Quiz 8

According to this evolutionary tree, when did hominins branch away from the other apes?

5-7 mya

Which of the following best describes the source of your mitochondrial DNA?

All of my mitochondrial DNA was inherited from my mother.

Why might many new species form in the aftermath of a mass extinction?

Changed environments and reduced competition would provide opportunities for new adaptations.

Although it is costly to produce fruit, the large number of fruit-producing plant species attests to its success as an evolutionary adaptation. In what way is fruit production helpful to plants?

Consumers eating fruits also eat seeds that, when not digested, can be deposited far from the parent plant and increase the range of that plant species.

How is nuclear DNA inherited?

Fifty percent of nuclear DNA is inherited from the mother's ancestral line and 50 percent from the father's ancestral line.

Which of the following best describes the source of your nuclear DNA?

Half of my nuclear DNA was inherited from my mother and half from my father.

The correct two-word Latin, scientific name, for modern humans is

Homo sapiens.

You are camping in the south central United States when one evening you happen across an animal with several "armored" plates covering its back and shoulders. The plates are bony and separated by thin bands of flexible skin. The belly of this short-legged quadruped is covered with skin and soft fur. You also notice four young ones scurrying along with the adult. This animal most likely belongs to which class?

Mammalia

Examine the skulls shown in this figure. What can be said regarding trends in braincase size and teeth over time?

More recent hominin fossils have larger braincases and generally smaller, more humanlike teeth.

Resolving the relationship between the various kingdoms has been challenging because species often resemble one another. For example, the kingdom ________ contains some organisms that are animal-like and others that are plantlike.

Protista

You are a marine biologist who has isolated a microorganism from the Gulf of Mexico. This organism is unicellular, photosynthetic, uses a flagellum to swim, and you have observed it ingesting smaller microorganisms in its vicinity. To what kingdom does this organism most likely belong?

Protista

You are relaxing on the veranda of your beachfront rental on the Gulf of Mexico when you notice a small (about 5 inches long), green quadruped clinging to the ceiling. As it begins to run down the wall, you catch it and notice that it is covered with dry scales, has a long tail, and specialized toe pads that allow it to stick to surfaces. This animal most likely belongs to which class?

Reptilia

When researchers determined that the jawbone of an Italian Neanderthal dating to around 43-45 tya showed the presence of an intermediate chin and mitochondrial Neanderthal DNA, they hypothesized that the jawbone belonged to an individual who was the product of a mating between a modern human and a Neanderthal. Which of the following lines of evidence would also support this hypothesis?

The fossil would have both Neanderthal and Homo sapiens genomic DNA.

The mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period about 65 mya is believed to have been caused by a massive comet or asteroid smashing into what is now known as the Yucatan peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico. The debris arising from this impact would have blocked the Sun's rays from reaching the Earth. How would this cause a mass extinction?

With no sunlight, the plants would not be able to photosynthesize food for themselves, and they would die. Any animals that fed on those plants would also die, and any animals that would have eaten those animals would also now starve to death. This chain reaction would continue up the food chain.

All are benefits of prokaryotes EXCEPT

all are benefits of prokaryotes

The development of upright posture in hominins is likely

an adaptation for living on the ground instead of in the trees.

The most recent mass extinction, which occurred during the Cretaceous period, may have been caused by

an asteroid hitting Earth.

Imagine the discovery of an undescribed nonphotosynthetic, multicellular organism. To determine whether it is a(n) ________, you would need to examine it microscopically to determine if its ________.

animal or fungi; cells have cell walls

Eggs provide

both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA to the offspring cell.

All primates have opposable thumbs. This means the thumbs

can be touched to each of the other fingers on the same hand.

A prokaryote that gets its carbon from CO2 and its energy from chemicals would be known as a

chemoautotroph

Which of the following categories of the Linnaean hierarchy would include the most closely related organisms?

genus

The first vertebrates to evolve lacked jaws and had skeletons made from a strong flexible tissue called cartilage. The lamprey is a modern example of this ancient group of vertebrates known as

jawless fishes.

Which of the following groupings of animals are most closely related to each other?

lemurs, chimps, humans

Which of the following could NOT be used to describe humans?

marsupial

Which of the following does NOT describe a common prokaryotic characteristic?

mitotic division

Quarum sensing is the way some prokaryotes can sense

other prokaryotes

Which of the following categories of the Linnaean hierarchy would include the broadest range of related organisms?

phylum

Some prokaryotes that live in "extreme" environments are known as "halophytes." The prefix halo means

salt

Gymnosperms and angiosperms are believed to be more closely related to one another than the other major plant groups because

they provide their embryos with stored food that can support growth before photosynthesis begins.