While studying a group of ammonites (an extinct lineage of cephalopods)that lived during the Mesozoic,you measure the shell diameter of different fossil ammonite species.The table below represents the data you collected for each of six different time periods.What rule does the data conform to?
A)Biogenetic rule
B)Allen's rule
C)Cope's rule
D)Bergmann's rule

Question

While studying a group of ammonites (an extinct lineage of cephalopods)that lived during the Mesozoic,you measure the shell diameter of different fossil ammonite species.The table below represents the data you collected for each of six different time periods.What rule does the data conform to? 
A)Biogenetic rule 
B)Allen's rule 
C)Cope's rule 
D)Bergmann's rule

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Cope's rule states that over time, species within a lineage tend to increase in body size. The data collected for the different time periods all show a trend of increasing shell diameter, which is indicative of Cope's rule. The other answer choices - biogenetic rule, Allen's rule, and Bergmann's rule - are not applicable to this data set as they involve different patterns of morphological or physiological traits in response to environmental or evolutionary pressures.

While Studying a Group of Ammonites (An Extinct Lineage of Cephalopods)that