A really tough (for me) evolution question...

[megarhyssa]

It's probably just semantics, but I don't see why it's a flawed question, nor why some insist that both answers are false. If one goes with the definition below, which jives with how I teach evolution, then I (like member 45561) would "run with" answer B:

"In fact, evolution can be precisely defined as any change in the frequency of alleles within a gene pool from one generation to the next."

- Helena Curtis and N. Sue Barnes, Biology, 5th ed. 1989 Worth Publishers, p.974

Given that genotype is used to designate "the genetic endowment of the individual" or "the pair of alleles present at a single locus", a change in the frequency of alleles can be equated with a change in the distribution of genotypes.

[alcyon]

as everybody (pretty much everybody, anyways) agree, answer two is not completely correct but since you're in a test that's the best answer. and there's a different way of looking at it as well, that is when a allels changes (or is being created or whatever), the genotype also changes. the question doesn't have to mean that evolution deal with the genes up front, it might be just a general statement of the out come.

[Darby]

I'd say that that definition was written by someone who was sacrificing the concept to the details. It's technically correct, but not particularly useful to understanding.

[david23]

here is something that will support B. Changing the phenotype while the genotype stays the same can only happen if there is something wrong/different with the biochemical pathway, which results in a different phenotype. This means your phenotype cannot be transferred to next generation. Evolution requires that your genes to be passed onto the next generation, thats like the key requirement.