Biology - Evolution Exam (Exam #1)

According to the fossil record, the genus Homo first arose in

Africa

"Lucy" who belongs to the group ______, was a bipedal hominin with a brain smaller than that of humans

Australopithecus

Stromatolies are deposits of planet material found near the primordial ocean.

False

The Burgess Shale deposits

Contain fossils exhibiting modern body plans of animals

When two organisms share similar traits but don't share a common ancestor, these species are an example of?

Convergence

Arachaea have the simplest known genomes because they are the most ancient microorganisms

False

In both protocells and cellular life RNA is used by ribosomes to construct proteins.

False

Predators have learned to associate desirable prey with bright colors

False

Protocell fossils were found in Australia

False

The discovery of Tiktaalik was so important because it was the missing ancestral link between fish and birds.

False

The same criteria are currently used to define both animal and bacterial species

False

Which best describes Homo habilis?

Handy man- first to make and use stone tools

Exactly how many mass extinctions have there been

Inconclusive

The K-T boundary is geologically identifiable because scientists found evidence of a massive asteroid impact in the form of depositions of:

Iridium

Which of the following is not a quality of binocular vision

Large field of view

What concept did the video on the Christmas Island crabs emphasize?

More offspring will be produced than can possibly survive

The most recent evidence examining the relationship between modern humans and Neanderthals come from analysis of:

Neanderthal genes in European lineage H. sapiens.

Male bower birds build large, elaborate structures up to six feet high that they decorate with flowers, colored pebbles, and shiny objects. During the breeding season they use these structures as stages to display and court females. What process could drive the evolution of these remarkable bowers?

Sexual Selection

In the North Pacific Ocean, two groups of the same species of killer whales (Orcinus orca) appear to be forming two different species based on what they eat. One group eats fish which the other eats mammals such as seals. Scientists can tell what they eat based on their teeth because whales that feed on fish have significantly different wear patterns. Which of the following best describes the type of speciation event that is occurring in the whales?

Sympatric speciation

The figures are histograms of the distribution of Geospirza fortis beak widths observed by Rosemary & Peter Grant in 1976 and 1978 on Daphne Major Island. Which of the following statements either can be inferred or is supported by the data presented?

The G. fortis on this island is evolving toward having larger beak sizes

A population of grasshoppers in the Kansas prairie has two color phenotypes, green and brown. Typically, the prairie receives enough water to maintain healthy, green grass. Assume a bird that eats grasshoppers moves into the prairie. How will this affect natural selection of the grasshoppers?

The brown phenotype should be more easily seen by the predator and decrease in frequency.

The forelimbs of humans, cats, and bats have a number of detailed similarities in their construction. What best explains these similarities?

The forelimbs are similar because all of these organisms inherited the basic forelimb design from a common ancestor

The North American Pronghorn far outraces any predators remaining on the North American continent. If maintaining this speed means bearing fewer offspring, which of the following is the most likely to happen given enough time?

This species will slow down

A "ring species" is an example of parapatric speciation

True

Based on mitochondrial DNA analyses the "Out of Africa" hypothesis about where modern humans came from is currently favored.

True

Beta hemoglobin is a conserved protein that is useful for comparing the lineage of species

True

Parental care is a characteristic shared by all primates

True

Reducted allele variation results in an increased chance of extinction

True

The Founder Effect is the loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population.

True

The currently available fossil record documents gradual evolutionary changes that can link one group of organisms to another.

True

This person indepndently converged on the idea of evolution by natural selection

Wallace

The emergence of many diverse species from a common ancestor is called:

adaptive radiation

During the Cambrian explosion approximately 535 to 525 million years ago:

animals rapidly diversified in the oceans

Mass extinctions:

can be responsible for an adaptive radiation where new species develop to occupt newly opened niche environments

Roses native to India are grown at a plant-breeding center in Arizona, where those with the thickest leaves survive and reproduce best in the drier climate. This evolutionary adapation of roses to their new environment is due to

directional selection

A rabbit population consists of animals that are either very dark on top or very light on top. The color pattern is not related to sex. No rabbit shows intermediate coloration (medium darkness). This pattern might result from

disruptive selection

Two populations of organisms belong to the same biological species when they

encounter each other, mate, and produce viable, fertile offspring under natural conditions

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

first prokaryotes; photosynthesis; then eukaryotes; colonization of land by plants and fungi

Which of the following are main categories of evidence that scientists use to study evolution?

fossial and anatomical and molecular/biochemical

A small population of tortoises has been isolated on a small, remote island in the Galapagos for over 10,000 generations. While the population's characteristics are still similar to the ancestral mainland species, male sperm exhibit a variety of abnormalities and female fertility is much lower than on the mainland. What process may have been acting on the island's population?

genetic drift

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

genus, family, order, class, phylum

When there seems to be no contemporary selective forces that can explain the traits of recent organisms, such as the New Zealand Moa, evolutionary biologists often invoke the idea of:

ghost of predation past

The endosymbiotic theory explains

how mitochondria and chloroplasts originated from free-living cells

Coevolution:

is the evolution of two populations of different species in response to selection pressures that individuals from the two populations place on each other

In coevolution wiht moths and bats

moths developed ears or ability to detect sonar and avoid predation by bats

Archaea:

one of the three domains of life

A current leading hypothesis about the first system of inheritance in the earliest life forms involved:

self-replicating RNA molevules aided by ribozymes

Birds with average-sized wings survived a severe storm more successfully than other birds in the same population with longer or shorter wings. This illustrates:

stabilizing selection

Speciation without geographic isolation is called _____ speciation

sympatric

Emergence is a property:

that is purportedly responsible for the formation of life

Which best describes Ida (Darwinius masillae)?

the possible missing link between early primates and modern looking primates

The reason that pea hens mate with peacocks with large tails and many eye sports is that

the size and spot density are indicative of peacock fitness shown as an increased survival rate of chicks

What was "Darwin's Dilemma" with evolution?

there was a lack of fossil evidence of ancestors to the Cambrian explosion

How did scientists change the behavior of the male polygamous Montane Vole to become monogamous?

transferred to the male polygamous vole a gene for a hormone that caused monogamy

Which of the following is the first distinctively hominid trait to appear in the fossil record?

upright walking (bipedalism)

How does the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite locate planets?

watch and keep track of the light of a star

What compounds and conditions did Stanley Miller need to perform his 1953 experiment to simulate an early atmosphere?

water vapor, H2, CH4, NH3, lightning