Download 2. What can be learned from the fossil record?

STUDY GUIDE: The History of Life & Classification
Textbook: pg 417 – 456
Name: ______________________
1. Define:
a. paleontologist: __________________________________________________________________________
b. fossil record: ___________________________________________________________________________
c. extinct: ________________________________________________________________________________
d. relative dating: __________________________________________________________________________
e. index fossil: _____________________________________________________________________________
f. radioactive dating: _______________________________________________________________________
g. half-life: ________________________________________________________________________________
2. What can be learned from the fossil record? ____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Why is the fossil record an incomplete history of life? _______________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
4. To be useful as an index fossil, a species must have existed for a
a. long period over a wide geographic range.
c. short period over a wide geographic range.
b. long period over a small geographic range.
d. short period over a small geographic range.
5. In relative dating, the age of a fossil is determined by its
a. radioactive isotopes.
b. half-life.
c. geographic range.
d. position in rock layers.
6. Explain the principle behind radioactive dating. ____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
7. The half-life of protactinium-226 is 2 minutes. If you started with 20 grams of Pa-226, how much do you have after 8
minutes? Explain.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
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8. Define:
a. geologic time scale: ___________________________________________ _________________________
b. era: __________________________________________________________________________________
c. period: _______________________________________________________________________________
9. Fill in the missing eras and periods in the geologic time scale below:
10. According to the geologic time scale, we are currently living in the Quaternary ___________________.
11. Why are the divisions of geologic time NOT standard lengths, such as 100 million years?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
12. As the Paleozoic Era closed, a(an) ___________________ occurred, which is the dying out of many types of
living things at one time.
13. During what era did marine life become diverse? ____________________________
14. Which geologic era is known as the Age of Mammals? When did this era begin?
____________________________________________________________________________________________
15. What significant mammalian adaptations led to their success during the Cenozoic Era?
____________________________________________________________________________________________
16. Briefly describe one important event that occurred during each of the following geologic times:
a. Precambrian Era: ______________________________________________________________________
b. Paleozoic Era: _________________________________________________________________________
i.Devonian Period: _________________________________________________________________
ii. Permian Period: _________________________________________________________________
c. Mesozoic Era: _________________________________________________________________________
d. Cenozoic Era: _________________________________________________________________________
17. The endosymbiotic theory provides an explanation for the origin of ___________________.
18. Which of the following conditions did not exist on early Earth?
a. volcanic activity
c. an atmosphere of poisonous gases
b. bombardment by comets and asteroids
d. an atmosphere containing oxygen gas
19. What organisms were the first living things on Earth? _____________________
20. Circle the letter of each sentence that is true about the earliest life forms on Earth.
a. They resembled modern bacteria.
c. They relied on oxygen.
b. They were eukaryotes.
d. They were not preserved as fossils.
21. Define macroevolution: _______________________________________________________________________
22. Patterns of macroevolution include
a. extinction. b. adaptive radiation. c. convergent evolution.
d. all of the above
23. Explain the process of adaptive radiation. Give an example: __________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
24. ____________________ is one type of evolution in which unrelated organisms come to resemble one another.
25. Sharks,
dolphins, and penguins all have streamlined bodies and appendages that enable them to move through
water. These similarities are the result of
a. coevolution.
b. convergent evolution.
c. asexual reproduction.
26. Use an example to explain the concept of coevolution: ______________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
27. What is punctuated equilibrium? ________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
28. How might hox genes contribute to variation? ____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
29. The science that specializes in the classification of organisms is
a. anatomy
b. taxonomy c. botany
d. paleontology
30. A group or level of organization in taxonomy is called a taxonomic category, or ________________.
31. According to the system of binomial nomenclature, how should the scientific name of a species be written?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
32. Which part of the name Homo erectus identifies the genus? ______________
33. List in order from smallest to largest the seven categories in Linnaeus’s system of classification.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
34. Give an example of an animal that has one scientific name but two or more common names. Name the common
names.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
35. Is the following sentence true or false? Genera placed within a family should be less closely related to one
another than to members of any other family. _________
36. Circle the letter of each sentence that is true about cladistic analysis.
a. It considers only traits that are evolutionary innovations.
b. It considers all traits that can be measured.
c. It considers only similarities in body structure.
d. It is a method of evolutionary classification.
37. Define:
a. cladogram: __________________________________________________________________________
b. derived character: _____________________________________________________________________
c. cladistic analysis: ______________________________________________________________________
38. What type of characteristic is considered in a cladistic analysis? _________________________________________
39. Define molecular clocks: __________________________________________________________________________
40. How are DNA mutations used in molecular clocks?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
41. What does the presence of similar genes in very dissimilar organisms imply?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
SELECTED REVIEW QUESTIONS:
42.
43. Derived characters appear in
a. recent parts of a lineage but not its older members.
b. common ancestors of a group of species but not the species themselves.
c. organisms that have undergone convergent evolution.
d. index fossils but not other fossils.
44. A group of genera that share many characteristics is called a(an) _________________ .
45. How do scientists know that American vultures are more closely related to storks than to African vultures?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
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46. R, S and T are three species of birds. Species S and T show similar coloration. The enzymes found in species R and T
show similarities. Species R and T also exhibit many of the same behavioral patterns.
•
Show the relationship between species R, S and T by placing the letter representing each
species at the top of the appropriate branch on the diagram to the left.
47. Use the diagrams below to answer the questions that follow:
a) Which two species would most likely show the greatest similarity of
DNA and proteins?
(1) B and J
(2) G and I
(3) J and K
(4) F and L
b) Which species was best adapted to changes that occurred in its
environment over the longest period of time?
(1) A
(2) B
(3) C
(4) J