Question 1

Molecular data can be used to assess relationships among the major groups of living organisms whose common ancestors lived millions or billions of years ago. Similar techniques can be used to assess relationships among populations within a species. How can molecular techniques be useful for such varied comparisons?

Accepted Answer

A)  Studying the relationships among different populations of a single species can be just as effective as studying the relationships of major biological groups if you look at a lot more genes.
B)  The same data can be used for any comparison with equal efficiency.
C)  Faster-evolving gene sequences provide better data for comparisons among close relatives, whereas very slowly evolving sequences work best for distantly related taxa.
D)  The relationships between very different groups such as bacteria and whales are assessed using mtDNA sequences, whereas rRNA sequences are used for very closely related groups.

Question 2

Which of the following environments is thought to have promoted the dehydration synthesis of polypeptides and other macromolecules from smaller organic monomers on a prebiotic Earth?

Accepted Answer

A)  freshwater swamps and marshes
B)  deep-sea hydrothermal vents
C)  hot sand, clay, or rock along the seashore
D)  sediments at the bottom of the world's oceans

Question 3

________ and ________ mean the same thing.

Accepted Answer

A)  Clade; parsimony
B)  Parsimony; analogy
C)  Clade; monophyletic taxon
D)  Derived; ancestral C

Question 4

Which of the following options lists taxonomic categories in the correct order from most specific to most general?

Accepted Answer

A)  genus, family, class, order, phylum
B)  genus, family, order, class, phylum
C)  family, genus, order, phylum, class
D)  family, genus, class, order, phylum

Question 5

In mammals, the presence of four limbs is ________, and hair is ________.

Accepted Answer

A)  a shared derived character; a shared ancestral character that places mammals in the tetrapod clade
B)  a shared ancestral character; a shared derived character unique to mammals
C)  a homologous feature; an analogous feature
D)  monophyletic; parsimonious

Question 6

The earliest known flowering plants date to the

Accepted Answer

A)  Paleozoic.
B)  Triassic (early Mesozoic era) .
C)  Cretaceous (late Mesozoic era) .
D)  Cenozoic.

Question 7

This figure shows the hierarchy of classification of the cow, Bos primigenius.
 
-The three boxes at the base of the hie PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT 1 rarchy represent

Accepted Answer

A)  classes.
B)  kingdoms.
C)  domains.
D)  phyla.

Question 8

The branching "tree of life" analogy

Accepted Answer

A)  accurately reflects evolution. Once a split occurs, species on different branches evolve absolutely independently.
B)  has been discredited because it does not help us understand evolutionary relationships among organisms.
C)  does not describe ecological interactions between species, so it should be replaced by the web of life.
D)  fails to account for horizontal gene transfer, in which species on different branches exchange genes. D

Question 9

Over the past 500 million years, there have been ________ mass extinctions, and each time, at least ________ of the species on Earth became extinct.

Accepted Answer

A)  two; 25%
B)  five; 25%
C)  five; 50%
D)  twelve; 96%

Question 10

The earliest known land plants date to the

Accepted Answer

A)  Precambrian.
B)  Ordovician (early Paleozoic era) .
C)  Carboniferous (late Paleozoic era) .
D)  Jurassic (Mesozoic era) .

Question 11

The earliest discovered fossils are of ________ dating back to ________ years ago.

Accepted Answer

A)  single-celled eukaryotes; 4.5 billion
B)  prokaryotes; 3.5 billion
C)  algae; 1 billion
D)  fish; 600 million

Question 12

The first organisms on Earth were very small, but now when you look around you see many large organisms. Which of the following is the best explanation for this observation?

Accepted Answer

A)  Evolution tends toward larger and larger organisms.
B)  There were many steps necessary to go from small cells to large organisms.
C)  Organisms got larger because they needed to be larger in order to use resources more efficiently.
D)  The goal of evolution is to produce the largest organisms possible.

Question 13

The example of ocean and lake stickleback fishes indicates that morphology can be altered

Accepted Answer

A)  only by changing the sequences of protein-coding genes.
B)  by altering the expression of a developmental gene in some parts of the body but not others.
C)  by environmental factors (in this case, pollution) .
D)  by the elimination of a gene (Pitx1) from a population, which leads to loss of the trait (body armor and spines) .

Question 14

The findings of Pasteur and others have established that

Accepted Answer

A)  living organisms regularly self-assemble (arise spontaneously) from nonliving matter.
B)  living organisms do not arise from nonliving matter today, nor did they arise from nonlife in the past.
C)  advanced organisms cannot arise from nonliving matter, but simple microbial life often does arise from nonlife today.
D)  life does not arise from nonliving matter today, but in the conditions of early Earth, such an event could have occurred.

Question 15

Ever since Darwin, systematics has tried to

Accepted Answer

A)  organize species into groups based on logical categories.
B)  classify species in groups that reflect evolutionary relationships.
C)  prove the existence of evolution using laboratory experiments.
D)  keep classification and naming as a practical science, separate from controversies involving evolution.

Question 16

Some RNA molecules can function like enzymes. These particular enzymatic RNA molecules are called

Accepted Answer

A)  ribosomes.
B)  mRNA.
C)  ribozymes.
D)  RNase.

Question 17

How do scientists calibrate a molecular clock for a group of organisms with known nucleotide sequences?

Accepted Answer

A)  They measure protein differences. Evolutionary rates in proteins are well-known and can be used to check results obtained using nucleotide sequences.
B)  They use radioactive isotopes to measure the age of DNA material directly.
C)  They graph the number of nucleotide differences against the dates of evolutionary branch points known from the fossil record.
D)  They analyze fossilized DNA of known age and compare its nucleotide sequences to modern DNA sequences.

Question 18

A disaster such as a meltdown in a nuclear power plant requires close examination of potential impacts on organisms. Which of the following would be useful to biologists in such a situation?

Accepted Answer

A)  Use a molecular clock to compare of genes of a species that lives near the nuclear plant with those of the same species thousands of miles away.
B)  Measure continental drift to determine if the disaster had accelerated movement of continents.
C)  Use radiometric dating to determine if new species are forming.
D)  Examine the mutation rate of species in the area. D

Question 19

Potassium-40 can be used to date ________ that are ________ old.

Accepted Answer

A)  fossils; thousands of years
B)  volcanic rocks and associated fossils; hundreds of millions of years
C)  potassium-rich fossils; millions of years
D)  carbon-containing materials; up to 75,000 years

Question 20

The technique called radiometric dating is based on

Accepted Answer

A)  the steady, clocklike decay of certain radioactive isotopes over time.
B)  the assumption that radioactive isotopes accumulate in fossils at a constant rate.
C)  the formation of radioactive molecules in rocks after they are laid down.
D)  the use of fossils of known age to determine how fast carbon-14 decays.

Exam 15: Tracing Evolutionary History

Correct Answer
verified

Which of the following environments is thought to have promoted the dehydration synthesis of polypeptides and other macromolecules from smaller organic monomers on a prebiotic Earth?

Correct Answer
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and mean the same thing.

Correct Answer
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C

Which of the following options lists taxonomic categories in the correct order from most specific to most general?

Correct Answer
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In mammals, the presence of four limbs is , and hair is .

Correct Answer
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The earliest known flowering plants date to the

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
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The branching "tree of life" analogy

Correct Answer
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D

Over the past 500 million years, there have been mass extinctions, and each time, at least of the species on Earth became extinct.

Correct Answer
verified

The earliest known land plants date to the

Correct Answer
verified

The earliest discovered fossils are of dating back to years ago.

Correct Answer
verified

The first organisms on Earth were very small, but now when you look around you see many large organisms. Which of the following is the best explanation for this observation?

Correct Answer
verified

The example of ocean and lake stickleback fishes indicates that morphology can be altered

Correct Answer
verified

The findings of Pasteur and others have established that

Correct Answer
verified

Ever since Darwin, systematics has tried to

Correct Answer
verified

Some RNA molecules can function like enzymes. These particular enzymatic RNA molecules are called

Correct Answer
verified

How do scientists calibrate a molecular clock for a group of organisms with known nucleotide sequences?

Correct Answer
verified

A disaster such as a meltdown in a nuclear power plant requires close examination of potential impacts on organisms. Which of the following would be useful to biologists in such a situation?

Correct Answer
verified
D

Potassium-40 can be used to date that are old.

Correct Answer
verified

The technique called radiometric dating is based on

Correct Answer
verified

Exam 15: Tracing Evolutionary History

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Which of the following environments is thought to have promoted the dehydration synthesis of polypeptides and other macromolecules from smaller organic monomers on a prebiotic Earth?

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

________ and ________ mean the same thing.

Correct AnswerverifiedC

Which of the following options lists taxonomic categories in the correct order from most specific to most general?

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

In mammals, the presence of four limbs is ________, and hair is ________.

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

The earliest known flowering plants date to the

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

This figure shows the hierarchy of classification of the cow, Bos primigenius. -The three boxes at the base of the hie PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT 1 rarchy represent

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

The branching "tree of life" analogy

Correct AnswerverifiedD

Over the past 500 million years, there have been ________ mass extinctions, and each time, at least ________ of the species on Earth became extinct.

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

The earliest known land plants date to the

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

The earliest discovered fossils are of ________ dating back to ________ years ago.

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

The first organisms on Earth were very small, but now when you look around you see many large organisms. Which of the following is the best explanation for this observation?

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

The example of ocean and lake stickleback fishes indicates that morphology can be altered

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

The findings of Pasteur and others have established that

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Ever since Darwin, systematics has tried to

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Some RNA molecules can function like enzymes. These particular enzymatic RNA molecules are called

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

How do scientists calibrate a molecular clock for a group of organisms with known nucleotide sequences?

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

A disaster such as a meltdown in a nuclear power plant requires close examination of potential impacts on organisms. Which of the following would be useful to biologists in such a situation?

Correct AnswerverifiedD

Potassium-40 can be used to date ________ that are ________ old.

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

The technique called radiometric dating is based on

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
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and mean the same thing.

Correct Answer
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C

Correct Answer
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In mammals, the presence of four limbs is , and hair is .

Correct Answer
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Correct Answer
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Correct Answer
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Correct Answer
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D

Over the past 500 million years, there have been mass extinctions, and each time, at least of the species on Earth became extinct.

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
verified

The earliest discovered fossils are of dating back to years ago.

Correct Answer
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Correct Answer
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Correct Answer
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Correct Answer
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Correct Answer
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Correct Answer
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Correct Answer
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Correct Answer
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D

Potassium-40 can be used to date that are old.

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
verified