Exam 21: Paleozoic Life History

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

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

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

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

The Carboniferous flora in coal-forming swamps was dominated by ____________________ plants.

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

In the Early Cambrian,there was a great diversity of fauna which represented many phyla that exist today.

The fin-back reptiles are called ____________________ and they went extinct in the ____________________.

Describe the four feeding groups and how they get their nutrition.

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

Hox genes

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

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

Trilobites are common organisms in aquaria today.

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

Briefly state the problems that animals faced in their adaptation to the land.

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

Devonian mass extinctions were caused by global cooling that made the environment unfavorable for the widespread reef organisms of the time period.

The sail-like fin on the pelycosaur may have served as all except which of the following?

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