Which of the following is a characteristic of all chordates at some
point during their life cycle?
A) jaws
B) post-anal
tail
C) four-chambered heart
D) vertebrae
B
Why do adult urochordates (tunicates) lack notochords, even though
larval urochordates have them? Larvae use notochords to _____.
A)
aid in swimming; adults are sessile and thus no longer propel
themselves.
B) stiffen their bodies; in adults, the notochord is
replaced by a column of bone.
C) induce tissue differentiation;
in adults, tissue is already differentiated.
D) organize their
nervous systems; adults' nervous systems are fully developed and do
not change.
A
If a tunicate's pharyngeal gill slits were suddenly blocked, the
animal would have trouble _____.
A) respiring
B)
feeding
C) moving
D) respiring and feeding
D
Chordate pharyngeal slits appear to have functioned first as
_____.
A) the digestive system's opening
B)
suspension-feeding devices
C) components of the jaw
D) sites
of respiration
B
Which of the following statements would be LEAST acceptable to most
zoologists?
A) The first fossils resembling lancelets appeared in
the fossil record around 530 million years ago.
B) Recent work in
molecular systematics supports the hypothesis that lancelets are the
basal clade of chordates.
C) The extant lancelets are the
immediate ancestors of the fishes.
D) Lancelets display the same
method of swimming as do fishes.
C
Which extant chordates are postulated to be most like the earliest
chordates in appearance?
A) lancelets
B) adult
tunicates
C) amphibians
D) chondrichthyans
A
Vertebrates and tunicates share _____.
A) jaws adapted for
feeding
B) a high degree of cephalization
C) the formation
of structures from the neural crest
D) a notochord and a dorsal,
hollow nerve cord
D
All chordates studied to date, except tunicates, share a set of
_____.
A) 13 Hox genes
B) 5 Dlx genes
C) 9 Otx
genes
D) 7 FOXP2 genes
A
Which of the following characteristics is shared by a hagfish and a
lamprey?
A) a rasping tongue
B) paired fins
C)
jaws
D) a well-developed notochord
D
A new species of aquatic chordate is discovered that closely
resembles an ancient form. It has the following characteristics:
external armor of bony plates, no paired lateral fins, and a
suspension-feeding mode of nutrition. In addition to these, it will
probably have which of the following characteristics?
A)
legs
B) no jaws
C) an amniotic egg
D) endothermy
B
The earliest known mineralized structures in vertebrates are
associated with _____.
A) feeding
B) locomotion
C)
defense
D) respiration
A
A team of researchers has developed a poison that has proven
effective against lamprey larvae in freshwater cultures. The poison is
ingested and causes paralysis by detaching segmental muscles from the
skeletal elements. The team wants to test the poison's effectiveness
in streams feeding Lake Michigan, but one critic worries about
potential effects on lancelets, which are similar to lampreys in many
ways. Why is this concern misplaced?
A) Lamprey larvae and
lancelets have very different feeding mechanisms.
B) Lancelets do
not have segmental muscles.
C) Lancelets live only in saltwater
environments.
D) Lancelets and lamprey larvae eat different kinds
of food.
C
To reproduce, many plants produce seeds-structures containing
embryonic offspring along with nutrients inside a tough case. These
offspring develop after being released by the parent plant. To which
animal reproductive strategy is seed production most
comparable?
A) oviparous reproduction
B) ovoviviparous
reproduction
C) viviparous reproduction
A
Why do skates and rays have flattened bodies, while sharks are
torpedo shaped?
A) Sharks are more closely related to the
tubelike lampreys than skates and rays are.
B) Skates and rays
need enlarged pectoral fins to help them stay level in turbulent
water, while sharks do not.
C) Skates and rays exchange gases
across their skin and thus require a high surface-area-to- volume
ratio, while sharks use gills to respire.
D) Sharks are
streamlined for active swimming off the bottom, while skates move
about mostly on the ocean bed.
D
Which of these statements accurately describes a similarity between
sharks and ray-finned fishes?
A) They are equally able to
exchange gases with the environment while stationary.
B) They are
highly maneuverable due to their flexibility.
C) They have a
lateral line that is sensitive to vibrations.
D) A swim bladder
helps control buoyancy.
C
The presence of a swim bladder allows the typical ray-finned fish to
stop swimming and still _____.
A) effectively circulate its
blood
B) use its lateral line system
C) use its swim bladder
as a respiratory organ
D) not sink
D
Which shark structure is closest in function to a swim bladder full
of gas?
A) its lateral line system
B) its spiral
valve
C) its liver
D) its gills
B
If a ray-finned fish is to both hover (remain stationary) in the
water column and ventilate its gills effectively, then what other
structure besides its swim bladder will it use?
A) its pectoral
fins
B) its lateral line system
C) its caudal (tail)
fin
D) its opercula
D
How did the evolution of the jaw contribute to diversification of
early vertebrate lineages?
A) It allowed for smaller body
size.
B) It was the first stage in the development of a bony
skull.
C) It made additional food sources available.
D) It
increased the surface area for respiration and feeding.
C
It is believed that the coelacanths and lungfish represent a crucial
link between other fishes and tetrapods. What is the major feature in
these fish in support of this hypothesis?
A) Like amphibians,
they are tied to the water for reproduction.
B) Their fins have
skeletal and muscular structures similar to amphibian limbs.
C)
They have highly evolved nervous and circulatory systems.
D) They
have lungs and are able to breathe air when water is scarce.
B
Jaws first occurred in which extant group of fishes?
A)
lampreys
B) chondrichthyans
C) ray-finned fishes
D) placoderms
B
Which of these might have been observed in the common ancestor of
chondrichthyans and osteichthyans?
A) a mineralized, bony
skeleton
B) opercula
C) a spiral valve intestine
D) a
swim bladder
B
Arrange these groups in order from most inclusive (most general) to
least inclusive (most specific).
1. lobe-fins
2.
amphibians
3. gnathostomes
4. osteichthyans
5.
tetrapods
A) 4, 3, 1, 5, 2
B) 4, 3, 2, 5, 1
C) 3, 4, 1,
5, 2
D) 3, 4, 5, 1, 2
C
Suppose, while out camping in a forest, you found a chordate with a
long, slender, limbless body slithering across the ground near your
tent. This critter could be _____.
A) a lampreys
B) a
mammal
C) an amphibian
D) a skate
C
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-meter-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?
A) presence of moist, highly vascularized
skin
B) presence of lungs
C) presence of a nerve
cord
D) presence of a digestive system with two openings
B
The organism was found to have two lungs, but the left lung was much
smaller than the right lung. Kelly added that the herpetology
instructor had said that in most snakes, the same condition exists. If
the size difference between the lungs in this organism is not a shared
ancestral characteristic with its occurrence in snakes, then its
existence in this organism is explained as which of the
following?
1. a result of convergent evolution
2. an example
of homologous structures
3. a similar adaptation to a shared
lifestyle or body plan
4. a result of having identical Hox
genes
A) 1 only
B) 1 and 3
C) 2 and 3
D) 3 and 4
B
Which of the following could be considered the most recent common
ancestor of living tetrapods?
A) a sturdy-finned, shallow-water
lobe-fin whose appendages had skeletal supports similar to those of
terrestrial vertebrates
B) an armored, jawed placoderm with two
pairs of appendages
C) an early ray-finned fish that developed
bony skeletal supports in its paired fins
D) a salamander that
had legs supported by a bony skeleton but moved with the side-to-side
bending typical of fishes
A
A trend first observed in the evolution of the earliest tetrapods was
_____.
A) the appearance of jaws
B) feet with digits
C)
the mineralization of the endoskeleton
D) the amniotic egg
B
Fossils of the earliest tetrapods should _____.
A) show evidence
of internal fertilization
B) show evidence of having produced
shelled eggs
C) indicate limited adaptation to life on
land
D) feature the earliest indications of the appearance of jaws
C
Terry catches a ray-finned fish from the ocean and notices that
attached to its flank is an equally long, snakelike organism. The
attached organism has no external segmentation, no scales, a round
mouth surrounded by a sucker, and two small eyes. Terry thinks it
might be a marine leech, a hagfish, or a lamprey.
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 _____.
A) skin
B) teeth
C)
bones
D) cartilage
A
What is believed to be the most significant result of the evolution
of the amniotic egg?
A) Tetrapods were no longer tied to the
water for reproduction.
B) Tetrapods can now function with just
lungs.
C) Newborns are much less dependent on their
parents.
D) Embryos are protected from predators.
A
Which structure of the amniotic egg most closely surrounds the
embryo?
A) the chorion
B) the yolk sac
C) the
allantois
D) the amnion
D
The evolution of similar insulating skin coverings such as fur, hair,
and feathers in mammals and birds is a result of _____.
A) shared
ancestry
B) convergent evolution
C) homology
D)
evolutionary divergence
B
Which of the following characteristics evolved independently in
mammals and birds?
A) amniotic eggs
B) jaws
C)
bone
D) endothermy
D
Suppose you traveled back in time and located the first animals to
have evolved feathers. You found that these animals were tree-dwelling
ectotherms, able to run quickly but unable to fly. You also noticed
that only males had feathers. Which hypothesis of feather evolution
would these data most support? Feathers initially evolved in a role
associated with _____.
A) flight
B) insulation
C)
sexual selection
D) gliding
C
Mammals and birds eat more often than reptiles. Which of the
following traits shared by mammals and birds best explains this
habit?
A) endothermy
B) ectothermy
C) amniotic
egg
D) terrestrial
A
Which characteristic is common to all the modern representatives of
all major reptilian lineages (turtles, lepidosaurs, crocodilians, and
birds)?
A) presence of teeth
B) presence of four walking
limbs
C) ectothermy
D) presence of a notochord
D
Which of these are amniotes?
A) amphibians
B)
fishes
C) turtles
D) lungfish
C
Due to its system of air sacs connected to the lungs, the respiratory
system of birds is arguably the most effective respiratory system of
all air-breathers. Upon inhalation, air first flows into posterior air
sacs, then into the lungs, and then into anterior air sacs on the way
to being exhaled. Thus, there is one-way flow of air through the
lungs, along thousands of tubules called parabronchi.
If the
inner lining of the air sacs is neither thin nor highly vascularized,
then what can be inferred about the air sacs?
A) They must not
belong to the respiratory system.
B) They cannot be derived from
endoderm.
C) They are not efficient sites of gas exchange between
air and blood.
D) They cannot effectively moisturize the air
before it reaches the lungs.
C
The one-way flow of air along parabronchi makes what type of gas
exchange mechanism possible, at least theoretically?
A) the same
as that occurring in fish gills
B) the same as that occurring in
insect tracheae
C) the same as that occurring in mammalian
lungs
D) the same as that occurring in echinoderm skin gills
A
Which of these characteristics added most to vertebrate success in
relatively dry environments?
A) the shelled, amniotic egg
B)
the ability to maintain a constant body temperature
C) two pairs
of appendages
D) a four-chambered heart
A
Which of the following are the only extant animals that descended
directly from dinosaurs?
A) lizards
B) crocodiles
C)
birds
D) tuataras
C
During chordate evolution, what is the sequence (from earliest to
most recent) in which the following structures arose?
1. amniotic
egg
2. paired fins
3. jaws
4. swim bladder
5.
four-chambered heart
A) 2, 3, 4, 1, 5
B) 3, 2, 4, 5,
1
C) 3, 2, 1, 4, 5
D) 2, 1, 5, 3, 4
A
Which clade does NOT include humans?
A) lobe-fins
B)
diapsids
C) craniates
D) osteichthyans
B
Primate evolution and behavior, such as hunting skills, have been
directed in part by the development of depth perception. What
anatomical change made depth perception possible?
A) a larger
brain
B) the formation of compound eyes
C) movement of the
eyes to the front of the head
D) diurnal activity
C
What group of mammals have (a) embryos that spend more time feeding
through the placenta than the mother's nipples, (b) young that feed on
milk, and (c) a prolonged period of maternal care after leaving the
placenta?
A) Eutheria
B) Marsupiala
C) Monotremata
A
Which of the following represents the strongest evidence that two of
the three middle ear bones of mammals are homologous to certain
reptilian jawbones?
A) They are similar in size to the reptilian
jawbones.
B) They are similar in shape to the reptilian
jawbones.
C) The mammalian jaw has fewer bones than does the
reptilian jaw.
D) These bones can be observed to move from the
evolving jaw to the evolving middle ear in mammalian embryos.
D
Which of the following is the most inclusive (most general) group in
which all of the members have fully opposable thumbs?
A)
apes
B) Homo
C) anthropoids
D) primates
C
Which of these would a paleontologist most likely do to determine if
a fossil represents a reptile or a mammal?
A) Look for the
presence of milk-producing glands.
B) Look for the mammalian
characteristics of a four-chambered heart and a diaphragm.
C) Use
molecular analysis to look for the protein keratin.
D) Examine
the teeth.
D
Female birds lay their eggs, thereby facilitating flight by reducing
weight. Which "strategy" seems most likely for female bats
to use to achieve the same goal?
A) limit litters to a single
embryo
B) refrain from flying throughout pregnancy (about six
weeks long)
C) give birth to underdeveloped young, and
subsequently carry them in a pouch that has teats
D) feed
multiple embryos internally using placentas
A
Unlike eutherians, both monotremes and marsupials _____.
A) lack
nipples
B) have some embryonic development outside the
uterus
C) lay eggs
D) are found in Australia and Africa
B
On the back of your skull you can feel a small bump, below which is
an opening where the spinal cord enters the skull. The location of
this opening toward the bottom of the skull is significant in
evolutionary biology for what reason?
A) It allowed for the
hominin brain to grow much larger than other primates.
B) It
provided greater protection for the spinal cord.
C) It occurred
as a result of the change to a bipedal stance.
D) This change was
necessary for the increase in size from prosimian forms to anthropoid forms.
C
Brown et al. and Morwood et al. reported in 2004 that they had found
skeletal remains of a previously unknown type of hominin, now dubbed
Homo floresiensis, on the Indonesian island of Flores. These hominins
were small (approximately 1 meter tall) with small braincases
(approximately 380 cubic centimeters) as compared with other hominins.
The remains of H. floresiensis were found alongside handmade stone
tools and the remains of dwarf elephants that also inhabited the
island, suggesting that H. floresiensis was able both to make tools
and to coordinate the hunting of animals much larger than itself. H.
floresiensis is estimated to have lived at the site where the remains
were found from at least 38,000 years ago to 18,000 years
ago.
Refer to the paragraph on Brown et al. and Morwood et al.
Which would be the most feasible method of figuring out to which other
hominin species H. floresiensis was most closely related?
A)
Compare the type of prey hunted by H. floresiensis to that hunted by
each of the other hominin species.
B) Compare the average body
size of H. floresiensis to that of each of the other hominin
species.
C) Compare the skeletal morphology of H. floresiensis to
that of each of the other hominin species.
D) Compare the
estimated life span of H. floresiensis to that of each of the other
hominin species.
C
In what respect do hominins differ from all other
anthropoids?
A) lack of a tail
B) eyes on the front of the
face
C) bipedal posture
D) opposable thumbs
C
The table above is a comparison of several characteristics of H.
floresiensis to those of nine other hominin species (arranged roughly
from oldest to most recent). What do these data suggest?
A) A
large brain is not necessarily required for toolmaking.
B) Body
mass and braincase volume are completely unrelated.
C) Hominins
first evolved in and then radiated out from Asia.
D) Homo
floresiensis is most closely related to Australopithecus afarensis or
A. africanus.
A
Refer to the paragraph on Brown et al. and Morwood et al. It is
speculated that H. floresiensis and H. sapiens may have lived on
Flores concurrently. Suppose researchers obtained mitochondrial DNA
samples from the H. floresiensis remains, amplified a 1000-base-pair
sequence via PCR, and compared it to that of several currently living
H. sapiens native to Indonesia, North Africa, and North America. Also
suppose H. floresiensis were found to differ from the average
Indonesian H. sapiens in 28 base pairs, from the average North African
H. sapiens in 51 base pairs, and from the average North American H.
sapiens in 53 base pairs, while two randomly selected H. sapiens
differed from each other in an average of 21 base pairs. What would
you surmise from these data?
A) H. floresiensis and H. sapiens
probably did not live on Flores concurrently.
B) H. floresiensis
and H. sapiens probably lived on Flores concurrently but did not
interact.
C) H. floresiensis and H. sapiens probably lived on
Flores concurrently, and H. sapiens killed and consumed H.
floresiensis.
D) H. floresiensis and H. sapiens probably lived on
Flores concurrently and interbred to some degree.
D
Arrange the following taxonomic terms in order from most inclusive
(most general) to least inclusive (most specific).
1.
apes
2. hominins
3. Homo
4 anthropoids
5.
primates
A) 5, 1, 4, 2, 3
B) 5, 4, 1, 2, 3
C) 5, 4, 2,
1, 3
D) 5, 2, 1, 4, 3
B
Which of these traits is most strongly associated with the adoption
of bipedalism?
A) enhanced depth perception
B) shortened
hind limbs
C) opposable big toe
D) repositioning of foramen magnum
D
Which of the following statements about human evolution is
correct?
A) Modern humans are the only human species to have
evolved on Earth.
B) Human ancestors were virtually identical to
extant chimpanzees.
C) Human evolution has occurred within an
unbranched lineage.
D) The upright posture and enlarged brain of
humans evolved separately.
D
With which of the following statements would a biologist be most
inclined to agree?
A) Humans and other apes represent divergent
lines of evolution from a common ancestor.
B) Humans represent
the pinnacle of evolution and have escaped from being affected by
natural selection.
C) Humans evolved from chimpanzees.
D)
Humans and other apes are the result of disruptive selection in a
species of chimpanzee.
A