Log In | Register

Item EN026002: A population can differ from its ancestors because an environmental change can affect which inherited traits are most helpful and, therefore, which individuals are more likely to survive and reproduce.

A population is a group of individuals of the same species.  Could a population living today differ from their ancestors from many generations ago? Why or why not?

  1. Yes, they could differ after many generations because an environmental change can cause individuals in each generation to try to change some of their inherited traits to ones that are better suited to the new environment.
  2. Yes, they could differ after many generations because an environmental change can affect which inherited traits are most helpful, and therefore which individuals are more likely to survive and reproduce. 
  3. Yes, they could differ after many generations because an environmental change can cause individuals to use some of their inherited traits more than before and pass down better versions of those traits to their offspring.
  4. No, they could not differ after many generations because all members of a population are the same species and therefore have the same set of inherited traits. 
Distribution of Responses
Chart showing distrubtion of responses for Item 026002
Students Responding Correctly
Group Correct Total Percent
Overall 558 1584 35%
Grades
  6–8 272 941 29%
  9–12 286 643 44%
Gender
  Male27276835%
  Female27678135%
Primary Language
  English500142035%
  Other4512038%

View data table