Biology 1309 Life on Earth exam 5
Based on her findings, how are the different groups of modern humans related to each other? (Look at Figure 7.5 on page 141 in the textbook.)
our species first evolved in africa
Denisovansa. e. Which group of modern humans today carry Denisovan genes?
populations in Australia, New Ginea, and Philippines
A predator reduces the fitness of a__________________ organism. A parasite reduces the fitness of a____________________ organism.
prey, host
Describe how the actions of Jesse Hendrix affected the survival of hummingbirds during migration.
Jesse Hendrix's home lies on the migration routes of many of the hummingbird species, so he sets out hummingbird feeders for them to feed on. Some are fitted with leg rings so he knows they visited before, and many come back to his home to feed. Being able to feed while migrating helps them survive.
What two hypotheses have been proposed to explain the evolution of bipedalism in hominins?
Kevin Hunt: it allowed hominins to do a better job at getting food Peter Wheeler: it helped them stay cool
Devonian Extinction
Rapid growth of land plants causes mass consumption of atmospheric carbon dioxide, which causes global cooling.
Describe two examples of commensalism. In each case, explain which species' fitness was increased by the relationship.
Remoras and sharks : remoras fitness is increased, because it gets nutrients from the prey that the shark kills. Pitcher plants and mosquitos: mosquitos fitness is increased, because it feeds on the dead animals inside the pitcher plant and are able to survive living inside the plant.
What is the oldest fossil that is more like humans than other apes?
Sahelanthropus, dicovered in the Sahara Desert in 2001, dated 7 mya.
As seen in the Paleozoic fauna, how might habitat loss affect the possibility of a species or group going extinct?
Some species can only survive in certain habitats and when that habitat is gone, they will go extinct.
What is the evolutionary cost to a snake that is highly resistant to newt toxin?
The snake moves much slower when it is resistant to toxins, allowing predators to attack more easily.
Describe the opposable thumb and its advantages.
The thumb is at a different angle from the other fingers. This allows one to manipulate an object or tool.
In continued evolution between the tongue orchid and the dupe wasp L. excelsa, what kind of mutations do you think natural selection will favor in the wasp?
The wasps with a improved and distinguished smell that aids them in distinguishing between the orchid's chemicals and a female wasps pheromones are more likely to survive.
Describe the function of mitochondria in cells. Which organisms are mitochondria most similar to?
They are essential to our survival, using oxygen, sugar, and other molecules to produce energy for the cell. They also carry out other important jobs such as building clusters of iron and sulfur atoms that are attached to certain proteins. They are most similar to bacteria.
As social life of primates changed, how did this affect the primate face and brain?
They evolved a wider range of facial expressions. New regions of the brain specialized i recognizing the facial expressions
As vision became more important in primates, how did their social lives change?
They rely on facial expressions to communicate
What happens when male dupe wasps mistake orchid plants for female wasps?
They try to mate with them and ejaculate on the orchid. As a result the male wasps carry off pollen when they leave and when it tries to mate with another orchid, it leaves the pollen from the original orchid. This helps the orchid to reproduce. Without this, the orchid would become extinct.
How do dupe wasps use pheromones?
They use their pheromones to attract members of the opposite sex.
Explain how this relationship is an evolutionary arms race.
This is a coevolutionary arms race because while the predator will be given traits that allow it to overcome the defense, the prey that can boost its defenses will in turn be favored by natural selection. Back and forth the arms race goes until both partners reach extremes.
What are the earliest primate fossils?
Tiny, long-tailed creatures that lived in trees.
Homo floresiensis as an example of scientific process: a. Based on the textbook, describe the three hypotheses that were proposed about the origin of Homo floresiensis. b. Based on this article, which of the three hypotheses has been rejected for now? c. What is the basis for this decision?
a. -it is just a population of homo sapiens -its a branch of homo erectus -australopiths left africa first b. that the hobbit lived between 60,000 and 100,000 years ago c. the date range makes it impossible to argue that it is a pathologically dwarfed modern human
Based on a molecular clock and the phylogenetic tree of primates developed by Mark Springer and colleagues answer the following questions. a. When did the common ancestor of all living primates live? b. When did the ancestors of New World monkeys diverge from Old World monkeys and the apes? c. When did the apes and Old World monkeys diverge? d. When did the hominins branch from the chimpanzee lineage?
a. 68 mya b. 40 mya c. 30 mya d. 7 mya
a. Explain the difference between mass extinctions and background extinction. b. Which one has claimed more total species over time? c. During which one does the highest rate of extinction occur?
a. Background extinctions are the normal extinction rate, while mass extinctions are a widespread event that takes out multiple species. b. Background extinctions. c. Mass extinctions accounts for only about 20% of extinctions, and the other 80% are background extinctions.
a. How has climate change affected speciation rates? b. How has climate change affected extinction rates?
a. Diversity seems to thrive in lower temperatures, so as b.
Use the phylogenetic tree above to answer these questions. a. Which New World monkey is most closely related to the spider monkey? b. Of the New World monkeys or the Old World monkeys, which is most closely related to apes? c. Which great ape is most closely related to chimpanzees? d. Which great ape is most closely related to humans?
a. Howler Monkey b. Old World Monkeys, Leaf monkey c. Bonobo d. chimpanzee
In the relationship between the yucca moth and yucca plant, is the relationship purely beneficial to both organisms? Explain your answer.
a. It isn't entirely beneficial because the yucca moth sometimes takes advantage of the yucca plant. When this happens the plant aborts the yucca moths seeds and it's own. In the long run, this could affect reproduction for both the plant and the moth. That is why the plant "police" the moth.
a. Most of the marsupials of South/Central America are mostly________________ . Most live in______________________ , have few______________________ , and have a broad___________________ . b. How does the pouch of South American marsupials differ from the pouch of Australian marsupials?
a. Nocturnal, a canopy, specializations diet b. South American marsupial's pouch is rarely as well formed, but young seem to survive very well, clinging unprotected to their mother's underside.
a. Describe some of the problems that climate change may cause in coevolved plant and insect species. b. What abilities or characteristics could make a plant or insect species more likely to survive climate change?
a. Plants will flower too soon, not providing enough food to the insects. The insects will die, decreasing plant population because of no reproduction. b. Plants - ability to be pollinated by many different insects Insects - ability to shift to new flowers
a. Explain the relationship between latitude (distance north or south away from the equator) and species diversity. (See Figure 10.1, page 212 of textbook.) b. Why do scientists think these relationships exist?
a. The closer a species lives to the poles, the more die and there is less diversity; the tropics sustain life better and there is more diversity. b. The answer is not clear, however it is possible that the extra energy that the tropics receive creates more ecological room for species to live side by side.
a. Explain why most plants are mutualists with their pollinators. b. Other than pollination, how do animals such as birds and bats help plants? How do these animals benefit?
a. The plants have their pollen spread, but they also give nectar or nutrients for the organism to eat. It's a win win situation. b. They spread their seeds; Birds and bats eat fruits and then digest the fruit pulp; after, the seed passes out with their feces, spreading plant seeds long distances. The animals receive sustenance.
a. Define biogeography. (Review this concept on pages 25-26 in the study guide.) b. Define vicariance. c. Define dispersal.
a. The study of the distribution of organisms. How biodiversity is spread around the world. b. the splitting of species or a group of species within a common ancestral geographic range; can occur through splitting of continents, formation of new mountains, etc. When species become separated from each other when geographical barriers emerge (oceans, mts., deserts, rivers) c. spread of a species to new ranges, such as when birds colonize distant islands & insects floating on driftwood. When species themselves spread away from their place of origin.
In the relationship between the tongue orchid and the dupe wasp L. excelsa: a. Which species benefits? b. Which species is harmed (not physically damaged but may have lost opportunities to reproduce, thereby lowering its fitness)?
a. The tongue orchid b. The dupe wasp, because it thinks it's reproducing and creating it's own offspring, but in reality it is helping the tongue orchid reproduce
a. Describe the microbes found in the deep waters of Green Lakes, NY. b. How could these microbes possibly relate to the end-Permian extinction?
a. They produce hydrogen sulfide, which is a highly toxic substance and thus are very poisonous. b. This poisonous lake resembles the Permian oceans. Bacteria leaves chemical changes that oceans may become so full of hydrogen sulfide allowing to bubble into atmosphere killing ocean and land animals; bacteria thrive whenever there is water and no oxygen.
Describe the interaction between the Lissopimpla excelsa wasp (also called orchid dupe wasps) and the tongue orchid.
a. Tongue orchids produce chemicals that mimic the pheromones produced by female wasps. This tricks the male wasps into landing on the orchid, which then covers the male wasp in the tongue orchids pollen. The tongue orchids also mimic the same color as the Lissopimpla excelsa.
a. What are the distinguishing characteristics of "New World" monkeys? b. What are the distinguishing characteristics of "Old World" monkeys? c. How can you tell them apart?
a. broad noses, live in trees, and have grasping tails(howler monkeys, spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys, marmosets, capuchins) b. narrow noses, live in diverse environments, more closely related to apes than they are to new world monkeys(baboons, leaf monkey, macaques, guenons) c. By their physical features,
Look at Figure 14.5 on page 368 in the textbook and compare the skeletons of Australopithecus afarensis and Homo erectus. a. Which of these two species was taller and had longer legs? b. Which of these two species was better adapted for walking and running?
a. homo erectus b. homo erectus
Use the phylogenetic tree on page 78 of the textbook (Figure 4.8) to answer these questions. a. Which is the first hominin that used tools? b. What is the first hominin that made sophisticated stone flake tools? c. What is the first hominin that had the capacity for art, symbolic thought, and full- blown language?
a. homo habilis b. Homo heidelbergensis, and homo Neanderthalensis, 1 MYA c. Homo sapiens
Homo sapiens (Modern humans) a. What is considered today to be the ancestral species of Homo sapiens? b. Based on the fossil evidence, where did Homo sapiens evolve and when? c. What do tools and other artifacts indicate about sophisticated behaviors of early Homo sapiens? (Also look at Figure 14.15 on page 378 in the textbook.)
a. homo heidelbergensis b. africa; an accelerating pace c. showed signs of self expression
Look at Figure 14.20 on page 383 in the textbook. This shows the brain size of hominins throughout our evolutionary history. a. What does the graph show about the evolution of brain size in hominins? b. If Dunbar's hypothesis is correct, what does this graph indicate about social group size?
a. it has increased over time b. it has grown over time
a. What is the effect of the FOXP2 gene on the activity of Broca's area, an area of the brain involved in processing language? b. How does the FOXP2 gene in modern humans compare to the same gene in Neanderthals and Denisovans? c. Is the FOXP2 gene the only thing involved in language?
a. it helps in the development of language; it is crucial for the communication in mammals-It is an essential gene for the use and understanding of language. b. related to Broca's area and is required for proper brain development; without this gene we would have language disabilities. -It helps certain areas of the brain function correctly. Without it, speech cannot be recognized and processed. c. no
54. The shift from smell to vision is reflected in our genes. a. What do we call a duplicated gene that has been disabled by mutations? b. Compare the proportion of olfactory genes and pseudogenes in humans and mice.
a. olfactory receptor genes b. in mice 36% are pseudogenes.In humans over 50% are pseudogenes.
Describe the relationship between each of the following. a. Plants and mycorrhizal fungi b. Plants and rhizobia bacteria c. Humans and gut bacteria
a. plants and mycorrhizal fungi: positive positive, the fungi breaks down nutrients the plant cannot and helps them grow, while the plant provide the fungi with organic carbon into the fungi. b. plants and rhizobia bacteria: positive positive c. humans and gut bacteria: positive positive, the bacteria provides humans with essential nutrients, and humans provide the bacteria with a warm, and stable home with a steady supply of food.
a. Describe the characteristics of hominins that show the transition to bipedalism, as seen in the early fossil forms (Sahelanthropus, Orrorin, Ardipithecus, and Australopithecus). b. How do these characteristics differ from chimps and the other apes?
a. they have many adaptations for walking. Curved spines, knees located close to midline of body, feet have stout heel and arch b. chimps and apes' hips extend forward and lack all other adaptations for walking on 2 feet
48. Neanderthals. a. How did their brains compare to modern humans? b. What does isotope analysis show us about their diet? c. What do the fractured bones tell us about their hunting? d. What evidences of sophisticated behavior are associated with Neanderthal? (Also look at the shell shown in Figure 14.13 on page 376 in the textbook.) e. What is considered today to be the ancestral species of Neanderthals?
a. they were as big as ours b. diet rich in meat c. they had to withstand a lot of abuse to hunt their food d. tools were advanced, colored shells with pigment and drilled holes in them (for necklaces) e. homo heidelbergensis
This style of tools is known as the______________________ tools.
acheulean technology
Using Figure 14.18 on page 381 in the textbook, describe the migratory pattern of modern humans.
africa - south asia - australia - pacific
Based on the fossil evidence for Homo sapiens, briefly describe the hypothesis proposed by Chris Stringer.
argued that the fossils were evidence that humans arose in africa then spread out to other continents
What happened to the marsupials of Antarctica after the southern supercontinent broke apart?
as million of years rolled by, continent became to spread apart and as Antartica got closer to South Pole animals froze and died.
How do changes in the digestive system and diet possibly relate to the evolution of the hominin brain?
as the guts of the hominids shrank, they were able to direct energy away from maintaining their intestinal tissues and towards expanding their brain
Explain what an adaptive radiation is.
burst of diversification, accompanied by dramatic morphological evolution
Describe the anatomical changes that occurred in the descendants of Homo heidelbergensis in Europe. What environmental changes drove these evolutionary changes?
climate; stubby legs, wider chest, more muscled bodies
Describe the different lifestyles of modern marsupials in Australia. Think about the adaptations that allow these marsupials to live in different habitats and eat different foods. e. Mountain pygmy possum
eats what is available (berries, seeds, moths)
Explain how this statement applies to modern populations: Move, adapt, or die.
either an animal is going to be given those traits needed to move into another environment and adapt to that new life style or they are not going to survive
Describe how human actions have affected the kaka of New Zealand.
humans brought and introduced the European wasps to New Zealand which have taken over one of the KaKas main sources of food, honeydew. time will only tell if the KaKa will go extinct
Explain why humans should be concerned about the current rate of species extinction.
if we lose living things, we ourselves cannot be sustained. (whether its the fish we depend on for food, the crops we need to farm to make money, or even the soil and water that plants grow in); We lose the opportunity to learn about our own evolutionary history as well
How did climate change affect the early ape lineages?
it was likely responsible for the extinction of most early ape lineages
Identify the factors that have caused species extinctions over the last few hundred years.
killing of individuals, habitat loss, natural disasters
Describe the new adaptations that evolved in the apes.
larger brains than monkeys and do not have tails
Describe the different lifestyles of modern marsupials in Australia. Think about the adaptations that allow these marsupials to live in different habitats and eat different foods. g. Red kangaroo
largest kangaroo, lives in the desert, lick themselves too cool/loose heat. tail acts as a fifth leg
Based on the fossil record, briefly describe the migration pathway. (See Figure 14.10 on page 373.)
left africa and went to indonesia, republic of georgia, and island of flores
Describe the different lifestyles of modern marsupials in Australia. Think about the adaptations that allow these marsupials to live in different habitats and eat different foods. a. Koalas
live in trees, feed on eucalyptus trees, spend all day eating/sleeping.
Describe how human actions affected the passenger pigeons of North America.
lived in pairs, huge numbers, so people thought they were pests; with a combination of hunting and changes in landscape from farming they destroyed them.. they are now extinct
Describe the different lifestyles of modern marsupials in Australia. Think about the adaptations that allow these marsupials to live in different habitats and eat different foods. b. Wombat
lives in cold (snow) eats plants/grass
Describe the different lifestyles of modern marsupials in Australia. Think about the adaptations that allow these marsupials to live in different habitats and eat different foods. c. Numbats
lives in woodlands, eats termites with long tongue
What evidence for this hypothesis was found when the Nevada rocks were analyzed?
low levels of oxygen in rocks supports it; same time frame (250 million ya) in years leading up to extinction deep oceans had lost its oxygen
What is thought to be the oldest evidence of tool making by hominins?
making sticks to dig out termites or using rocks to crush nuts
What kinds of organisms were present on land at the end of the Permian?
mammal-like reptiles; there were no flowers, no flowering plants, no dinosaurs; it was a time before dinosaurs. there was not a single animal on planet with fur.
Briefly describe the ultra-social hypothesis
the fundamental difference between humans and other apes is that we became "ultra social"
Studies of Neanderthal genomea. b. Based on his research, did Pääbo conclude that Neanderthals and modern humans are the same lineage or two separate lineages? (Also look at Figure 14.16 on page 379 in the textbook.)
two separate lineages
Describe the different lifestyles of modern marsupials in Australia. Think about the adaptations that allow these marsupials to live in different habitats and eat different foods. d. Honey possums
uses tongue to gather pollen/nectar
Describe the prosimian adaptations found in the lemurs.
wet noses and tooth comb
Did her findings support Stringer's hypothesis or not?
yes
Describe at least three examples of adaptive radiation, using living species.
1) Darwin's finches evolved into 14 new species that evolved distinctive beak sizes and behaviors that allowed them to feed on cactuses, crack hard nuts, and drink blood of other birds. 2) Great lakes of East Africa formed = Cichlid fishes moved into them from nearby rivers and exploded into thousands of new species - adaptations: crushing mollusks, draping algae and eating other cichlids. 3) 30 species of mountain beavers have evolved over the past 35MY in western US. 15 mil years ago there was a rapid speciation and many species formed.
What organism is the host for the barnacle Sacculina? How, specifically, does Sacculina affect its host?
A crab's body; It burrows into the body and grows tendrils that extend through the host's tissues; it destroys the crab's sexual organs so that it can no longer reproduce; the parasite benefits because the host no longer wastes energy from food to eggs or searching for mates. The crab on the other-hand is at a evolutionary dead end.
Explain the relationship between the leafcutter ants and the fungus that they eat.
A dependent mutualism relationship. The leaf cutter ants and the fungus they eat have a symbiotic relationship (Mutualism). The ants cultivate the fungus by cutting leaves and carrying these leaf fragments to the fungus garden. The fungus then grows on the plant material.
Briefly describe the Siberian traps.
A large group of volcanos in Siberia that pumped out a lot of lava. For 1 million years
Explain how the tongue orchid affects the fitness of the Lissopimpla excelsa wasp.
By leaving it's sperm on the tongue orchid, the male wasp may not be able to fertilize a female wasp it meets soon afterwards. This will result in the male wasp reproducing less.
How does the moth decrease the yucca plant's fitness?
By producing too many larvae that hatch and eat the seeds of the yucca plants.
Describe the lifestyle of the water opossum, also known as the yapok.
Feels its way around with webbed feet. Hair so thick the skin doesn't get wet. It hunts entirely by feel. Closes pouch to water.
Name four Old World monkeys.
Guenons, baboons, leaf monkeys, macaques
Explain the reasons for the current increase in species extinction rate.
Habitat destruction by the growing population of humans.
Describe binocular vision and its advantages.
Having two eyes on the front of the head. It allows vision fields to overlap, creating three dimensional vision and depth perception. it allows you to hold and manipulate an object or tool, and allows mammals that live in trees to be able to hold onto branches
Describe the migration pathway of Homo heidelbergensis. (Please note: this is a second migration out of Africa.)
Hominids first left Africa 1.8 million years ago, and entered Eurasia, where they spread out across Europe and Asia. Many migrated across Asia, as far as Indonesia. The latest settlement in Europe was around 600,000 years ago in central Europe.
Describe the earliest stone tools that are generally accepted by most scientists.
Hominins picked out certain rocks from riverbeds, chopped them to make them good for cutting, then carried them for miles before stopping to manufacture them into tools
Describe the current conservation efforts to prevent the extinction of the whooping crane of North America.
Humans are trying to teach the crane to survive in the wild. They also are using captive breeding, and rearing of crane chicks by hand.
Explain the geographic mosaic seen in rough-skinned newts and their garter snake predators.
In some places, the newts produce deadly toxins and the snakes are highly resistant. In other places, the snakes have no resistance and the newts produce only barely detectable levels of toxins. They are also mismatched in some territories (the snakes are resistant but the newts have weak toxins) -- when a population of snakes becomes highly resistant, the arms race is over.
Describe the relationship between the isolation of an area, like an island, and the diversity of species that live on it.
Isolated islands allow dispersing species to evolve into remarkable new forms. Different environments call for different adaptations; in the Galápagos Islands example, some birds became flightless while others didn't. & Darwin's finches evolved into 14 new species that live no where else on earth.
How does the coevolutionary arms race between tongue orchids and dupe wasps affect evolution in the wasps and the orchids?
It causes them both to develop even more sophisticated ways of achieving reproductive success.
Develop your own hypothesis to explain what may have initially caused the orchid plant to produce a chemical that mimics the dupe wasp pheromone.
It could have been a mutation or just an already existing scent that was similar to the wasp pheromone.
How does the moth increase the yucca plant's fitness?
It gathers pollen from the yucca plant and flies away to another plant where it puts it into another plant.
Why is the discovery of Australopithecus sediba important to understanding human evolution?
It shows that even before Homo had evolved, some of the hallmarks of Homo already existed
How did climate change affect the environment around the time that hominins emerged?
Average temperature of the planet dropped. Africa got less rainfalll. Drier woodlands and grasslands, rain and drought made food supplies less predictable
The relationship between the rough-skinned newt and the garter snake is an example of a _________________ _________________.
Coevolutionary arms race
This is the__________________ migration of hominins out of Africa. (Number?)
!st
Trace the steps between the Siberian traps and mass extinction? a. Step 1 b. Step 2 c. Step 3 d. Step 4 e. End step: Mass Extinction
1) step 1: volcanoes spewing CO2 2) step 2: global warming 3) step 3: oceans heat up and lose oxygen 4) step 4: nasty bacteria create nasty gases to kill animals all results in mass extinction:
Denisovansa. d. When did Neanderthals and Denivosans last share a common ancestor?
400,000 years ago
Ordovician-Silurian Extinction
439 M years ago - Caused by a drop in sea levels as glaciers formed then by rising sea levels as the glaciers melted - 25% of marine families and 60% of marine genera became extinct
Denisovansa. c. Based on these findings, when was the last time that Denisovans, Neanderthals and modern humans shared a common ancestor?
800,000 years ago
According to Douglas Erwin, ____% of all species in the ocean died as a result of the end-Permian mass extinction.
95%
What other two hypotheses have been proposed as factors that might have caused the Cambrian species expansion?
1. genetic/animal tool (first evolved Ediacaran Period) kit allowed animals to evolve (new body plans, etc) Gave early animals flexibility that adaptive radiations require. 2. Evolution of new predators changed the fitness landscape for early animals (natural selection favoring certain defenses - hard shells, exoskeletons, and toxins) Predators = more sophisticated eyes.
How long did early Homo species use this type of tool technology?
1/2 a million years ago
Migration of Homo sapiens out of Africaa. The oldest fossils of Homo sapiens were found in Africa and are dated as________________ years old. The oldest fossils of modern humans found outside of Africa were discovered in______________ and are dated to_______________ years old.
200,000; Israel; 100,000
Unlike the mountain beaver, insects have increased in species number over time. What might explain this difference?
Ability to survive on plants, small bodies requiring smaller amounts of food to survive, wings have allowed insects to spread further
a. List the apes and describe where they are found. b. Which of these apes are the "great" apes?
Africa and Asia, Gibbons (lesser apes) orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and humans (great apes)
Hominins are more closely related to which group of living apes? (Choose among Asian apes or African apes)
African apes
Which group of modern humans has the greatest genetic diversity, based on Sarah Tishkoff's studies of mitochondrial DNA?
Africans
What was the effect of the end-Cretaceous extinction on the relative diversity of mammals and large dinosaurs on the earth? (Also see the timeline on the inside back cover of the textbook.)
After dinosaurs became extinct, mammals came to occupy many of their niches, evolving into large carnivores and herbivores; In the oceans, mammals evolved into whales, taking place of marine reptiles.
Consider everything that you have read. Make your own explanation of the role of coevolution in the evolution of all of these species.
As the mold becomes more resistant, the bacteria and the ant evolve to control it.
Where did the plant ancestor cells originally get their energy?
At first they may have gotten energy both from eating other organisms and from capturing the sunlight, but the ancestors of plants gradually shifted over to rely entirely on photosynthesis
In what way is the biological environment different from the physical environment?
Biological environments are where the species shares intimate ecological relationships; it can also evolve. As a species adapts to its ecological partners its partners can adapt to it as well. Physical environments literally deal with the physical aspects such as temperature, radiation, light, chemistry, climate and geology.
What is a pheromone?
Chemical smells produced that attract opposite sex species to each other.
Consider the relationship between Clark's nutcracker and pine trees. a. When red squirrels are not present, natural selection favors which traits in pine trees? b. When red squirrels are present, natural selection favors which traits in pine trees?
Clark nutcrackers eat seeds from pine trees and the pine trees in turn depend on the birds to spread their seeds in their droppings (populations of pine trees have adapted to the birds) a. they grow pine cones with thin scales and abundant seeds (making it easier for the birds to eat) b. their cones produce fewer seeds which are lodged between thick scales (making it harder for the squirrels to eat)
Why did Darwin decide that humans were closely related to apes?
Darwin observed that human anatomy contained much evidence of its evolution. Darwin noted many similarities between humans and apes, from the details of our skeletons to our similar facial expressions. some babies were born with a stump of a tail emerging. Details of skeletons and facial expressions are similar
Describe the current distribution of marsupial species.
Dispersal + Vicariance: Oldest marsupial fossils came from China( 150mya). South America, Antartica, and Australia (55mya) began to drift apart carrying a population of marsupials. In South America they diversified into a wide range of forms (some still living in South America today); some even colonized North America; there are many in Australia and even Asia.
Based on her work, where in Africa did modern humans come from?
East Africa
Explain how eukaryotic cells acquired mitochondria.
Eukaryotic cells were 'infected' by a bacteria. The cells began to use the bacteria for energy, abandoning their own methods.
What other evidences to support this hypothesis are they going to look for next?
Look for the poisonous bacteria and hydrogen sulfide in the rocks.
Describe the characteristics of primates.
Mammals that are adapted to tree-dwelling. Have large brains, large eyes, binocular visions, and grasping hands. Opposable thumbs and binocular vision
Name five New World monkeys.
Marmosets, squirrel monkeys, capuchins, spider monkeys, howler monkeys
Which primates are called prosimians? Where do most of them live?
Prosimians are known as "before monkey" like lemurs, tarsiers, and lorises, Precursor to monkey. Very few remain alive. They live in Madagascar.
What type of symbiosis exists between the leafcutter ants and the fungus? Explain your answer.
Mutualism symbiotic relationship. They inoculate the leaves with a fungus. The harvested fungus is then used as a food source for the ant colony. To protect these fungus gardens, the leaf cutter ants rely on a type of bacteria, which lives on their skin, to combat invading fungi pests. The relationship between the leaf cutter ant, fungus, and bacteria is one of the most amazing examples of mutualism in nature.
Just because two species have coevolved in one part of their shared range, does it follow that they have coevolved in all areas where they both live? Explain your answer.
No, the same two species may be mismatched in "coldspots" and matched in "hotspots".
This style of tools is known as the______________________.
Oldowan
Briefly explain why some birds became flightless.
On island of Mauritius, once lived a big flightless bird called Dodo. Became extinct. DNA showed close kinship to southeast Asia pigeon. After the ancestors of dodo diverged from flying pigeons and ended up on the island they lost their wings and became land dwellers. They didn't have predators and didn't need to fly to escape, so eventually lost wings.
What type of symbiosis exists between the mold and the fungus? Explain your answer.
Parasitism, without the bacteria from the ants, the mold kills the fungus.
The Siberian traps were active during the___________________ geological period.
Permian
a. Explain how the ancestors of plants acquired their chloroplasts. (Note that Zimmer uses a more general term, plant plastids, to refer to chloroplasts.)
Plants descended from single-celled eukaryotes that originally feasted on bacteria; At some point, they became hosts to the bacteria that could carry out photosynthesis (through endosymbiosis)
If Baumannia and Sulcia were removed from their insect host, the sharpshooter, would they be able to survive on their own? Explain why or why not.
Probably not because they wouldn't have a safe, sustaining environment. They are in a codependent relationship with one another, and need what the other provides to survive.
Describe the physical changes in the Earth that may have sparked the Cambrian species expansion. (Also, look at page 56 in the study guide.)
The Earth was cooling from an ice age, and oxygen levels in the ocean rose. As a result mineral rich water was going into the ocean creating a burst of speciation.
In a large population of orchids, some orchids make dupe wasp pheromones and others do not. Explain which type of orchids (with or without pheromones) would have a reproductive advantage and why.
The orchids who produce pheromones, because the orchids need the wasps to help them reproduce and without the pheromones the dupe wasps would not be drawn to the orchids in the first place.
Explain how natural selection is acting on the milkweed plant and caterpillars that eat it.
The plant and the caterpillars are both developing defenses in response to the other's adaptations.
How does the plant control the effect of moth larvae feeding on it?
The plant will abort its seeds, killing the larvae, if the relationship is not carried out fully.
Why hasn't the mold evolved resistance to antibiotics, like we are seeing today in antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria?
The ants are using cultures of millions of cells of bacteria to produce the antibiotics so the bacteria are evolving, just like the pathogen that is the target of the antibiotics is also evolving.
Think back to the leafcutter ants, their fungus, the bacteria, and the mold. Which two organisms are involved in a coevolutionary arms race? Explain your answer.
The bacteria and the mold; each time the bacteria evolves defenses, the pathogen from the mold is there to evolve just as well. This keeps going back and forth through evolution.
Explain the relationship between the bacteria living on the ants and the mold that attacks the fungus.
The bacteria kills the mold.
Is the caterpillar described in the textbook a predator, a parasite, or a deceiver? Explain your answer.
The caterpillar would be a deceiver, because the tree's fitness is not being reduced to zero. Instead, by eating the trees leaves it reduces it's fitness by destroying the tree's solar panels and this may result in the tree having less descendants, but not having a fitness level of zero.
Why was endosymbiosis beneficial to both the plant ancestral cell and the chloroplast ancestor?
The chloroplast had a safe home while the plant cell had a constant source of energy.
What was the advantage of tool making for hominins?
they used them to carve off meat and hammer open bones. They used them to carve sticks and bones to dig up tubers and break open hard termite nests
Describe the evolutionary relationship between the rough-skinned newt and the garter snake.
The garter snake can eat the poisonous newt. The snake is resistant, allowing it to continue to eat its prey.
Define coevolution.
The influence of closely associated species on each other in their evolution.
Explain the relationship between the mold and the fungus.
The mold kills the fungus.
What effect did the Siberian traps have on ocean chemistry?
The oceans warmed up and lost their oxygen.
Explain the current distribution of the lineage of mite harvestmen shown in Figure 10.3 on page 214 of the textbook. (Note: These mites are terrestrial, not aquatic.)
Vicariance! Lineage can be found on continents and islands separated by thousand of miles of ocean. They reached their present locations thanks to continental drift. in Chile, south Africa, and Sri Lanka. they used to be connected but are now separate.
Describe the new adaptations that evolved in the monkeys.
diurnal lifestyle, cones developed in the retina and color vision evolved, which in turn required a larger brain
Describe the history of bird species extinctions and predictions for future bird extinctions.
driven extinct by humans; birds are disappearing 100 times faster; warns that rate will accelearte in the coming decades
Describe the different lifestyles of modern marsupials in Australia. Think about the adaptations that allow these marsupials to live in different habitats and eat different foods. f. Striped possum
eats grubs, lives in rain forest, strong teeth/ sense of smell
What characteristics did Australopithecus sediba share with Homo?
front of brain reorganized, projecting nose, smaller teeth and chewing muscles, hips less flared, similar to humans, longer legs, hand with precision grip
Discuss the anatomical and cultural changes that make Homo heidelbergensis different from other hominins.
had brains measuring 1200 cubic cm, left behind evidence that homonins could hunt
Describe how massive volcanic eruptions have affected species extinction.
heat trapping gasses spiked temperature; warmer temp=less oxygen in ocean, less oxygen causes ocean organisms to release toxic gases
Describe the evidence that supports an asteroid impact as a major factor in the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Period.
high amounts of iridium, which is from metorites, was found in italy; wide crater along the Yucatan peninsula that dates of the correct age
Which hominins first left Africa and moved into Eurasia?
homo erectus
Denisovansa. a. Which 2 groups are more closely related to each other?
homosapiens, denisovans, homo neanderthalensis;denisovans and homo neanderthalsensis
Explain why the highest marsupial biodiversity is found in Australia.
marsupials diversified there because Australia was geographically isolated for over 40MY.
What does this new style of tool making suggest about the brains of Homo erectus and other early Homo species?
meant that homo had much more delicate control of its hands and was able to make more detailed plans for fashioning an ordinary rock into elaborate creations
Describe the earliest fossil apes that appear in the fossil record about 20 MYA.
medium-large bodied creatures that lost their tails, have flexible strong hands and feet used to gri[ tree branches
Describe the different lifestyles of modern marsupials in Australia. Think about the adaptations that allow these marsupials to live in different habitats and eat different foods. h. Rock wallaby
moves around like a kanargoo, paddled feet, lives on rocks, can bring up fluid from stomach to give young a drink.
How does full-blown language set humans apart from other animals?
no other species can communicate with it. It lets us make complex plans together and gain a deeper understanding of the inner lives of other humans
What did fossil footprints reveal about the lifestyle of Australopithecus afarensis?
they were shifting to a new environment living in open woodlands. Here they had to travel farther to find food. Bipedal walking saved energy on long walks.
Based on the fossils found by Dr. Berger and his colleagues, what characteristics did Australopithecus sediba share with other species of Australopithecus? (Look at Figure 14.8 on page 371 in the textbook.)
small brain size, long/high cheekbones, primitive molar cusps, small body size, long upper limbs, primitive heel bone
Based on the fossils found in Flores, describe the anatomical features of Homo floresiensis. (Also look at Figure 14.11 on page 374 in the textbook.)
small brain, short stature
Describe some of the factors that might determine whether a species survives a mass extinction or not.
the bigger the geological range of a genus, the longer it tended to survive; small ranges raised the odds that a genus would become extinct.
Compare the likelihood of extinction in coral species that have coevolved in a mutualistic relationship with algae to those coral species that do not live mutualistically with algae.
the mutualistic corals suffered about 4 times more extinctions than the non-mutualistic corals. Corals that have non-mutualistic relationships are more likely to survive.
What anatomical changes are seen in Homo erectus and other early Homo species?
their hands no longer had special muscles for tree branch hanging, long legs and straight feet allowed them to walk efficiently
How did climate change affect the early hominin lineages?
they adapted to the new ecosystems
Studies of Neanderthal genomea. a. Briefly describe the studies of Svante Pääbo and his colleagues.
they are salvaging and growing a supply of DNA from extinct hominins
Describe the stone tools that were used by Homo erectus and other early Homo species.
they created hand axes by chipping away rock to make teardrop shape
How were these first hominins different from modern day humans?
they had tiny brains, for one thing, and their bodies were about the size of those of chimpanzees.
Discuss the relationship between changes in diet and changes in vision in Old World monkeys and apes.
they have better sight than other primates. This helps them find good fruit. Fruit became scarce and they had to rely more on vision than smell
Studies of Neanderthal genomea. c. What did his studies about the complete Neanderthal genome indicate about potential interbreeding between modern humans and Neanderthals?
they interbred and made hybrid kids
Denisovansa. f. What does this reveal about the history of modern humans as they migrated out of Africa?
they may have encountered Denisovans in southeast asia 50,000 years ago
Explain how climate change affected the white lemuroid possum.
they only live at high elevations; when it got warmer, they traveled up, but eventually had nowhere else to go
Denisovansa. b. Describe the evidence that supports the existence of the Denisovans.
they sequenced a genome in bone cells and found that it belonged to an entirely new lineage