Chapter 19 A Slow Unfolding: The History of Life on Earth
Biology: A Guide to the Natural World, 5e (Krogh)
1) Which large animals were wiped out by the Cretaceous extinction?
A) sharks
B) dinosaurs
C) whales
D) mammoths
Answer: B
Topic: Section 19.1
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
2) The greatest extinction event of all time occurred at the end of the:
A) Permian period.
B) Mesozoic era.
C) Cretaceous period.
D) Cambrian period.
Answer: A
Topic: Section 19.1
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
3) If a 10-mile-wide comet hit Earth, how would this likely affect the history of life?
A) A mass extinction would occur, followed by lots of evolutionary change among descendants of the survivors.
B) A slow climate warming and drying would begin, decreasing the biological diversity on Earth.
C) Continental drift would be reversed, and all the continents would slowly be pushed together again.
D) Most species would become extinct, and the rest would remain more or less unchanged.
Answer: A
Topic: Section 19.1
Skill: Application/Analysis
4) Sections of the geologic timescale are defined by:
A) how close the rocks are to the surface of the earth.
B) whether the rocks are metamorphic or sedimentary.
C) the age of the rocks.
D) the kinds of fossils present.
Answer: D
Topic: Section 19.1
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
5) The end of the ________ era was marked by a transition into an explosion of life-forms rather than an extinction event.
A) Precambrian
B) Mesozoic
C) Paleozoic
D) Jurassic
Answer: A
Topic: Section 19.1
Skill: Application/Analysis
Refer to the scenario below, and then answer the following question(s).
You are the managing naturalist for a natural history museum that has just received a batch of fossils from one of the field paleontologists sponsored by the museum. The note in the box states the fossils all came from the same rock layer. The museum is organized according to geologic timescale, and its management needs you to tell them to which department (based on era) and period specialist (an individual with experience with life-forms of a particular geologic-timescale period) the fossils should go. You find fossils of fish and seed-bearing plants but no reptiles or higher animals and no flowering plants.
6) To which era do these fossils belong?
A) Precambrian
B) Paleozoic
C) Mesozoic
D) Cenozoic
Answer: B
Topic: Section 19.1
Skill: Synthesis/Evaluation
7) To which period specialist should you forward the fossils?
A) Devonian
B) Carboniferous
C) Permian
D) Triassic
Answer: A
Topic: Section 19.1
Skill: Synthesis/Evaluation
8) Some rock strata associated with coal seams in Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania can be shown to have the same mixture of pollen grain types. This suggests that these rocks are/were:
A) the same age.
B) equally radioactive.
C) deposited from a common source material.
D) the same type of rock.
Answer: A
Topic: Section 19.1
Skill: Application/Analysis
9) During which of these eras were dinosaurs dominant?
A) Paleozoic
B) Precambrian
C) Mesozoic
D) Cenozoic
Answer: C
Topic: Section 19.1
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
10) What is the significance of finding evidence that zirconium/uranium rocks formed in water 4.2 million years ago?
A) Zirconium can be used for dating old rock samples.
B) The Earth coalesced from gas earlier than originally thought.
C) The Earth cooled earlier than originally thought.
D) Radiation played a role in the origin of life.
Answer: C
Topic: Section 19.2
Skill: Application/Analysis
11) Experiments with enzymes made of RNA support which origin-of-life model?
A) Miller model
B) replicator-first model
C) metabolism-first model
D) DNA world model
Answer: B
Topic: Section 19.2
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
12) What argument do scientists who support the metabolism-first model use to dispute the replicator-first model?
A) The replicator nucleic acid molecule would be too large and complex.
B) DNA cannot replicate without the help of proteins.
C) RNA can only be used to make proteins, not other nucleic acids.
D) Replicators cannot exist without metabolism.
Answer: A
Topic: Section 19.2
Skill: Application/Analysis
13) Which of these gases was absent in the early Earth atmosphere at the time life first appeared?
A) nitrogen
B) water vapor
C) carbon dioxide
D) oxygen
Answer: D
Topic: Section 19.2
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
14) To be a successful cell evolutionarily, the earliest cells had to:
A) reproduce.
B) consume oxygen.
C) photosynthesize.
D) have mitochondria.
Answer: A
Topic: Section 19.2
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
15) You discover a single-celled organism that does not have a nucleus, and you also notice that the culture is producing methane. In which group would you place this organism?
A) Domain Bacteria
B) Domain Archaea
C) Domain Eukarya
D) Kingdom Protista
Answer: B
Topic: Section 19.3
Skill: Application/Analysis
16) A major difference between cells of organisms in Domain Eukarya and the cells of those in Domains Bacteria and Archaea is that:
A) Domain Eukarya organisms can only live in acid environments.
B) Domain Bacteria and Archaea cells can only live in acid environments.
C) Domain Bacteria and Archaea cells have a nucleus and Domain Eukarya cells do not.
D) cells of Domain Eukarya have a nucleus and Domains Bacteria and Archaea do not.
Answer: D
Topic: Section 19.3
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
17) Organisms from which kingdom or domain were the first photosynthesizers?
A) Protista
B) Plantae
C) Bacteria
D) Archaea
Answer: C
Topic: Section 19.4
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
18) Before the development of photosynthesis and as ancient cells became crowded, there was probably a major competition for:
A) enzymes.
B) water.
C) organic molecules.
D) oxygen gas.
Answer: C
Topic: Section 19.4
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
19) Which of the following statements best describes the history of life on Earth?
A) The Earth was lifeless far longer than it had living things.
B) The Earth had multicellular life-forms for most of its history.
C) The Earth had single-celled life-forms for most of its history.
D) The Earth had photosynthetic organisms about 100 million years after it formed.
Answer: C
Topic: Section 19.4
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
20) A major event in the Precambrian era responsible for dramatically increasing organic material on Earth was:
A) evolution of mitochondria.
B) evolution of photosynthesis.
C) deposition of carbon in rocks.
D) leaching of sulfur into the oceans.
Answer: B
Topic: Section 19.4
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
21) A eukaryotic cell organelle is found to have its own DNA and to make some of its own ribosomes. It also can make some protein without the help of DNA in the cell's nucleus. Propose an explanation for the origin of this organelle.
A) intracellular evolution from latent bacterial DNA
B) symbiotic merger of two bacteria cells; one becoming the nucleus, the other becoming the organelle
C) symbiotic merger of bacteria into a eukaryotic cell with the bacterial cell becoming the organelle
D) viral transmission of DNA from a bacterium to a eukaryotic cell
Answer: C
Topic: Section 19.4
Skill: Synthesis/Evaluation
22) An organelle that probably evolved from an independent organism that moved inside and began to live within a eukaryotic cell is the:
A) mitochondrion.
B) nucleus.
C) Golgi apparatus.
D) endoplasmic reticulum.
Answer: A
Topic: Section 19.4
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
23) Of the following groups, which have been in existence the longest?
A) multicellular animals
B) cyanobacteria
C) gastropods
D) green algae
Answer: B
Topic: Section 19.4
Skill: Application/Analysis
24) The evolution of which of the following biochemical processes changed the physical and chemical nature of Earth in such a way that most life-forms had to adapt radically or become extinct?
A) aerobic respiration
B) DNA replication
C) anaerobic respiration
D) photosynthesis
Answer: D
Topic: Section 19.4
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
25) The Cambrian explosion of life is most notable for the:
A) appearance of multicellular animals, including nearly all phyla of the animal kingdom.
B) movement of life from the oceans to the land masses, including all kingdoms.
C) appearance of stromatolites.
D) appearance of the first photosynthetic organisms.
Answer: A
Topic: Section 19.5
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
26) The evolution of land organisms was not possible until enough ________ had been made by the early forms of aquatic life.
A) oxygen gas
B) carbon dioxide
C) ammonia
D) organic food
Answer: A
Topic: Section 19.5
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
27) Which of the following is the most likely candidate for the first eukaryotic life-forms to move onto land?
A) amphibians in shallow water
B) algae in shallow water
C) fungi
D) trilobites
Answer: B
Topic: Section 19.6
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
28) Because there would not have been any significant soil before significant establishment of life-forms on land, the earliest eukaryotic life-forms on land most likely were:
A) animals.
B) fungi.
C) plant—fungi combinations.
D) plant—animal combinations.
Answer: C
Topic: Section 19.6
Skill: Application/Analysis
29) Some of the earliest true land plants lacked roots or a vascular system. The implication of this would be that they:
A) lived mostly underground.
B) lived in protected areas such as caves.
C) had high mortality.
D) could not grow tall.
Answer: D
Topic: Section 19.6
Skill: Application/Analysis
30) An example of a "seedless vascular plant" is a:
A) club moss.
B) pine tree.
C) gymnosperm.
D) green alga.
Answer: A
Topic: Section 19.6
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
31) Which of the following is an adaptation that helped plants move from aquatic environments to the land?
A) seeds
B) a cuticle
C) pollen
D) swimming sperm
Answer: B
Topic: Section 19.6
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
32) An advantage allowing the seed plant to greatly surpass the seedless vascular plants in colonizing the land was the evolution of:
A) large leaves with great surface area.
B) fibrous root systems.
C) air-dispersed sperm in pollen grains.
D) durable, water-resistant spores.
Answer: C
Topic: Section 19.6
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
33) One advantage of angiosperms over gymnosperms is that angiosperms have evolved:
A) more efficient means of pollination.
B) more water-resistant leaves.
C) stronger vascular tissue.
D) better protection from plant pathogens such as fungi.
Answer: A
Topic: Section 19.6
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
34) During the Silurian, the oxygen gas concentration in the atmosphere is postulated to have reached an amount equivalent to more than 10 percent of its present-day concentration. Thus, nearly all lethal ultraviolet radiation was unable to reach the Earth's surface, making dry land available for newly evolved forms. Which of the following major events in the evolution of animals and plants probably occurred at this time?
A) The amphibians developed watertight skins and eggs.
B) The crayfish become the first land organisms.
C) The first major groups of seed plants appeared.
D) Primitive bryophytes and fern-like plants appeared.
Answer: D
Topic: Section 19.6
Skill: Application/Analysis
35) Which of the following is a correct sequence of events in the history of life on Earth?
A) aquatic organisms, photosynthesis, RNA world, land organisms
B) prokaryotes, eukaryotes, land animals, land plants
C) Cambrian explosion, multicellular organisms, photosynthesis, eukaryotes
D) prokaryotes, photosynthesis, eukaryotes, land organisms
Answer: D
Topic: Section 19.7
Skill: Application/Analysis
36) Some of the earliest animals to successfully adapt to life on land were the:
A) trilobites.
B) arthropods.
C) amphibians.
D) aquatic vertebrates.
Answer: B
Topic: Section 19.7
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
37) Which of the following is assumed to be more primitive than a dinosaur and more complex than a shark?
A) segmented worm
B) crayfish
C) starfish
D) frog
Answer: D
Topic: Section 19.7
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
38) An adaptation of arthropods that made them well adapted for life on land was an exoskeleton that can:
A) provide camouflage.
B) prevent water loss.
C) overcome the effects of gravity.
D) protect against predators.
Answer: B
Topic: Section 19.7
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
39) Which group of vertebrates possessed an anatomical feature that made evolution of the limbs of all tetrapods possible?
A) reptiles
B) sharks
C) amphibians
D) lobe-finned fish
Answer: D
Topic: Section 19.7
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
40) Early mammals differed from reptiles in many respects, including:
A) the number of legs used for walking.
B) feeding their young milk.
C) eating other organisms for food.
D) internal versus external fertilization.
Answer: B
Topic: Section 19.7
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
41) Which aquatic vertebrates are thought to be the ancestors of the amphibians?
A) skates and rays
B) tadpoles
C) lobe-finned fish
D) sharks
Answer: C
Topic: Section 19.7
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
42) Modern birds are probably direct descendants of:
A) marsupials.
B) iguanas.
C) dinosaurs.
D) crocodiles.
Answer: C
Topic: Section 19.7
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
43) The amniotic egg was important in the colonization of the land because it:
A) was deposited in water.
B) could hold multiple embryos.
C) had a hard shell and membranes to prevent drying out.
D) was easy to produce.
Answer: C
Topic: Section 19.7
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
44) The gnathostomes were the first vertebrates to:
A) develop gills.
B) possess jaws.
C) develop scales.
D) develop feathers.
Answer: B
Topic: Section 19.7
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
45) Primates first appear in the fossil record in the:
A) Mesozoic era.
B) Cambrian period.
C) Paleozoic era.
D) Cenozoic era.
Answer: D
Topic: Section 19.7
Skill: Application/Analysis
46) The amniotic egg first appeared in which group of animals?
A) amphibians
B) reptiles
C) birds
D) mammals
Answer: B
Topic: Section 19.7
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
47) The first vertebrates to develop jaws were the:
A) fish.
B) amphibians.
C) mammals.
D) reptiles.
Answer: A
Topic: Section 19.7
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
48) Which of the following would support a hypothesis that insects preceded amphibians on land and were flourishing when the first amphibians evolved?
A) Amphibians and insects both have lungs in their terrestrial stage.
B) Amphibians and insects have many adaptations in common.
C) Amphibians and insects share a recent common ancestor.
D) Many amphibians are insectivores in their terrestrial stage.
Answer: D
Topic: Section 19.7
Skill: Synthesis/Evaluation
49) Mammals arose as a dominant life-form after which event?
A) the start of the Quaternary period
B) the Cretaceous extinction
C) the Devonian extinction
D) the Cambrian explosion
Answer: B
Topic: Section 19.7
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
50) An important characteristic common to most primates is:
A) large, front-facing eyes.
B) short or absent tails.
C) grassland habitats.
D) the use of tools.
Answer: A
Topic: Section 19.7
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
51) Which group of animals is the most recent to evolve?
A) invertebrates
B) amphibians
C) reptiles
D) mammals
Answer: D
Topic: Section 19.7
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
52) The earliest evidence of life on Earth dates to about 3.8 billion years ago.
Answer: TRUE
Topic: Section 19.1
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
53) The metabolism-first model suggests that a self-replicating RNA molecule was responsible for driving the evolution of the first forms of life.
Answer: FALSE
Topic: Section 19.2
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
54) Laboratory experiments suggest that many of the kinds of organic molecules needed to form the first forms of life could have been made nonbiologically in Earth's early history.
Answer: TRUE
Topic: Section 19.2
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
55) Some of the more advanced organisms in Domains Bacteria and Archaea have a nucleus.
Answer: FALSE
Topic: Section 19.3
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
56) Photosynthesis was first performed by bacteria about 3.4 billion years ago.
Answer: TRUE
Topic: Section 19.4
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
57) The Cambrian explosion followed extinction of the dinosaurs.
Answer: FALSE
Topic: Section 19.5
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
58) Vascular tissue is important for both efficient water distribution and taller growth in plants.
Answer: TRUE
Topic: Section 19.6
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
59) Both gymnosperms and angiosperms may be pollinated by animals.
Answer: FALSE
Topic: Section 19.6
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
60) Lobe-finned fish gave rise to tetrapods that successfully moved onto land.
Answer: TRUE
Topic: Section 19.7
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
Match the following.
A) first primates, whales, and early humans
B) first birds and flowering plants
C) first reptiles and gymnosperms
D) first significant oxygen in the atmosphere
E) modern humans; extinction of large mammals
61) Precambrian
Topic: Section 19.2
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
62) Carboniferous
Topic: Section 19.2
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
63) Jurassic
Topic: Section 19.2
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
64) Tertiary
Topic: Section 19.2
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
65) Quaternary
Topic: Section 19.2
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
Answers: 61) D 62) C 63) B 64) A 65) E
Match the following.
A) gram-positive prokaryotes
B) methane-producing prokaryotes
C) invertebrates
D) yeast
E) diatoms
66) Domain Bacteria
Topic: Section 19.2
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
67) Domain Archaea
Topic: Section 19.2
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
68) Kingdom Protista
Topic: Section 19.2
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
69) Kingdom Animalia
Topic: Section 19.2
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
70) Kingdom Fungi
Topic: Section 19.2
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
Answers: 66) A 67) B 68) E 69) C 70) D
71) The first single-celled organisms appeared around 3.5 ________ years ago.
Answer: billion
Topic: Section 19.1
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
72) The first dinosaurs appeared during the ________ period.
Answer: Triassic
Topic: Section 19.1
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
73) Life first evolved in and the earliest forms of life lived in ________.
Answer: water
Topic: Section 19.2
Skill: Application/Analysis
74) Discuss why many scientists consider RNA to have been the basis for early forms of life.
Answer: RNA can make exact copies of itself, and it has been shown to sometimes act as an enzyme for biochemical reactions. The ability to reproduce and the ability to enzymatically catalyze reactions are important characteristics of cells.
Topic: Section 19.2
Skill: Application/Analysis
75) The eukaryotic kingdom ________ has the greatest fundamental diversity, including some species that are animal-like, plant-like, and fungus-like, as well as some algae.
Answer: Protista
Topic: Section 19.3
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
76) Compare and contrast the life-forms found in Domains Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya.
Answer: Domains Bacteria and Archaea represent simple, single-celled organisms without a nucleus or complex organelles that are found in eukaryotic cells. The eukaryotes are not only more complex cells with a nucleus but also represent the groups that evolved multicellularity in Kingdoms Plantae, Fungi, and Animalia.
Topic: Section 19.3
Skill: Application/Analysis
77) The oxygen present in Earth's atmosphere has been produced as a waste product of the process of ________.
Answer: photosynthesis
Topic: Section 19.4
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
78) Angiosperms are unique among plants because they produce ________.
Answer: flowers
Topic: Section 19.6
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
79) What adaptations did ancient algae have to achieve as they washed ashore and evolved into the more advanced land plants we see today?
Answer: Algae achieved these adaptations: anchorage with roots; cuticle to prevent drying out; vascular tissue to move water long distances; producing gametes within structures so that they didn't dry out; development of pollen, eliminating the need for sperm to swim through free-standing water to reach the egg.
Topic: Section 19.6
Skill: Application/Analysis
80) Defend the following statement: Vascular tissue was, arguably, the most important evolutionary step, making possible the kinds of plant life we see today.
Answer: Vascular tissue did more than just increase efficiency in transporting material around a plant. The transporting tubes are bundled together to provide support and allow plants to grow taller as well as wider.
Topic: Section 19.6
Skill: Application/Analysis
81) The first land vertebrates were the ________.
Answer: amphibians
Topic: Section 19.7
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
82) The early primates were specialized for life in the ________.
Answer: trees
Topic: Section 19.7
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
83) List three characteristics of all non-ape primates, and state an advantage for each of these characteristics.
Answer: All have an opposable thumb that can grasp, both eyes facing forward for good depth perception, and tree-dwelling existence for protection from predators.
Topic: Section 19.7
Skill: Application/Analysis
84) Propose reasons why major extinction events (or explosions of life-forms) are good dividing lines for the geologic timescale. Support your answer.
Answer: It is sensible to have eras and periods grouped with similar life-forms as found in the fossil record. Using extinction events as a border makes this easy. For example, after the Cretaceous extinction, one would find no dinosaur fossils but would start to see other life-forms such as mammals heavily represented. Similarly, one would see angiosperms in the fossil record after but not before the Triassic extinction. Thus, such events make good dividing lines for the geologic strata and the fossil record found therein.
Topic: Section 19.2
Skill: Synthesis/Evaluation