Deck 12: Major Transitions

Question 1

Which of the following is an advantage of the economy of scale?

A) division of labor
B) more individuals per group
C) sexual reproduction
D) multicellularity

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The experimental setup shown in the figure was designed to test which of the following?

A) the economy of scale of slime mold slugs and amoebas regarding efficiency of travel
B) the reproductive ability of slime mold slugs and amoebas
C) the consumption of amoebas by slime mold slugs
D) competition between slime mold slugs and amoebas

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which of the following is a benefit of multicellularity for slime mold amoebas?

A) self-sacrifice for other amoebas
B) ability to move quickly
C) sexual reproduction
D) ability to feed on bacteria

Answer 3

B

Question 4

According to the endosymbiotic theory, early eukaryotes acquired the mitochondrion from a symbiotic bacterium. What happened to the bacterial genes?

A) All of the bacterial genes were transferred to the nuclear genome.
B) All of the bacterial genes still exist and comprise the mitochondrial genome.
C) All of the bacterial genes still exist and comprise the chloroplast genome.
D) Some bacterial genes were transferred to the nucleus, some were lost, and some comprise the mitochondrial genome.

Question 5

In what way are single-celled slime mold amoebas and individual honeybees (social insects that live in colonies) alike?

A) Signals cause them to aggregate, but they usually live alone.
B) They are both examples of loss of complexity.
C) They are both examples of why group living is disadvantageous.
D) Some individuals give up independent replication in the larger group.

Question 6

The transition from unicellularity to multicellularity

A) has occurred once.
B) is an obligate condition.
C) occurs only in slime molds.
D) must convey a selective advantage to individuals if it is to occur.

Question 7

Which of the following statements about multicellularity is true?

A) Major eukaryotic groups either contain only multicellular or only unicellular species.
B) Eukaryotes became multicellular upon endosymbiosis with bacteria.
C) Multicellularity has evolved many times in eukaryotes.
D) Multicellularity is always advantageous for the individual.

Question 8

What unites the organisms shown in the figure?

A) They are all single celled.
B) They all have chloroplasts.
C) They are all archaea.
D) They are all eukaryotes.

Question 9

What is the chemical signal for slime mold amoebas to aggregate?

A) cAMP
B) cCMP
C) cGMP
D) cTMP

Question 10

Which of the following major transitions proposed by John Maynard Smith and Eörs Szathmary (1997) most likely occurred first?

A) the evolution of sexual reproduction
B) the emergence of eukaryotic cells
C) the origin of the first cells
D) the evolution of groups, including complex societies

Question 11

Eukaryotes share

A) all of their genes with archaea.
B) all of their genes with bacteria.
C) more transcription- and translation-associated genes with archaea and more metabolic genes with bacteria.
D) more transcription- and translation-associated genes with bacteria and more metabolic genes with archaea.

Question 12

Economies of scale occur in major transitions when

A) individuals aggregate.
B) groups can perform tasks more efficiently than individuals.
C) cell-type number increases.
D) genes become genetically imprinted.

Question 13

Transfer of genes between organelles and the nucleus

A) occurred only in the distant past.
B) only happens between the mitochondria and the nucleus.
C) only happens between the chloroplast and the nucleus.
D) is ongoing.

Question 14

According to the figure, which of the following relationships between pairs of taxa and relating number of cell types is correct?

A) Hominidae < Aves
B) Cephalopoda < Actinopterygii
C) Cnidaria < Porifera
D) Amphibia < Echinodermata

Question 15

Which of the following is characteristic of an individual?

A) It is multicellular.
B) It forms a group.
C) It is an integrated and indivisible whole.
D) It is eukaryotic.

Question 16

Which of the following statements regarding complexity is true?

A) Evolution always progresses toward complexity.
B) Complexity, once gained, cannot be lost.
C) Modern bacteria and archaea are vastly more complex than ancestral forms.
D) Complexity, once gained, can be lost.

Question 17

Looking at the figure, how many times has multicellularity evolved?

A) once
B) twice
C) three times
D) at least six times

Question 18

Which of the following is NOT an organelle that is thought to be the result of endosymbiosis?

A) mitochondrion
B) chloroplast
C) apicoplast
D) endoplasmic reticulum

Question 19

A somatic cell is

A) a body cell that is responsible for growth and maintenance.
B) a cell specialized for reproduction.
C) one of the cells that produces spores in slime mold-fruiting bodies.
D) a cell that has four membranes around it.

Question 20

The eukaryotic nucleus likely originated from a(n)

A) mitochondrion.
B) archaeal cell.
C) bacterium.
D) proteobacterium.

Question 21

The product of the regA gene in Volvox carteri suppresses the production of chloroplast proteins. The production of these chloroplast proteins causes cells to grow. When the regA gene is expressed

A) cells grow large and become germ cells.
B) cells stay small and become somatic cells.
C) cells grow flagella and become germ cells.
D) flagella growth is suppressed and cells become soma.

Question 22

Describe Lynn Margulis' endosymbiotic theory on the evolution of mitochondria and chloroplasts.

Question 23

Why do the benefits of group living focus on foraging and predation?

A) Other behaviors, such as reproduction, are irrelevant for the fitness of individuals in a group.
B) Individuals in groups always forage and engage in antipredator behaviors together.
C) Groups only exist for foraging and antipredator behavior.
D) Much of an animal's time is spent foraging and avoiding predators.

Question 24

Which statement regarding the evolution of multicellularity is FALSE?

A) Multicellularity may have arisen by the staying together or the coming together routes.
B) The staying together route is also known as the clonal route.
C) The staying together route is much more common than the coming together route.
D) Most plants and animals are thought to have evolved through the coming together route.

Question 25

Why must cheaters be identifiable in group living at any level (such as an individual cell within a multicellular organism, or an individual animal within a social group)?

Question 26

Which process was responsible for evolution of apicoplasts?

A) primary endosymbiosis
B) secondary endosymbiosis
C) gene migration
D) horizontal gene transfer

Question 27

Which of the following is seen when a multicellular organism has many specialized cell types, resulting in a division of labor between reproductive functions and growth and maintenance functions?

A) germ-soma distinction
B) information transfer
C) sacrifice of the ability to reproduce
D) economy of scale

Question 28

Differentiate between the coming together and staying together routes posited by evolutionary biologists as leading to multicellularity.

Question 29

In studying transitions, why is it necessary to focus on the advantages to individuals and not the overall group advantage?

Question 30

Based on the figure, which of the following clades experienced evolutionary radiation most recently?

A) land plants
B) extant eukaryotes
C) animals
D) opisthokonts

Question 31

The figure illustrates the relationship between the distance to a food source and duration of the "straight run" portion of a honeybee's waggle dance in the hive. If a forager returned to the hive with food and did a straight run of 1.5 seconds, how far would other foragers go to find food?

A) 500 meters
B) 1,000 meters
C) 2,000 meters
D) 4,000 meters

Question 32

Based on the figure, if a plant and nonplant mitochondrial genome contain the same gene, did they inherit the gene from a common ancestor? Explain your reasoning.

Question 33

Why does genetic imprinting inhibit parthenogenesis?

Question 34

Which of the following is NOT a reason that volvocine algae are ideal for studying the evolution of individuality?

A) They transitioned to multicellularity relatively recently.
B) Within the group, there are multiple, separate transitions to germ and soma lines.
C) The group exhibits extensive variation in its degree of multicellularity.
D) They readily form aggregate slugs.

Question 35

List the sequence of endosymbiotic events, beginning with ancestral Cyanobacteria, Proteobacteria, and Archaebacteria, that led to the evolution of plants.

Question 36

From where do the "extra" membranes arise in mitochondria, chloroplasts, and apicoplasts?

Question 37

Why do groups offer protection in foraging?

A) Large groups draw the attention of predators.
B) Predator targeting increases with group size.
C) The probability of a predator attack increases with increased group size.
D) Many eyes detect predators more quickly.

Question 38

The complete division between soma and germ line cells may have been an evolutionary response to which of the following selective pressures?

A) the presence of predators
B) the presence of pathogens
C) certain cells acting as "cheaters" that overrepresent themselves in the next generation
D) the ability to move more quickly toward a food source

Question 39

Based on the figure, what date of origin would you predict for organisms with around 100 different cell types?

A) 100 million years ago
B) 300 million years ago
C) 500 million years ago
D) 700 million years ago

Question 40

Wilson (1980) defined a social group as which of the following?

A) a group of individuals that are always together
B) a group of conspecific individuals that affect each other's fitness
C) a group that forages together
D) a group that participates in communal raising of offspring

Question 41

What are three commonalities to John Maynard Smith and Eörs Szathmary's major transitions?

Question 42

Consider Dyctiostelium discoideum, a slime mold that form slugs, and Volvox carteri, a species of volvocine algae. Both slime mold slugs and V. carteri contain soma and germ cells. Is the slug an individual? Is the Volvox colony an individual? Explain.

Question 43

Give an example of differentiation of tasks at the individual level and an example at the group level.

Question 44

Describe two evolutionary costs and two benefits of group living.

Question 45

Draw a graph that illustrates the relationship between foraging ability and group size where group living is beneficial. On the same graph, draw a line of the relationship if group living was not beneficial.

Question 46

What are apicoplasts, and what is the advantage of using them as a drug target for the treatment of malaria?

Question 47

Charles and Mary Brown have demonstrated that as cliff swallow colony size increases, the number of nests with one or more unhatched eggs decreases. They have also demonstrated that as the size of colony increases, the number of parasites increases, and these parasites cause nest failures and juvenile mortality. These two observations indicate that there are trade-offs in group living. What would be a better measure than unhatched eggs to understand the benefits of group living in cliff swallows?