Question 1

Members of all of Earth's different species (past and present)have been (or will be)converted into some type of fossil after their death.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 2

A mutation in a homeotic gene would NOT be likely to cause which of the following developmental changes in an organism?

Accepted Answer

A)  the development of a fruit fly embryo with legs growing from its head 
B)  the development of a legless lizard 
C)  a change in the color of a fruit flies eyes 
D)  the appearance of an eye on the abdomen of a fruit fly

Question 3

Scientists can determine the approximate age of a fossil by using an unstable form of the element uranium,Uranium-235,which has a half-life of 700 million years.Such an unstable form of an element is called a ______________.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Scientists can determine the approximate age of...

Question 4

The first vertebrates to colonize land were ____________.

Accepted Answer

A)  birds 
B)  mammals 
C)  amphibians 
D)  reptiles

Question 5

Mammals were able to evolve to fill some ecological roles that had previously been filled by dinosaurs,when the extinction of dinosaurs brought an end to the ____________________ between these two groups of animals.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Mammals were able to evolve to fill...

Question 6

Mammals branched out to evolve many new species after the extinction of the ___________________.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Mammals branched out to evolve many new...

Question 7

The first single-celled prokaryotes evolved 3 billion years after the first eukaryotes.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 8

We know that whales evolved from the same evolutionary ancestor as hoofed animals like cows and hippopotamuses because ____________.

Accepted Answer

A)  whales, cows, and hippopotamuses have the same DNA sequence 
B)  whales, cows, and hippopotamuses all exhibit an anklebone with a unique shape 
C)  scientists have been able to induce whale embryos to develop into cows in the laboratory 
D)  remnants of horns are obvious on the skulls of whales

Question 9

Mass extinctions remove dominant groups of organisms and thus provide new ecological and evolutionary opportunities for groups of organisms that were previously of little importance.These organisms can then fill the now existing niches through the process of ___________.

Accepted Answer

A)  directed mutation 
B)  cloning 
C)  mitosis 
D)  adaptive radiation

Question 10

A gene that controls a battery of other genes that are responsible for the development of structures such as a limb during embryological development is called a(n)_____________.

Accepted Answer

A)  limbic gene 
B)  sex-linked gene 
C)  homeotic gene 
D)  epigenetic gene

Question 11

Evidence that the Cretaceous mass extinction was created by the impact of an asteroid is the existence,buried under sediments off the coast of Mexico,of a huge ____________________.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Evidence that the Cretaceous mass extinction was...

Question 12

About 220 million years ago,mammals evolved from ____________________.

Accepted Answer

The answer of About 220 million years ago,mammals evolved from...

Question 13

Closely related phyla are grouped together into a class.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 14

The Cambrian explosion resulted in the evolution of more than 17,000 species of an animal known as the trilobite.The shear number of trilobite fossils found in modern times suggests that trilobites were very abundant,perhaps the rulers of the seas.Today,no living descendants of this group exist.What happened?

Accepted Answer

A)  Because trilobites evolved before the first mass extinction, it is possible that one or more of the five mass extinctions could have eventually wiped out the entire group. 
B)  In order to disappear from the planet entirely, trilobites must have undergone the process of adaptive radiation. 
C)  It is unlikely that trilobites could have survived the increase in atmospheric oxygen once the process of photosynthesis had evolved. 
D)  Being so plentiful, trilobites must have been the major food source for terrestrial dinosaurs. The extinction of the trilobite may have caused the mass extinction of dinosaurs.

Question 15

Oxygen was one of the original gases abundant in Earth's atmosphere before the evolution of life.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 16

Scientific advances in the study of evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo)have demonstrated that another factor has had as much of an impact as specific alterations in the genes on the macroevolutionary changes in body plans that have been observed through time.This factor is _____________.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Scientific advances in the study of evolutionary...

Question 17

The preserved footprint of a Neanderthal is a fossil.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 18

A group of orders is called a(n)____________.

Accepted Answer

The answer of A group of orders is called a(n)____________....

Question 19

A node on an evolutionary tree represents ___________.

Accepted Answer

A)  the most immediate ancestor that all lineages share 
B)  the interrelationships of all individuals within a single species 
C)  the divergence of an ancestral group into two separate lineages 
D)  the genetic relationship between individuals of all species

Question 20

Which of the following does NOT lead to adaptive radiation?

Accepted Answer

A)  mass extinction 
B)  adaptations that allow an organism to use its environment in new ways 
C)  migration of a species into a new environment with a number of free ecological niches 
D)  a species living in a habitat to which it is well adapted

Exam 16: The Evolution of Biodiversity

Members of all of Earth's different species (past and present)have been (or will be)converted into some type of fossil after their death.

A mutation in a homeotic gene would NOT be likely to cause which of the following developmental changes in an organism?

Scientists can determine the approximate age of a fossil by using an unstable form of the element uranium,Uranium-235,which has a half-life of 700 million years.Such an unstable form of an element is called a ______________.

The first vertebrates to colonize land were ____________.

Mammals were able to evolve to fill some ecological roles that had previously been filled by dinosaurs,when the extinction of dinosaurs brought an end to the ____________________ between these two groups of animals.

Mammals branched out to evolve many new species after the extinction of the ___________________.

The first single-celled prokaryotes evolved 3 billion years after the first eukaryotes.

We know that whales evolved from the same evolutionary ancestor as hoofed animals like cows and hippopotamuses because ____________.

Mass extinctions remove dominant groups of organisms and thus provide new ecological and evolutionary opportunities for groups of organisms that were previously of little importance.These organisms can then fill the now existing niches through the process of ___________.

A gene that controls a battery of other genes that are responsible for the development of structures such as a limb during embryological development is called a(n) _____________.

Evidence that the Cretaceous mass extinction was created by the impact of an asteroid is the existence,buried under sediments off the coast of Mexico,of a huge ____________________.

About 220 million years ago,mammals evolved from ____________________.

Closely related phyla are grouped together into a class.

Oxygen was one of the original gases abundant in Earth's atmosphere before the evolution of life.

Scientific advances in the study of evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo)have demonstrated that another factor has had as much of an impact as specific alterations in the genes on the macroevolutionary changes in body plans that have been observed through time.This factor is _____________.

The preserved footprint of a Neanderthal is a fossil.

A group of orders is called a(n)____________.

A node on an evolutionary tree represents ___________.

Which of the following does NOT lead to adaptive radiation?