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 Earths 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 1

Chapter 25 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

Chapter 25 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 Darwins measure of success in Origin of the Species? a. struggle for survival

Chapter 25 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

Chapter 25 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

Chapter 25 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

Chapter 25

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

Chapter 25 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. Darwins 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

Chapter 25

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.

Chapter 25 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 chemical properties 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 Darwins 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.

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Chapter 25

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

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Chapter 25

46. Define chemical evolution and name the first experiment to demonstrate this process. Ans: Chemical evolution is an area of research concerned with the process by which simple chemical compounds present in Earths 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 was characterized 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 Earths 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

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Chapter 25

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 natures 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?

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Chapter 25 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 completely fill the global ocean waters. Assume that the volume of the combined global oceans is 1,250 million km3 and that it takes one day for a cell to produce 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 years ago in what is now Siberia. What were the environmental conditions and how 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

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58. Make a strong argument for the teaching of creationism in the public schools in the year 2004. How would this argument change if you were making 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. Link To: The Evolution of Human Beings Difficulty Level: Hard

59. Describe several different types of evidence that scientists use to demonstrate the extreme antiquity of the Earth. Which method now provides the most reliable absolute age estimate? Ans: Answers will vary but should include radioactive decay dating of rocks, analysis of fossil anatomy, dating of rock layers using index fossils, and so forth. Radioactive decay is the most reliable of these methods. Link To: Chemical Evolution Difficulty Level: Hard

60. What evidence do we have that all life began with a single cell? What evidence refutes this idea? As a scientist, how would you set up a research project to gather additional evidence on the origin of life? Ans: The first cell had to develop during a well-defined window of opportunity. One side of the window is fixed by the time of the last big impact, the other by the appearance of fossils. Our present best estimates are that this window extended roughly from 4.0 to 3.5 billion years ago, and the origin of life may well have occurred early in that interval The research project should be based on the scientific method. Link To: Chemical Evolution Difficulty Level: Hard

61. Explain the process of evolution. Ans: Evolutionary are based on genetics and the survival of the fittest. Link To: The Fact of Evolution Difficulty Level: Hard

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62. Why is there still such public outcry about teaching evolution in schools? Ans: Answers will vary, but lack of understanding and confusion of science and faith are the basis of much of this. Link To: The Evolution of Human Beings Difficulty Level: Hard

63. Could getting a good tan keep us from evolving? Ans: Although the sun breaks bonds in organic molecules and does contribute to skin cancer, which could kill you prior to reproduction, this would have to occur on a large scale to consider it a threat to evolution of the species. Link To: Chemical Evolution Difficulty Level: Hard

64. If we began the process of evolution all over again, is there any guarantee that it would take the same path? Ans: Answers will vary and could range from negative responses based on genetic paring to affirmative answers based on the molecules for life being present to make life as we know it. Link To: The Fact of Evolution, Chemical Evolution, Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life Difficulty Level: Hard

65. Pollution concerns post-industrial revolution have had the effect of cleaning up the environment with a result of the ash trees now having white bark, again. What has been the effect on the pepper moth and why is this important to us? Ans: The pepper moths have now evolved back to white with small black dots supporting Darwins theory of evolution. Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life Difficulty Level: Hard

66. According to Darwins measure of success, is a mule (cross between a donkey and a horse) a success?

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Chapter 25 Ans: Answers will vary, males can reproduce, females cannot. Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life Difficulty Level: Hard

67. Why should we do research about life on Mars? Ans: Answers will vary. Mars history could mirror ours, may be different from ours; the processes of life could be the same or different. Link To: Chemical Evolution Difficulty Level: Hard

68. What has selective breeding to do with evolution? Justify your answer. Ans: Answers will vary but should include that the stock may get stronger, more resistant stock, but its very difficult to breed back becoming more fit and therefore will survive. However the bad qualities that would let them survive without support, if these have been bred out, will then doom the strain. Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life Difficulty Level: Hard 69. Can education change genetic traits of offspring? Explain. Ans: Not directly, but if parents take better care of themselves, it is reasonable to assume that they will instill these habits in their offspring. This is still not genetic change. Link To: The Evolution of Human Beings Difficulty Level: Hard 70. Why is a fossil of an animal part such as skin an important find? Ans: More often than not the soft parts are not fossilized, therefore we dont have the information we need for a more complete picture of the organism. Link To: Natural Selection and the Development of Complex Life Difficulty Level: Hard

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