NEET Practice Questions (MCQs) with Answers & Solutions

A monophyletic taxon includes all the descendants of a common ancestor. The first fish species and every living organism that looks like a fish do not form a monophyletic group because it might exclude some descendants that do not look like a fish. In contrast, the first mammal species and all its descendants, as well as the first bird species and all its descendants, form monophyletic groups as they include all the descendants.

The kingdoms in biological classification include Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia. Therefore, Monera, Protista, and Animalia are all kingdoms, making 'All of the above' the correct answer.

The correct answer is a combination of points 1 and 2. Organisms that look alike may be very distantly related to one another due to convergent evolution, where unrelated species independently evolve similar traits. Also, similarities between two species may be due to common descent without indicating how closely the two are related. This makes relying solely on similarity potentially misleading when inferring evolutionary relationships.

The correct answer is that some members of the ancestral population had larger beaks than others, and if larger beak size was advantageous, those individuals would be more likely to survive and reproduce. This explanation aligns with the concept of natural selection, where advantageous traits become more common in a population over time.

In an evolutionary sense, 'fitness' is defined by the ability to survive and reproduce. A lion who has many cubs, eight of which live to adulthood, has demonstrated higher fitness because it has successfully passed on its genes to a larger number of offspring who have also survived to reproduce.

FACT

To determine the ancestral state of a characteristic within a group of closely related species, it is useful to refer to an outgroup (a more distantly related species). By examining whether the outgroup has the characteristic in question (forked tongue in this case), the biologist can infer whether the characteristic is ancestral or derived. If the outgroup has the characteristic, it is more likely to be ancestral.

The surface temperature of the sun is approximately 6000 °C. This temperature is found in the photosphere, the outer shell of the Sun from which light is emitted. Knowledge of the Sun's surface temperature is fundamental in astrophysics and helps understand various solar phenomena.

The Earth, like other planets, formed from a cloud of gas and dust known as the solar nebula. This process is part of the nebular hypothesis, which describes the formation of the solar system. The gravitational collapse of part of the nebula led to the formation of the Sun and the remaining material coalesced to form the planets.