Final Review - EPS SCI 17

Gymnosperms

"naked" seed plants ex. - Cycads - Ginkgos - Conifers

Osteoderms

"skin bones" used for: - defense - display - thermoregulation

What % of all species that have lived are still alive today?

<1%

How big were the wingspans of the largest pterosaurs?

10m (33ft)

Roughly how much more food would a warm-blooded T. rex have required than a cold-blooded one?

20x

How many mass extinctions have been recorded in the fossil record?

5

You find a marine reptile skeleton with a distinctive vertebra that makes the tail bend sharply at the end. What does a tail kink indicate this animal had?

A fin

Mesotherm

A mesotherm is a type of animal with a thermoregulatory strategy intermediate to cold-blooded ectotherms and warm-blooded endotherms.

Computer modeling can adapt engineering techniques to estimate dinosaur abilities such as:

All of the above

What type(s) of locomotion do we believe pterosaurs engaged in?

All of the above

Why do scientists prefer to find articulated specimens?

B and C

Which process refers to bacterial activity that can help preserve bones as fossils?

Biomineralization

Uniformitarian

Charles Lyell's idea that geologic processes have not changed throughout Earth's history.

What is the name of the impact site hit by an end-Cretaceous asteroid?

Chicxulub

The most diverse period of dinosaurs is the:

Cretaceous

sexual dimorphism

Differences in physical characteristics between males and females of the same species.

Looking at the final figure 26.2, when in time were there the most coexisting families of pterosaur (in other words, peak diversity)?

Early Cretaceous

Which pair of words best describes marine reptile metabolism?

Ectotherm, poikilotherm

Feathers are a good character to define birds.

False

In most ecosystems there are far more carnivores than herbivores.

False

There were grasslands in the Cretaceous.

False

Heterodont

Having different kinds of teeth; characteristic of mammals, whose teeth consist of incisors, canines, premolars, and molars.

You find a large reptile in marine sediments. It seems to have a very short neck, huge eyes and hands modified for fins. It also seems to show evidence of live birth, which taxa do you think it belongs to?

Icthyosaurs

Which of the following taxa had enormous eyes for seeing in the dark ocean depths?

Icthyosaurs, Plesiosaurs

cloacas

- latin for "sewer" - single external opening that dumps contents from the digestive, reproductive and urinary tracts

fitness

Ability of an organism to survive and reproduce in its environment

homeotherm

Maintain constant internal body temperature

Which group went extinct at the end Mesozoic (KT) boundary?

Pterosaurs

When did pterosaurs live?

Triassic-Cretaceous

Pygostyle

reduced and fused caudal vertebrae

Which group are pterosaurs NOT part of?

Mammals

Which group has NO fossil record of live birth?

Marine turtles

Which of the following is true about the "Goldilocks Hypothesis" and the assumptions that go into it?

Mesotherms have a larger pool of energy to draw from than ectotherms

Which of the following is true about the "Goldilocks Hypothesis" and the assumptions that go into it?

Mesotherms have a larger pool of energy to draw from than ectotherms.

What is one of the major challenges a gigantic animal faces because of their metabolism?

Obtaining enough food

Precocial

Offspring that can walk, run, swim, and feed themselves at hatching = limbs are formed enough to walk

How long did birds coexist with extensively feathered non-avian dinosaurs?

One hundred million years (All of the Cretaceous and part of the Jurassic)

Ontegeny

Ontogeny is the origination and development of an organism, usually from the time of fertilization of the egg to adult. The term can also be used to refer to the study of the entirety of an organism's lifespan.

Which marine reptiles had long necks with dozens of cervical vertebrae?

Plesiosaurs

convergent evolution

Process by which unrelated organisms independently evolve similarities when adapting to similar environments

Maisaurus fossils at egg mountain show that dinosaurs had communal nesting, adults that stayed near nests and precocial young. How does pterosaur reproduction compare, based on the newly discovered nesting site?

Similar nesting, but young pterosaurs were altricial

Pteridophytes

Spores: ex. - Horsetails - Ferns

What did the teeth of an icthyosaur's long snout look like?

Strong, straight and conical, like a spinosaur's

A pit, scrape or biofilm that appeared on a dinosaur bone before burial can yield information about

The bite force a predator can generate Which species a predator targeted Which insects were present in an ecosystem How long the bones were exposed at the surface All of the above

Dinosaur body mass is estimated from which measurement?

The diameter of the femur

ontogeny

The history of development of an individual organism during its lifetime.

What is good circumstantial evidence that larger theropods were using arm feathers for display?

The presence of varied colors and patterns on them

When we say dinosaurs of the Cretaceous showed both latitudinal and chronological variation what do we mean?

There were different species of dinosaurs found at different places and times.

Which of these is NOT an advantage that ectotherms have over endotherms in the ocean?

They can dive down in the ocean while endotherms cannot

All marine reptiles breathed air with lungs

True

Over time, birds emphasized their feet for climbing and perching in trees.

True

Which theropod developed teeth that could withstand crunching into bones?

Tyrannosaurus rex

What tool can scientists use to observe soft tissue around fossil bones?

UV light

Which of these characters tells us that Archaeopteryx was a flier rather than a glider?

asymmetrical feathers

poikilotherm

body temperature varies with the environment

Pit wear

bones hitting other bones in a tar pit, causing damage

Which of the following primitive (relative to modern birds) characters did Archaeopteryx retain?

bony tail

Which of the following is NOT a group that birds belong to?

coelophysids

Pterosaurs with long tails and many teeth lived __________ in pterosaur history

early

An animal generates its body heat internally using metabolic waste heat. It is said to be a(n):

endotherm.

Mosaic evolution

evolution of different characters within in a lineage at different rates, hence more as less independently of one another

K Selection

few offspring and lots of parental investment

K-selection

few offspring and lots of parental investment

Angiosperms

flowering and fruiting plants, Cretaceous only

Keratinous beak

for nipping plants

Synsacrum

fused vertebrae and pelvis

endotherm

generate heat internally

Mosasaurs

gigantic marine lizards of the Cretaceous

A large animal tends to keep a relatively constant body temperature without generating any heat internally is said to be a(n):

gigantotherm

altricial

hatched or born in an undeveloped state and requiring care and feeding by the parents = less locomotor ability

Which of the following adaptations to flight do pterosaurs share with birds?

hollow bones

An animal maintains a relatively constant body temperature is said to be a(n):

homeotherm

An animal maintains a relatively constant body temperature is said to be a(n):

homeotherm.

Artiodactyls

hoofed mammals

Which of the following taxa adopted a fishlike body shape?

icthyosaurs

Maniraptor theropods had all the following characteristics of birds EXCEPT:

keeled sternum

Small mammals have a problem with:

keeping in heat due to their high surface area to volume ratio

arboreal

living in trees

R Selection

lots of offspring, little parental investment

r-selection

lots of offspring, little parental investment

endemic

native or confined to a particular region

ectotherm

need external sources of heat

An animal whose temperature fluctuates a great deal, usually on daily cycles is a(n):

poikilotherm

The sternum in birds and pterosaurs:

provides attachment for their large flight muscles.

Which of the following characters traditionally associated with modern birds did Archaeopteryx have?

reversed big toe

Which of the following taxa did NOT have members that had feathers?

sauropods

intromittent organ

structure in a male used for internal fertilization during copulation

Mosaic evolution is:

the evolution of different characters at different rates.

tar seep

the material is a mix of dense asphault and sediment

Catastrophism

theory that states that natural disasters such as floods and volcanic eruptions shaped Earth's landforms and caused extinction of some species

Furcula

wishbone, the fused clavicles of birds