Evolution & Classification Test Chap 14-17
True/False (1 point each)
Indicate whether the statement is true or false.
____ 1. Radiometric dating is not possible on rocks that contain fossils since the radioactive isotopes that could be used are found only in igneous or metamorphic rock.
____ 2. Miller and Urey constructed a chamber containing the hypothetical atmosphere of early Earth, input energy in the form of a spark, and the chamber produced simple prokaryotic cells.
____ 3. The purpose of the covered flask in Francesco Redi’s 1668 experiment was to trap flies inside the flask with the meat.
____ 4. The fact that experiments mimicking conditions on early Earth create organic molecules but not living cells disproves Oparin’s primordial soup hypothesis.
____ 5. It is difficult to infer details about the behavior of extinct animals, but in this effort, trace fossils are more helpful than fossils preserved in amber.
____ 6. In the sequence of hypothesized events leading to the evolution of eukaryotes, prokaryotes appeared first.
____ 7. A vestigial structure in one organism can be defined as a reduced form of a functional structure in another organism.
____ 8. Darwin developed his theory of evolution exclusively from his work on the Galapagos Islands.
____ 9. Homologous structures indicate a shared ancestry, while vestigial structures do not.
____ 10. Strepsirrhines are restricted to South and Central America.
____ 11. Anthropoids include both New World and Old World monkeys.
____ 12. Scientists concluded that early humans probably reached Australia by walking across a land bridge.
____ 13. Evidence of arthritis or healed fractures on a Neanderthal skeleton indicates that the individual had to struggle to survive.
____ 14. Aristotle recognized that species evolve over time.
____ 15. A taxonomic class contains related orders.
____ 16. Characters are inherited biochemical features.
____ 17. When a population becomes geographically isolated from other members of the species, it often evolves different adaptations from the rest of the species.
____ 18. The branches of a cladogram indicate known ancestry.
____ 19. The virus that causes the common cold is a member of Kingdom Bacteria.
____ 20. Plants are predominantly autotrophic, with some heterotrophic exceptions.
Multiple Choice (2 points each)
Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
____ 21. While looking for fossils on an eroded hillside, you discover fossil coral and fish in one layer. In a layer just above, you find the fossil imprint of a fern frond and some fossil moss. Assuming the rock has not been disturbed, which of the following is the most probable conclusion?
a. / The area had been a sea until recent times.b. / A forest had once grown there but had become submerged by water.
c. / In ancient times a sea had been replaced by land.
d. / A saltwater sea had changed to a freshwater lake long ago.
Figure 14-1
____ 22. According to Figure 14-1, what was the earliest form of multicellular life on Earth?
a. / fish / c. / land plantsb. / invertebrates / d. / reptiles
____ 23. According to Figure 14-1, the correct chronological order of organisms as they developed are _____.
a. / birds, dinosaurs, jawed fish, prokaryotesb. / dinosaurs, jawed fish, birds, prokaryotes
c. / jawed fish, dinosaurs, prokaryotes, birds
d. / prokaryotes, jawed fish, dinosaurs, birds
____ 24. Which is the correct order of the typical sequence of events for fossilization?
a. / The organism dies and is buried in sediment. / Sediments build up in layers so the organism is surrounded. / Minerals replace harder structures like bone and shell. / Erosion can expose buried fossils.b. / The organism dies and is buried in sediment. / Minerals replace harder structures like bone and shell. / Sediments build up in layers so the organism is surrounded. / Erosion can expose buried fossils.
c. / Sediments build up in layers so the organism is surrounded. / The organism dies and is buried in sediment. / Minerals replace harder structures like bone and shell. / Erosion can expose buried fossils.
d. / The organism dies and is buried in sediment. / Sediments build up in layers so the organism is surrounded. / Erosion can expose buried fossils. / Minerals replace harder structures like bone and shell.
____ 25. What is the difference between a cast fossil and a mold fossil?
a. / They are two terms for the same kind of fossil.b. / A cast fossil is an impression in rock, but a mold fossil is an impression that was filled in with minerals.
c. / A mold fossil is an impression in rock, but a cast fossil is an impression that was filled in with minerals.
d. / A mold fossil is preserved original tissue, and a cast fossil is petrified.
____ 26. What assumption must be made to calculate an age using radiometic dating?
a. / the rate of decay of the isotopesb. / the amount of the isotopes measured in the material
c. / the age of the material being analyzed
d. / the amount of the isotopes present in the material when it formed
____ 27. A researcher samples bat guano (droppings) that has built up in a 2-meter layer on the floor of a cave. At a depth of 0.75 m, the analysis shows only 25% of the original amount of carbon-14 left. Recalling that the half-life of carbon-14 is 5730 years, how old is the guano at that level?
a. / 5730 years / c. / 11,460 yearsb. / 17,190 years / d. / 22,000 years
____ 28. Imagine you are a paleontologist who finds a well-preserved dinosaur skeleton. Careful excavation of the site reveals apparently undisturbed sediments and a thin layer of iridium 12 cm below the specimen. Infer the significance of this find. Which option most closely corresponds to your conclusion?
a. / The find is significant because the dinosaur skeleton is so well preserved.b. / The find is significant because it indicates that dinosaur bones may be a source of iridium.
c. / The find is significant because it represents a dinosaur that lived after the Cretaceous period.
d. / The find is not very significant since well-preserved dinosaur skeletons are not particularly rare.
____ 29. There is good evidence that a meteor hit Earth about 65 million years ago. Which of the following events that scientists think were triggered by the impact could have caused the simultaneous global extinctions of multiple species, including all the dinosaurs?
a. / The meteor was large enough to trigger powerful earthquakes.b. / The impact itself triggered global tsunamis.
c. / Volcanic eruptions were set off by the impact.
d. / Atmospheric debris changed global climates for months or years.
____ 30. Which is an accurate statement of the differences between spontaneous generation and biogenesis?
a. / Spontaneous generation is the idea that life can only come from life, while biogenesis is the outdated notion that animals arise from nonliving elements of their environment.b. / Spontaneous generation and biogenesis are two names for the same principle concerning the origin of life.
c. / Spontaneous generation is the idea that life can come from nonliving components, while biogenesis is the more modern concept that life can only arise from another living organism.
d. / The concept of spontaneous generation recognizes that species generate offspring when environmental conditions are favorable, while biogenesis is the idea that life was created in a single event and has been unchanged ever since.
____ 31. What was the essential experimental difference between the flasks in Pasteur’s demonstration of biogenesis?
a. / the contact of the nutrient broth with airb. / the composition of the nutrient broth
c. / the angle of tilt of the flasks
d. / the contact of the broth with microorganisms
____ 32. Which option places the likely events in the origin of life in the correct order?
a. / abiotic synthesis of amino acids and other organic molecules / synthesis of proteins / development of a genetic code / evolution of cellsb. / abiotic synthesis of amino acids and other organic molecules / synthesis of proteins / evolution of cells / development of a genetic code
c. / synthesis of proteins / abiotic synthesis of amino acids and other organic molecules / development of a genetic code / evolution of cells
d. / abiotic synthesis of amino acids and other organic molecules / development of a genetic code / synthesis of proteins / evolution of cells
____ 33. What evidence is there that modern archaebacteria may be most like the hypothesized earliest cells on Earth?
a. / Both archaebacteria and early cells share morphological similarities, including a membrane-bound nucleus.b. / Photosynthesis allows both archaebacteria and the earliest cells to harness energy from the Sun.
c. / Archaebacteria thrive in extreme environments of intense heat or pressure, and microfossils suggest early life forms lived in volcanic environments.
d. / Archeabacteria can only survive in warm, shallow waters similar to the primordial seas in which cells evolved on early Earth.
____ 34. Fossil evidence proves that cyanobacteria were thriving as long as 3.5 million years ago. Integrating this evidence and your own knowledge of cyanobacteria, identify the most significant effect these organisms had on the ecosystem of the planet as a whole.
a. / Cyanobacteria extract energy from inorganic compounds such as hydrogen sulfide, so they could survive in places like hydrothermal vents at the ocean floor.b. / Cyanobacteria were among the first cells adapted as predators, so they spurred coevolution among their prey in an early “arms race.”
c. / Cyanobacteria were some of the first photosynthetic prokaryotes. The oxygen they produced formed the protective ozone layer.
d. / Cyanobacteria were the first eukaryotic cells. They harbored smaller prokaryotes that evolved into mitochondria and chloroplasts.
____ 35. Which of these is evidence for the endosymbiont theory?
a. / Mitochondria and chloroplasts cannot live on their own outside a cell.b. / Mitochondria and chloroplasts contain their own circular DNA.
c. / Mitochondria and chloroplasts are surrounded by a membrane.
d. / Mitochondria and chloroplasts both transform energy from one form to another.
____ 36. What implication does the endosymbiont theory have for phylogeny?
a. / The origin of eukaryotes is much earlier than previously believed.b. / The phylogenetic tree includes places where the branches separate and come back together.
c. / Eukaryotes and prokaryotes had independent origins, so there are really two phylogenetic trees.
d. / It will be impossible to trace the phylogenetic relationships of eukaryotes.
____ 37. During phagocytosis of one cell by another, the larger cell engulfs the smaller cell by enclosing it in a part of its plasma membrane which then pinches off so the cell is then within the larger cell. Given this may have been the process that brought bacterial cells into the ancestors of eukaryotic cells as endosymbionts, what structural characteristic might be expected in mitochondria and chloroplasts?
a. / amoeboid locomotion / c. / a double membraneb. / flagella or cilia / d. / a nucleus
____ 38. Which is a reasonable description of the origin of a photosynthetic eukaryotic cell?
a. / An early eukaryote phagocytized a smaller cell, which did not die but provided the cell with energy.b. / An early eukaryote phagocytized a smaller cell, which did not die but used light to provide the cell with sugar.
c. / An early eukaryote phagocytized a smaller cell, which did not die but provided the cell with energy. Later, that same cell or its descendents became host to a photosynthetic prokaryote.
d. / An early eukaryote had the ability to photosynthesize. It was parasitized by a smaller photosynthetic prokaryote that provided the cell with additional sugar.
____ 39. Which evidence has suggested to some researchers that birds and dinosaurs may have evolved from a common ancestor?
a. / Fossil dinosaurs with feathers have been found.b. / Birds and dinosaurs have a fused collarbone.
c. / Fossilized true birds have been found from the same time period as feathered dinosaurs.
d. / Both dinosaurs and birds have clawed feet.
____ 40. What was the significance of the Cambrian explosion to the evolution of life on Earth?
a. / It was a mass extinction during which nearly 90% of marine species were lost.b. / It was a rapid diversification of the ancestors of most major animal groups.
c. / It was caused by tectonic instability, resulting in an eruption of multiple volcanoes.
d. / It was the event in which life began, but no fossils survive and little is known.
____ 41. What does relative dating depend on to identify similarly aged rocks in different locations?
a. / the kinds of fossils found in the rockb. / the radiometric age of the rocks
c. / the mineral composition of the rock
d. / the position of the rock layer
____ 42. What would you expect the half-life of the isotope used to date the age of Earth at 4.6 billion years to be?
a. / 5730 years / c. / 1,000,000 yearsb. / 100,000 years / d. / 1,000,000,000 years
____ 43. Consider a fossil find containing dinosaur nests, broken eggshells, and embryos. The shells and bones appear to have some original material and some mineralization. How would you classify it regarding fossil type?