UNIT 11
The picture above shows: [See image: UNIT 11.13] A) An upside-down dinosaur track. B) A right-side-up dinosaur track. C) A sideways dinosaur track; the picture should be rotated ninety degrees clockwise to be right-side-up. D) A sideways dinosaur track; the picture should be rotated ninety degrees counterclockwise to be right-side-up. E) Mud cracks.
A) An upside-down dinosaur track. Feedback: This is a dinosaur track, from Dinosaur Ridge, and the dinosaur stomped down into the mud, so the track is upside-down; the instructional team used the power of modern computers to invert the picture.
Examine the two pictures above, [See image: UNIT 11.12] labeled I and II. They are from the same sediment core collected in sea-floor muds from beneath the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina. (The pictures are scanning electron micrographs by Brian Huber of the Smithsonian Institution, and the scale is the same on both, as shown at the bottom of each.) One picture shows a sample from just below the unique layer marking the extinction that killed the dinosaurs, and the other picture shows a sample from just above that unique layer. Which is which? A) I is from below the unique layer, and II is from above the unique layer. B) I is from above the unique layer, and II is from below the unique layer.
A) I is from below the unique layer, and II is from above the unique layer. Feedback: Before the impact, biodiversity was high, as shown in I, which includes fossils from below the unique layer and thus deposited before the meteorite hit. After the impact, most of the living types were killed, giving rise to the limited diversity seen in II from above the unique layer after the impact.
[See image: UNIT 11.11] The Petrified Forest of Arizona includes a great diversity of fossils. In the picture above, paleontologist Randall Irmis excavates a plate from a specimen of Buettneria. Based on the discussions of evolution in the class materials, it is likely that: A) Buettneria is essentially identical to species still alive today. B) Buettneria is related to, but recognizably different from, species still alive today. C) Buettneria is completely unrelated to species still alive today.
B) Buettneria is related to, but recognizably different from, species still alive today. Feedback: Evolutionary theory indicates that living things change from generation to generation, but that all living things are related. Consistent with this, Buettneria is recognizably similar to, yet different from, amphibians still alive today.
Which of the following is not a scientifically accepted statement about the occurrence of transitional forms in the fossil record? A) Transitions between some older and younger fossil types have not been found because evolution occurred in small populations, and fossilization is less likely in smaller populations. B) Evolutionary theory shows that many lineages should have developed by "Ford Mustang" evolution without transitions. C) Transitional forms are known from many lineages, and especially from commonly fossilized lineages. D) Transitional forms are missing from many lineages, and especially from rarely fossilized lineages. E) Evolutionary theory shows that transitional forms should have occurred, and so should be found in the fossil record if they were fossilized.
B) Evolutionary theory shows that many lineages should have developed by "Ford Mustang" evolution without transitions.
Which of the following is not part of the evidence that the odd layer marking the extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by a large meteorite impact? A) The common occurrence in the layer of otherwise-rare "shocked" quartz and other mineral types known to be formed only by quickly applied high pressures. B) High concentrations of silica found in the layer. C) Abundant soot found in the layer. D) High concentrations of iridium found in the layer. E) Large torn-up rock blocks from a tsunami (giant wave), found in the layer near the Caribbean Sea.
B) High concentrations of silica found in the layer. Feedback: We have seen several times that silica is very common, so its presence in a layer would not indicate much of anything. Features really observed in the layer that are associated with meteorites but not common elsewhere in rocks include shocked quartz from the impact, soot from wildfires, iridium from the meteorite, and a giant-wave deposit because the meteorite hit water as well as land at the edge of the Yucatan Peninsula.
What is accurate about the scientific theory of evolution today? A) It is one of those "academic" things, made up so professors feel good, with no applications to the real world. B) It is being applied successfully in the real world in many ways, including helping fight new disease organisms, and even guiding the thinking of computer scientists. C) It is not being used anywhere for anything. D) It is being used successfully to fight new diseases, but that is the only possible use for evolutionary theory in the real world. E) It is one of those "academic" things, made up so professors feel good, and it always fails when the professors try to apply it to the real world.
B) It is being applied successfully in the real world in many ways, including helping fight new disease organisms, and even guiding the thinking of computer scientists. Feedback: As antibiotic resistance appears in disease organisms, evolutionary biologists are helping doctors find better strategies to keep us healthy. The processes behind evolution—try new things, keep the ones that work, repeat—has been used intentionally for guidance in many human endeavors, including "evolutionary computing" in computer science. Ecologists trying to rescue ecosystems are informed by understanding of the evolutionary processes that made, and are changing, those ecosystems. Even regulations for sport fishing are guided by our understanding of evolution. In the same way as other successful ideas in science, evolution is useful in many practical ways in the real world.
Sometimes, people with scientific backgrounds say bad things about religion, and sometimes people with religious backgrounds say bad things about science. This is because: A) Religion and science must disagree. B) Religion and science do not need to disagree, but sometimes science-background and religion-background people choose to disagree.
B) Religion and science do not need to disagree, but sometimes science-background and religion-background people choose to disagree.
You develop a new idea, which is in conflict with a widely accepted scientific idea. For your new idea to gain widespread acceptance, you probably will need to show that: A) Your new idea does a better job than the previously accepted idea in predicting the outcome of one experiment that you conducted. B) Your new idea does a better job than the previously accepted idea in predicting the outcomes of an interlocking web of important experiments or observations. C) The development of the old idea was influenced by the socially conditioned ideas of the scientists involved. D) Your new idea is consistent with your interpretation of received wisdom from sacred books. E) Your new idea is informed by Diet Pepsi ads.
B) Your new idea does a better job than the previously accepted idea in predicting the outcomes of an interlocking web of important experiments or observations. Feedback: At last observation, Pepsi commercials were not highly scientific, even if science is involved in figuring out what sells. It is a romantic notion that you could overturn great knowledge with a single observation; however, observing nature is not easy, and nature occasionally fools us (you can, rarely, flip an honest coin twenty times and get twenty heads), so if a single observation disagrees with a lot of other information, that single observation will be checked in various ways to see if the new result "stands up" before the older body of knowledge is discarded. Before an idea gains wide currency, that idea is tried in various ways, in many labs, in many places in nature, while models are run and theory is developed. The interlocking of all of these provides the confidence that scientists can use in doing things successfully. Although received wisdom from sacred books can be used for inspiration, scientific ideas must be tested against nature. Social scientists have quite rightly learned that scientists are affected by their prejudices, their funding sources, their mating habits, and other things, and that the path of science is not nearly the straight-ahead road to understanding presented in some textbooks. Unfortunately, some of those social scientists have then gone off the deep end and claimed that science is no more useful than any other human story—claiming that astrology and astronomy are equally valid, for example, or palm-reading and modern medicine. These same social scientists seem to know where to find a real doctor when they get in trouble, however. Science is appealed to nature, and builds on the learning of people from around the world. Airplanes that fly, computers that calculate, small devices that make big explosions, etc. are not socially conditioned ideas but instead are demonstrations of the success of science coupled to engineering.
What is accurate about the land surface today, that you can observe in places such as Pennsylvania? A) Sediment is being deposited in most places, but a few places are eroding. B) Sediment is being deposited everywhere, covering the land surface deeper and deeper. C) Sediment is being deposited in a few places, but most places are eroding. D) Sediment is not being deposited anywhere, and it never has been. E) Sediment is not being deposited anywhere, so everywhere is eroding.
C) Sediment is being deposited in a few places, but most places are eroding. Feedback: Today in Pennsylvania (and across most of the land surface of the planet), sediments are accumulating in a few human-made lakes, a few natural wetlands or natural lakes, along some streams and in some caves, but almost everywhere else is eroding. This is the typical state of affairs, so you need to correlate events across large regions to get a good geologic record
The extinction of many types of dinosaurs occurred about: A) 65,000 years ago. B) 650,000 years ago. C) 6,500,000 years ago. D) 65,000,000 years ago. E) 650,000,000 years ago.
D) 65,000,000 years ago. Feedback: Humans were trotting around 65,000 years ago, and met dinosaurs only in The Flintstones. 650,000 years is barely enough time for evolution to have changed large animals a bit, and although 6,500,000 years is enough time for noticeable change of large animals—increase in maximum size of members of the horse family, for example—the huge changes since the dinosaurs needed 65,000,000 years. 650,000,000 years goes back before any land creatures, and before all but the simplest of multi-celled organisms.
Which of the following is not a part of the modern theory of evolution? A) Diversity exists within a species, and "experiments" that tend to promote diversity sometimes occur during reproduction. B) A "successful experiment" during reproduction is one that increases the ability of an individual to have children who survive to have children. C) Children are more similar to their parents than to other individuals from their parents' generation. D) If the body of an adult living thing is changed by its environment, those changes usually are passed on biologically to children. E) If a reproductive "experiment" is successful, it will be passed to more and more children in successive generations until all members of a population have it.
D) If the body of an adult living thing is changed by its environment, those changes usually are passed on biologically to children. Feedback: You can get a tattoo without worry that your children will be born with that same tattoo, but all the rest of these contribute to evolution.
The dominant large animals on Earth today are mammals. Before the giant meteorite impact 65 million years ago: A) Mammals also were the dominant large animals. B) Very large mammals coexisted with the dinosaurs; those very large mammals have gotten smaller after the meteorite impact because the mammals don't have to be big to compete with the dinosaurs any more. C) Small mammals coexisted with dinosaurs, and after the dinosaurs were killed by the meteorite, the small animals wanted to become bigger and so made themselves bigger. D) Small mammals coexisting with the dinosaurs were not able to outcompete the dinosaurs for big-animal jobs, but after the dinosaurs were killed, some large mammals evolved from small mammals to fill the large-animal jobs. E) Moose were the dominant large animals.
D) Small mammals coexisting with the dinosaurs were not able to outcompete the dinosaurs for big-animal jobs, but after the dinosaurs were killed, some large mammals evolved from small mammals to fill the large-animal jobs. Feedback: There are "big-animal" jobs—eating tall trees, eating smaller animals, etc. But the total number of big-animal jobs is limited. The dinosaurs filled the big-animal jobs before mammals really got going, and mammals were not able to displace the dinosaurs. Some small mammals survived the meteorite that killed the dinosaurs, and then evolved to give big mammals over millions of years and longer. There were almost no big mammals before the dinosaurs were killed off. Volition has nothing to do with evolution.
Statistically, and based on how many people are likely to die if they engage in or are exposed to the following problems, which is most dangerous to residents of the United States: A) Meteorite impacts. B) Commercial airline crashes. C) Earthquakes. D) The various diseases that come from smoking, overeating and under-exercising for a long time. E) Tornadoes.
D) The various diseases that come from smoking, overeating and under-exercising for a long time. Feedback: There are still meteorites in the solar system that can hit and kill, and a reputable study found that a meteorite impact might not occur for millions of years (or might occur next year...) but then might kill billions. Add up the deaths over a sufficiently long time, and plane crashes (which kill a few to a few hundred people per year) and meteorite impacts likely would be similarly dangerous. Earthquakes and tornadoes, as devastating as they can be, don't kill as many people in this country as do airline crashes. Smoking, overeating and underexercising are way more dangerous to us.
Which of the following was probably important in contributing to extinction of most species at the same time the dinosaurs became extinct? A) Cold from the change in Earth's orbit caused when the meteorite shoved the planet farther from the sun. B) Heat from the change in Earth's orbit caused when the meteorite shoved the planet closer to the sun. C) Centrifugal forces caused when the meteorite impact temporarily stopped the rotation of the Earth, causing the sun to appear to stand still. D) Silicosis caused by dissolution of the meteorite in Pepsi in the ocean. E) "Impact winter" caused when tiny pieces of dust or other materials, which were put in the air by the impact, blocked incoming sunshine for months or years, after larger pieces had fallen back to Earth.
E) "Impact winter" caused when tiny pieces of dust or other materials, which were put in the air by the impact, blocked incoming sunshine for months or years, after larger pieces had fallen back to Earth. Feedback: The "impact winter" likely did occur; we know that the materials thrown up by a big volcano cool the planet a degree or two for a year or two, and the meteorite would have thrown up a lot more stuff. The meteorite impact was not nearly large enough to move the planet notably or to stop the rotation. Silicosis is a lung disease caused by breathing too much silica-laden dust; other dust materials are typically more damaging, but too much of any dust can be bad. Dissolution in water does not cause lung disease. (Just for your information, some dictionaries list the long version of one form of the disease, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, as the longest word in the English language.)
Extinction of existing species: A) Is an unconformity. B) Occurred at a low level throughout geologic history. C) Is a process that happened in the past but cannot happen today. D) Occurred only at times of catastrophic mass extinctions. E) Occurred at a low level throughout geologic history, punctuated by mass extinctions when many types were killed over very short times.
E) Occurred at a low level throughout geologic history, punctuated by mass extinctions when many types were killed over very short times. Feedback: Extinction has happened slowly throughout geologic history, but with a few dramatic, catastrophic mass extinctions. We may be causing the latest of those mass extinctions.
