Deck 5: Macroevolution: Processes of Vertebrate and Mammalian Evolution

Question 1

Speciation can occur as a result of all of the following except

A) geographic isolation
B) natural selection acting on populations
C) ecological separation
D) lack of differences in habitats
E) limited gene exchange

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Structural similarities shared by species that are acquired by descent from a common ancestor are

A) analogies
B) homologies
C) acquired
D) uncommon
E) uninformative of evolutionary relationships

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Animals with a nerve cord along the back and gill slits during some developmental stage are called which of the following?

A) insects
B) invertebrates
C) chordates
D) metazoans
E) underdeveloped

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Unlike a cladogram, a phylogenetic tree

A) includes the dimension of time
B) does not suggest ancestral-descendant relationships
C) is one-dimensional
D) are used by physical anthropologists to identify and assess the utility of traits
E) are used by physical anthropologists to make testable hypotheses regarding relationships between groups of organisms

Question 5

A genus may be defined as a group of

A) individuals who interbreed but who are reproductively isolated from other such groups
B) closely related species
C) one or more species that do not differ from each other in basic ways
D) members of the same species
E) individuals more closely related to individuals of another species in another genus

Question 6

Which two primary schools of classification are discussed in the text?

A) generalized and specialized
B) organic and inorganic
C) evolutionary systematics and cladistics
D) cladistics and non-cladistics
E) ancestral and derived (modified)

Question 7

What is the evolutionary process that produces analogous structures called?

A) speciation
B) homology
C) homoplasy
D) founder effect
E) evolutionary systematics

Question 8

A hypothesis regarding ancestor-descendant relationships that includes a time scale is called a

A) cladogram
B) phylogenetic tree
C) phylogram tree
D) hypogram tree
E) hypoplastic tree

Question 9

Ideally, taxonomic classification

A) reflects evolutionary relationships
B) is based on the presence of acquired characteristics
C) is always based solely on between-species behavioral similarities
D) reflects the current geographic distribution of species
E) is only applicable to nonhuman species

Question 10

Structural similarities shared by a wide array of distantly related species that are inherited from a remote ancestor, such as the number of bones in the forelimb, are termed

A) specialized
B) ancestral (primitive)
C) adaptive radiations
D) analogies
E) derived (modified)

Question 11

Grouping contemporaneous species into genera

A) is never a subjective process
B) can be facilitated by identifying which species can interbreed and produce live, though not necessarily fertile, hybrid offspring
C) is always easy and accurate
D) is problematic and therefore not a common practice of physical anthropologists
E) requires similarities between species in one genus and species of another genus.

Question 12

Vertebrates include all of the following except

A) birds
B) insects
C) amphibians
D) mammals
E) fishes

Question 13

In grouping organisms together in a cladistic classification, the most important characteristics are those that are

A) ancestral
B) shared derived (modified)
C) shared primitive
D) analogous
E) homologous

Question 14

When assessing evolutionary relationships, one approach is to focus on derived (modified) characteristics. What is this approach called?

A) taxonomy
B) phylogeny
C) classification
D) cladistics
E) homoplasy

Question 15

What is the term for traits that reflect specific evolutionary lineages and can be informative of evolutionary relationships?

A) ancestral (primitive)
B) acquired
C) derived (modified)
D) convergent characters
E) analogies

Question 16

Assigning fossil remains to a particular primate species

A) is an uncomplicated process
B) requires splitting samples into as many species as possible
C) requires making comparisons to well-known living species of primates
D) can be accomplished only if the species is sexually dimorphic
E) requires not making comparisons to well-known living species of primates

Question 17

What is the term for the ordering of organisms into categories, such as orders or families?

A) evolution
B) classification
C) parallelism
D) analogy
E) generalization

Question 18

What are structural similarities between species that are based on common function and not on common evolutionary descent called?

A) acquired
B) generalized
C) non-adaptive
D) analogies
E) homologies

Question 19

Morphological variation between individuals within a species

A) may be the product of male/female morphological differences
B) is called interspecific variation
C) is of no concern to anthropologists
D) is unimportant when interpreting the fossil record
E) produces large numbers of identical individuals

Question 20

Continental drift

A) had no real impact on the evolutionary history of vertebrates
B) never occurred
C) is the movement of the continents on the Earth's surface
D) ceased to occur several million years ago
E) occurs only in the Old World

Question 21

The Cenozoic era is considered the age of mammals due to the vast diversification that took place.

Question 22

Cladistic analysis makes no attempt to discern ancestor-descendant relationships.

Question 23

The diversification of reptiles facilitated by the evolution of the reptilian egg is a good example of which of the following?

A) parallel evolution
B) specialization
C) homology
D) adaptive radiation
E) devolution

Question 24

What is the term for the rapid expansion and diversification of groups of organisms into newly available ecological niches?

A) generalization
B) homology
C) parallel evolution
D) adaptive radiation
E) specialization

Question 25

The variation that exists among individuals within a species is termed interspecific variation.

Question 26

Mammals, in contrast to reptiles,

A) have larger brains
B) are homodont
C) cannot process a wide variety of foods
D) lack fur
E) are ectothermic

Question 27

What does the term endothermic refer to?

A) mammalian tooth shapes
B) the loss of heat in animals without fur
C) using metabolic activity to maintain a constant internal body temperature
D) staying warm by laying in the sun
E) energy is generated externally

Question 28

Which of the following is an epoch of the Cenozoic era?

A) Ordovician
B) Permian
C) Triassic
D) Cambrian
E) Eocene

Question 29

Development of a mammalian brain requires all except

A) Longer period of growth
B) More intense period of growth
C) Slower development in utero and after birth
D) Social system that ensure ample learning
E) The lack of a "bond of milk" between mother and infant

Question 30

Sexual dimorphism refers to reproductive differences among mammal species.

Question 31

During the ___________mammals replaced reptiles as the dominant form of land vertebrate.

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

Question 32

The phyum chordate includes all animals with a never cord, gill slits, and supporting cord along the back.

Question 33

Endothermic animals include mammals and which of the following?

A) fish
B) amphibians
C) birds
D) all dinosaurs
E) reptiles

Question 34

In _________, the young are born in an extremely immature state and complete development in their mother's external pouch.

A) placental mammals
B) monotremes
C) marsupials
D) reptiles
E) adaptive radiation

Question 35

The theory that macroevolution proceeds as the result of gradual microevolutionary change

A) is the only explanation of speciation accepted by biologists today
B) is called the theory of punctuated equilibrium
C) has been refuted
D) has been questioned as the exclusive mode of speciation
E) postulates rapid evolutionary change followed by long periods of stasis

Question 36

What are Monotremes?

A) marsupials
B) viviparous reptiles
C) egg-laying fish
D) placental mammals
E) egg-laying mammals

Question 37

The diversification of the mammals occurred mostly during the

A) Pleistocene
B) Mesozoic
C) Quaternary
D) Cenozoic
E) Paleozoic

Question 38

Study of the Hox genes indicates that it takes hundreds of mutations to lead to diversification of the basic vertebrate limb structure.

Question 39

Cladistics is an approach to classification that makes evolutionary interpretations based solely on shared ancestral characters.

Question 40

As discussed in the text, long-term continental drift had significant evolutionary ramifications because

A) groups of animals were no longer isolated from each other by oceans.
B) the distribution of mammals and other land vertebrates were unaffected.
C) geological activities induced volcanic activities which decimated populations of placental mammals.
D) groups of animals were isolated from each other by oceans.
E) scientists can map the changes that occurred.

Question 41

Define "species" and the biological species concept. Why is the latter the one preferred by most biologists?

Question 42

Define the term "adaptive radiation" and why it is important to the principle of evolution.

Question 43

The mammals achieved rapid evolutionary success because they possessed several characteristics related to learning and general behavioral flexibility.

Question 44

Explain the geological time scale and the various emergence of life forms during the three main eras.

Question 45

Why is geographic isolation important to the process of speciation?

Question 46

Give an overview of the modes of evolutionary change, including both microevolution and macroevolution. Why does the textbook author indicate that the major differences between the two seem to be one of scale?

Question 47

Short Answer Questions
Define analogous and homologous traits and provide an example of each.

Question 48

What does it mean to say that evolutionary processes can be both microevolution and macroevolution?

Question 49

Explain the difference between generalized and specialized characteristics. What are examples of each in terms of the adaptive potential?

Question 50

Contrast the two schools of taxonomy: evolutionary systematics and cladistics.

Question 51

During the Paleozoic era, reptiles were the dominant land vertebrates.

Question 52

Much of what we know about the history of life comes from studying fossils.

Question 53

Epochs are categories of geological time ; the Cenozoic contains seven.

Question 54

Vertebrate fossils are found as far back as the Paleozoic.

Question 55

Contrast ancestral traits with derived traits.

Question 56

When scientists assign fossil remains to genera and species, they must first assess the variation present in the fossil sample to determine its biological significance. What are the sources of morphological variation in fossil samples?

Question 57

What are the influences of long-term continental drift on the evolution of terrestrial life forms?