Desert Pupfish Live in Springs of the American Southwest

question 61

Multiple Choice

Desert pupfish live in springs of the American Southwest. Today, there are about 30 species of pupfish, but they all evolved from a common Pleistocene ancestor. The southwestern United States was once much wetter than it is now, and the Pleistocene pupfish flourished over a wide geographic area. Over thousands of years, however, the Sierra Nevada mountain range was pushed upward by geological forces, blocking rainfall from the Pacific Ocean. As the large lakes dried up, small groups of pupfish remained in springs and pools fed by groundwater seepage. Now, although many of these small springs still have pupfish, each population, through evolution, has become very different from populations of pupfish in other springs.
-Which of the following statements represents a probable explanation for differences among pupfish populations?

• A) The frequency of genotypes reached equilibrium.
• B) New genes entered the population through migration.
• C) The isolated populations had restricted gene pools.
• D) Each new species contains all the original genotypes of the larger populations.

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Definitions:

Alger Hiss

A former U.S. government official who was accused of being a Soviet spy in 1948 and convicted of perjury in connection with this charge.

Julius Rosenberg

An American who, along with his wife Ethel, was convicted of espionage for the Soviet Union and executed in 1953, in a case that remains controversial.

Ethel Rosenberg

An American woman who, with her husband Julius Rosenberg, was convicted of espionage for allegedly passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Truman Doctrine

A United States policy, established in 1947, aimed at containing the spread of communism beginning with aid to Greece and Turkey.