BIOL 471-001 Name:____________________________________

Lawrey

FINAL EXAMINATION (100 points)

(28) Indicate whether each of the following statements is true (T) or false (F):

1. T F Evidence for mass extinctions is observed in the fossil record every 26 million years from the Cambrian to the present.

2. T F The oldest fossil cells are known from rocks dated at approximately 3.5 billion years old.

3. T F The first plants and animals are found in the fossil record in the Ordovician.

4. T F The Ediacaran fauna were completely different from the Cambrian fauna, indicating that all modern animal phyla originated at some time during the Cambrian.

5. T F Fossils of the first seed plants and reptiles are found in the Carboniferous.

6. T F Oxygenic photosynthesis evolved after nonoxygenic photosynthesis.

7. T F Since they have a separate complement of DNA and a distinct membrane, plastids, mitochondria, undulipodia and nuclei probably all originated by endosymbiosis.

8. T F Sediments from the end of the Cretaceous period contain unusually high concentrations of iridium, an element not found on planet Earth.

9. T F Pangea existed from the beginning of the Cambrian until about the end of the Permian, when it began to break up into continents.

10. T F The Burgess Shale fossils suggest that there were more phylum-level groups of multicellular organisms in the Cambrian than there are today.

11. T F Mammals evolved after the extinction at the end of the Cretaceous that eliminated all of the dinosaurs.

12. T F Present-day primates include nocturnal, insectivorous marsupials such as aye-ayes and lemurs that still live in Africa.

13. T F The family Hominidae is characterized by upright posture and bipedalism.

14. T F According to the "multiregional continuity" theory, modern Homo sapiens originated in Asia and Europe before they appeared in Africa.


(18) Multiple choice. Circle only one of the choices available:

15. Which of the following extinct hominid species is found in the oldest part of the fossil record:

  1. Australopithecus afarensis
  2. Australopithecus robustus
  3. Australopithecus africanus
  4. Australopithecus boisei
  5. 16. Which of the following events occurred most recently according to the fossil record:

  6. origin of hominids
  7. origin of flowering plants
  8. origin of birds
  9. origin of mammals
  10. 17. Which of the following is not known to disappear at the end of the Cretaceous:

  11. Dinosaurs
  12. Pterosaurs
  13. Nautiloids
  14. Ammonites
  15. 18. Of the following, which is not seen until after the beginning of the Cretaceous:

  16. Mammals
  17. Archaeopterix
  18. Flowering plants
  19. Dinosaurs
  20. 19. Of the following, which period is characterized by strictly aquatic life:

  21. Devonian
  22. Silurian
  23. Ordovician
  24. Permian
  25. 20. Of the following, which is not an anthropoid represented in the Miocene:

  26. Ramapithecus
  27. Proconsul
  28. Dryopithecus
  29. Australopithecus

 

21.(20) Give approximate dates (in years before present) for each of the following events as indicated by the fossil record:

  1. first cells
  2. first mammals
  3. first primates
  4. first modern humans
  5. first seed plants
  6. first eukaryotes
  7. first chordates
  8. first birds
  9. first flowering plants
  10. first land plants

 

22.(8) Briefly distinguish between the following pairs of alternatives, making clear how the difference is evolutionarily significant:

a. archaebacteria vs eubacteria

 

b. synapsids vs diapsids

 

 c. Platyrrhines vs Catarrhines

 

d. Ardipithecus vs Australopithecus

 
 

23.(16) Briefly define the following terms:

a. "archaic" Homo sapiens

 

 

b. Coacervates

 

 

 
c. Piltdown Man

 

 
 

d. Chemical evolution

 

 

 

24. (10) Arrange the following events in chronological order and give an approximate time (in years before present) for each:

  1. origin of nonoxygenic photosynthesis
  2. first eukaryotes
  3. first cells
  4. origin of aerobic respiration
  5. origin of oxygenic photosynthesis