Exam 34: The Origin and Evolution of Vertebrates

Which of the following is a cluster of genes coding for transcription factors involved in the evolution of innovations in early vertebrate nervous systems and vertebrae?

Which of the following statements is correct in regard to Homo erectus?

The following questions refer to the phylogenetic tree shown below. -Whose DNA would have had the most sequence homologies with amphibian DNA?

The following questions refer to the description below. While on an intersession course in tropical ecology,Kris pulls a large,snakelike organism from a burrow (the class was granted a collecting permit).The 1-metre-long organism has smooth skin,which appears to be segmented.It has two tiny eyes that are hard to see because they seem to be covered by skin.Kris brings it back to the lab at the field station,where it is a source of puzzlement to the class.Kris says that it is a giant oligochaete worm; Shaun suggests it is a legless amphibian; Kelly proposes it belongs to a snake species that is purely fossorial (lives in a burrow). -The class decided to humanely euthanize the organism and subsequently dissect it.Having decided that it was probably not a reptile,two of their original hypotheses regarding its identity remained.Which of the following,if observed,should help them arrive at a conclusive answer?

Which extant chordates are postulated to be most like the earliest chordates in appearance?

The one-way flow of air along parabronchi makes what type of exchange mechanism possible,at least theoretically?

Almost all North American bats are insectivores,with one notable exception being a bat that bites and then laps blood from the wound.The blood-lapping bats are limited to the warm,southwestern United States.Thus,if WNS continues to decimate bat populations in the United States and Canada,then we can expect

In the United States and Canada,bats use one of two strategies to survive winter: They either migrate south,or they hibernate.Recently,those that hibernate seem to have come under attack by a fungus,Geomyces destructans (Gd),an attack that is occurring from Missouri to southern Canada.Many infected bats have a delicate,white filamentous mat on their muzzles,which is referred to as white-nose syndrome (WNS).The fungus invades the bat tissues,causes discomfort,and awakens the bat from its hibernation.The bat fidgets and wastes calories,using up its stored fat.The bat then behaves abnormally,leaving its cave during daytime in winter to search for food.Their food,primarily insects,is scarce during the winter,and the bats ultimately starve to death.Since 2007,it is estimated that up to 1 million bats have perished from WNS. -Gd is a cold-loving fungus.Thus,which characteristics of normal bat behaviour can be most expected to favour the growth of this fungus?

When a shark stops swimming,it does which of the following? 1)sinks 2)quickly dies 3)oxygenates its blood less effectively

Which of these might have been observed in the common ancestor of chondrichthyans and osteichthyans?

Which of the following belongs to the lobe-fin clade?

Among extant vertebrates,a sheet of muscle called the diaphragm is found in

Which of the following are considered apes?

Mammals and birds eat more often than reptiles.Which of the following traits shared by mammals and birds best explains this habit?

Which of the following is not considered an adaptation that benefits flight in birds?

Their scales most closely resemble teeth in both structure and origin.

Which graph properly depicts the relationship between the amount of gas in the swim bladder and the density of the fish?

In order for the four-chambered hearts of birds and mammals to be homologous,which other organisms would have to have had four-chambered hearts?

Terry saved some of the tooth-like objects within the hagfish's round mouth to analyze their composition in his mentor's biochemistry research lab.Terry will find that they are composed of the same protein found in tetrapod

The snakelike organism turned out to be a hagfish.Consequently,why should Terry throw the fish to which the hagfish was attached overboard,rather than having it for dinner?