Deck 13: The Greatest Species on Earth Biodiversity and Classification

Question 1

Fossils of ancient organisms are found in deep layers of rock, while the fossils of more recent organisms are found in shallower layers. Which two groups' common ancestor would be found in relatively shallow fossils?

A) protists and bacteria
B) fungi and archaea
C) animals and plants
D) plants and protists

Answer 1

C

Question 2

In what way is a member of domain Archaea similar to a member of domain Bacteria?

A) They are both photosynthetic.
B) They both live in extreme environments.
C) They both have DNA enclosed in a nucleus.
D) They are both prokaryotic cells.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which kingdom would include an organism that is multicellular and makes its own food?

A) kingdom Animalia
B) kingdom Fungi
C) kingdom Plantae
D) kingdom Protista

Answer 3

C

Question 4

In what period did all modern animal groups first appear in the oceans?

A) Cambrian
B) Silurian
C) Carboniferous
D) Permian

Question 5

Dr. Smith has discovered a bird that he believes is a new species. Dr. Wilson says he will only be convinced if Dr. Smith finds several more birds of the same type. Why might Dr. Wilson feel this way?

A) He wants to be sure Dr. Smith hasn't killed the last one and made the species extinct.
B) He wants to be sure that the bird Dr. Smith found isn't just an unusual example of an already-described species.
C) He wants to make sure that there will be enough specimens for many scientists to study the bird and see if it is a new species.
D) All the bird species have already been described, so there can't be anymore.

Question 6

Which kingdom would include an organism that is multicellular, relies on other organisms for food, and reproduces by spores?

A) kingdom Animalia
B) kingdom Fungi
C) kingdom Plantae
D) kingdom Protista

Question 7

What does the main trunk at the far left of the "tree of life" represent?

A) all extinct members of the lineage
B) the earliest common ancestor of all the organisms in the tree
C) the most successful members of the lineage
D) the organisms for which most fossils have been discovered

Question 8

Scientists can compare the relationships between all modern species by examining a gene that performs a similar function in species from all kingdoms. What does this one gene encode?

A) Taq polymerase
B) ribosomal RNA
C) enzymes needed for photosynthesis
D) restriction enzymes

Question 9

How does the DNA of related organisms show similarity?

A) The DNA of each organism is unique and therefore shows no similarity.
B) The diverse types of sugars and phosphates are very similar.
C) The sequence of bases is very similar.
D) The locations of DNA within the cell are very similar.

Question 10

For what reason might scientists change the most current classification system?

A) if more species became extinct
B) if more types of vertebrates were discovered
C) if more information became available on the evolutionary history of existing species
D) if new species evolved

Question 11

Of the four kingdoms in the domain Eukarya, which one is most likely to be split into two or more new kingdoms as scientists perform more genetic analyses on evolutionary relationships?

A) kingdom Plantae
B) kingdom Protista
C) kingdom Animalia
D) kingdom Fungi

Question 12

How have classification systems for living things changed over the years?

A) Scientists have always recognized five kingdoms of living things, but the placement of species within those kingdoms has changed.
B) Until the last 20 years, organisms had been classified first as animal or plant. Recently, a five-kingdom system became the preferred classification system.
C) The three-domain system has been introduced within the last 30 years, to supplement the five-kingdom system.
D) The exact organization proposed in the eighteenth century by Carl Linnaeus has recently been reinstituted by scientists.

Question 13

In which era did primitive bacteria first appear?

A) Precambrian
B) Paleozoic
C) Mesozoic
D) Cenozoic

Question 14

DNA is found in every cell of an organism. What subset of DNA changes would be most useful to molecular biologists to determine evolutionary relationships?

A) DNA changes that occur in genes specific to organisms in one kingdom
B) DNA changes in genes that are shared by a common ancestor
C) DNA changes in genes that occur in body cells and cannot be passed to offspring
D) DNA changes in genes that do not generally code for any function

Question 15

True or false: Organisms on Earth are currently classified first as either plant or animal.

Question 16

What trait distinguishes different phyla of fungi from each other?

A) their methods of obtaining food
B) the way they form spores
C) the type of hyphae they form
D) the type of antibiotics they produce

Question 17

What free-living organisms developed into both mitochondria and chloroplasts?

A) protists
B) animals
C) bacteria
D) plants

Question 18

According to the most current classifications, which group is the most different from all the others?

A) bacteria
B) fungi
C) animals
D) archaea

Question 19

True or false: It's possible for the same species to be categorized under two different names in different natural history museums around the world.

Question 20

Why is it so difficult for scientists to know how many species have already been described?

A) Scientific journals do not publish accounts of new species.
B) There isn't one location for cataloguing all species.
C) Scientists are too busy testing hypotheses to investigate the number of species on Earth.
D) Many species are microscopic, so they are difficult to study.

Question 21

How are prokaryotes different from eukaryotes?

A) Prokaryotes have no DNA.
B) Prokaryotes have no nucleus separating the DNA from the rest of the cell.
C) Prokaryotes are unicellular, while eukaryotes are multicellular.
D) Prokaryotes cause disease, but eukaryotes don't.

Question 22

Algae are classified as part of which group?

A) Plantae
B) Protista
C) Fungi
D) Archaea

Question 23

In what way are fungi similar to animals?

A) Both take in food from the outside.
B) Both produce hair-like hyphae.
C) Both form embryos when they reproduce.
D) Both produce antibiotics.

Question 24

Which group underwent a large increase in diversity during the Cambrian explosion?

A) animals
B) plants
C) fungi
D) bacteria

Question 25

Plants possess many compounds that affect animals. What explains these plant characteristics?

A) Plants have been subject to mutation-causing pollution for many decades.
B) Plants have cell structures that are very different from animal cells.
C) Plants contain chloroplasts that are derived from free-living prokaryotes.
D) Plants that produced chemical defenses were successful against plant-eating animals.

Question 26

Which categories are in the correct order, from most inclusive to least inclusive?

A) phylum, kingdom, domain, species
B) species, phylum, domain, kingdom
C) kingdom, species, phylum, domain
D) domain, kingdom, phylum, species

Question 27

Why might archaea be more difficult to grow in the lab than bacteria?

A) Archaea are larger cells and thus take in more food.
B) Archaea are much smaller than bacteria and are harder to see growing.
C) Archaea often grow in unusual environments that would be hard to reproduce in the lab.
D) Archaea don't usually reproduce in captivity.

Question 28

The evolution of which trait allowed plants to grow taller?

A) seeds
B) vascular tissue
C) flowers
D) photosynthesis

Question 29

You work for a firm that has hired you to look for drugs that work in a similar way to aspirin. Which kingdom of organisms should be included in your first search?

A) Plantae
B) Protista
C) Fungi
D) Animalia

Question 30

Why will the leftovers in your refrigerator be guaranteed to eventually grow mold?

A) Fungi get nutrients from internal processes.
B) Fungi have cell walls.
C) Fungi are widespread and reproduce quickly.
D) Fungi often produce antibiotics.

Question 31

What is the most important role of bacteria in the environment?

A) as disease-causing agents
B) as fungal control
C) as decomposers
D) as a source of restriction enzymes

Question 32

What significant event occurred during the Cambrian explosion in Earth's history?

A) life first appeared
B) eukaryotes first appeared
C) plants first appeared
D) multicellular animals first appeared

Question 33

How could a molecule from plants that blocks the connection between nerves and muscles be useful as a pharmaceutical?

A) It could be used to produce restriction enzymes.
B) It could be used as a source of antibiotic.
C) It could be used as a muscle relaxant.
D) It could be used as an antiviral medication.

Question 34

What is the adaptive value of natural antibiotic production for fungi?

A) Bacteria use fungi for food.
B) Bacteria spoil the food that the fungi need for their own nutrition.
C) Bacteria are the main competitors with fungi for food.
D) Bacteria inhibit the reproduction of fungi.

Question 35

Approximately how old is life on Earth?

A) 36 billion years old
B) 3.6 billion years old
C) 360 million years old
D) 36 million years old

Question 36

In order to construct an evolutionary classification of modern-day aquatic vertebrates, what is the best source of information?

A) the DNA sequence
B) the structure of organs
C) the position of appendages
D) the distribution of scales

Question 37

How do fungi obtain nutrients?

A) through photosynthesis
B) by secreting chemicals that break down food and then absorbing it
C) by secreting antibiotics and then absorbing killed bacteria
D) by engulfing bacteria directly

Question 38

An organism is described that can live in very high temperature water. What group would contain this organism?

A) Bacteria domain
B) Archaea domain
C) Protista kingdom
D) Animalia kingdom

Question 39

To which group are organisms in kingdom Fungi most closely related?

A) Plantae
B) Protista
C) Animalia
D) Bacteria

Question 40

What is the result of adaptive radiation?

A) the extinction of one species and the replacement with another
B) the diversification of one or a few species into a varied group of descendants
C) symbiosis between eukaryotes and prokaryotes
D) convergent evolution in which unrelated species take similar forms

Question 41

For how long were prokaryotes the only kind of life on Earth?

A) 100 million years
B) 500 million years
C) 1 billion years
D) 1.5 billion years

Question 42

What organisms form mats of long, thin chains of cells and are important in decomposition?

Question 43

There are a number of sites around the world that have been made uninhabitable because of chemical pollution in the soil. Which group of organisms might have useful biological tools for breaking down these toxic compounds?

A) animals
B) fungi
C) protists
D) plants

Question 44

What was the first antibiotic, discovered as a result of a laboratory accident?

Question 45

What is the best way to test a hypothetical evolutionary classification among living organisms?

A) analysis of embryonic development
B) analysis of physical structures
C) analysis of DNA sequence
D) analysis of habitat

Question 46

A book is being publicized that purports to provide proof that aliens from another planet brought life to Earth. The proof they show are strange fossils of multicellular organisms that look like no animal you have ever seen. What group actually includes these "aliens"?

A) organisms with adaptive radiation
B) the Ediacaran fauna
C) ancient archaea
D) endosymbiotic organisms

Question 47

Symbiosis is a relationship that is mutually beneficial to two organisms. Which organelle developed as a result of a symbiotic relationship?

A) Golgi body
B) nucleus
C) mitochondrion
D) endoplasmic reticulum

Question 48

After dinosaurs became extinct, the number of mammal species increased greatly. What process applies to this example?

A) adaptive radiation
B) endosymbiosis
C) competition
D) eukaryotic development

Question 49

What process is performed by both algae and plants?

Question 50

In this phylogeny feather pattern on the head is the trait used to separate the sparrows into groups. DNA analysis suggests a different phylogeny that places white-crowned birds and golden-crowned birds more closely together. Therefore, what process results in the striped pattern on the head?

A) convergent evolution
B) sexual selection
C) genetic drift
D) endosymbiosis

Question 51

True or false: Organisms that live in habitats with high levels of competition are more likely to produce defensive chemicals than those that live with little competition.

Question 52

Why is adult anatomy sometimes a misleading way to construct a phylogeny that reflects evolutionary history?

A) Adult anatomy isn't strongly influenced by natural selection.
B) Convergent evolution produces similar traits in unrelated species.
C) Adult anatomy is too variable within a species.

Question 53

Mycorrhizae are fungi that are symbiotic with plants. What is the likely relationship between these fungi and plants?

A) The fungi provide soil nutrients to the plants; the plants provide food to the fungi.
B) The fungi remove bacteria from the soil; the plants provide water to the fungi.
C) The fungi provide CO₂ to the plants; the plants protect the fungi from predators.
D) The fungi remove predators from the plants; the plants provide shelter for the fungi.

Question 54

Which statement describes viruses?

A) Viruses are living cells that can invade other organisms.
B) Viruses use energy to perform life functions.
C) Viruses use host cells to make more viruses.
D) Viruses will die unless they are inside an organism.

Question 55

What organism would be the best source of an antibacterial compound that would limit the growth of a particular kind of soil bacteria?

A) other bacteria regardless of habitat
B) animals that live in the same area
C) fungi from the same soil
D) flowering plants from the same soil

Question 56

What evolutionary milestone is shown in the figure?

A) bacteria evolving into archaea
B) prokaryotes evolving into eukaryotes
C) protists evolving into animals
D) algae evolving into plants

Question 57

When plants first colonized land, the space they occupied was two-dimensional: the surface of the land. Which adaptation allowed plants to occupy a three-dimensional environment?

A) double fertilization
B) seeds
C) vascular system
D) flowers

Question 58

What were the Ediacaran fauna?

A) organisms that seem to be the first life on Earth
B) symbiotic organisms that evolved into cellular organelles
C) the first multicellular organisms found in the fossil record
D) the most ancient ancestors of organisms in kingdom Protista

Question 59

True or false: Mitochondria and chloroplasts of eukaryotic cells are very similar to prokaryotes.

Question 60

What is a virus?

A) an organism in domain Archaea
B) an organism in kingdom Protista
C) an organism in domain Bacteria
D) a non-living particle

Question 61

Which scientist specializes in categorizing and describing groups of organisms?

A) botanist
B) entomologist
C) herpetologist
D) systematist