Deck 21: Paleozoic Life History

Question 1

Trilobites are common organisms in aquaria today.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Eurypterids are a subclass of the cephalopods that are excellent guide fossils.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

There is no evidence in the geologic record that multi-celled organisms of any kind existed prior to the Cambrian.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Organisms with endo- or exoskeletons usually have decreased locomotor functions because muscles are restricted.

Question 5

At the end of the Permian, the marine invertebrates suffered the greatest extinction with about 90 percent loss of species.

Question 6

Fish first evolved in a marine environment and later adapted to non-marine habitats.

Question 7

Carboniferous age reefs differed from those of the Devonian in that they were much more massive than the older reef structures.

Question 8

Based on embryo studies, blood proteins, and biochemistry of muscle activity, chordates may be more closely linked to echinoderms than to other phyla.

Question 9

Animals with rigid skeletons appeared abruptly in the fossil record at the beginning of the Paleozoic.

Question 10

The amalgamation of Pangaea may have played an important role in the Permian extinction because the shallow marine environment was greatly reduced.

Question 11

The critical factors in species survival of the Permian extinction are wide geographic distribution and tolerance of broad temperature ranges.

Question 12

All chordates are vertebrates.

Question 13

Which feeding group ingests sediment and extract nutrients from it?

A)herbivores
B)sediment-deposit feeders
C)carnivore-scavengers
D)epifauna
E)suspension feeders

Question 14

Trilobites, an organism abundant in the Early Paleozoic and less abundant in the Late Paleozoic, greatly flourished after the Permian extinction.

Question 15

Sessile organisms ____.

A)move about freely
B)move only to reproduce
C)stay in one place
D)feed on suspended material
E)live and move around in sediment

Question 16

An organism classified as an autotroph ____.

A)is a carnivore
B)produces its own food
C)is at the top of the food chain
D)is a herbivore
E)has eyes

Question 17

The Precambrian-Cambrian boundary represents the first appearance of ____.

A)vertebrates
B)amphibians
C)reptiles
D)animals with skeletons
E)animals with soft bodies

Question 18

One of the most significant roles of the exoskeleton is to provide protection from desiccation.

Question 19

Fusulinids, greatly diversified in the Pennsylvanian and Permian, are one of the most useful guide fossils for those periods.

Question 20

Hox genes ____.

A)control the formation of shells
B)control the development of individual body regions
C)mostly evolved after the Cambrian explosion
D)guide the formation of exoskeletons
E)evolved before the Cambrian explosion

Question 21

The 360-million-year-old Acanthostega ____.

A)had limbs but could not walk on land
B)had limbs and could walk on land
C)lived entirely on land
D)had no limbs but lived on land
E)lived entirely in water

Question 22

Over geologic time, _____ open up vast areas of shallow seas that could be inhabited and exploited.

A)marine transgressions over the cratons
B)marine regressions from the cratons
C)glaciations
D)continental movements
E)mass extinctions

Question 23

What characteristic did the earliest fish have?

A)armored plated skin
B)jaws
C)spiny skin
D)plated skin
E)ray-fins

Question 24

The vast epeiric sea of the Middle Ordovician was ____.

A)very deep
B)uniformly warm
C)very cold
D)lifeless
E)super-oxygenated

Question 25

What feature distinguishes the two subclasses of bony fish?

A)gill structure
B)skeletal structure
C)fin structure
D)teeth structure
E)scale structure

Question 26

At the end of the Paleozoic era, _____ constituted about 90% of the known reptile genera.

A)therapsids
B)pelcyosaurs
C)protorothyrids
D)thecodontians
E)amphibians

Question 27

The earliest fish were ____.

A)ray-finned
B)boney-finned
C)cartilaginous
D)jawless
E)jawed

Question 28

The crossopterygians were well-adapted to move onto the land because they had ____.

A)lungs, but not necessarily a means for locomotion
B)a means for locomotion, but not necessarily lungs
C)cartilaginous skeletons
D)lungs and a means of locomotion
E)webbed feet

Question 29

Why do most experts agree that the ancestors of land plants evolved in marine environments?

A)Roots would not have developed on land.
B)Differences in osmotic pressures between saltwater and freshwater could be overcome while plants were still in water.
C)There were no freshwater environments in the Paleozoic.
D)The first vascular plants are only found in marine environments.
E)Non-vascular plants require saltwater environments.

Question 30

The ancestors and early members of the phylum ____ were soft-bodied organisms that left few fossils.

A)Protozoa
B)Chordata
C)Bryozoa
D)Mollusca
E)Arthropoda

Question 31

What does the name Placoderm mean?

A)plate-skinned
B)bony skin
C)scaly skin
D)spiny skin
E)fleshy skin

Question 32

The mass extinction at the end of the Ordovician wiped out about half of the ____ population.

A)dinosaur
B)vascular plant
C)non-vascular plant
D)brachiopod and bryozoan
E)stromatoporoid and rugose coral

Question 33

What is the correct order of trophic levels from bottom to top?

A)primary consumer, secondary consumer, tertiary consumer, primary producer
B)primary producer, secondary producer, tertiary producer, primary consumer
C)tertiary consumer, secondary consumer, primary consumer, primary producer
D)primary producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, tertiary consumer
E)primary consumer, secondary consumer, primary producer, tertiary consumer

Question 34

_____ reefs were dominated by crinoids, blastoids, lacy bryozoans, brachiopods, and calcareous algae.

A)Carboniferous
B)Cambrian
C)Permian
D)Devonian
E)Ordovician

Question 35

The distribution of the land plant _____ is cited as critical evidence that the continents have moved through time.

A)Glossopteris
B)Calamites
C)Equisetum
D)Cooksonia
E)Lepidodendron

Question 36

_____ evolved in response to the need to collect water and nutrients from soil.

A)Cellulose
B)Cutin
C)Leaves
D)Photosynthesis
E)Roots

Question 37

Fossil evidence suggests that such land-dwelling arthropods as _____ had evolved by at least the Devonian.

A)trilobites
B)molluscs
C)scorpions
D)beetles
E)spiders

Question 38

____ were large amphibians abundant during the Carboniferous.

A)Crossopterygians
B)Eurypterids
C)Ammonids
D)Labyrinthodonts
E)Protorothyrids

Question 39

Corals became dominant reef-builders in the ____.

A)Cambrian
B)Ordovician
C)Silurian
D)Carboniferous
E)Permian

Question 40

Limbs probably initially evolved to ____.

A)walk on land
B)swim in the ocean
C)limbs have no function
D)swim in shallow streams
E)run

Question 41

____________________ were warm-blooded, so they were able to adapt to a wide variety of latitudes.

Question 42

Organisms that live on the seafloor are called ____________________.

Question 43

Describe the characteristics of an excellent guide fossil and provide one example.

Question 44

What was the evolutionary advantage of having a mineralized skeleton?

Question 45

The oldest fossils of the first vascular land plants have been found in ____________________ age rocks.

Question 46

Seedless vascular plants evolved which of the following features of modern plants?

A)seeds only
B)roots only
C)leaves only
D)secondary growth only
E)roots, leaves, and secondary growth

Question 47

What selective advantages did an exoskeleton or shell provide?

Question 48

The development of ____________________ increased the diversity of foods that fish could consume.

Question 49

Organisms that live in the marine ecosystem above the seafloor are called ____________________.

Question 50

The presence of an exoskeleton enables an organism to adapt to shallow water by providing protection from ____________________.

Question 51

____________________ in jawless fish eventually developed into jaws.

Question 52

Non-vascular plants differ from vascular plants in that they ____.

A)reproduce by seeds only
B)are small and live in dry arid climates
C)are large, live in arid climates, and have specialized tissues for transporting water and nutrients
D)are large and do not have specialized tissue to transport water and nutrients
E)are small, live in moist climates, and do not have specialized tissue for transporting water and nutrients

Question 53

In the life cycle of a seedless vascular plant, ____ germinate and grow into small gametophyte plants.

A)sperm
B)pollen grains
C)spores
D)female cones
E)eggs

Question 54

Briefly discuss how the evolution of jawed fishes and other predatory creatures affected the marine ecosystem.

Question 55

The development that set the stage for the evolution of animals that lived entirely on the land was the ____________________.

Question 56

The dominant type of flora in non-swampy areas of the Late Paleozoic were ____________________.

Question 57

The earliest vascular land plants were characterized by which features?

A)seed-producing and rootless
B)seedless and root-bearing
C)seedless and rhizome-bearing
D)seed-bearing and rhizome bearing
E)seedless and rootless

Question 58

By the end of the Permian, small mammal-like reptiles, called ____________________, evolved from the pelycosaur.

Question 59

What characterized the sphenopsid plant group?

Question 60

Plants are divided into which two major groups?

A)coniferous and deciduous
B)vascular and spore-bearing
C)angiosperms and gymnosperms
D)vascular and non-vascular
E)seedless and non-seedless

Question 61

What type of "root" did the first vascular land plants have, and what type of environments did they live in?

Question 62

Briefly state why the development of the amniote egg was so significant in the evolution of the reptiles.

Question 63

What was the distribution of trilobites in time and space during the Paleozoic? What niches did trilobites fill?

Question 64

What is the age of the Burgess Shale? What is its significance, and why did this unique preservation occur?