Blackboard Questions Flashcards
Which is the best definition of Darwinian Ftiness?
A) The ability of an individual to survive and reproduce in a certain environment, compared to other individuals.
B) The ability of a population to survive in any environment, compared to other populations.
C) The ability of an individual to survive and reproduce in any potential environment, compared to other individuals.
D) The ability of a species to survive in a certain environment, compared to other species.
E) The ability of a species to survive over time, compared to other species.
A) The ability of an individual to surivive and reproduce in certain environment, compared to other individuals
The creationist “argument from design” is based on the idea that complex structures and organisms can’t arise by chance. The argument fails because, although _________ is random, ___________ is not; it is directed in the sense of increasing adaptation.
A) selection/mutation
B) evolution/mutation
C) mutation/selection
D) adaption/mutation
C) mutation/selection
Successful artificial selection, such as that practiced by plant and animal breeders to modify their crops and livestock, depends on which of the following?
A) When individuals with the most desirable traits are bred, their traits must be passed from parents to offspring
B) Breeders must be able to selectively breed the individuals with the most desirable traits.
C) When individuals with the most desirable traits are bred, their traits must be passed from parents to offspring.
D) All of these are necessary for artificial selection to take place.
B) Breeders must be able to selectively breed the individuals with the most desirable traits.
Which of the following is a true statement regarding preadaptations?
A) A trait that evolved for one function, but that coincidentally is also suited for a new, different function.
B) A trait that evolved accidentally (usually due to genetic drift) and has no function.
C) A trait that is currently evolving for a function that will be needed in the future.
D) A trait that is in the initial stages of evolving for a certain function, but has not yet been perfected.
E) A trait that is imperfect due to genetic or developmental constraints.
E) A trait that is imperfect due to genetic or developmental constraints.
Which of the following statements is central to the idea of uniformitarianism?
A) Catastrophic events such as floods and volcanos have plaed the primary role in shaping the earth’s existing features
B) Natural laws that are observable today also operate in the past
C) Geologic change happens gradually for the most part
D) A and C
E) All of the above
B) Natural laws that are obserable today also
Match the fossil type described in this chapter listed below to the description that is the best match for it.
- a three-dimensional model formed when sediment invades an empty space
- a three-dimensional fossil formed when minerals replace cellular materials
- an original body part that has lasted an unusually long time
- a two-dimensional outline of an organism
- an empty space left when organic remains decay after being buried
- a burrow, track, or other sign of an animal’s activity
A. cast / B. compression or impression fossil / C. unaltered remains / D. mold / E. Permineralized fossil / F. trace fossil
- A
- E
- C
- B
- D
- F
Which of the following statements about the Cambrian explosion is true?
A) The age of the fossils agrees with molecular-based estimates of when most animal phyla first evolved.
B) It was too sudden to be explainable by natural selection.
C) It was the time when the first multicellular animals appear in the fossil record.
D) It includes the first known fossil representatives of most animal phyla
D. It includes the first known fossil representatives of most animal phyla
Which of the following statements regarding Edicaran organisms is false?
A) Edicaran organisms occur in the Burgess Shale .
B) Edicaran organisms include diploblasts like sponges, jellyfish, and comb jellies.
C) Edicaran organisms were usually just a few centimeters across.
D) Edicaran organisms lived before the Cambrian explosion.
E) Edicaran organisms include some small bilateral animals.A
A) Edicaran organisms occur in the Burgess Shale .
The earliest generally accepted fossils of living organisms are:
A) multicelluar
B) stromatolites
C) carbon isotopes
D) yeasts
E) algae
B) stomatolites
Which of the following is true about the geologic time scale?
A) It was used before the discovery of radiometric dating to compute the absolute age of strata.
B)It divides the history of life in to periods of equal length.
C)It is based on the principles of catastrophism.
D) It gives relative dates for different periods according to the fossil assemblages found there.
D) It gives relative dates for different periods according to the fossil assemblages found there.
You have a fossil of an ape-like hominin (human relative) that you know must be somewhere around 5 million years old. Which radiometric dating method would you use to get the most accurate date for it?
A) Rubidium-strontium
B) Potassium - argon
C) carbon-14
D) uranium - led
B) Potassium-argon
Match the term described in this chapter to the description that is the best match for it.
Questions
1) The clade of Old World primates that have a relatively large brain and no tail.
2) The clade that includes humans and Old World monkeys, but not New World monkeys.
3) The clade that includes orangutans and humans, but not gibbons
4) The clade that includes Homo and Australopithecus, but not chimpanzees.
5) A phylogeny of all the alleles of a certain gene.
Answer Choices
A) Apes / B) Catarrhini / C) Great Apes / D) Hominins / E) Gene Tree
1) B
2) E
3) A
4) D
5) C
You can tell from a cladogram whether two species are more closely or distantly related to one another by noting
A) whether they are located in close proximity to eachother on the tree or widely separated.
B) whether the node from which they split is closer to the terminal branches or to the root of the tree.
C) how many total shared apomorphic and plesiomorphic characters they have in common.
D) the total number of nodes there are between them, which indicates how long they have been evolving.
C) how many total shared apomorphic and plesiomorphic characters they have in common.
Which of these traits characterizes all hominins (Homo, Australopithecus, Paranthropus, etc.) but no other primate group (i.e. chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas)?
A) Enlarged Broca’s area
B) Stone tools
C) No tail
D) Enlarged brain (compared to body size)
E) Bipedality
A) Enlarged Broca’s area
According to the primate phylogeny given in lecture 6 (see Powerpoint attached to the course schedule - and use the corrections I made on the slide), which of the following is a monophyletic group?
A) asian apes
B) prosimians
C) hominids
D) chimps, bonobos, and gorillas
E) monkeys
C) hominids
