Exam 4 - Paleobiology, Human Evolution, Population Ecology, Community Ecology, Biodiversity, & Animal Behaivor

Question 1

Mammals evolved from a major lineage of amniotes called synapsids.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Microtektites represent:

Answer 2

part of the debris associated with an asteroid impact

Question 3

Which of these examples is not an atavism?

Answer 3

a platypus laying an egg

Question 4

In the evolution of the tetrapod limb, the stylopod element evolved before the autopod element.

Answer 4

True

Question 5

The external gills on the Mexican axolotl are an example of peramorphosis.

Answer 5

False

Question 6

Three of the major characteristics of placental mammals are hair, mammary glands, and live births. Of the three, mammary glands evolved last.

Answer 6

False

Question 7

Mousterian stone tools are associated with:

Answer 7

Neanderthals

Question 8

Sphecomyrma is a transitional fossil in the evolution of:

Answer 8

ants

Question 9

The species represented by “Turkana boy” was fully bipedal and lived approximately:

Answer 9

1.6 to 1.8 million years ago

Question 10

Which combination of characters best describes the genus Paranthropus:

Answer 10

small brain, very large teeth, facultative bipedalism

Question 11

Deliberately shaped or flaked stone tools have been made by various Homo species:

Answer 11

since about 40,000 years ago

Question 12

Which of these traits is most strongly associated with the evolution of bipedal locomotion and upright posture?

Answer 12

a downward repositioning of the foramen magnum

Question 13

The net replacement rate, R0, is calculated as:

Answer 13

the sum of age-specific survival times age-specific fecundity for each age class

Question 14

A factor that regulates a population is generally one that:

Answer 14

acts in a positively density-dependent way

Question 15

Which of the following is not evidence of an asteroid impact at the end of the Cretaceous?
shocked quartz
a crater 180 km wide
these are all evidence of an asteroid impact
an enriched iridium layer
a crater dated to be about 200 million years old

Answer 15

a crater dated to be about 200 million years old (its 64 million)

Question 16

All anthropoids have stereoscopic, trichromatic color vision.

Answer 16

False

Question 17

Pisaster sea stars were considered a keystone species because:

Answer 17

their removal greatly reduced species diversity

Question 18

Which term represents the gathering of vital statistics to determine population growth?

Answer 18

demography

Question 19

What single factor accounts for most of the variation in skin pigmentation among indigenous peoples around the world?

Answer 19

ambient ultraviolet radiation

Question 20

Which of the following organisms is the closest relative of the gibbon?

Answer 20

human

Question 21

The logistic model of population growth predicts that, as N increases and gets closer to K:

Answer 21

none of these answers is correct

Question 22

A population will grow if its net replacement rate, R0, is greater than zero.

Answer 22

False

Question 23

A survivorship curve that first rises steeply and then drops at later ages is:

Answer 23

impossible

Question 24

The sum total of an organism’s interaction with the biotic and abiotic resources in its environment would represent its:

Answer 24

niche

Question 25

Which transitional fossil helps to illustrate the gradual evolution of the tetrapod limb?

Answer 25

Tiktaalik

Question 26

What are the typical coalescent times of total genetic diversity in the global human population?

Answer 26

250,000 years

Question 27

Based on the following life table, this population:

Age class lx mx

0-1 1.0 0

1-2 0.3 1

2-3 0.2 3

3-4 0.1 1

Answer 27

is stable

Question 28

The fundamental niche must be bigger or the same size as the realized niche.

Answer 28

True

Question 29

Certain mite species feed on nectar and are transported from flower to flower via the nostrils of hummingbirds. Because mites neither harm nor benefit hummingbirds, this interaction is described as:

Answer 29

Commensalism

Question 30

Place these transitional fossils in the correct temporal order, from oldest (earliest) to youngest. Remember what each one represents:

Answer 30

Acanthostega, Morganucadon, Basilosaurus, Ardipithecus