Deck 21: The Origin and Evolutionary History of Life

Question 1

The evolution of aerobic respiration ____ both oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in the biosphere.

A) mutated
B) stabilized
C) increased
D) decreased
E) eliminated

Answer 1

B

Question 2

What is the approximate age of Earth?

A) 4.6 million years
B) 500 million years
C) 2.7 billion years
D) 3.6 billion years
E) 4.6 billion years

Answer 2

E

Question 3

Which hypothesis suggests that organic molecules formed near Earth's surface in pools of water?

A) clay hypothesis
B) iron-clay hypothesis
C) organic broth hypothesis
D) prebiotic soup hypothesis
E) iron-sulfur world hypothesis

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Presently, it is thought that organic polymers may have formed and accumulated on:

A) silt and sand.
B) sand and mud.
C) rocks and clay.
D) water and shells.
E) sand and heavy metals.

Question 5

Who first proposed the concept that simple organic molecules could form spontaneously from simpler raw materials?

A) Miller and Urey
B) Charles Darwin
C) Thomas Malthus
D) Watson and Crick
E) Oparin and Haldane

Question 6

One critical requirement for life to arise on Earth was time for which to occur?

A) The salinity of the oceans to stabilize
B) The Earth's various climates to stabilize
C) Molecules to accumulate and react with one another
D) The atmospheric temperature to increase sufficiently
E) The ozone layer to form, so that the level of ultraviolet radiation was reduced

Question 7

The occurrence of an RNA world early in the history of life can never be proven, but experiments with _____ have shown that it is feasible.

A) in vitro evolution
B) Darwin's evolution
C) indirected evolution
D) chemical evolution
E) biological evolution

Question 8

Amino acids and other organic molecules were formed in the laboratory of Miller and Urey from which of the following?

A) hydrogen, methane, water, ammonia, and electrical discharge
B) heat, ultraviolet radiation, water, carbon dioxide, and amines
C) heat, infrared radiation, water, carbon dioxide, and free nitrogen
D) heat, electrical discharge, water, nitric oxide, and carbon dioxide
E) ultraviolet radiation, electrical discharge, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and ammonia

Question 9

Which was a possible source of high energy on early Earth that likely contributed to the origin of life?

A) redox energy
B) gamma radiation
C) volcanic activity
D) infrared radiation
E) geothermal energy

Question 10

Stromatolites are rocklike columns composed of:

A) protists
B) dinoflagellates
C) microbial biofilms
D) heterotrophic organisms
E) photosynthetic eukaryotes

Question 11

During the process of splitting water during photosynthesis, the first cyanobacteria released _____ into the atmosphere.

A) oxygen gas
B) infrared heat
C) hydrogen gas
D) carbon dioxide
E) photons of light

Question 12

What was the purpose of the spark chamber in this experimental apparatus?

A) To generate heat
B) To produce ATP
C) To stop the reaction
D) To generate lightening
E) To produce UV radiation

Question 13

Millions of years ago, the activity of which cellular organelle would have been dependent upon the presence of cyanobacteria?

A) Golgi
B) nucleus
C) ribosome
D) mitochondrion
E) endoplasmic reticulum

Question 14

Which hypothesis states that life developed from nonliving matter?

A) abiotic evolution
B) natural selection
C) organic evolution
D) chemical evolution
E) inorganic evolution

Question 15

The iron-sulfur world hypothesis suggests that organic molecules formed near:

A) volcanoes.
B) sulfur pools.
C) pools of water.
D) hydrothermal vents.
E) low atmosphere clouds.

Question 16

The first cells were most likely heterotrophic anaerobes because:

A) they were dependent upon cyanobacteria for oxygen.
B) they manufactured organic molecules and needed oxygen.
C) they manufactured organic molecules and do not need oxygen.
D) they utilized preformed organic molecules and needed oxygen.
E) they utilized preformed organic molecules and did not need oxygen.

Question 17

Why is it believed that RNA was the first informational molecule to evolve?

A) RNA molecules can replicate into DNA molecules.
B) RNA molecules are more central to modern inheritance than DNA.
C) RNA molecules degrade more slowly in solution than DNA molecules.
D) RNA molecules are much simpler structures than other macromolecules.
E) RNA molecules are able to function as both enzymes and substrates for their own replication.

Question 18

The atmosphere of early Earth is currently thought to have contained:

A) methane, water, ammonia, nitrogen, and oxygen
B) carbon dioxide, water, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen
C) carbon dioxide, ozone, nitric oxide, water, and hydrogen sulfide
D) carbon dioxide, water, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and nitrogen
E) carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, water, hydrogen, and nitric oxide

Question 19

What kind of organisms likely perished due to the increase of oxygen in the atmosphere three billion years ago?

A) heterotrophs
B) cyanobacteria
C) obligate aerobes
D) obligate anaerobes
E) facultative anaerobes

Question 20

What was a significant outcome of the Miller and Urey experiment?

A) They demonstrated natural selection.
B) They were the first to synthesize living cells.
C) They proved that life did not originate on Earth.
D) They proved that the iron-sulfur world hypothesis was false.
E) They synthesized organic molecules from inorganic materials.

Question 21

Which were the first organisms to release oxygen by photosynthesis?

A) algae
B) cyanobacteria
C) gymnosperms
D) flowering plants
E) green sulfur bacteria

Question 22

What feature of a dinosaur determines whether it is a saurischian or an ornithischian dinosaur?

A) size
B) habitat
C) feeding preference
D) pelvic bone structure
E) number of feet it walks on

Question 23

Figure 21-2 What is the animal in the accompanying figure?

A) mosasaur
B) plesiosaur
C) pterosaur
D) thecodont
E) ichthyosaur

Question 24

Which theory states that eukaryotic organelles originated as prokaryotes that survived ingestion by a host cell and ultimately evolved mutualistic relationships with the host cell?

A) endosymbiont theory
B) heterosymbiont theory
C) obligative symbiotic theory
D) facultative symbiotic theory
E) autotrophic symbiotic theory

Question 25

Which are assemblages of abiotically produced polymers?

A) ribozymes
B) stromatolites
C) protobionts
D) endosymbionts
E) polyribosomes

Question 26

Figure 21-2 During which time period did the animal in the accompanying figure appear?

A) Jurassic
B) Triassic
C) Permian
D) Devonian
E) Cretaceous

Question 27

Which is the largest division of the geologic time scale?

A) eon
B) era
C) epoch
D) period
E) millennium

Question 28

During the __________ epoch, the mammals experienced an explosive adaptive radiation.

A) Holocene
B) Paleocene
C) Pleistocene
D) Eocene
E) Pliocene

Question 29

Evidence shows that the earliest life may have existed how long ago?

A) 2 billion years ago
B) 3.5 billion years ago
C) 1.3 billion years ago
D) 630 million years ago
E) 250 million years ago

Question 30

Figure 21-1 The theory illustrated by the accompanying figure is used to explain the origin of which organisms?

A) anaerobes
B) eukaryotes
C) prokaryotes
D) protobionts
E) vascular plants

Question 31

During the Pleistocene epoch, plant communities changed dynamically in response to which mechanism?

A) a meteor impact
B) iridium in the soil
C) fluctuating climates
D) intense grazing pressure
E) competition with gymnosperms

Question 32

Which time period would hold the record of the oldest fossils of multicellular animals, found in mountainous areas of South Australia, and parts of Canada and China?

A) Edicarian
B) Devonian
C) Cambrian
D) Cretaceous
E) Ordovician

Question 33

Why is there very little physical evidence of life from rocks of the Archaean eon?

A) Those rocks have been deeply buried in most parts of the world.
B) Those rocks occupy inaccessible areas of mountainous regions.
C) Those rocks have been greatly eroded in most parts of the world.
D) Those rocks occupy the polar regions and are thus covered by glaciers.
E) Those rocks have been deposited in oceanic trenches deep in the oceans.

Question 34

One of the most significant steps in the evolution of true cells from macromolecular assemblages was the evolution of:

A) electronegativity.
B) covalent bonding.
C) hydrogen bonding.
D) valence electrons.
E) molecular reproduction.

Question 35

Figure 21-1 Refer to the accompanying figure. Which organelle evolved from the photosynthetic bacteria?

A) nucleus
B) chloroplast
C) food vacuole
D) mitochondria
E) endoplasmic reticulum

Question 36

What are the protobionts produced by abiotically produced polypeptides?

A) polybionts
B) prokaryotes
C) microspheres
D) peptidebionts
E) stromatolites

Question 37

Which statement about dinosaurs is FALSE?

A) Some species lived in social groups and hunted in packs.
B) Dinosaurs were all slow-moving, with relatively low metabolic rates.
C) Fossils of dinosaurs with feathers suggest that feathers first evolved to provide insulation.
D) Dinosaur social behaviors include courtship rituals and parental nurturing of the young.
E) Dinosaurs underwent an extensive radiation throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

Question 38

The mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period was likely the result of:

A) rising seawater.
B) loss of vegetation.
C) extreme predation.
D) a dramatic change in climate.
E) the appearance of new competitors.

Question 39

The Holocene epoch marks the appearance of:

A) humans.
B) reptiles.
C) amphibians.
D) large mammals.
E) marine vertebrates.

Question 40

A significant reduction in the amount of which gas would allow more ultraviolet radiation to reach Earth's surface?

A) oxygen
B) methane
C) ozone
D) cyanide
E) carbon dioxide

Question 41

Identify three ways in which the evolution of photosynthetic autotrophs affected either the atmosphere or other organisms.

Question 42

The greatest mass extinction of all time occurred at the end of the ____ era, in which more than 90% of all existing marine organisms became extinct.

A) Archaean
B) Paleozoic
C) Cenozoic
D) Mesozoic
E) Proterozoic

Question 43

Briefly explain the iron-sulfur world hypothesis and identify two pieces of evidence that support this hypothesis.

Question 44

The prebiotic soup hypothesis proposes that organic molecules formed from cracks in the ocean floor.
______________

Question 45

Fossil stromatolites are evidence that cells exited 3.5 million years ago.
_____________

Question 46

The "Age of Fishes" is an informal name for which time period?

A) Silurian period
B) Permian period
C) Devonian period
D) Ordovician period
E) Carboniferous period

Question 47

What was the dominant life form of the Mesozoic era?

A) fish
B) reptiles
C) mammals
D) amphibians
E) vascular plants

Question 48

Amphibians evolved directly from which ancestral organisms?

A) fishes
B) reptiles
C) small mammals
D) soft-bodied animals
E) marine invertebrates

Question 49

The incorporation of DNA into the information transfer system was advantageous because DNA is a(n) catalytic molecule.
______________

Question 50

The serial endosymbiosis hypothesis states that the origin of mitochondria and chloroplasts was the result of a mutually advantageous symbiotic relationship between two eukaryotic organisms.
______________

Question 51

Protobionts are vesicle-like assemblages of abiotically-produced organic polymers.
______________

Question 52

Which type of organisms were likely the first land animals?

A) birds
B) reptiles
C) mammals
D) amphibians
E) arthropods

Question 53

During which time period did shallow seas cover much of the land and another burst of evolutionary diversification occur?

A) Silurian period
B) Permian period
C) Devonian period
D) Ordovician period
E) Carboniferous period

Question 54

Mammal-like reptiles arose during which time period?

A) Triassic period
B) Cambrian period
C) Devonian period
D) Cretaceous period
E) Carboniferous period

Question 55

Clay is considered a possible site for early polymerization because it binds organic monomers and contains zinc and iron ions that may have functioned as ATP .
______________

Question 56

Place the following organisms in order of appearance in the fossil record, beginning with the earliest.
A. ferns, algae, flowering plants, gymnosperms
B. amphibians, reptiles, fish, mammals

Question 57

A ____ forest included low swamps with giant ferns, horsetails, club mosses, seed ferns, and early gymnosperm s

A) Jurassic
B) Silurian
C) Devonian
D) Ordovician
E) Carboniferous

Question 58

Which time period of Earth represents when evolution was progressing at the most rapid rate, as evidenced by fossils such as those of the Burgess Shale?

A) Silurian period
B) Cambrian period
C) Devonian period
D) Ordovician period
E) Carboniferous period

Question 59

The first photosynthetic autotrophs used the energy of the sun to split H ₂O because it is not very electronegative.
______________

Question 60

Vascular plants and air-breathing animals first appeared during which time period?

A) Silurian period
B) Permian period
C) Cambrian period
D) Ordovician period
E) Cretaceous period

Question 61

Describe the four requirements for chemical evolution and why each was essential.

Question 62

Provide at least two types of evidence that support the hypothesis of endosymbiosis.

Question 63

Mitochondria and chloroplasts have their own circular DNA and translational components.

Question 64

The first photosynthetic organisms to obtain hydrogen by splitting water were the cyanobacteria . ______________

Question 65

Describe the distinguishing organisms and major biological events associated with the following geological time units.
A. Precambrian time
B. Paleozoic era
C. Mesozoic era
D. Cenozoic era

Question 67

The first cells were autotrophs,