If the half-life of carbon-14 is about 5,730 years, then a fossil that has one-sixteenth the normal proportion of carbon-14 to carbon-12 should be about how many years old?
A) 1,400
B) 2,800
C) 11,200
D) 16,800
E) 22,900
Answer: E
Which measurement(s) would help determine absolute dates by radiometric means?
A) the accumulation of the daughter isotope
B) the loss of parent isotopes
C) the loss of daughter isotopes
D) Three of the responses above are correct.
E) Two of the responses above are correct.
Answer: E
What is true of the fossil record of mammalian origins?
A) It is a good example of punctuated equilibrium.
B) It shows that mammals and birds evolved from the same kind of dinosaur.
C) It includes transitional forms with progressively specialized teeth.
D) It indicates that mammals and dinosaurs did not overlap in geologic time.
E) It includes a series that shows the gradual change of scales into fur.
Answer: C
If a fossil is encased in a stratum of sedimentary rock without any strata of igneous rock (for example, lava, volcanic ash) nearby, then it should be
A) easy to determine the absolute age of the fossil, because the radioisotopes in the sediments will not have been "reset" by the heat of the igneous rocks. B) easy to determine the absolute age of the fossil, because the igneous rocks will not have physically obstructed the deposition of sediment of a single age next to the fossil.
C) easy to determine, as long as there is enough metamorphic rock nearby.
D) difficult to determine the absolute age of the fossil, because the "marker fossils" common to igneous rock will be absent.
E) difficult to determine the absolute age of the fossil, because radiometric dating of sedimentary rock is less accurate than that of igneous rock.
Answer: E
The first terrestrial organisms probably were considered which of the following?
1. burrowers
2. photosynthetic
3. multicellular
4. prokaryotes
5. eukaryotes
6. plants and their associated fungi
A) 2 and 4
B) 3 and 5
C) 1, 3, and 5
D) 2, 3, and 6
E) 2, 3, 5, and 6
Answer: A
The evolution of mammals from early tetrapods
A) is well documented by a series of transitional fossils.
B) involves specialization in teeth.
C) involves changes in the temporal fenestra of the skull.
D) is an example of macroevolution.
E) All of the above statements are true.
Answer: D
If two continents converge and are united, then the collision should cause
A) a net loss of intertidal zone and coastal habitat.
B) the extinction of any species adapted to intertidal and coastal habitats.
C) an overall decrease in the surface area located in the continental interior.
D) a decrease in climatic extremes in the interior of the new supercontinent.
E) the maintenance of the previously existing ocean currents and wind patterns.
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The major evolutionary episode corresponding most closely in time with the formation of Pangaea was the
A) Cambrian explosion.
B) Permian extinctions.
C) Pleistocene ice ages.
D) Cretaceous extinctions.
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An organism has a relatively large number of Hox genes in its genome. Which of the following is true of this organism?
A) These genes are fundamental, and are expressed in all cells of the organism.
B) The organism must have multiple paired appendages along the length of its body.
C) The organism has the genetic potential to have a relatively complex anatomy.
D) Most of its Hox genes owe their existence to gene fusion events.
E) Its Hox genes cooperate to bring about sexual maturity at the proper stage of development.
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Bagworm moth caterpillars feed on evergreens and carry a silken case or bag around with them in which they eventually pupate. Adult female bagworm moths are larval in appearance; they lack the wings and other structures of the adult male and instead retain the appearance of a caterpillar even though they are sexually mature and can lay eggs within the bag. This is a good example of
A) allometric growth.
B) paedomorphosis.
C) sympatric speciation.
D) adaptive radiation.
E) changes in homeotic genes.
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The loss of ventral spines by modern freshwater sticklebacks is due to natural selection operating on the phenotypic effects of Pitx1 gene
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