Exam 25: Macroevolution

The prokaryotic flagellum is a complex structure consisting of several dozen different proteins. Which of the following statements best describes the origin of flagella in prokaryotes?

Four sediment cores were removed from the floor of an inland sea. The sea was in existence intermittently throughout the entire time that terrestrial life has existed. Researchers wish to locate and study the terrestrial organisms fossilized in these cores. In the diagram, the cores are illustrated as vertical columns, with the top of the column representing the most recent strata and the bottom representing the time when land was first colonized by life. Which of the following factors would best allow a researcher to assign absolute dates to the fossils in the sediments?

Which of the following results, if found on ancient meteorites, would suggest that meteorites were NOT the source of amino acids that contributed to the origin of life on Earth?

Which of the following sets represents the most likely sequence of events in the origin of life?

Which of the following statements most accurately applies to volcanic oceanic islands shortly after the land has cooled enough to support life?

Several dozen different proteins comprise the prokaryotic flagellum and its attachment to the prokaryotic cell, producing a highly complex structure. Certain proteins of the complex motor that drives bacterial flagella are modified versions of proteins that had previously belonged to plasma membrane pumps. This evidence best supports which of the following claims?

Which of the following lists most likely represents the correct sequence, from earliest to most recent, in the origin of cell organelles and cellular organization?

Which of the following statements best describes the evolution of complex eyes?

Which of the following statements provides evidence that the atmosphere of the early Earth was neither reducing nor oxidizing?

Which of the following statements best explains how gene duplication events, such as those seen in the Hox gene complex, may have allowed the evolution of new morphological forms?

An early consequence of the release of oxygen gas by plant and bacterial photosynthesis was to?

Which of the following molecules was most likely the first genetic material on Earth?

Which of the following factors most likely prevented adaptive radiation by mammals before the dinosaurs went extinct?

A genetic change that caused a certain Hox gene to be expressed along the tip of a vertebrate limb bud instead of farther back helped make possible the evolution of the tetrapod limb. This type of change is illustrative of ________.

The oxygen revolution changed Earth's environment dramatically. Which of the following took advantage of the presence of free oxygen in the oceans and atmosphere?

Large-scale, worldwide adaptive radiations have occurred in which of the following situations?

The half-life of carbon-14 is about 5,730 years. A fossil that has 1/16 of the normal proportion of carbon-14 to carbon-12 should be about how many years old?

A female fly, carrying fertilized eggs, is hypothetically swept by high winds to an island far out to sea. She is the first and only fly to arrive on this island. Thousands of years later, her numerous descendents occupy the island and have overlapping geographic ranges. They are separated into several different species with different foods, mouthparts, egg-laying sites, and egg shapes. None of the species can fly and their balancing organs (halteres) are now used in courtship displays. The male members of each species bear modified halteres that are unique in appearance to their species. Females bear vestigial halteres. Which of these fly organs, as they exist in the description, best illustrates an exaptation?