Deck 15: Tracing Evolutionary History

Question 1

Miller was the first to show that

A)amino acids and other organic molecules could have formed under conditions thought to resemble those of early Earth.
B)the earliest forms of life were photosynthetic.
C)eukaryotic life evolved from early prokaryotes.
D)the earliest forms of life had an RNA genome.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The Mesozoic era is often called the age of reptiles. Which of the following also occurred during this era?

A)the origin of animals in the oceans
B)the appearance of the first plants on land
C)the appearance of the first animals (tetrapods and insects)on land
D)the appearance of the first mammals and flowering plants on land

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following options lists major events in the history of life on Earth in the proper order, from earliest to most recent?

A)first prokaryotes, photosynthesis, colonization of land by plants and fungi, first eukaryotes
B)first eukaryotes, photosynthesis, colonization of land by plants and fungi, first prokaryotes
C)first prokaryotes, first eukaryotes, photosynthesis, colonization of land by plants and fungi
D)first prokaryotes, photosynthesis, first eukaryotes, colonization of land by plants and fungi

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The earliest known land plants date to the

A)Precambrian.
B)Ordovician (early Paleozoic era).
C)Carboniferous (late Paleozoic era).
D)Jurassic (Mesozoic era).

Question 5

Miller-type experiments have shown that

A)simple cells could be produced in the laboratory using a "soup" of small organic molecules.
B)complex organic molecules can be produced by physical processes from inorganic components.
C)living cells could survive in primitive Earth's atmosphere.
D)given the conditions of early Earth, the formation of life would still require additional materials from meteorites and asteroids.

Question 6

Which of the following environments is thought to have promoted the dehydration synthesis of polypeptides and other macromolecules from smaller organic monomers on a prebiotic Earth?

A)freshwater swamps and marshes
B)deep-sea hydrothermal vents
C)hot sand, clay, or rock along the seashore
D)sediments at the bottom of the world's oceans

Question 7

The findings of Pasteur and others have established that

A)living organisms regularly self-assemble (arise spontaneously)from nonliving matter.
B)living organisms do not arise from nonliving matter today, nor did they arise from nonlife in the past.
C)advanced organisms cannot arise from nonliving matter, but simple microbial life often does arise from nonlife today.
D)life does not arise from nonliving matter today, but in the conditions of early Earth, such an event could have occurred.

Question 8

The earliest discovered fossils are of ________ dating back to ________ years ago.

A)single-celled eukaryotes; 4.5 billion
B)prokaryotes; 3.5 billion
C)algae; 1 billion
D)fish; 600 million

Question 9

You find the frozen remains of a woolly mammoth in an Alaskan glacier. You analyze a bit of the tusk and find that its ¹⁴C:¹²C ratio is about one-fourth (25%)of the baseline level typically found in living organisms. Given that the half-life of ¹⁴C is 5,730 years, when did the mammoth die?

A)5,730 years ago
B)almost 12,000 years ago
C)at least 25,000 years ago
D)approximately 75,000 years ago

Question 10

Potassium-40 can be used to date ________ that are ________ old.

A)fossils; thousands of years
B)volcanic rocks and associated fossils; hundreds of millions of years
C)potassium-rich fossils; millions of years
D)carbon-containing materials; up to 75,000 years

Question 11

If all of Earth's history were compressed into an hour, humans would first appear less than

A)1 second ago.
B)10 seconds ago.
C)1 minute ago.
D)10 minutes ago.

Question 12

If an isotope has a half-life of 4 million years, and a fossil is 16 million years old, how much of the original isotope will be found in the fossil?

A)one-half of the original amount
B)one-quarter of the original amount
C)one-eighth of the original amount
D)one-sixteenth of the original amount

Question 13

What was the probable role of oxygen gas in the early stages of life's appearance on Earth?

A)Cellular respiration, which depends on oxygen availability, provided abundant energy to the first life-forms.
B)Oxygen promoted the formation of complex organic molecules through physical processes.
C)Oxygen gas tends to disrupt organic molecules, so its absence promoted the formation and stability of complex organic molecules on the early Earth.
D)Abundant atmospheric oxygen would have created an ozone layer, which blocked out ultraviolet light and thereby protected the earliest life-forms.

Question 14

The technique called radiometric dating is based on

A)the steady, clocklike decay of certain radioactive isotopes over time.
B)the assumption that radioactive isotopes accumulate in fossils at a constant rate.
C)the formation of radioactive molecules in rocks after they are laid down.
D)the use of fossils of known age to determine how fast carbon-14 decays.

Question 15

The "big bang" that produced the universe is thought to have occurred

A)40 to 50 billion years ago.
B)12 to 14 billion years ago.
C)4)6 billion years ago.
D)4 million years ago.

Question 16

Some RNA molecules can function like enzymes. These particular enzymatic RNA molecules are called

A)ribosomes.
B)mRNA.
C)ribozymes.
D)RNase.

Question 17

Which highly reactive gas was probably absent from the Earth's primitive atmosphere?

A)methane
B)carbon dioxide
C)O₂ (oxygen gas)
D)water vapor

Question 18

A current leading hypothesis about the first system of inheritance in the earliest life-forms involves

A)self-replicating DNA molecules (the "DNA world" hypothesis).
B)self-replicating RNA molecules aided by ribozymes.
C)proteins that served as templates for RNA molecules, leading to the formation of DNA.
D)self-replicating polypeptides aided by ribosomes.

Question 19

Plants and fungi first became established on land during the

A)Archaean.
B)Proterozoic.
C)Paleozoic.
D)Cenozoic.

Question 20

The ¹⁴C:¹²C ratio can be used to date fossils that are up to approximately how old?

A)100 million years
B)7 million years
C)75,000 years
D)7,500 years

Question 21

Over the past 500 million years, there have been ________ mass extinctions, and each time, at least ________ of the species on Earth became extinct.

A)two; 25%
B)five; 25%
C)five; 50%
D)twelve; 96%

Question 22

Which of the following options correctly lists the varieties of life in the order that they appear in the geologic record, from earliest to most recent?

A)reptiles, land arthropods, plants and fungi on land, flowering plants
B)land arthropods, plants and fungi on land, flowering plants, reptiles
C)plants and fungi on land, land arthropods, reptiles, flowering plants
D)plants and fungi on land, land arthropods, flowering plants, reptiles

Question 23

Scientists evaluating the Cretaceous mass extinction have concluded that

A)an asteroid impact was probably the triggering event for the extinction.
B)only an extraterrestrial impact could have caused such a big extinction event.
C)climate change would not have been involved in producing the extinctions.
D)ecological factors such as disease and competition probably caused the dinosaurs to go extinct.

Question 24

How is the merging of continents to form Pangaea believed to have altered Earth's environments at the end of the Paleozoic era?

A)It eliminated all multicellular eukaryotes, allowing evolution to start anew.
B)Shallow coastal areas were drained, leading to the extinction of many marine species.
C)It made the climate warmer and moister for terrestrial organisms in the center of the new landmass.
D)It prompted an immediate increase in Earth's biodiversity.

Question 25

Scientists believe that a major factor promoting the adaptive radiation of mammals was probably

A)their development of fur.
B)the mass extinction of most dinosaurs, an event that opened up new ecological opportunities.
C)internal fertilization.
D)the origin and diversification of flowering plants.

Question 26

Geologists have evidence that over the past 1.5 billion years,

A)Earth's continents have remained essentially in their current shape and positions.
B)Earth's landmasses have joined into a single continent and split back apart again on three occasions.
C)Earth's landmasses have moved about extensively but have remained separate.
D)Earth's landmasses have been entirely submerged in water on three occasions.

Question 27

One of the strongest lines of evidence of a meteor or comet impact in the late Cretaceous is

A)the extinction of the dinosaurs.
B)a thin layer of potassium-40 in late Cretaceous fossil strata.
C)a thin layer of iridium-enriched clay in late Cretaceous fossil strata.
D)the warming of Earth's climate in the late Cretaceous.

Question 28

At the end of the ________, over 96% of marine species and many terrestrial species became extinct, possibly because intense volcanic activity warmed Earth's climate.

A)Precambrian
B)Permian
C)Cretaceous
D)Mesozoic

Question 29

In the axolotl, development is altered. Adult axolotls retain features (external gills and aquatic life)that were juvenile in its ancestors, a phenomenon known as

A)"evo-devo."
B)paedomorphosis.
C)punctuated evolution.
D)homology.

Question 30

A spot where two continental plates are sliding past one another may be prone to

A)volcanoes.
B)earthquakes.
C)tsunamis.
D)wildfires.

Question 31

Mass extinctions

A)remove many species, but they are usually replaced within a million years or less by an even greater diversity of life.
B)mainly serve to "weed out" poorly adapted organisms and make room for new, better adapted species.
C)remove well-adapted species and groups from the Earth, so that it may take millions of years for species diversity to recover.
D)are caused by human activity and did not occur prior to the expansion of the Earth's human population.

Question 32

It is estimated that the modern continents began to take shape

A)1)3 million years ago.
B)650 million years ago.
C)65 million years ago.
D)6,000 years ago.

Question 33

Geological evidence indicates that two landmasses became separated by a deep ocean channel 45 million years ago and have been moving apart ever since. You are studying a group of organisms that is widespread as a native part of the biota on both of the landmasses. What can you conclude about the group's evolutionary history?

A)The group's ancestors were definitely present on the original landmass.
B)The group's ancestors cannot have been present on the original landmass.
C)If the group's ancestors could not move across the open ocean, it is very likely that they were present on the original landmass.
D)The group's ancestors must have independently colonized each of the landmasses from a third location within the past 45 million years.

Question 34

How can the success of one group of organisms promote the adaptive radiation of a second group?

A)by providing new food resources, habitats, etc. for the second group
B)by competing with the second group, promoting its adaptive radiation
C)by preying on the second group, which hastens its adaptation
D)by filling most of the available niches, which forces the second group to evolve greater diversity

Question 35

According to "evo-devo" thinking, an organism's body form can be substantially changed

A)only through multiple mutations that produce a large number of new proteins.
B)through mutations that change sexually selected traits.
C)only when changes in the environment directly alter the major protein-coding genes in the organism's genome.
D)through mutations or changes in the expression of one or a few genes that regulate development.

Question 36

Which of the following lines of evidence suggests that lungfishes evolved while Pangaea was intact?

A)Modern lungfishes on different continents show similar patterns of behavior.
B)Lungfishes are found today in Africa, Australia, and South America.
C)Fossil lungfishes have been found on every continent except Antarctica.
D)Lungfishes are restricted to Australia and neighboring islands.

Question 37

The earliest known flowering plants date to the

A)Paleozoic.
B)Triassic (early Mesozoic era).
C)Cretaceous (late Mesozoic era).
D)Cenozoic.

Question 38

Earth's continents and seafloors together form a thin outer layer of the planet called the

A)crust.
B)strata.
C)biosphere.
D)Pangean supercontinent.

Question 39

The Himalayas are an example of a mountain range that formed as a result of

A)the collision of two continental plates.
B)the separation of two continental plates.
C)the buildup of sediments and conversion to rock.
D)volcanic eruptions.

Question 40

Over the past 400 years, humans have documented the extinction of more than ________ species. This modern rate of species extinction is estimated to be ________ the normal extinction rate seen in the fossil record.

A)100; about the same as
B)400; about double
C)1,000; over 100 times greater than
D)10,000; at least 1 million times greater than

Question 41

A systematist includes a lizard in a phylogenetic analysis of relationships among bird families. In this analysis, the lizard would be treated as

A)the ingroup.
B)the outgroup.
C)a derived group.
D)an analogous group.

Question 42

The process through which species not closely related may come to resemble one another if they live in a similar environment is known as

A)coevolution.
B)homology.
C)convergent evolution.
D)paedomorphosis.

Question 43

How can a phylogenetic tree be used to make predictions?

A)Current trends of evolution will continue into the future. Complex models can be used to accurately predict future branching patterns and the nature of future adaptations.
B)Features shared between two groups are likely to have been present in their common ancestor.
C)Features found in one clade are likely to be found in other clades inhabiting different environments.
D)An existing organism's characteristics can be confidently assumed to fit the patterns in the tree. This procedure eliminates the need to collect data about organisms through direct observation or sampling.

Question 44

In accordance with the principle of parsimony, scientists prefer

A)phylogenetic trees that minimize the number of evolutionary changes.
B)phylogenetic trees in which adaptations repeatedly arise, disappear, and reappear.
C)phylogenetic trees with many small clades to those with a few major clades.
D)the Linnaean system of nomenclature to the use of common names.

Question 45

The example of ocean and lake stickleback fishes indicates that morphology can be altered

A)only by changing the sequences of protein-coding genes.
B)by altering the expression of a developmental gene in some parts of the body but not others.
C)by environmental factors (in this case, pollution).
D)by the elimination of a gene (Pitx1)from a population, which leads to loss of the trait (body armor and spines).

Question 46

The model of species selection is analogous to natural selection. In this analogy, ________ are like individuals within a population, and ________ is analogous to reproduction.

A)major groups of organisms; extinction
B)species; speciation
C)genes; gene duplication
D)families; interbreeding

Question 47

Feathers are an example of a/an ________; they originally evolved ________.

A)homology; for flight
B)adaptation; for some other function and only later became adapted for flight
C)exaptation; in anticipation of future use in the development of flight
D)exaptation; for some other function and only later became adapted for flight

Question 48

Ever since Darwin, systematics has tried to

A)organize species into groups based on logical categories.
B)classify species in groups that reflect evolutionary relationships.
C)prove the existence of evolution using laboratory experiments.
D)keep classification and naming as a practical science, separate from controversies involving evolution.

Question 49

Which of the following statements regarding genetics is false?

A)In keeping with our greater complexity, the human genome has about 100 times more genes than that of yeast.
B)Gene duplication helps to explain how mammals can detect and discriminate among such a wide range of odors.
C)About 99% of the genes of humans and mice are related by descent from a common ancestor.
D)The more recently two species have branched from a common ancestor, the more similar we expect their DNA sequences to be.

Question 50

The similarities in function of hummingbird wings and the wings of a butterfly reflect

A)homology but not analogy.
B)homology through convergent evolution.
C)analogy and homology.
D)analogy but not homology.

Question 51

Over a span of several thousand years, a number of species show adaptations to climate change: Drier, warmer conditions select for succulent vegetation and deep taproots in plants, burrowing in mammals and amphibians, and other similar adaptive changes. What will happen if the climate shifts in the opposite direction and becomes progressively wetter and cooler?

A)Ongoing processes of adaptation will continue because of evolutionary inertia.
B)Different adaptive trends will probably be favored in the new climatic environment.
C)Current adaptive trends will continue, but organisms will now also have to add on adaptations to deal with cool, wet conditions.
D)Adaptation will cease because cool, wet conditions are generally favorable for life.

Question 52

Cave-dwelling catfish and cave-dwelling salamanders share striking similarities: Both organisms lack pigmentation, and their eyes are reduced or absent. The most recent common ancestor to these organisms had normal pigmentation and fully developed eyes. The similarities between cave catfish and cave salamanders are an example of

A)convergent homology.
B)analogy (convergent evolution).
C)homology.
D)exaptation.

Question 53

The existence of nest-building in crocodiles and birds led to a prediction that this behavior was also present in ________.

A)fossil lizards
B)Komodo dragons
C)fossil dinosaurs
D)invertebrates

Question 54

Which of the following options lists taxonomic categories in the correct order from most specific to most general?

A)genus, family, class, order, phylum
B)genus, family, order, class, phylum
C)family, genus, order, phylum, class
D)family, genus, class, order, phylum

Question 55

Structures that evolved from the same structure in a common ancestor are

A)homologous.
B)heterologous.
C)analogous.
D)convergent adaptations.

Question 56

________ and ________ mean the same thing.

A)Clade; parsimony
B)Parsimony; analogy
C)Clade; monophyletic taxon
D)Derived; ancestral

Question 57

Molecular data can be used to assess relationships among the major groups of living organisms whose common ancestors lived millions or billions of years ago. Similar techniques can be used to assess relationships among populations within a species. How can molecular techniques be useful for such varied comparisons?

A)Studying the relationships among different populations of a single species can be just as effective as studying the relationships of major biological groups if you look at a lot more genes.
B)The same data can be used for any comparison with equal efficiency.
C)Faster-evolving gene sequences provide better data for comparisons among close relatives, whereas very slowly evolving sequences work best for distantly related taxa.
D)The relationships between very different groups such as bacteria and whales are assessed using mtDNA sequences, whereas rRNA sequences are used for very closely related groups.

Question 58

In mammals, the presence of four limbs is ________, and hair is ________.

A)a shared derived character; a shared ancestral character that places mammals in the tetrapod clade
B)a shared ancestral character; a shared derived character unique to mammals
C)a homologous feature; an analogous feature
D)monophyletic; parsimonious

Question 59

________ makes it possible to trace phylogenies among microbial groups for which there is no fossil record.

A)Convergent evolution
B)Comparison to vertebrate outgroups
C)Horizontal gene transfer
D)Molecular systematics

Question 60

Anti-evolutionary thinkers sometimes argue that natural selection could not produce a complex structure like the vertebrate eye. They claim that all of the parts of the eye must have arisen at once, asking why natural selection would favor the development of part of an eye that is not yet capable of forming a focused image. Which of the following statements is consistent with a survey of eye structure in the molluscs?

A)The argument has a great deal of merit. Only full-blown image-forming eyes are present in modern organisms.
B)There are many intermediate stages of eye complexity that fulfill different adaptive functions.
C)The vertebrate eye is the ancestral form, and other types of organisms have degenerate eyes that have lost most of their original structure and function.
D)The vertebrate eye works in a way that is completely different from the eyes found in molluscs and other invertebrates.

Question 61

A/An ________ has been used to estimate that HIV-1 M first spread to humans in the 1930s.

A)parsimony analysis
B)epidemiological study
C)outgroup comparison
D)molecular clock

Question 62

Which of the following would violate the assumptions of the molecular clock?

A)comparison of genes of a species that lives deep in the ocean with relatives that live on the surface and are exposed to strong mutation-inducing ultraviolet radiation
B)comparison of genes for homologous structures across many species
C)comparison of many genes in many species of insects that undergo metamorphosis
D)assuming that organisms in competitive environments have the same rate of mutation as those in noncompetitive environments

Question 63

The branching "tree of life" analogy

A)accurately reflects evolution. Once a split occurs, species on different branches evolve absolutely independently.
B)has been discredited because it does not help us understand evolutionary relationships among organisms.
C)does not describe ecological interactions between species, so it should be replaced by the web of life.
D)fails to account for horizontal gene transfer, in which species on different branches exchange genes.

Question 64

According to this figure, during what time frame was there an adaptive radiation of eutherians?

A)about 200 million years ago
B)about 170 million years ago
C)from 140 to 100 million years ago
D)from 100 million years ago to the present

Question 65

Biologists are studying two species whose DNA is known to differ by 10%. Knowledge of which of the following would be least important in calibrating a molecular clock to determine how rapidly evolution has proceeded with these two species?

A)the fossil record of these two species
B)a geological event that separated the species at a particular time.
C)the function of each of these regions of DNA
D)the time of divergence of closely related species

Question 66

In 1942 a scientist testing part of a radar system discovered that a candy bar in his pocket had melted. Intrigued, he tried placing an egg near the system he was working on; it exploded and splattered him with hot egg. In this way it was discovered that part of the radar system could be used to cook foods, which led to the development of the microwave oven. When this kind of repurposing occurs in biological systems, it is called

A)paedomorphosis.
B)mutation.
C)exaptation.
D)adaptive radiation.

Question 67

According to this figure, if a species were found only in Laurasia 135 million years ago, on which modern continents would its descendants most likely be found today?

A)North America only
B)Europe and Asia only
C)North America, Europe, and Asia
D)Africa and South America

Question 68

The three-domain system

A)no longer recognizes eukaryotes as a monophyletic group.
B)subdivides the eukaryotes into two different domains.
C)subdivides the prokaryotes into two different domains.
D)separates plants, animals, and fungi into domains.

Question 69

The greatest number of organisms would be found in

A)box A.
B)box B.
C)box E.
D)box I.

Question 70

Bos primigenius, the name of the cow, represents

A)the domain and kingdom names, which go in boxes A and B, respectively.
B)the class and kingdom names, which go in boxes H and I, respectively.
C)the genus and species names, which go in boxes A and B, respectively.
D)the class and phylum names, which go in boxes H and I, respectively.

Question 71

How do scientists calibrate a molecular clock for a group of organisms with known nucleotide sequences?

A)They measure protein differences. Evolutionary rates in proteins are well-known and can be used to check results obtained using nucleotide sequences.
B)They use radioactive isotopes to measure the age of DNA material directly.
C)They graph the number of nucleotide differences against the dates of evolutionary branch points known from the fossil record.
D)They analyze fossilized DNA of known age and compare its nucleotide sequences to modern DNA sequences.

Question 72

In 1865, a biologist, St. George Jackson Mivart, constructed an evolutionary tree of existing primate species with many branches based on analysis of spinal columns. But to his dismay, another tree based on limb comparison was quite different. Which of the following analyses would be best to include today to determine which tree is more accurate?

A)comparison of genes that control development
B)comparison of eyes of primates
C)comparison of DNA sequences of primates
D)examination of evolutionary trees constructed by others.

Question 73

Which of the following is an example of exaptation?

A)Wings are longer in some birds than others.
B)Human middle ear bones are derived from ancestral gill arch tissue.
C)Wings of bats and wings of birds are homologous.
D)Mutation rates can increase at higher temperatures.

Question 74

A disaster such as a meltdown in a nuclear power plant requires close examination of potential impacts on organisms. Which of the following would be useful to biologists in such a situation?

A)Use a molecular clock to compare of genes of a species that lives near the nuclear plant with those of the same species thousands of miles away.
B)Measure continental drift to determine if the disaster had accelerated movement of continents.
C)Use radiometric dating to determine if new species are forming.
D)Examine the mutation rate of species in the area.

Question 75

Below are phylogenetic trees of vertebrates (A)and reptiles (B). Using the data in these models, what might a Tyrannosaurus rex taste like? (A)

(B)

A)beef steak
B)frog legs
C)chicken legs
D)pork chops

Question 76

The first organisms on Earth were very small, but now when you look around you see many large organisms. Which of the following is the best explanation for this observation?

A)Evolution tends toward larger and larger organisms.
B)There were many steps necessary to go from small cells to large organisms.
C)Organisms got larger because they needed to be larger in order to use resources more efficiently.
D)The goal of evolution is to produce the largest organisms possible.

Question 77

In the three-domain system, the eukaryotes are represented

A)only within the domain Eukarya.
B)only within the domain Archaea.
C)only within the kingdom Protista.
D)in all three domains.

Question 78

Divergence time estimates based on molecular clocks are

A)best interpreted with caution, since they depend on assumptions that are difficult to test.
B)likely to be correct plus or minus a few decades.
C)usually worthless since we cannot directly observe divergence times unless we invent a time machine.
D)more reliable than divergence dates that are based on analysis of the fossil record.

Question 79

This figure shows the hierarchy of classification of the cow, Bos primigenius.

The three boxes at the base of the hie PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT 1 rarchy represent

A)classes.
B)kingdoms.
C)domains.
D)phyla.

Question 80

You compare homologous nucleotide sequences among several pairs of species with known divergence times. A pair of species that diverged 1 million years ago has two nucleotide differences, a pair that diverged 2 million years ago has four nucleotide differences, and a pair that diverged 3 million years ago has six nucleotide differences. You have sequence data for another pair of species for which the divergence time is unknown. There are five nucleotide differences between them. Based on your clock, when did their line of ancestry diverge?

A)3)5 million years ago
B)3 million years ago
C)2)5 million years ago
D)2 million years ago