Chapter 15 Tracing Evolutionary History

Question 1

Earth is how old?

Answer 1

4.6 Billion years old

Question 2

How long ago did prokaryotes evolve?

Answer 2

3.5 billion years ago

Question 3

single celled ______ are considered to have evolved 2.1 billion years ago.

Answer 3

eukaryotes

Question 4

stomatolites

Answer 4

fossilized mats containing photosynthetic bacteria

Question 5

oxygen revolution

Answer 5

2.5 billion year old fossilized prokaryote mats suggest that photosynthetic bacteria produced O2 which created an aerobic atmosphere important for life is referred as _________.

Question 6

Earth’s early atmosphere contained

Answer 6

H2O, CO, CO2, N2, and CH4

Question 7

biogenesis

Answer 7

all organisms today arise via ________ stating that life comes from life.

Question 8

Biogenesis Paradox

Answer 8

the discrepancy of how the 1st living organisms got here if life comes from life.

Question 9

Chemical evolution in 3 stages

Answer 9

collection of monomers, formation of RNA polymers (simple genes), assembly of complementary RNA (replication)

Question 10

Stanley Miller

Answer 10

simulated what he thought was the “early Earth” in his lab

Question 11

Macro-molecules we likely synthesized from simpler molecules using

Answer 11

energy

Question 12

simple organic molecules can polymerize on

Answer 12

hot rocks or clay

Question 13

Short _____ pieces may have been acted as the 1st type of nucleic acid present on the early Earth.

Answer 13

RNA

Question 14

If a RNA polymer formed the catalytic ability of RNA may have lead to

Answer 14

self replication of RNA

Question 15

Ribozymes

Answer 15

RNA molecules that act like enzymes

Question 16

because _________ have a hydrophobic tail and hydrophillic head, if they are placed into an aqueous solution they form a ___________

Answer 16

phospholipids, self sealing sphere

Question 17

natural selection

Answer 17

favors those co-ops that are most efficient and effectively reproduced or divided.

Question 18

Distinct Geological eras are used to categorize organisms into time frames when they evolved and existed on Earth.

Answer 18

most recent at top
Cenozic
Mesozoic
Paleozoic

Question 19

Radiometric dating uses _________________ which decay with a predictable half-life

Answer 19

radioactive isotopes

Question 20

Pangea

Answer 20

super continent

Question 21

Plate tectonics theory

Answer 21

the Earth’s crust is divided into giant irregularly shaped plates that float on the underlying mantle.

Question 22

Continental drift

Answer 22

suggest that lungfish evolved when Pangaea was still intact because fossils of lungfish have been found everywhere except Antarctica.

Question 23

Fossil records show that the vast majority of species that have ever lived

Answer 23

are now extinct

Question 24

In the last 500 million years ______ mass extinctions have occured causing more than ______% of the species to become extinct.

Answer 24

5, 50

Question 25

5 events of the Permian mass extinction

Answer 25

251 million years ago, defines the boundaries between Paleozoic and Mesozoic, claimed 96% of marine animal species, took a tremendous toll on terrestrial life, and likely caused by enormous volcanic eruptions

Question 26

2 events of the Cretaceous mass extinction

Answer 26

caused the extinction of all dinosaurs except birds, was likely caused by a large asteroid that struck the Earth, blocking light and disrupting the global climate.

Question 27

Adaptive radiations

Answer 27

periods of evolutionary change that occur when many new species evolve from a common ancestor that colonizes a new unexploited area and often follow extinction events

Question 28

_____ may result from the evolution of new adaptations such as wings in birds, bats, and insects and adaptations for life on land in plants, insects, and tetrapods.

Answer 28

Radiation

Question 29

Fossil records can tell us

Answer 29

what events in the history of life have been and when it occured

Question 30

Evo-devo

Answer 30

address the interface of evolutionary biology & developmental biology and examine how slight genetic changes can produce major morphological differences.

Question 31

Genes that program development control the

Answer 31

rate and timing

Question 32

Paedomorphosis

Answer 32

the retention in the adult body structures that were juvenile features in an ancestral species (salamander that is sexually mature adult yet retains the gils of a juvenile.