Deck 19: Systematics and Phylogenetics: Revealing the Tree of Life

Question 1

Which of these statements best describes a paraphyletic taxon?

A) includes species from different evolutionary lineages
B) includes an ancestral species and all its descendants
C) includes an ancestral species and only some of its descendants
D) includes only the ancestral species

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Suppose that you are studying a phylogenetic tree and you want to circle a polyphyletic taxon on it. What would you most likely circle?

A) only some of the descendants
B) only an ancestor
C) an ancestor and all its descendants
D) an ancestor and some of its descendants

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Suppose that you are studying a phylogenetic tree and you want to circle a monophyletic taxon on it. What would you most likely circle?

A) only the descendants
B) only an ancestor
C) an ancestor and all its descendants
D) an ancestor and some of its descendants

Answer 3

C

Question 4

What depicts relatedness on a phylogenetic tree?

A) horizontal spacing between clades
B) the position of the nodes
C) the position of the clades
D) the position of the branches

Question 5

How many separate mosquito species have the name Anopheles maculipennis?

A) 2
B) 3
C) 6
D) 7

Question 6

What is a node on a phylogenetic tree?

A) a species
B) an emerging twig
C) an evolutionary lineage
D) a branching point

Question 7

Which taxon includes an ancestor and all its descendants?

A) monophyletic
B) paraphyletic
C) polyphyletic
D) both monophyletic and polyphyletic

Question 8

Which of these statements best describes a polyphyletic taxon?

A) includes species from different evolutionary lineages
B) includes an ancestral species and all its descendants
C) includes an ancestral species and only some of its descendants
D) includes only the ancestral species

Question 9

Which of the following did Linnaeus invent?

A) genus
B) specific epithet
C) binomial nomenclature
D) trinomial nomenclature

Question 10

Whose scientists first identified two forms of the mosquito "species"?

A) American
B) French
C) British
D) Dutch

Question 11

What depicts time on a phylogenetic tree?

A) horizontal spacing between clades
B) the position of the nodes
C) the position of the clades
D) the position of the branches

Question 12

Which taxon includes the descendants only, and NOT the most common ancestor?

A) monophyletic
B) paraphyletic
C) polyphyletic
D) both monophyletic and polyphyletic

Question 13

Whose researcher first reported variation in mosquitoes?

A) French
B) Dutch
C) American
D) British

Question 14

Which of the following applies to classification of the American black bear?

A) Order Ursidae; Family Carnivora; Genus Ursus; Species Ursus americanus
B) Order Carnivora; Family Ursidae; Genus Ursus americanus; Species Ursus
C) Order Carnivora; Family Ursidae; Genus Ursus; Species Ursus americanus
D) Order Ursidae; Family Carnivora; Genus Ursus americanus; Species Ursus

Question 15

Which of these statements best describes a monophyletic taxon?

A) includes species from different evolutionary lineages
B) includes an ancestral species and all its descendants
C) includes an ancestral species and only some of its descendants
D) includes only the ancestral species

Question 16

Which taxon includes an ancestor with some of its descendants?

A) monophyletic
B) paraphyletic
C) polyphyletic
D) both monophyletic and polyphyletic

Question 17

When converting a phylogenetic tree into a classification, what do evolutionary biologists try to identify?

A) paraphyletic taxa only
B) polyphyletic taxa only
C) monophyletic taxa only
D) monophyletic and polyphyletic taxa

Question 18

Suppose that you want to find a relationship between two similar organisms. Which of the following would you most likely use?

A) a phylogenetic tree
B) fossil record
C) morphological similarities
D) physiological similarities

Question 19

Suppose that you are studying a phylogenetic tree and you want to circle a paraphyletic taxon on it. What would you most likely circle?

A) only some of the descendants
B) only an ancestor
C) an ancestor and all its descendants
D) an ancestor and some of its descendants

Question 20

Considering the phylogenetic tree for Anthropoidea, which of these pairs are more closely related?

A) gibbons and humans
B) gibbons and chimpanzees
C) gibbons and gorillas
D) gibbons and orangutans

Question 21

What is adaptive radiation?

A) the basis of radiometric dating
B) development of similar body form in unrelated organisms
C) formation of beneficial alleles through exposure to radiation
D) origin of many species from a single common ancestor

Question 22

Suppose that you want to use molecular sequencing as a source of phylogenetic data. Which of these techniques would you most likely use?

A) cloning
B) RNA analyses
C) replication of DNA
D) PCR

Question 23

Which of the following is an example of analogous characters?

A) the tailbone of a human being and the tail of a monkey
B) the arm of a human, the wing of a bird, and the leg of a dog
C) the bones in the wings of bats, birds, and pterosaurs
D) the sweet potato and potato as food storage

Question 24

What did Linnaeus use to classify organisms?

A) their evolutionary similarities
B) their morphological similarities
C) their physiological similarities
D) their genetic similarities

Question 25

Which of the following can be useful when understanding the potential relationship between animal species that are not morphologically distinct?

A) physiological characteristics
B) evolutionary analysis
C) genetics analysis
D) behavioural characteristics

Question 26

Which of the following is an example of homologous characters?

A) the wings of insects and birds used for flying
B) the finlike structures in fish and penguins
C) the bones in the wings of bats, birds, and pterosaurs
D) the sweet potato and potato as food storage

Question 27

Which of the following present characters that systematists use to develop phylogenies?

A) morphology, behaviour, and sequence of nucleic acids
B) morphology, behaviour, sequence of nucleic acids and proteins
C) behaviour and sequence of nucleic acids and proteins
D) morphology and sequence of nucleic acids and proteins

Question 28

What is convergent evolution?

A) a tendency among organisms living under different conditions to develop different body forms
B) a tendency among organisms living under the same conditions to develop different body forms
C) a tendency among organisms living under the same conditions to develop similar body forms
D) a tendency among organisms living under different conditions to develop similar body forms

Question 29

What are the wing skeletons of birds and bats an example of?

A) homologous structures
B) heterologous structures
C) convergent evolution
D) same species

Question 30

What depicts the relative age of clades on a phylogenetic tree?

A) horizontal spacing between clades
B) relative positions of the nodes from which they emerge
C) the position of the clades
D) the position of the branches

Question 31

What do systematists need to consider in order to complete phylogenetic trees or cladograms?

A) similar organisms only
B) extinct and extant organisms
C) extinct organisms only
D) extant organisms only

Question 32

Why is the traditional taxon class Reptilia considered paraphyletic?

A) It includes an ancestor and all its descendants.
B) It includes an ancestor and some, but not all, of its descendants.
C) It does not include an ancestor along with some of its descendants.
D) It does not include an ancestor along with all its descendants.

Question 33

If we were to discover beings on a distant planet that looked very much like us, what would this probably be cited as an example of?

A) coincidence
B) convergent evolution
C) homology
D) adaptive radiation

Question 34

What must characters exhibit to be useful, systematic characters?

A) genetic dependence, reflecting the same parts of organisms' genomes
B) genetic independence, reflecting the same parts of organisms' genomes
C) genetic dependence, reflecting different parts of organisms' genomes
D) genetic independence, reflecting different parts of organisms' genomes

Question 35

Which of these statements best distinguishes between parallel and convergent evolution?

A) The term convergent evolution is used when referring to phylogenetically more closely related organisms; parallel evolution is used when referring to phylogenetically more distantly related organisms.
B) The term parallel evolution is used when referring to phylogenetically more closely related organisms; convergent evolution is used when referring to phylogenetically more distantly related organisms.
C) The term parallel evolution is used when referring to phylogenetically parallel organisms; convergent evolution is used when referring to phylogenetically converted organisms.
D) The term parallel evolution is used when referring to morphologically similar organisms; convergent evolution is used when referring to morphologically different organisms.

Question 36

A single seed lands on one of a group of isolated islands. Several million years later, its descendants have evolved into a number of new species on the different islands, representing a variety of trees, shrubs, and vines. What is this an example of for that point in time?

A) adaptive radiation
B) punctuated equilibrium
C) genetic drift
D) microevolution

Question 37

North American cactus is strikingly similar to African spurge. What is this an example of?

A) same species
B) shared common ancestor
C) shared inheritance
D) convergent evolution

Question 38

Australia and Eurasia each have a mouse-like mammal-one a marsupial, the other a placental. What is this an example of?

A) long-distance migration
B) homology
C) adaptive radiation
D) convergent evolution

Question 39

Which finding is the reason that cladistic classification better reflects the evolutionary history of tetrapods than the traditional classification?

A) Mammals share a more recent common ancestor with lizards.
B) Mammals share a more recent common ancestor with turtles.
C) Crocodilians share a more recent common ancestor with amphibians.
D) Crocodilians share a more recent common ancestor with birds.

Question 40

Suppose that you want to clarify whether the frogs Hyla versicolor and Hyla chrysoscelis are the same species, since they look exactly the same. Which of the following would you most likely use as evidence?

A) their sounds
B) their genetics
C) their physiology
D) their behaviour

Question 41

Which of these traits are ancestral character states found in mammals?

A) vertebral column and four legs
B) hair and mammary glands
C) vertebral columns and reduced number of bones in lower jaw
D) hair and reduced number of bones lower jaw

Question 42

What did a phylogenetic tree for strains of simian immunodeficiency virus and human immunodeficiency virus suggest?

A) that the virus was transmitted to chimpanzees independently of humans and sooty mangabey monkeys
B) that the virus was transmitted to humans independently of chimpanzees and other humans
C) that the virus was transmitted to humans independently of chimpanzees and sooty mangabey monkeys
D) that the virus was transmitted to humans independently of gorillas and chimpanzees

Question 43

What does molecular phylogenetic analysis help to pinpoint that is helpful to public health workers?

A) the countries of infectious diseases' origins
B) the cure for infectious diseases
C) the causes of infectious diseases
D) the origins of infectious diseases

Question 44

The reliability of molecular clocks depends on the constancy of evolutionary change in the DNA segment analyzed.

Question 45

What do systematists compare in the maximum likelihood method?

A) specific trees, with alternative models about the rates of evolutionary change in different regions of DNA
B) alternative trees, with specific models about the rates of evolutionary change in different regions of RNA
C) alternative trees, with specific models about the rates of evolutionary change in different regions of DNA
D) alternative trees, with specific models about the rates of evolutionary change in different regions of proteins

Question 46

Which of the following represent character states observed in the outgroup?

A) adapted traits
B) inherited traits
C) derived traits
D) ancestral traits

Question 47

Explain the principle of parsimony applied to phylogenetic analyses.

Question 48

What helped biologists to predict that nonavian dinosaurs probably incubated their eggs and cared for their young?

A) distribution of their morphology on a cladogram of archosaurs
B) distribution of their parental care behaviour on a cladogram of archosaurs
C) distribution of their physiology on a cladogram of archosaurs
D) distribution of their egg laying behaviour on a cladogram of archosaurs

Question 49

PhyloCode identifies and names organisms instead of pigeonholing them into traditional taxonomic categories.

Question 50

Each character can exist in two forms, described as character states.

Question 51

What does the principle of parsimony state?

A) The most complex plausible explanation of any phenomenon is the best.
B) The simplest plausible explanation of any phenomenon is the best.
C) The most practical approach to any phenomenon is the best.
D) The simplest practical approach to any phenomenon is the best.

Question 52

HIV-1 is common in West Africa, and HIV-2 is also common in West Africa.

Question 53

Suppose that you want to index the time at which two species diverged, if mutations accumulated in their DNA segments. What would you use the differences in their DNA sequences for?

A) molecular clock
B) phylogenetic tree
C) monophyletic grouping
D) paraphyletic grouping

Question 54

Which of the following best distinguishes derived and ancestral characters?

A) Derived characters are new forms of traits, and ancestral characters are old forms of traits.
B) Ancestral characters are new forms of traits, and derived characters are old forms of traits.
C) Derived characters are used to determine relatedness among organisms, and ancestral characters are not.
D) Ancestral characters are used to determine relatedness among organisms, and derived characters are not.

Question 55

Primitive feathers in certain dinosaurs evolved in anticipation of flight in their descendants, the birds.

Question 56

Nodes represent common ancestors that underwent cladogenesis and produced two descendant clades.

Question 57

Match each of the following terms with its definition or description.
a.monophyletic taxon
b.polyphyletic taxon
c.paraphyletic taxon
d.homology
e.convergent evolution
f.homoplasy
g.phylogeny
h.apomorphy
i.synapomorphy
j.outgroup
similarity that results from shared ancestry

Question 58

Genetic distance method calculates the overall proportion of bases that differ between many species.

Question 59

Which of the following best describes why crocodilians are classified with lizards, snakes, and turtles?

A) They have a common ancestry and are reptiles.
B) They have a common ancestry and lay eggs.
C) They have a common ancestry and belong to vertebrates.
D) They have a common ancestry and are covered with dry, scaly skin.

Question 60

Match each of the following terms with its definition or description.
a.monophyletic taxon
b.polyphyletic taxon
c.paraphyletic taxon
d.homology
e.convergent evolution
f.homoplasy
g.phylogeny
h.apomorphy
i.synapomorphy
j.outgroup
a species related to the clade but not included within it

Question 61

Match each of the following terms with its definition or description.
a.monophyletic taxon
b.polyphyletic taxon
c.paraphyletic taxon
d.homology
e.convergent evolution
f.homoplasy
g.phylogeny
h.apomorphy
i.synapomorphy
j.outgroup
includes an ancestor and some, but not all, of its descendants

Question 62

Match each of the following terms with its definition or description.
a.monophyletic taxon
b.polyphyletic taxon
c.paraphyletic taxon
d.homology
e.convergent evolution
f.homoplasy
g.phylogeny
h.apomorphy
i.synapomorphy
j.outgroup
a product of convergent evolution

Question 63

Match each of the following terms with its definition or description.
a.monophyletic taxon
b.polyphyletic taxon
c.paraphyletic taxon
d.homology
e.convergent evolution
f.homoplasy
g.phylogeny
h.apomorphy
i.synapomorphy
j.outgroup
includes organisms from different clades, but not their ancestor

Question 64

Match each of the following terms with its definition or description.
a.monophyletic taxon
b.polyphyletic taxon
c.paraphyletic taxon
d.homology
e.convergent evolution
f.homoplasy
g.phylogeny
h.apomorphy
i.synapomorphy
j.outgroup
a derived character state found in two or more species

Question 65

Match each of the following terms with its definition or description.
a.monophyletic taxon
b.polyphyletic taxon
c.paraphyletic taxon
d.homology
e.convergent evolution
f.homoplasy
g.phylogeny
h.apomorphy
i.synapomorphy
j.outgroup
a derived character state

Question 66

Match each of the following terms with its definition or description.
a.monophyletic taxon
b.polyphyletic taxon
c.paraphyletic taxon
d.homology
e.convergent evolution
f.homoplasy
g.phylogeny
h.apomorphy
i.synapomorphy
j.outgroup
the evolution of similar adaptations in distantly related organisms that live in similar environments

Question 67

Match each of the following terms with its definition or description.
a.monophyletic taxon
b.polyphyletic taxon
c.paraphyletic taxon
d.homology
e.convergent evolution
f.homoplasy
g.phylogeny
h.apomorphy
i.synapomorphy
j.outgroup
evolutionary history

Question 68

Match each of the following terms with its definition or description.
a.monophyletic taxon
b.polyphyletic taxon
c.paraphyletic taxon
d.homology
e.convergent evolution
f.homoplasy
g.phylogeny
h.apomorphy
i.synapomorphy
j.outgroup
includes an ancestor and all its descendants