Chapter 1: Evolution
Darwin returned from his expedition on the HMS Beagle in 1836, but did not present his theory of natural selection to the Linaean Society until
1858
The Age of theology took place during
200-1200 A.D.
During what period did the dinosaurs suddenly disappear from the record?
Cretaceous, 65 million years ago
Who proposed the idea of catastrophism?
George Cuvier
The taxonomic system developed by Linnaeus
The taxonomic system developed by Linnaeus is a binomial system of nomenclature that classifies species into increasingly broad taxonomic categories.
Which of the following is true about fossils?
They can be an imprint of any organism.
Who contributed to the body of knowledge of the 13th century, not the 17th?
Thomas Aquinas
Which statement regarding transition fossils is incorrect?
Transition fossils generally date back to the Precambrian period.
Which of the following is not relevant to Lamarck's theory of evolution?
evolution through random mutation
Which of the following is not one of the five parts of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection?
fitness is determined solely by the ability of an individual to find food
Which of the following sciences is not a foundation for biology?
genetics
The binomial system of nomenclature includes the name of the ____________ then the ____________.
genus, species
The prevailing theories about mass extinction are that the causes may have been
glacier formation, meteorites crashing into the earth, and movement of continents.
Characteristics of the apes that separate them from the monkeys include: i. larger body size with proportionally long arms and short legs ii. primarily arboreal iii. highly socialized iv. smaller brains relative to body size
i, iii
Transition fossils provide evidence that cetaceans (whales and dolphins) originated from
land-dwelling mammals.
Approximately 55 million years ago, the order Primates split into two suborders, the Prosimii and Anthropoidea. Which one of the following is not included in the suborder Anthropoidea?
lemurs
The cause of the mass extinctions of marine species at the end of the Ordovician period is thought to be
massive glaciation.
According to the theory of gradualism,
the earth's geological features are formed by slow continuous processes.
Which of the following is not an example of coevolution?
the evolution of reptiles after the evolution of amphibians
Humans and their immediate ancestors fall into
the family Hominidae.
Coevolution refers to the process by which
the interactions of species affect the evolution of those species. In coevolution, the change in one species may produce selective pressures that drive the change in another species. Most species on earth have evolved through coevolution with other organisms with whom they interact.
Apes and humans are members of the same order but different families. They are not in the same family because of differences in
the position of the pelvis and curvature of the spine.
Which of the following scales is least relevent in biology?
the solar system
Biogeography is
the study of how organisms are distributed around the planet.
The fossil record tells us that mass extinctions occurred because
there are periods during which there is a sharp decline in the number and types of fossils found.
The significance of the quadruped fossils Darwin found while exploring Argentinean riverbeds was that
they represented species that were extinct.
The significance of the fossils of shells that Darwin found in the Cape Verde islands was that
they were found at the top of a cliff.
The earliest primates
were arboreal insectivores who coexisted with dinosaurs.
Selective pressure is
when an outside force affects the composition of a population by favoring certain traits over others.
An ecological niche is
an organism's role in its environment.
The oldest fossils known are
bacteria.
Archaeopteryx is a transition fossil that has characteristics of both
birds and reptiles.
Absolute dating of fossils
can involve the use of radioactive isotopes.
What is not a characteristic exclusive to life?
capable of movement
Branching evolution in which one species gives rise to several is referred to as
cladogenesis.
Which of the following is not a characteristic of the primates?
claws
Carolus Linnaeus
developed a taxonomic system for the identification and classification of species.
With which of the following ideas would Lamarck not agree?
A purple-flower-loving cow is grazing in a field with purple and white flowers. The next year white flowers will dominate the population of flowers in the field.
The process of artificial selection demonstrates that:
A range of variation exists within members of a species.
Humans are most closely related to the
African apes.
Who declared in the mid 1600s that the Earth was created in 4004 B.C?
Archbishop James Usher
Two organisms that are in the same genus must be in the same
B and C
The greatest period of evolutionary diversification occurred during the
Cambrian period.
Scientists think that a continental collision resulted in a mass extinction during which period?
Devonian
One of the propositions of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection is survival of the fittest. The phrase means that:
Different individuals leave different numbers of descendants.
Lamarck would explain the evolution of a giraffe's long neck in which of the following ways?
Each generation, giraffes' necks became a little more elongated by stretching to reach leaves in trees. The giraffes passed the acquired elongation on to their offspring, so the offspring have longer necks than their parents.
Which of the following is true about the mass extinction that occurred during the Ordovician period?
Eighty-five percent of the species (all of which were marine) were wiped out.
Which of the following ideas was common to both Darwin and Lamarck?
Evolutionary adaptation results from interactions between an organism and its environment.
True or false? Hutton's theory of gradualism differs fundamentally from Lyell's theory of uniformitarianism."
FALSE
True or false? Natural selection is defined as the differential survival and reproduction of a population's individuals that are genetically identical.
FALSE
True or false? The type and location of rock strata are instrumental in determining the absolute age of a fossil.
FALSE
What was Fitzroy's contribution to the development of evolutionary theory?
Fitzroy believed in stability of the species and argued furiously with Darwin about his new ideas.
Which statement about fossils is not true?
Fossils generally contain large quantities of organic substances from the dead organism.
Who championed the experimental method during the late 16th and early 17th centuries?
Francis Bacon
Based on studies of the grazing ecosystem of the Serengeti Plains in East Africa, interesting adaptations have been observed amongst herbivores and the plants that they feed on. The studies show that herbivores graze off the tops of plants and that their grazing may contribute to the evolutionary success of species that can withstand grazing. Given this information, identify which of the following would not represent evidence of coevolution.
Grasses that grow inside enclosed areas protected from grazing have more vegetation per unit area than grazed areas.
Which statement regarding the works of Jean Baptiste Lamarck is incorrect?
He was a contemporary of Charles Darwin.
What is incorrect about Charles Darwin?
His grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, was vehemently opposed to scientific thought.
The condition in which the internal environment of an organism is maintained within a particular range.
Homeostasis
Which of the following questions does modern biology not emphasize?
How do we describe an organism's appearance?
A good example of coevolution is the interaction of
Hyracotherium and the dominant vegetation of the time.
What question did his discovery of horse fossils in South America raise in Darwin's mind?
If horses weren't indigenous to South America, how did the fossils get there?
Why is an iridium-rich layer of rock significant in evidence bearing on the Cretaceous' Tertiary extinction?
Iridium is rare on earth but common in extraterrestrial rocks.
Biology is the study of:
Life in all its forms, both macroscopic and microscopic. As such, biology includes the study of cells, biological molecules, and the flow of energy through living systems.
Of the following choices, the modern horse's most recent ancestor was
Merychippus.
Which of the following represents the correct order, from largest to smallest, for an individual animal according to the hierarchical structure of biological organization?
Nervous system, brain, nerve cell, molecule
Darwin would explain the evolution of a giraffe's long neck in which of the following ways?
Random mutation produced giraffes with various neck lengths. Longer necks were advantageous to survival, and consequently giraffes with longer necks experienced better reproductive success than giraffes with short necks
Which of the following is not one of the propositions of the theory of evolution by natural selection?
Reproductive potential is limited.
Who urged people to reject religious dogma and to look at the world around them?
Roger Bacon
Many of Charles Darwin's ideas
Shortly after his graduation from Cambridge University in 1831, Charles Darwin embarked on a voyage around the world on the HMS Beagle. The observations he made of fossils during this voyage would greatly influence the development of his ideas on evolution. He was also influenced by the theories of gradualism developed by James Hutton and Charles Lyell in the previous century.
Which of the following is an accurate example of the evolution of the horse exhibiting both cladogenesis and coevolution?
Some ancestral horse species got larger and developed an enlarged central toe for walking on the prairie, and this branch of the horse lineage experienced great success as a result of this adaptation.
Biology is a ? of different sciences.
Synthesis
True or false? Alfred Wallace proposed a theory of evolution by natural selection.
TRUE
What is the smallest unit of life?
The cell
Which of the statements regarding the Permian time period is incorrect?
The earth was populated by small mammals.
Which of the following findings would have provided Darwin with evidence that evolution by natural selection did not occur?
The fossil evidence shows that species composition always changes suddenly rather than gradually.
Darwin was influenced by the implications of Hutton and Lyell's work. All of the following are logical implications except:
The geological history of the Earth was shaped by catastrophes.
The ideas of George de Buffon regarding evolution
The ideas of George de Buffon were published in the book The Natural History of Animals in the eighteenth century. De Buffon believed that the presence of vestigial organs and homologous structures indicated that species give rise to new species. His work was done in the eighteenth century, approximately 100 years prior to the investigations of Darwin.
At about 35 million years ago
The monkey and ape lineages diverged.
Which of the following is evolutionary evidence that whales and dolphins descended from land-dwelling mammals?
Transition fossils show the presence of leglike structures, pointing to the possibility that the ancestors of whale and dolphins once lived on land.
Which of the following statements regarding the Linnean system of classification is incorrect?
Two organisms can be in the same genus but different families.
Which theory states that geological processes have not changed over time?
Uniformitarianism
While Darwin was on the Galapagos Islands he made some interesting observations regarding giant tortoises. Which one of the following is not a logical question that relates to his theory of evolution by natural selection?
What is the size of the population relative to the amount of available resources?
What is a hypothesis?
a possible explanation
An adaptation is
a trait in an organism that helps it survive.
According to evidence provided by transition fossils, the earliest known birds had all but which of the following characteristics?
absence of teeth
If a variety of a trait improves an organism's survival, enabling it to produce more offspring than other members of the population, then the trait is said to be
adaptive
Natural selection may occur when
all of the above
The fossil record represents most completely
all of the above
Darwin's theory of evolution was lacking
an explanation for the source of variation of traits in a population.
Evidence for evolution can also be found in the function and location of various bones in certain species. For example, the reptilian jawbone is composed of several bones, some of which have evolved to become part of the _____________ in mammals.
middle ear
Darwin's position on the HMS Beagle was:
naturalist
The flying squirrel (genus Glaucomys) and the flying phalanger (genus Petaurus) live on different continents and are only distantly related, yet they share the same
niche
The scientific method outlines a process of testing new ideas. This process involves, in order, which of the following?
observations, hypothesis, experiments, conclusions
Humans are members of the ____________________ Primates.
order
Darwin's theory of natural selection includes the following ideas:
overpopulation, variation of traits in individuals, competition, survival of the fittest, and reproduction.
What does the scientific method NOT involve?
proving the hypothesis experimentally
Which of the following was not a characteristic of hyracotherium?
reptile-like jaw
Many fossils are formed by __________________, a process in which layers of _______________ settle to form rocks that encapsulate dead organisms.
sedimentation, minerals
Which of the following is not a characteristic shared by all primates?
shape of the skull
While on his voyage, Darwin observed 13 varieties of finches, each with a different niche. Darwin would explain the occurrence by saying that
the different varieties of finches share a common ancestry.