Chapter 25
Chapter 25
Evolution:
How did life emerge on the ancient Earth?
1. Current scientific debates about evolution concern everything below EXCEPT
a. the rate of the evolutionary process.
b.mechanisms that propel evolutionary change.
c. whether or not evolution exists.
d.evidence for the process of evolution.
e. scientific debates include all of the above.
Ans: c
Link To: The Fact of Evolution
Difficulty Level: Easy
2.The ratio of extinct species to living species on Earth is about
a.1:2
b.2:1
c. 100:1
d.1:100
e. 1,000:1
Ans: e
Link To: The Fact of Evolution
Difficulty Level: Easy
3.Which of the following gases were in Earth’s early atmosphere?
a. water vapor, ammonia, hydrogen, nitrogen
b.water vapor, ammonia, methane and hydrogen
c. water vapor, oxygen, methane and nitrogen
d.nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapor
e. carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, nitrogen
Ans: b
Link To: Chemical Evolution
Difficulty Level: Easy
4.Which of the following is found in a fossil record?
a. documented changes in a species
b.all fossils found, catalogued, and analyzed since the early sixteenth century
c. 10,000 unique phyla
d.more reptiles than insects
e. all of the above
Ans: a
Link To: The Fact of Evolution
Difficulty Level: Easy
5.What piece of evidence do scientists now compare to prove humans and chimpanzees are close relatives?
a. physical features
b.behavior
c. DNA strands
d.food preferences
e. the cell protein cytochrome C
Ans: e
Link To: The Fact of Evolution
Difficulty Level: Easy
6.The “primordial soup” of the Miller-Urey experiments contained
a. a dark brown liquid.
b.lipids.
c. amino acids.
d. fossil fuel
e. a & b & c
Ans: e
Link To: Chemical Evolution
Difficulty Level: Easy
7.What was the negative role that sunlight had in the evolution of early life on earth?
a. caused melanomas on reptile skin
b. created broad regions of deserts
c. led to greenhouse-type atmospheres
d.broke the organic molecule bonds
e.dried up the primordial pools
Ans: d
Link To: Chemical Evolution
Difficulty Level: Easy
8.The window of opportunity, during which life in the form of the first cell could have begun, was how long ago?
a. 3.5 to 4 billion years ago
b.3.5 to 4 million years ago
c. 200,000 to 100,000 years ago
d.65 million years ago
e. 1 million years ago
Ans: a
Link To: Chemical Evolution
Difficulty Level: Easy
9.According to research groups in several disciplines, where did the first organic molecules form?
a. in the early ocean's primordial soup
b.near fissures on mid-ocean ridges
c. on the surface of other planets
d.in protected tidal pools
e. all of the above
Ans: e
Link To: Chemical Evolution
Difficulty Level: Easy
10. What may have been the function of RNA molecules in the earliest life forms?
a. to facilitate the Y-chromosome in reproduction
b.to allow respiration of early organisms to be anaerobic or aerobic
c. to act as enzymes in protein synthesis
d.to recycle products of elimination
e. all of the above
Ans: c
Link To: Chemical Evolution
Difficulty Level: Easy
11. What is Darwin’s “measure of success” in Origin of the Species?
a. struggle for survival
b.ability to reproduce fertile offspring
c. spiritual superiority
d.economic affluence
e. natural evolution
Ans: b
Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life
Difficulty Level: Easy
12. The Cambrian explosion indicates
a. the asteroid strike during the Cambrian period.
b.a nuclear testing in Cambria, England.
c. a decrease in fossil evidence of primitive life.
d.an increase in fossil evidence of primitive life.
e. that life evolved from tidal pools.
Ans: d
Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life
Difficulty Level: Easy
13. Planetary research in recent years has shown that
a. Mars's northern hemisphere was under an ocean for a billion years.
b. like Earth, Mars has gone through multiple mass extinctions.
c. by being beyond the asteroid belt, Mars was never pelted with meteorites.
d.Martian canals really were constructed by paleoengineers.
e. strange tectonic pressures on Mars are projecting meteors toward Earth.
Ans: a
Link To: Chemical Evolution
Difficulty Level: Easy
14. The first cell on Earth was remarkable because it
a. was quite frugal in using chemical resources.
b.developed effective defense mechanisms.
c. probably contained the same essential amino acids of cells today.
d.required tenacity to seek out the organic molecules it needed to survive and replicate.
e. all of the above
Ans: c
Link To: Chemical Evolution
Difficulty Level: Easy
15. Evidence for evolution can be found in the
a. human liver.
b.size of horse fossils.
c. geochemistry of vertebrates.
d.eye socket of whales.
e. tailbone of a cave bat
Ans: b
Link To: The Fact of Evolution
Difficulty Level: Easy
16. What might a creationist believe?
a. God created life in its modern form.
b.Fossils are evidence of the broad range of the Noah's flood.
c. The Earth is approximately 1,000,000 years old.
d.a & b
e. b & c
Ans: d
Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life
Difficulty Level: Easy
17. What was a consequence of the great bombardment?
a. Earth's oceans boiled away.
b. A global ice age began.
c. The big bang reversed itself.
d. Teaching evolution was outlawed in some states.
e. Pieces of Venus were ejected toward Earth.
Ans: a
Link To: Chemical Evolution
Difficulty Level: Easy
18. The greatest gap in scientists’ knowledge about the evolution of life is from 8 million and 4.5 million years ago. What brackets this period?
a. the one-celled organisms and the shelled organisms
b.the great apes and the first hominids
c. two of the greatest mass extinctions
d.Homo neanderthalensis and Homo erectus
e. primordial soup and the first DNA
Ans: b
Link To: The Evolution of Human Beings
Difficulty Level: Easy
19. What is the most likely cause of the mass extinction that occurred 65 million years ago?
a. The Earth's rotation direction reversed when the north and south magnetic poles reversed.
b.A giant asteroid hit the Earth.
c. Mountain building episodes and other tectonic forces blocked animal migration during times of climate change.
d.Forest fires caused a deficit in global oxygen.
e. An increase in the luminosity of the Sun boiled away the oceans.
Ans: b
Link To: The Evolution of Human Beings
Difficulty Level: Easy
20. Which of the following is a member of the hominid family?
a. Homo sapiens
b.Homo neanderthalensis
c. Australopithecus ramidus
d.Homo erectus
e. All are members of the hominid family.
Ans: e
Link To: The Evolution of Human Beings
Difficulty Level: Easy
21. What is the significance of ALH84001?
a. a rare fossil unearthed after an Appalachian landslide
b.a paleolithic hominid found in Alabama in 1984
c. an Antarctic meteorite with Martian atmosphere
d.an unusual aluminum-hydrogen compound in a meteorite
e. an alien life form predicted by George Orwell
Ans: c
Link To: Chemical Evolution
Difficulty Level: Easy
22. The fossil record for the horse shows an evolutionary transition from small, quick mammals to large, grazing mammals.
Ans: True
Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life
Difficulty Level: Easy
23. Astrobiology is a new field of research that NASA initiated in response to evidence of primitive life on Mars.
Ans: True
Link To: Chemical Evolution
Difficulty Level: Easy
24. Carbon-rich molecules are rare in meteorites found on Earth.
Ans: False
Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life
Difficulty Level: Easy
25. Virtually all contemporary scientists accept evolution as true.
Ans: True
Link To: The Fact of Evolution
Difficulty Level: Easy
26. Evidence of a DNA-RNA protein system has been found in the earliest cells on Earth.
Ans: False
Link To: Chemical Evolution
Difficulty Level: Easy
27. Farmers understood natural selection concepts before Charles Darwin ever sailed to the Galapagos Islands.
Ans: True
Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life
Difficulty Level: Easy
28. Artificial selection preceded natural selection.
Ans: False
Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life
Difficulty Level: Easy
29. Darwin’s Origin of the Species is important because it presents a single theory that unifies all of biology.
Ans: True
Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life
Difficulty Level: Easy
30. New DNA evidence points to the idea that Homo neanderthalensis females produced fertile offspring with Homo sapiens warriors.
Ans: False
Link To: The Evolution of Human Beings
Difficulty Level: Easy
31. The Miller-Urey experiments showed that lightning was a factor in the creation of the first living cells on Earth.
Ans: True
Link To: Chemical Evolution
Difficulty Level: Easy
32. Most mutations are not beneficial to the organism.
Ans: True
Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life
Difficulty Level: Easy
33. Adaptation of a species is determined by the traits the parents teach their offspring.
Ans: False
Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life
Difficulty Level: Easy
34. The earliest hominids cooked dinosaur steaks on an open fire.
Ans: False
Link To: The Evolution of Human Beings
Difficulty Level: Easy
35. Evidence for evolution and natural selection comes from the existence of organs such as the brain.
Ans: True
Link To: The Evolution of Human Beings
Difficulty Level: Easy
36. Scientists now believe that walking on all fours gave early primates the balance and stamina they needed to migrate to better habitat.
Ans: False
Link To: The Evolution of Human Beings
Difficulty Level: Easy
37. The Kansas State Board of Education voted to eliminate all questions on evolution and the big bang from standardized tests taken by high school students in Kansas.
Ans: True
Link To: The Evolution of Human Beings
Difficulty Level: Easy
38. What are the stages necessary to create a fossil?
Ans: The remains of some animals may be so quickly buried in sediments when they die that their bodies are protected from decomposition. Over a very long period of time the sediment around the organism is turned into rock. Next, minerals in the water flowing through the rock replace the calcium in the buried hard parts of the organism. The result is a fossil.
Link To: The Fact of Evolution
Difficulty Level: Easy
39. Name at least four vestigial organs.
Ans: Answers can include four from this list in the book: cave worm eye sockets, human tailbones and tail muscles, penguin wings, human appendix, and whale legs.
Link To: The Fact of Evolution
Difficulty Level: Easy
40. Which accurately describes black smokers?
a. rare organisms existing on the mouth of active volcanoes
b.an entire ecosystem that obtains energy from the Earth's internal heat rather than the Sun
c. giant tube worms growing along the mid Atlantic Ocean ridges
d.water samples that have different physical and chemicalproperties
e. volcanic islands that may have one time been an Atlantic Ring of Fire
Ans: b
Link To: The Fact of Evolution
Difficulty Level: Medium
41. The speckled pepper moth in nineteenth century England added credibility to Darwin’s theories because
a. the moth became the primary food for finches.
b.the moth changed size in response to global warming.
c. the moth became extinct.
d.the moth changed color from light to dark.
e. the moth adapted to the black smokers.
Ans: d
Link To: Chemical Evolution
Difficulty Level: Medium
42. What is associated with the Cenozoic era?
a. human species evolved
b.dinosaurs were extinct
c. man landed on the moon
d.all of the above
e. none of the above
Ans: d.
Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life
Difficulty Level: Medium
43. Evidence for a mass extinction can be found in
a. marine animals in the fossil record.
b.Luis and Walter Alverez's research site in Italy.
c. carbon-based molecules in Australian rocks
d.evidence of a meteorite near the Yucatan Peninsula.
e. all of the above
Ans: e
Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life
Difficulty Level: Medium
44. The Miller-Urey experiment and similar ones that followed have answered the question of how the first organic molecules formed a cell.
Ans: False
Link To: Chemical Evolution
Difficulty Level: Medium
45. Natural selection would be impossible without genetic diversity.
Ans: True
Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life
Difficulty Level: Medium
46. Define chemical evolution and name the first experiment todemonstrate this process.
Ans: Chemical evolution is an area of research concerned with the process by which simple chemical compounds present in Earth’s early atmosphere became an organized, reproducing cell. The Miller-Urey experiment at the University of Chicago was the first to model this process.
Link To: Chemical Evolution
Difficulty Level: Medium
47. List one significant fact or feature for Ardipithicus ramidus,Australopithecus, Homo habilus, Homo erectus, and Homo sapiens.
Ans: Answers can include several details, but the most significant are: 1) Ardipithicus ramidus is the oldest hominid living 4.5 million years ago. 2) Australopithecus - aka "Lucy" - walked erect but had a small brain. 3) Homo habilus was the first member of genus Homo and wascharacterized by a larger brain and use of stone tools. 4) Homo erectus was the first to use fire. 5) Homo sapiens is our own species and is recognized in fossils as old as 200,000 years.
Link To: The Evolution of Human Beings
Difficulty Level: Medium
48. What do fossils tell us? Why is what they tell us important?
Ans: Studies of fossils have shown at least three things. First, the older the rock in which the fossil is found, the more different the fossil will be from modern species. Second, there is a long-term trend toward increasing diversity: the more complex life forms have evolved only recently. Finally, 99.9% of the species that have lived on Earth have become extinct. These clues may lead us to understand more about Earth’s history.
Link To: The Fact of Evolution
Difficulty Level: Medium
49. What does the extinction of the dinosaurs have to do with evolution?
Ans: When the dinosaurs died out they made room for other species that could fill the empty niches.
Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life
Difficulty Level: Medium
50. Why is evolution the subject of research in several different fields of study?
Ans: Evolution impacts different fields because change occurs in organisms, thereby changing the field of study.
Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life
Difficulty Level: Medium
51. What is a vestigial organ? And why is it important?
Ans: A vestigial organ is an internal bodily feature that serves no useful purpose at the present time and is evidence for evolution.
Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life
Difficulty Level: Hard
52. Explain the difference between adaptation and natural selection.
Ans: The difference is mainly one of scale and time. Adaptation is a structure, process or behavior that helps an organism survive and pass its genes on to the next generation. Natural selection is nature’s mechanism for introducing changes in living things over long periods by
modifying the gene pool of the species.
Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life
Difficulty Level: Hard
53. Contrast the natural rate of extinction with mass extinctions.
Ans: The normal rate of extinction is such that 10 to 20% of the species on Earth at any given time will be extinct in 5 or 6 million years. A mass extinction is caused by a catastrophic event that causes 30 to 90% of the species on Earth to become extinct in a much shorter time: a few days to a few tens of thousands of years.
Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life
Difficulty Level: Hard
54. Define the difference between punctuated equilibrium and the gradualism hypotheses. Why do scientists need to consider both hypotheses?
Ans: These terms represent the two extremes in ideas about the rate of evolution. Punctuated equilibrium is change in short bursts, separated by long periods of stability. The gradualism hypothesis states that change in organisms is a result of accumulation of small adaptations. Both theories may be true.
Link To: The Evolution of Human Beings
Difficulty Level: Hard
55. What is the scientific basis for stating that the chimpanzee is “our closest relative?" Why is this important?
Ans: Scientists have compared in many organisms the amino acids in the protein cytochrome C, which is a molecule needed for metabolism in all living cells. While the human protein has little in common with organisms like yeast and reptiles, human cytochrome C is identical to chimpanzee cytochrome C. The discovery of cytochrome C is the link between apes and hominids.
Link To: The Evolution of Human Beings
Difficulty Level: Hard
56. Calculate how long it would take for the first cell to completelyfill the global ocean waters. Assume that the volume of the combinedglobal oceans is 1,250 million km3 and that it takes one day for a cell toproduce two daughter cells, each with volume 10-9 cubic centimeters.Also assume no death or competition existing in this environment;
therefore, all cells survive.
Ans: Each day each cell doubles, therefore the oceans will be half full the day before they are filled.
Link To: The Fact of Evolution
Difficulty Level: Hard
57. Imagine that your ancestors were organisms living 250 million yearsago in what is now Siberia. What were the environmental conditions andhow did your "family" survive?
Ans: Siberia was a warm area at that time. The family needed food, water, shelter and space. Answers will vary as to how the family went about taking care of these critical elements for survival.
Link To: The Evolution of Human Beings
Difficulty Level: Hard
58. Make a strong argument for the teaching of creationism in the publicschools in the year 2004. How would this argument change if you weremaking it in the year 1804? What would be the core of your curriculum?
Ans: Answers will vary and should include establishing a curriculum that instills moral/citizenship values along with information about the practice of science.