each of these structures because they presented greater costs than benefits.
• D) The ancestors of these organisms experienced harmful mutations that forced them to lose these structures.

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