Evolution & Nature of Science Quizzes (Week 12 - 15) Flashcards
A higher taxon (e.g., family) that is monophyletic is comprised of…
a common ancestral species and all of its descendant species.
The study of biological diversity and evolutionary relationships among organisms is ____________.
systematics
Which statement represents the best explanation for the observation that the nuclear DNA sequence of wolves and domestic dogs is highly similar? Dogs and wolves ___________________________.
share a very recent common ancestor
Linnaeus began naming organisms that were alike using Latin names. He gave each organism two names; for example, the pigmy rattlesnake is called Sistrurus miliarius by scientists. What type of naming system is this and what group does “miliarius” designate?
binomial nomenclature; species
The presence of hair would be a/an _____________ among a group of mammal species, but would be a/an _______________ among those same mammal species when compared to a reptile species. The blanks should be filled, respectively, with:
shared primitive character; shared derived character
The science of describing, naming, and classifying extant and extinct organisms is _______________.
taxonomy
Consider the following DNA sequences for four different species:
Species 1: AATCG
Species 2: TAATG
Species 3: ATAGG
Species 4: ATACC
Based on the principle of parsimony, which species shares a most recent common ancestor with a species having the sequence TTACC?
species 4
Your professor wants you to construct a phylogenetic tree of orchid plants. She gives you tissue from seven orchid species (all within one family Orchidaceae) and one lily species (family Liliaceae). What is the most likely reason she gave you the lily?
to serve as an outgroup
Molecular clocks are based primarily on rates of __________________________.
neutral mutations
A liger is an offspring produced from a mating between a male lion and a female tiger. Male ligers cannot produce offspring. This is an example of
hybrid sterility
Male frogs give calls that attract female frogs to approach and mate. Researchers examined mating calls of two closely related tree frogs in South America. If behavioral isolation is occurring where the two species overlap geographically, what would you expect if you compare the calls of the two species in zones of sympatry versus zones of allopatry?
Calls would be more different in areas of sympatry.
When a species arrives in a new location it may undergo relatively rapid adaptive radiation, diversifying and filling a new set of available ecological niches. Such an event may help to explain the phenomenon of:
punctuated equilibrium
polyploidy…
involves an increase in the number of chromosomes
In a hypothetical situation, a certain species of flea feeds primarily on pronghorn antelopes. In the western United States, pronghorns and cattle often associate with one another in the same open rangeland. Suppose that some of these fleas develop a strong preference for cattle blood and tend to mate with other fleas that prefer cattle blood. If this situation persists, and new species evolve, differentiated by food preference, this would be an example of ____ and ____.
sympatric speciation and diversifying selection
At some time within the last 10,000 years, a population of the white lily, Erythronium albidum, gave rise to a new species, Erythronium propullans. Both species are still living and the geographic range of propullans is, and always was, entirely within the geographic range of the widespread E. albidum. This appears to be an example of
sympatric speciation
When cross-pollination is attempted between two closely related species of violets, it is found that the pollen of species A cannot reach the egg of species B because it lacks the proper enzyme to travel down to the location of the egg. Likewise, the pollen of species B cannot reach the egg of species A. This phenomenon is an example of
a prezygotic isolating mechanism
What does the biological species concept use as the primary criterion for determining species boundaries?
reproductive isolation
American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) and European sycamore (Platanus orientalis) are tree species that will interbreed if planted nearby but will not normally interbreed because they occur on different continents. This is an example of
habitat isolation
Development of an animal is connected to the genes that are expressed during development. What roles have been proposed for Hox genes in the evolution and morphology of animal species?
Variation in the number of Hox genes is associated with the evolution of animal diversity.
The general lineage species concept emphasizes
evolutionary independence
Which of the following does NOT tend to promote speciation?
increased gene flow
If two populations are geographically restricted groups of the same species, but display one or more traits that are somewhat different, the two groups are sometimes classified as
subspecies
Dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) are plants that asexually produce fruitlike propagules. Sexual reproduction is very rare in this organism. Which species concept would be least useful in defining dandelions as a species?
biological species concept
Approximately 3.5 million years ago the Isthmus of Panama formed. This new landmass severed the connection between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. An ancestral fish population (porkfish) was split in two by this event; the two populations no longer interbreed and are two distinct species. This type of speciation is called:
allopatric speciation
Many forensic techniques, such as fingerprint or bite mark matching, would be improved greatly by…
calculation of potential error rates.
Fingerprint matching in forensics has come under scrutiny because…
matching techniques are not standardized and matches are often the opinion of one expert.
Which of the following would NOT significantly help to reduce the potential for incorrect matches when a forensic expert compares fingerprints between an evidence sample and a set of suspects?
asking the same forensic expert to repeat the match analysis
Which of the following is a reason why the use of DNA fingerprinting in forensics might be considered more scientific than other approaches?
DNA matching applies a well-developed statistical approach.
An overarching problem with the use of forensic evidence in court cases bas been that…
the high reliability and certainty of the conclusions is often misrepresented.
Most fingerprint matches are carried out by computer algorithms.
False
Say you are serving on a jury and are presented with evidence of a bullet from a crime scene with striation patterns matching that of a bullet shot from a suspect’s gun. A good follow up question to this piece of evidence would be…
How likely is it that the striations patterns on this bullet could be matched to another gun?
Which of the following would make a characteristic a poor choice for forensic identity matching?
low variability across individuals
In any form of identity matching (e.g. DNA fingerprints or bullets striations), with more points of comparison…
the certainty of the match or mismatch increases.
Forensic experts may claim that error rates in suspect identification are low. However, the problem with this claim is that…
it has not been well tested, as relatively few identifications have been assessed for validity.
Every human fingerprint is unique (applying current methods of analysis).
unknown
Following the train bombing in Madrid in 2004, Brandon Mayfield was wrongfully detained based upon an incorrect fingerprint match. This case was particularly important because it revealed that…
fingerprint matching is not infallible
In a study by Dr. Itiel Dror and colleagues, it was found that 4 out of 5 forensic examiners changed their conclusions regarding a fingerprint match when the details presented about the cases were different. This revealed patterns of…
cognitive bias
Recently, many wrongful convictions have been uncovered using…
DNA evidence
