Deck 13: Paleozoic Life History Vertebrates and Plants

Question 1

Coelacanths were thought to be extinct, but a living specimen was found off the coast of Madagascar in 1938.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Based on embryo studies, blood proteins, and biochemistry of muscle activity, chordates may be more closely linked to echinoderms than other phyla.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Amphibians likely evolved from the lobe-finned crossopterygians.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Both sphenopsids and lycopsids were important members of the Pennsylvanian forests.

Question 5

The evolution of seeds allowed plants independence from underwater environments and to spread over all land types.

Question 6

The development of seeds allowed plants to grow flowers.

Question 7

Gymnosperms represent the earliest flowering plants.

Question 8

Fish are the earliest vertebrates.

Question 9

Terrestrial vascular plants probably evolved from green algae.

Question 10

All crossopterygians went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous.

Question 11

The Devonian period is also known as the "Age of Fish."

Question 12

Lobe-finned fish are important in the fossil record because it is believed that these fish eventually gave rise to amphibians.

Question 13

Plants became extinct at twice the rate of animals during the Permian extinction event.

Question 14

Part of the gill structure in jawless fish evolved into jaws.

Question 15

The early fish were jawless and armored, and inhabited shallow marine waters.

Question 16

Amphibians were the first organisms to live on land.

Question 17

The first vertebrates evolved on the land.

Question 18

All chordates are vertebrates.

Question 19

The pelycosaurs are the ancestral base for all later reptile groups.

Question 20

Animals had begun to inhabit the land before plant species evolved.

Question 21

The evolution of jaws played an important role in the evolution of fish because it allowed them to ____.

A) increase speed
B) reduce oxygen consumption
C) specialize feeding styles and reduce oxygen consumption
D) diversify feeding styles and increase oxygen consumption
E) specialize feeding styles and consume fewer prey

Question 22

Vertebrates first appeared in the ____.

A) Cambrian
B) Devonian
C) Permian
D) Mississippian
E) Ordovician

Question 23

Which of the following was critical for the adaptation of reptiles to terrestrial ecosystems?

A) the amniote egg
B) four legs
C) exoskeleton
D) endoskeleton
E) exoskeletons and endoskeletons

Question 24

Ostracoderms developed before cartilaginous fish.

Question 25

Seedless vascular plants release spores to the environment.

Question 26

The sail-like fin on the backs of the pelycosaur did NOT function as a ____.

A) sexual display
B) means of locomotion
C) means of protection
D) means to look more ferocious
E) thermoregulatory structure

Question 27

What is the study of organic microfossils called?

A) necrology
B) palynology
C) benthology
D) pelipalology
E) phylology

Question 28

The features of plants, such as leaves and roots, did not evolve simultaneously, but rather evolved at different times and often retain ancestral features representing earlier evolutionary events. What type of evolution is this?

A) progressive
B) delayed
C) sequential
D) mosaic
E) piecemeal

Question 29

Animals that can live for extended periods on land, but must return to water-based environments to reproduce are ____.

A) hominids
B) plankton
C) reptiles
D) mammals
E) amphibians

Question 30

Pollen morphologies change in response to atmospheric pollution and UVB radiation.

Question 31

Put the following organisms in order of evolution, from earliest to latest.

A) reptiles, amphibians, and fish
B) fish, reptiles, and amphibians
C) amphibians, reptiles, and fish
D) amphibians, fish, and reptiles
E) fish, amphibians, and reptiles

Question 32

Reptiles had evolved at least by the ____, likely descended from labyrinthodonts .

A) Late Mississippian
B) Late Silurian
C) Early Pennsylvanian
D) Early Permian
E) Late Permian

Question 33

A group of small, lizard-like reptiles are among those which are the earliest known reptiles are called ____.

A) pelycosaurs
B) thecodontians
C) labyrinthodonts
D) therapsids
E) protorothyrids

Question 34

A tetrapod is a(n) ____.

A) extinct dinosaur species
B) reptile with four legs
C) flying mammal
D) type of fish
E) four-legged vertebrate

Question 35

Cooksonia is the earliest known vascular land plant.

Question 36

Animals lived on land before plants moved to land.

Question 37

The earliest fish were ____.

A) ray-finned
B) bony-finned
C) cartilaginous
D) jawless
E) lungfish

Question 38

The greatest barrier to both plants and animals for continuous inhabitation of land was ____.

A) higher water temperatures
B) their inability to regulate body temperature
C) their methods of respiration
D) their methods of reproduction
E) lower land temperatures

Question 39

Fish with muscular fins attached to the body by a fleshy shaft and a series of articulating bones are ____.

A) Tiktaalik roseae
B) bony fish
C) ray-finned fish
D) lobe-finned fish
E) sharks

Question 40

A flowerless, seed-bearing plant is called a(n) ____.

A) echinoid
B) sponge
C) gymnosperm
D) angiosperm
E) crinoid

Question 41

The evolution of the ____________________ egg made possible the development of reptiles from amphibians.

Question 42

Therapsids have features one might recognize as those of ____, but they are still characterized as _____.

A) mammals; amphibians
B) mammals; reptiles
C) reptiles; amphibians
D) amphibians; reptiles
E) reptiles; mammals

Question 43

____________________ is the study of organic microfossils,

Question 44

A(n) ____________________ is an animal that has, at least during part of its life cycle, a notochord, a dorsal hollow nerve cord, and pharyngeal slits.

Question 45

Seedless vascular plants lived in low, wet habitats because they ____.

A) needed water to reproduce
B) did not have a means to transport water through their structure
C) had no protection from desiccation
D) were a food source for amphibians
E) preferred cooler temperatures

Question 46

Climate change would most likely be recorded by plants in their ____.

A) leaves
B) roots
C) stems
D) rhizomes
E) spores and pollen

Question 47

In ____________________, a species produces two types of spores, one for the female gamete plant and one for the male gamete plant.

Question 48

Echinoderms and chordates are thought to be more closely related that other phyla are to these groups because ____.

A) both have embryonic cells with spiral cleavage
B) both have embryonic cells with radial cleavage
C) both have amniote eggs
D) they lived at the same time
E) both have embryonic cells with nested cleavage

Question 49

Which reptile group is considered to be the immediate ancestor of mammals?

A) captorhinomorphs
B) pelycosaurs
C) labyrinthodonts
D) therapsids
E) coelacanths

Question 50

Which lab tool would be most useful to a palynologist?

A) microscope
B) telescope
C) scale
D) Geiger counter
E) oscilloscope

Question 51

Warm-blooded, or ____________________ organisms, are able to maintain a constant internal body temperature.

Question 52

The ____________________ fish are represented today by sharks, rays, and skates.

Question 53

All chordates must possess a(n) ____.

A) notochord, dorsal hollow nerve cord, and pharyngeal slits
B) backbone and pharyngeal slits
C) notochord and lungs
D) notochord, dorsal hollow nerve chord. and lungs
E) dorsal hollow nerve chord, lungs, and a thermoduct

Question 54

The ____________________ were a group of seedless, vascular plants that lived in coal-forming swamps during the Late Carboniferous and Permian.

Question 55

Plants adapted to the desiccating effects of the land environment and increased ultraviolet radiation with the evolution of ____.

A) a cambium layer
B) roots
C) leaves
D) cutin
E) bark

Question 56

Amphibians probably evolved from the ____________________, an important group of lobe-finned fish.

Question 57

What were the most successful type of Paleozoic plants in non-swampy environments?

A) cordaites
B) lycopsids
C) gymnosperms
D) sphenopsids
E) seedless vascular plants

Question 58

The ____________________ are a group of amphibians named for the wrinkling and folding of the chewing surface of their teeth.

Question 59

The proliferation of plants on Earth did NOT significantly impact ____.

A) weathering rates
B) erosion rates
C) soil formation
D) atmospheric composition
E) ultraviolet-B  radiation from the sun

Question 60

The ____________________ plants have a tissue system of specialized cells for the movement of water and nutrients.

Question 61

Compare and contrast the jawless and jawed fish. How do scientists think the jaw first evolved in fishes? Was the evolution of the jaw related to feeding?

Question 62

Discuss how the evolution of jawed fishes and other predatory creatures affected the marine ecosystem.

Question 63

Discuss the development of reptiles from amphibians. What changes were necessary to allow reptiles to remain on land all the time? Why did this change allow access to many new environments for the reptiles to occupy?

Question 64

Describe and discuss the biota, including flora and fauna of the Carboniferous coal swamps.

Question 65

Discuss the development of marine plants to primitive land-based plants to vascular plants to sphenopsids to gymnosperms. What changes in plant structures were required to make this transition?

Question 66

Explain why the development of the amniote egg was so significant in the evolution of the reptiles.

Question 67

Explain how palynology can be used to reconstruct past environments.

Question 68

Discuss the problems that animals had to overcome to adapt to the land environment. How did they overcome these problems? Provide specific examples of these adaptations.

Question 69

Discuss the problems that plants had to overcome to adapt to life on land. How did they overcome these problems?

Question 70

Discuss the development of early vertebrates into advanced fish and, finally, into amphibians. What body changes were required to accomplish this move from the marine environment to land?