Deck 25: The History of Life on Earth

Question 1

Refer to the following information to answer the question.
Fossils of Lystrosaurus, a dicynodont therapsid, are most common in parts of modern-day South America, South Africa, Madagascar, India, South Australia, and Antarctica. The animal apparently lived in arid regions and was mostly herbivorous. It originated during the mid-Permian period, survived the Permian extinction, and dwindled by the late Triassic, though there is evidence of a relict population in Australia during the Cretaceous period. Some dicynodonts had two large tusks, extending down from their upper jaws. The tusks were not used for food gathering, and in some species were limited to males. Food was gathered using an otherwise toothless beak. Judging from the fossil record in sedimentary rocks, these pig-sized organisms were the most common mammal-like reptiles of the Permian.
What is thought to be the correct sequence of these events, from earliest to most recent, in the evolution of life on Earth?
1)origin of mitochondria
2)origin of multicellular eukaryotes
3)origin of chloroplasts
4)origin of cyanobacteria
5)origin of fungal-plant symbioses

A) 4, 3, 2, 1, 5
B) 4, 1, 2, 3, 5
C) 4, 1, 3, 2, 5
D) 4, 3, 1, 5, 2

Answer 1

C

Question 2

If the half-life of carbon-14 is about 5,730 years, then a fossil that has 1/16 of the normal proportion of carbon-14 to carbon-12 should be about how many years old?

A) 2,800
B) 11,200
C) 16,800
D) 22,900

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following is the correct sequence of events in the origin of life?
I)Formation of protocells
II)Synthesis of organic monomers
III)Synthesis of organic polymers
IV)Formation of DNA-based genetic systems

A) I, II, III, IV
B) I, III, II, IV
C) II, III, I, IV
D) II, III, IV, I

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following organisms would be most likely to form a fossil?

A) a rare worm
B) a common worm
C) a rare squirrel
D) a common squirrel

Question 5

Which of the following showed their greatest diversity during the Mesozoic era but were a small, less diverse group during the Paleozoic era?

A) gymnosperms
B) fungi
C) flowering plants
D) mammals

Question 6

Which of the following statements suggests natural selection as a mechanism in the evolution of ribozymes?

A) Single-stranded RNA has many shapes.
B) Replication of RNA is flawless.
C) Some strands of RNA replicate less often.
D) Some strands of RNA replicate more often and with more mutations.

Question 7

The first genetic material on Earth was probably ________.

A) DNA produced by reverse transcriptase from abiotically produced RNA
B) DNA molecules whose information was transcribed to RNA and later translated in polypeptides
C) self-replicating RNA molecules
D) oligopeptides located within protocells

Question 8

If a fossil is encased in a stratum of sedimentary rock without any strata of volcanic rock (for example, lava or ash)nearby, then it should be ________.

A) easy to determine the absolute age of the fossil, because the radioisotopes in the sediments will not have been "reset" by the heat of the igneous rocks
B) easy to determine the absolute age of the fossil, because the igneous rocks will not have physically obstructed the deposition of sediment of a single age next to the fossil
C) difficult to determine the absolute age of the fossil, because the "marker fossils" common to igneous rock will be absent
D) difficult to determine the absolute age of the fossil, because radiometric dating of sedimentary rock is less accurate than that of igneous rock

Question 9

How was early Earth from more than three billion years ago different from today's Earth? Unlike Earth today, early Earth ________.

A) had an atmosphere rich in gases released from volcanic eruptions
B) had an oxidizing atmosphere
C) experienced little high-energy radiation from the sun
D) had an atmosphere with significant quantities of ozone

Question 10

Which hypothesis for the abiotic formation of organic molecules suggests that early Earth's atmosphere was a neutral atmosphere?

A) The energy for this synthesis could have come from lightning and UV radiation.
B) Some evidence suggests that the early atmosphere was made up primarily of nitrogen and carbon dioxide.
C) Amino acids were found near volcanic eruption sites.
D) Organic compounds were first produced in deep-sea hydrothermal vents.

Question 11

In 2013, researchers constructed a vesicle with replicated RNA. Why was this significant evidence for abiotic origin of life?

A) RNA molecules could pass on information to their "daughters."
B) RNA molecules were not able to replicate.
C) RNA would be used up by protocells.
D) RNA is a stable repository.

Question 12

Which of the following is a defining characteristic that all protocells had in common?

A) the ability to synthesize enzymes
B) a surrounding membrane or membrane-like structure
C) RNA genes
D) the ability to replicate RNA

Question 13

You are the lucky student of a wacky professor who develops a time machine. He asks if you will test it with him. You get in, and there is an immediate glitch-the date readout fails so that when you land, you are not sure what era you are in. As your time machine lands, you see an unusual landscape before you. As you open the door, you realize you cannot breathe. You quickly shut the door, realizing you are in the ________.

A) Archaean eon
B) Cambrian period
C) Cenozoic era
D) Mesozoic era

Question 14

Which listing of geological periods is in the correct order, from oldest to most recent?

A) Cambrian, Devonian, Permian, Cretaceous
B) Devonian, Cambrian, Permian, Cretaceous
C) Cambrian, Permian, Devonian, Cretaceous
D) Permian, Cambrian, Cretaceous, Devonian

Question 15

What is true of the fossil record of mammalian origins?

A) It shows that mammals and birds evolved from the same kind of dinosaur.
B) It includes transitional forms with progressively specialized teeth.
C) It indicates that mammals and dinosaurs did not overlap in geologic time.
D) It includes a series that shows the gradual change of scales into fur.

Question 16

What is the most accurate method used to measure the age of a fossil?

A) radiometric dating
B) sequence fossils in rock strata
C) use uranium-238
D) use whole-life decay

Question 17

Use the following information to answer the question.
A sediment core is removed from the floor of an inland sea. The sea has been in existence, off and on, throughout the entire time that terrestrial life has existed. Researchers wish to locate and study the terrestrial organisms fossilized in this core. The core is illustrated as a vertical column, with the top of the column representing the most recent strata and the bottom representing the time when land was first colonized by life.

To assign absolute dates to fossils in this sediment core, it would be most helpful if ________.

A) you knew the order in which the fossils occurred
B) the sediments had not been affected by underwater currents during their deposition
C) volcanic ash layers were regularly interspersed between the sedimentary strata
D) fossils throughout the column were equally spaced apart

Question 18

Which of the following would be least likely to appear in the fossil record?

A) burrowing species
B) marine-dwelling species
C) marsh-dwelling species
D) desert-dwelling species

Question 19

You are the lucky student of a wacky professor who develops a time machine. He asks if you will test it with him. You get in, and there is an immediate glitch-the date readout fails so that when you land, you are not sure what era you are in. Your professor begins to panic, but you see something that tells you are in the Cenozoic era. Which of the following could it be?

A) a rabbit eating a daisy
B) a water lily floating in a pond
C) masses of green ferns with dragonflies hovering above them
D) a bee pollinating a flower

Question 20

Why are fossils considered to be an incomplete record of evolution?

A) The fossil record shows changes in kinds of organisms that lived on earth.
B) The fossil record shows that many animals are extinct.
C) The fossil record is biased for organisms that had hard shells and skeletons.
D) Fossils document how new organisms come from preexisting organisms.

Question 21

Hawaii is the most southeastern of the seven largest islands and is also closest to the seafloor spreading center from which the Pacific plate originates, which lies about 5,600 km farther to the southeast. Assuming equal sedimentation rates, what should be the location of the thickest sediment layer and thus the area with the greatest diversity of fossils above the oceanic crust?

A) between the island of Hawaii and the seafloor spreading center
B) around the base of the island of Hawaii
C) around the base of Kauai, the oldest of the large Hawaiian islands
D) where the islands are most concentrated (highest number of islands per unit surface area)

Question 22

An early consequence of the release of oxygen gas by plant and bacterial photosynthesis was to ________.

A) change the atmosphere from oxidizing to reducing
B) make it easier to maintain reduced molecules
C) cause iron in ocean water and terrestrial rocks to rust (oxidize)
D) prevent the formation of an ozone layer

Question 23

How does continental drift explain the uniqueness of Australian fauna?

A) Marsupials fill the ecological niche as eutherians on other continents.
B) Fossil evidence suggests that marsupials originated in Asia and reached Australia via South America.
C) The subsequent separation of the southern continents formed an island of marsupials.
D) In Australia, marsupials diversified, and eutherians became extinct.

Question 24

What adaptions by mammals helped their adaptive radiation after extinction of terrestrial dinosaurs?

A) nocturnal vision
B) small size
C) increase in diversity
D) outcompeting for food

Question 25

The Permian period ended and then rapid speciation occurred as new animal and plant forms evolved. The most likely explanation for this is ________.
I)adaptive radiation
II)ecological opportunity
III)lack of competition
IV)morphological innovation

A) just one of the above
B) two of the above
C) three of the above
D) all of the above

Question 26

Which period had the greatest increase in the number of extant species?

A) Paleozoic
B) Mesozoic
C) Cenozoic
D) Permian

Question 27

A genetic change that caused a certain Hox gene to be expressed along the tip of a vertebrate limb bud instead of farther back helped make possible the evolution of the tetrapod limb. This type of change is illustrative of ________.

A) the influence of environment on development
B) paedomorphosis
C) a change in a developmental gene or its regulation that altered the spatial organization of body parts
D) heterochrony

Question 28

How did the Cretaceous and Permian extinctions affect the numbers of prey organisms?

A) After the Permian extinction, the numbers or prey organisms increased then leveled off.
B) After the Cretaceous extinction, the number of predators continuously increased.
C) The Permian predators removed all Cretaceous predators.
D) Predators and prey decreased in numbers.

Question 29

What concept explains the evolution of complex eyes?

A) Complex eyes evolved through a series of steps that benefited the eyes.
B) Mollusc eyes evolved from a different ancestor than vertebrate eyes.
C) Through evolutionary history, eyes lose function of vision.
D) Mollusc eye's evolution was dependent on vertebrate eye evolution.

Question 30

Use the following information to answer the question.
A sediment core is removed from the floor of an inland sea. The sea has been in existence, off and on, throughout the entire time that terrestrial life has existed. Researchers wish to locate and study the terrestrial organisms fossilized in this core. The core is illustrated as a vertical column, with the top of the column representing the most recent strata and the bottom representing the time when land was first colonized by life.

If arrows indicate locations in the column where fossils of a particular type (see key)first appear, then which core in the figure above has the most accurate arrangement of fossils?

A) core A
B) core B
C) core C
D) core D

Question 31

Which factor most likely caused animals and plants in India to differ greatly from species in nearby southeast Asia?

A) The climates of the two regions are similar.
B) India is in the process of separating from the rest of Asia.
C) Life in India was wiped out by ancient volcanic eruptions.
D) India was a separate continent until 45 million years ago.

Question 32

The duplication of homeotic (Hox)genes has been significant in the evolution of animals because it ________.

A) permitted the evolution of novel forms
B) caused the extinction of major groups
C) reduced morphological diversity into simpler forms of life
D) allowed animals to survive on significantly fewer calories

Question 33

The loss of ventral spines by modern freshwater sticklebacks is due to natural selection operating on the phenotypic effects of Pitx1 gene ________.

A) duplication (gain in number)
B) elimination (loss)
C) mutation (change)
D) silencing (loss of expression)

Question 34

According to the theory of seafloor spreading, oceanic islands, such as the Hawaiian Islands, form as oceanic crustal plates move over a stationary "hot spot" in the mantle. Currently, the big island of Hawaii is thought to be over a hot spot, which is why it is the only one of the seven large islands that has active volcanoes. What should be true of the island of Hawaii?
I)Scientists in search of ongoing speciation events are more likely to find them here than on the other six large islands.
II)Its species should be more closely related to those of nearer islands than to those of farther islands.
III)It should have a rich fossil record of terrestrial organisms.
IV)It should have species that are not found anywhere else on Earth.
V)On average, it should have fewer species per-unit surface area than the other six islands.

A) I, II and III
B) I, II and V
C) I, II, III and IV
D) I, II, IV and V

Question 35

Bagworm moth caterpillars feed on evergreens and carry a silken case or bag around with them in which they eventually pupate. Adult female bagworm moths are larval in appearance; they lack the wings and other structures of the adult male and instead retain the appearance of a caterpillar even though they are sexually mature and can lay eggs within the bag. This is a good example of ________.

A) allometric growth
B) paedomorphosis
C) sympatric speciation
D) adaptive radiation

Question 36

What major innovations of the three radiations was associated with defying gravity to facilitate life on land?

A) stems
B) waxy covering
C) insect pollination
D) new sources of food

Question 37

Which of the following characteristics are expected in the first animals to have colonized land?
I)They were probably herbivores (ate photosynthesizers).
II)Animals had four appendages.
III)Animals had the ability to resist dehydration.
IV)Animals had lobe-finned fishes as ancestors.
V)Invertebrates

A) III only
B) III and V
C) I, III and V
D) I, II, III and IV

Question 38

Upon being formed, oceanic islands, such as the Hawaiian Islands, should feature what characteristic, leading to which phenomenon?

A) mass extinctions, leading to bottleneck effect
B) major evolutionary innovations, leading to rafting to nearby continents
C) a variety of empty ecological niches, leading to adaptive radiation
D) adaptive radiation, leading to founder effect

Question 39

The following question refers to this hypothetical situation.
A female fly, full of fertilized eggs, is swept by high winds to an island far out to sea. She is the first fly to arrive on this island and the only fly to arrive in this way. Thousands of years later, her numerous offspring occupy the island, but none of them resembles her. There are, instead, several species, each of which eats only a certain type of food. None of the species can fly, and their balancing organs (halteres)are now used in courtship displays. The male members of each species bear modified halteres that are unique in appearance to their species. Females bear vestigial halteres. The ranges of all of the daughter species overlap.
In each fly species, the entire body segment that gave rise to the original flight wings is missing. The mutation(s)that led to the flightless condition could have ________.

A) duplicated all of the Hox genes in these flies' genomes
B) resulted in paedomorphosis
C) altered the expression of a Hox gene
D) originated in another species

Question 40

What is true of the Cambrian explosion?

A) There are fossils of animals in geological strata that are older than the Cambrian explosion.
B) Only the fossils of microorganisms are found in geological strata older than the Cambrian explosion.
C) The Cambrian explosion is evidence for the instantaneous creation of life on Earth.
D) The Cambrian explosion marks the appearance of filter-feeding animals in the fossil record.

Question 41

Which factor most likely caused animals and plants in India to differ greatly from species in nearby southeast Asia?

A) The species became separated by convergent evolution.
B) The climates of the two regions are similar.
C) India is in the process of separating from the rest of Asia.
D) India was a separate continent until 45 million years ago.

Question 42

The following question is based on the observation that several dozen different proteins comprise the prokaryotic flagellum and its attachment to the prokaryotic cell, producing a highly complex structure.
Certain proteins of the complex motor that drives bacterial flagella are modified versions of proteins that had previously belonged to plasma membrane pumps. This evidence supports the claim that ________.

A) natural selection produces organs that will be needed in future environments
B) the motors of bacterial flagella must have originated in other organisms
C) natural selection can produce new structures by coupling together parts of other structures
D) bacteria that possess flagella must have lost the ability to pump certain chemicals across their plasma membranes

Question 43

A swim bladder is a gas-filled sac that helps fish maintain buoyancy. The evolution of the swim bladder from the air-breathing organ (a simple lung)of an ancestral fish is an example of

A) exaptation.
B) changes in Hox gene expression.
C) paedomorphosis.
D) adaptive radiation.

Question 44

A genetic change that caused a certain Hox gene to be expressed along the tip of a vertebrate limb bud instead of farther back helped make possible the evolution of the tetrapod limb. This type of change is illustrative of

A) the influence of environment on development.
B) paedomorphosis.
C) a change in a developmental gene or in its regulation that altered the spatial organization of body parts.
D) heterochrony.

Question 45

Which of the following steps has not yet been accomplished by scientists studying the origin of life?

A) synthesis of small RNA polymers by ribozymes
B) formation of molecular aggregates with selectively permeable membranes
C) formation of protocells that use DNA to direct the polymerization of amino acids
D) abiotic synthesis of organic molecules

Question 46

Insect wings may have begun to evolve as lateral extensions of the body that were used as heat dissipaters for thermoregulation. When they had become sufficiently large, these extensions became useful for gliding through the air. Additional selection refined them as flight-producing wings. If this hypothesis is correct, modern insect wings would be an example of ________.

A) the loss of Hox genes in the evolution of new form
B) mutations
C) an exaptation
D) an adaptive radiation

Question 47

Endosymbiosis is an evolutionary theory that explains the origin of eukaryotes and suggests a specific order in which this might have occurred. Ancestral cells engulfed and then began to use the metabolic processes of the smaller cells. Based on shared-core processes and features, which statement most accurately describes the order, the theory, and the evolutionary implications for all organisms within domain Eukarya?

A) Ancestral heterotrophic eukaryotes most likely engulfed both a heterotrophic and an autotrophic prokaryote, whereas ancestral photosynthetic eukaryotes probably provided the host cell for the first mitochondria. Over time, natural selection favored these relationships, and these cells became ancestors of all eukaryotes.
B) All ancestral eukaryotes would have most likely consumed a nucleus-like prokaryote that eventually became the eukaryotic nucleus. These new eukaryotic cells would have had an advantage over prokaryotic cells by acquiring a nuclear command center for regulating cellular activities.
C) As carbon dioxide levels were increasing over time, natural selection would have favored organisms that acquired a photosynthetic prokaryote to convert carbon dioxide into sugars. These would have likely been the first eukaryotic cells. These ancestral cells engulfed mitochondria-like prokaryotes, which would have provided an even greater advantage for cells in this environment.
D) As Earth was becoming more aerobic, mitochondria would have provided an advantage to host cells by converting "toxic" oxygen into energy for heterotrophic cells. Since mitochondria are found in all eukaryotes, these combinations likely evolved first. Photosynthetic eukaryotes probably acquired an autotrophic prokaryote, which developed an advantageous symbiotic relationship with the host cell.

Question 48

Which of the following is a limit of evolution that results in exaptations?

A) Natural selection and sexual selection can work at cross purposes to each other.
B) Evolution is limited by historical constraints.
C) Adaptations are often compromises.
D) Chance events affect the evolutionary history of populations in environments that can change unpredictably.

Question 49

Why would gene duplication events, such as those seen in the Hox gene complex, set the stage for adaptive radiation?

A) There are more copies of genes, meaning speciation had occurred by polyploidy.
B) The original gene copy is the outgroup, and the new gene copies are the adaptive radiation.
C) Without duplicated genes, species would be vulnerable to extinction.
D) One copy of a gene can perform the original function, while other copies are available to take on new functions.

Question 50

Many species of snakes lay eggs. However, in the forests of northern Minnesota, where growing seasons are short, only live-bearing snake species are present. This trend toward species that have live births in a particular environment is an example of ________.

A) an exaptation
B) sexual selection
C) species selection
D) goal direction in evolution

Question 51

The oxygen revolution changed Earth's environment dramatically. Which of the following took advantage of the presence of free oxygen in the oceans and atmosphere?

A) the evolution of cellular respiration, which used oxygen to help harvest energy from organic molecules
B) the persistence of some animal groups in anaerobic habitats
C) the evolution of photosynthetic pigments that protected early algae from the corrosive effects of oxygen
D) the evolution of chloroplasts after early protists incorporated photosynthetic cyanobacteria

Question 52

The following question is based on the observation that several dozen different proteins comprise the prokaryotic flagellum and its attachment to the prokaryotic cell, producing a highly complex structure.
If the complex protein assemblage of the prokaryotic flagellum arose by the same general processes as those of the complex eyes of molluscs (such as squids and octopi), then ________.

A) natural selection cannot account for the rise of the prokaryotic flagellum
B) ancestral versions of this protein assemblage were either less functional or had different functions than modern prokaryotic flagella
C) neither eyes nor flagella could have arisen by evolution because both are too complex to have evolved
D) the need for more complex structure must have driven evolution

Question 53

One hypothesis that has been proposed regarding the origin of life suggests that life evolved from an "RNA world" to today's "DNA world." Considering the properties of RNA and DNA molecules, which questions would direct an investigation of the most insightful test of this hypothesis?

A) Is it likely that RNA molecules functioned as ribozymes to synthesize DNA from amino acids, and that this role was reversed when DNA became the information source?
B) Is it likely that simple, yet stable RNA molecules served as a primitive precursor to a less stable DNA molecule that was more capable of storing more information?
C) Could RNA have provided a template for DNA assembly, thereby enabling a more stable molecule that is replicated more accurately?
D) Since ribozymes could freely enter and leave the vesicles, could these molecules have brought external DNA into the cell as a less stable, but more reliable storage molecule of double-stranded DNA?

Question 54

The existence of evolutionary trends, such as increasing body sizes among horse species, is evidence that ________.

A) a larger volume-to-surface area ratio is adaptive in many mammals
B) evolution generally progresses toward some goal
C) evolution tends toward increased complexity or increased size
D) in particular environments, similar adaptations can be beneficial to more than one species

Question 55

A swim bladder is a gas-filled sac that helps fish maintain buoyancy. The evolution of the swim bladder from lungs of an ancestral fish is an example of ________.

A) exaptation
B) changes in Hox gene expression
C) paedomorphosis
D) adaptive radiation

Question 56

Adaptive radiations can be a direct consequence of three of the following four factors. Select the exception.

A) vacant ecological niches
B) genetic drift
C) colonization of an isolated region that contains suitable habitat and few competitor species
D) evolutionary innovation

Question 57

If one organ is an exaptation of another organ, then these two organs ________.

A) are homologous
B) are undergoing convergent evolution
C) are found in the same species
D) have the same function

Question 58

Fossilized stromatolites

A) formed around deep-sea vents.
B) resemble structures formed by bacterial communities that are found today in some shallow marine bays.
C) provide evidence that plants moved onto land in the company of fungi around 500 million years ago.
D) contain the first undisputed fossils of eukaryotes.

Question 59

The following question refers to this hypothetical situation.
A female fly, full of fertilized eggs, is swept by high winds to an island far out to sea. She is the first fly to arrive on this island and the only fly to arrive in this way. Thousands of years later, her numerous offspring occupy the island, but none of them resembles her. There are, instead, several species, each of which eats only a certain type of food. None of the species can fly and their balancing organs (halteres)are now used in courtship displays. The male members of each species bear modified halteres that are unique in appearance to their species. Females bear vestigial halteres. The ranges of all of the daughter species overlap.
Which of these fly organs, as they exist in the description, best illustrates an exaptation?

A) the vestigial halteres
B) the halteres
C) the mouthparts
D) the eggs