Deck 4: Phylogeny and Evolutionary History

Question 1

The study of phylogeny predominantly aims to

A)understand the branching relationships of populations as they give rise to descendant populations over time.
B)uncover evidence for natural selection.
C)provide a theoretical basis for Darwin's idea of a branching pattern of descent with modification.
D)All of the above

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Based on the figure above,what does the upper dot in each figure represent?

A)An ancestral population
B)The most recent common ancestor of birds and crocodilians
C)The most recent common ancestor to all tetrapods
D)A and C

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Based on the figure above,which of the following statements is true?

A)Fish is not a monophyletic group.
B)Fish is a monophyletic group.
C)Tetrapod vertebrates is a monophyletic group.
D)A and C

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Based on the figure above,the two roots (labeled)represent which of the following?
1)Ancestral populations
2)A common ancestor of birds and crocodilians
3)A common ancestor to all tetrapods
4)The ancestral lineage from which all other lineages on the tree are derived

A)1 and 2
C)3 and 4
B)1 and 3
D)1,2,3,and 4

Question 5

Linnaean taxonomy and the resulting system of scientific nomenclature (naming system)

A)was derived from evolutionary thinking.
B)was not derived from evolutionary thinking.
C)has been used by biologists for nearly three centuries.
D)A and C
E)B and C

Question 6

Based on the phylogenetic tree above,which of the following groups is most closely related to mammals?

A)Snakes
B)Amphibians
C)Amphibians and all reptiles
D)All reptiles and birds
E)All reptiles but not birds

Question 7

The study of phylogeny rests on our observation of traits,which may include

A)anatomical features.
C)genetics sequences.
B)embryological processes.
D)All of the above

Question 8

In the figure above,the shrublike or treelike species are circled in black.Based on the figure,which of the following statements is true?

A)For the herbaceous species, the branch lengths tend to be shorter, and the rates of sequence change more slowly.
B)For the herbaceous species, the branch lengths tend to be longer, and the rates of sequence change more slowly.
C)For the herbaceous species, the branch lengths tend to be longer, and the rates of sequence change faster.
D)For the herbaceous species, the branch lengths tend to be shorter, and the rates of sequence change faster.

Question 9

German biologist Willi Hennig (1913-1976)

A)established the modern approach to classification.
B)documented evolutionary history in his book Phylogenetic Systematics.
C)noted that phylogenetic trees can help us to classify organisms according to their evolutionary history.
D)All of the above

Question 10

Based on the figure above,which of the following statements is true?

A)Flower shape was used to infer this phylogenetic tree.
B)The origin of a new flower shape evolved after the origin of dark coloration.
C)The origin of a new flower shape evolved before the origin of dark coloration.
D)A and B
E)None of the above

Question 11

Which of the following statements about pedigrees and phylogenies is true?

A)Both show the splitting and the recombining of branches or lineages over time.
B)A pedigree tells us about the ancestry of individuals, whereas most phylogenies tell us about the ancestry of populations.
C)Both expand as one looks backward in time.
D)All of the above

Question 12

Traits are critical in the study of phylogeny because

A)a phylogenetic tree is a hypothesis about evolutionary relationships.
B)we use observations of traits to infer patterns of ancestry and descent among populations.
C)by mapping individual traits onto a phylogeny we have already created, we can study the sequence and timing of evolutionary events.
D)A and C
E)B and C

Question 13

The study of phylogeny allows us to understand the

A)major events in evolutionary history.
C)relationships among taxa of organisms.
B)history of descent.
D)All of the above

Question 14

Based on the figure above,which of the following statements is true?

A)The two phylogenies of the vertebrates shown illustrate exactly the same information.
B)The figure on the left (A) is sometimes referred to as a ladder representation.
C)The figure on the right (B) is sometimes referred to as a tree representation.
D)All of the above

Question 15

Which of the following pairs correctly matches the phylogenetic tree type (1,2,or 3)with the information it represents (i,ii,or iii).
1)Cladograms
2)Phylograms
3)Chronograms
I)A tree with aligned branch tips that indicates only the evolutionary relationships among the taxa shown
Ii)A tree in which branch lengths represent actual time rather than the amount of evolutionary change
Iii)A tree in which branch lengths represent the relative amount of evolutionary change

A)(1-i),(2-ii),and (3-iii)
C)(1-ii),(2-i),and (3-iii)
B)(1-i),(2-iii),and (3-ii)
D)(1-ii),(2-iii),and (3-i)

Question 16

Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778)

A)was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, and physician.
B)wrote Systema Naturae.
C)had the insight that organisms can be organized into a system hierarchical classification without having a theoretical explanation for why these patterns should exist.
D)All of the above

Question 17

Based on the figure above,what does the lower interior node in each figure represent?

A)An ancestral population
B)The common ancestor of birds and crocodilians
C)The common ancestor to all tetrapods
D)A and B

Question 18

Charles Darwin

A)inferred the patterns of common ancestry without a mechanistic understanding of genes and heredity.
B)developed a hypothesis about past events that later became testable.
C)argued that humans descended from another primate species.
D)All of the above

Question 19

Based on the figure above,which of the following statements is true?

A)There is a one base change between the analyzed sequences of lineages 1 and 2.
B)There is a one base change between the analyzed sequences of lineages 2 and 3.
C)The analyzed sequences of lineages 5 and 6 are the most similar.
D)A and B
E)B and C

Question 20

Based on the phylogenetic tree above,which of the following two groups are most closely related?

A)Turtles and snakes
C)Birds and crocodilians
B)Ray-finned fishes and lobe-finned fishes
D)Mammals and snakes

Question 21

In what ways do the processes of reconstructing phylogenetic trees and mapping evolutionary events onto trees generate hypotheses?

Question 22

Considering the figure above,what are the sister taxa,outgroups,and polytomies in each of the trees?

Question 23

Give an example of two groups of closely related organisms that have developed divergent traits because natural selection has worked differently on them,and then contrast this with an example of two groups of organisms that share one or more similar traits from being exposed to similar selective conditions.Explain the selective processes that worked on the groups of organisms in both examples,and be sure to use the scientific term for each set of conditions.Try to use examples other than those presented in your text.

Question 24

Homologous traits are found in two or more species because

A)some evolutionary process (usually natural selection) has independently fashioned similar traits in each species.
B)those traits are from a common ancestor.
C)Both of the above
D)None of the above

Question 25

Vestigial traits serve as a strong test of Darwin's theory of evolution by common ancestry.Based on the figure above,in which limbless organisms would you expect to find vestigial limbs?

A)Jellyfish
C)Fish
B)Annelid worms
D)Snakes

Question 26

What are the differences between rooted and unrooted phylogenetic trees?

Question 27

Consider a set of populations in which,over evolutionary time,the coat color of one or more populations of organisms changes from light to dark.Using this example of light and dark coat coloration,describe what might occur to produce each of the following evolutionary conditions:
A.A derived trait
B.A synapomorphy
C.A homoplasy
D.A symplesiomorphy

Question 28

Give an example of two groups of organisms that share one or more similarities due to shared ancestry,and contrast this with an example of two groups of organisms that share one or more similarities because natural selection independently fashioned similar traits.Explain the shared ancestry and the selective processes that resulted in the similarities in each example.Be sure to use the scientific term for each set of similarities.Try to use examples other than those presented in your text.

Question 29

Which of the following terms is used for a situation in which the derived trait has arisen recently and appears in only one of the two most related species or populations,while the two most distantly related groups share the same trait?

A)Homology
C)Homoplasy
B)Synapomorphy
D)Symplesiomorphy

Question 30

Although they serve no current functions,vestigial traits may persist in some organisms because

A)the trait is not costly to the organism.
B)natural selection does not act against the trait.
C)there is some natural selection against the trait, and it is on its way out-eventually will be lost.
D)All of the above

Question 31

Consider a population in which the coat color of a population or species changes from light to dark over evolutionary time.Using this example,draw an evolutionary tree to illustrate each of the following evolutionary conditions:
A.A derived trait
B.A homoplasy
C.A symplesiomorphy

Question 32

Examine the phylogenetic tree of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the figure above and give a possible explanation for the appearance of a split branch that has tips in both the Philippines and the rim of the Indian Ocean.

Question 33

Examine the tree of life of all known living organisms in the figure above.Describe the relationship of the animal kingdom to the rest of life on Earth.

Question 34

Analogous traits are found in two or more species because

A)some evolutionary process (usually natural selection) has independently fashioned similar traits in each species.
B)those traits are from a common ancestor.
C)Both of the above
D)None of the above

Question 35

Based on the figure above,draw the three rooted trees that would result from rooting at each of the nodes (A,B,and C)indicated by the labeled dots.

Question 36

By placing a given trait on a phylogenetic tree that we have already constructed using other data,we can

A)generate a hypothesis about when and how this trait evolved.
B)generate a hypothesis about the evolutionary history of the species in which those traits appear.
C)Both of the above
D)None of the above

Question 37

Suppose a population splits into two descendant populations prior to the evolution of dark coloration,then splits again after the evolution of dark coloration.Which of the following terms best describes the dark coloration trait in this situation?

A)Homoplasy
C)Synapomorphy
B)Analogy
D)Symplesiomorphy

Question 38

Convergent evolution occurs when

A)closely related populations or species diverge from one another because natural selection operates differently on each of them.
B)two or more populations or species become more similar to each other because they are exposed to similar selective conditions.
C)Both of the above
D)None of the above

Question 39

A trait that is similar in one or more species even though it was not present in their common ancestor is called a

A)homology.
C)homoplasy.
B)synapomorphy.
D)symplesiomorphy.

Question 40

Divergent evolution occurs when

A)closely related populations or species diverge from one another because natural selection operates differently on each of them.
B)two or more populations or species become more similar to each other because they are exposed to similar selective conditions.
C)Both of the above
D)None of the above

Question 41

Considering the figure above,could you come up with an alternative hypothesis to the one proposed by Fry and his colleagues? Why or why not? If so,what would your alternative hypothesis be?

Question 42

Assume you are an evolutionary biologist who is using coat coloration in several closely related species to reconstruct their evolutionary history.If you find that the coat color trait is symplesiomorphic,what can you do to resolve the species' evolutionary relationships?

Question 43

Based on the tree above,draw a tree that resolves two of the four polytomies and explain why you are able to do so using the tree above and your own illustrations.