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Extinctions Mid-Term Exam Questions (Final W: Answers)

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Extinctions Mid-Term Exam Questions (Final W: Answers) NJU Extinctions: Past, Present & Future Spring Semester, 2021 Mid-Term Examination True-False Questions Identify the following statements as being either true (T) or false (F). 1. Extinction is the local disappearance or removal of all members of a biological species from a F particular area or region. 2. The three evolutionary faunas defined by Sepkoski (1981) are the Cambrian, Paleozoic and T Modern faunas. 3. Estimates for the percent species-level extinction intensities characteristic of the “Big Five” F mass extinction events all exceed 85 percent. 4. In order to test general extinction-cause hypotheses using paleontological data multiple T comparisons among well documented extinction events are required. 5. The first fossil widely recognized by scientists as representing an extinct species was a F dinosaur. 6. Charles Darwin in England, and Georges Cuvier in France, agreed that the process F extinction occurred much more rapidly than the process of speciation. 7. David Raup and Jack Sepkoski distinguished between “background” and “mass” extinction F events on the basis of a species-level compilation of biostratigraphic data. 8. The establishment of national parks as refuges for biodiversity was pioneered in the US. T 9. Evolution is the change in the inherited characteristics of individuals through successive T generations. 10. The term “fossil” referred originally to anything that was dug up out of the ground. T 11. The term periodization refers to the practice of defining sequential blocks of time via T reference to major changes or transitions in the character of cultural, technological and/or biotic systems. 12. Species (or higher taxonomic groups) that have been declared extinct, but living individuals F of which have been rediscovered subsequently, are referred to a “Elvis” species or “Elvis” taxa. 13. The Hadean interval of earth history came to an end the final time the Earth cooled T sufficiently to allow formation of a solid crust. 14. The Precambrian Eon constitutes approximately 50 percent of Earth history. F 15. The first living creatures to appear on Earth were single eukaryote cells. F 16. Bolide impacts were probably more common during the Precambrian than the Phanerozoic, T but the lack of direct evidence for this assumption is attributed to the rarity of well-preserved Precambrian sediments and ocean floor. 17. The Mesozoic is the Phanerozoic Era with the longest duration. F 18. The three large, island continents of the early Paleozoic were Laurentia, Baltica and Serbia. F 19. Graptolites are part of the Cambrian Evolutionary Fauna. T 20. The first living organisms to have invaded the land from the oceans, rivers and/or streams F were eurypterid arthropods. 2 21. A monphyletic group is a single evolutionary lineage that includes all species to have evolved T from an ancestral species and the ancestral species itself. 22. Sea level stood very low throughout the Silurian Period. F 23. During the Devonian Period the first true forests and deep soils became established on land. T 24. The Siljan bolide impact took place during the Devonian Period of earth history. T Matching Match the items in following lists. 25. Extinction nomenclature - match the species category with an appropriate example. a. Extinct species i. Xylococcus bicolor (Mission Manzanita) ii. b. Extripated Species ii. Tyrannosaurus rex (non-avian dinosaur) iv. c. Ghost Species iii. Lipotes vexillifer (Yangtze River Dolphin) iii. d. Lazarus Species iv. Ursus arctos (Brown Bear) v. e. Zombie Species v. Latimeria chalumnae (Coelocanth) i. 26. Evolutionary Faunas - match the taxonomic group with the appropriate Evolutionary Fauna. a. Monoplacophora i. Cambrian Evolutionary Fauna i. b. Gastropoda ii. Paleozoic Evolutionary Fauna iii. c. Trilobita iii. Modern Evolutionary Fauna i. d. Cephalopoda ii. e. Articulata ii. 27. Mass extinctions - match the mass extinction with its correct rank order of magnitude from largest (1) to smallest (5). a. End-Devonian i. 1 iv. b. End-Permian ii. 2 i. c. End-Triassic iii. 3 iii. d. End-Ordovician iv. 4 ii. e. End-Cretaceous v. 5 v. 3 28. Aristotle’s Chain of Being - order the following groups according to Aristotle’s “Chain of Being” series from simplest (1) to most complex (= most conscious) (5). a. Fish i. 1 ii. b. Minerals ii. 2 i. c. Reptiles iii. 3 iv. d. Birds iv. 4 v. e. Trees v. 5 ii. 29. Fossil Preservation Types - Identify the follow fossils according to their preservation type. a. i. Body fossil ii. b. ii. Mold fossil ii. c. iii. Cast fossil i d. iv. Trace Fossil iii. e. iii./iv. a. b. c. d. e 4 30. Types of stratigraphy - match the following types of stratigraphy with the data that defined their units. a. Biostratigraphy i. Stratified rock type ii. b. Chronostratigraphy ii. Fossil content iii. c. Lithostratigraphy iii. Time of origination i. d. Chemostratigraphy iv. Absolute age determination v. e. Geochronology v. Isotopic abundance iv. 31. Cell types - match the organism with the description of its cell type. a. Bacteria i. Prokaryote i. b. Spriggina ii. Eukaryote iii. c. Archaea iii. Metazoan (= multicellular eukaryote) i. d. Blue-Green Algae i. e. Stromatolite i. 32. Grades & Clades - match the designated group with its correct phylogenetic identifier. a. i. Monopyletic group i. b. ii. Polyphyletic group iii. c. iii. Paraphyletic group ii. d. ii. e. iii. a. b. c. d. e. 5 33. Extinction Model - Fill in the correct boxes for the end-Devonian extinction flow chart from the selections provided. a. i. Global warming i. b. ii. Glaciation - c. iii. Sea-level regession iii. d. iv. Drawdown of atmospheric CO2* ii. e. v. Sea-Level Transgression v. * This should have read Drawdown of atmospheric O2. Since the typo was mine everyone was given credit. for this question. 6 Multiple-Choice Questions Select the correct answer from the alternatives provided. Note: more than one alternative may be correct. Be sure you select all alternative answers that are correct. 34. According to the latest IUCN summary (2020) the percentage of described species known to be extinct, or suspected to be extinct in the wild, is which of the following. a. 0.02% b. 2.0% c. 5.0% d. 10.0% e. 25.0% 35. In the early 1980s David Raup developed a simulation-based model for transcending the limits of paleontological taxonomic databases so species-level extinction intensities could be estimated. The name of this model was which of the following? a. Bullets Over Broadway b. Field of Gold c. Waiting for Godot d. Field of Bullets e. The Quick & the Dead 36. Over the course of the Phanerozoic stage-level extinction-intensity data exhibit a/an __________ trend. a. increasing b. steady state c. decreasing d. irregular e. random 37. Identify which of the following mechanisms can result in sea-level changes greater than hundreds of meters. a. Global warming b. Continent-continent tectonic collision c. Continental glaciation d. Isostatic loading/release e. Increase in the rate of sea-floor spreading 38. Identify the environmental effect(s) that is/are not common to both bolide impact and LIP volcanism extinction mechanisms. a. Global darkness b. Global warming due to release of greenhouse gases c. Thermal flash d. Acid rain e. Increased albedo 39. Identify the mechanism(s) by which extinction can act to promote biodiversity. a. Increase in the level of extinction resistance of survivor species b. Alteration of selective regimes c. Evolutionary-ecological stacking d. Reduction of incumbency advantage e. None of the above 7 40. Identify the first scientist who convincingly demonstrated that biological species could go extinct. a. Leonardo da Vinci b. Georges Cuvier c. Thomas Jefferson d. William Hunter e. Charles Wilson Peale 41. Identify the researcher(s) who did not believe that species could be driven to extinction quickly by catastrophic environmental changes from the following list. a. Georges Cuvier b. Charles Darwin c. Otto Schindewolf d. George Gaylord Simpson e. Norman Newell 42. Identify which of the following statements are consistent with Van Valen’s new evolutionary law (= the Red Queen Hypothesis). a. Extinction resistance increases with longevity b. Rapid generation time give species an inherent advantage in surviving extinction events c. Adaptations acquired by other, competing species can reduce the fitness of species in their local environment d. Major body-plan shifts exhibit no association with instances of co-evolutionary changes e. Mechanisms that promote genetic recombination offer no advantage to species in terms of surviving extinction events 43. Extinction periodicity has been questioned on which of the following grounds? a. Lack of strict conformance between extinction peaks and a 26 m.y. periodic signal b. The availability of alternative (non-periodic) mechanisms that might induce an apparently periodic signal in taxic-richness data c. Lack of a known astronomical mechanisms that can account for species extinctions specifically d. Statistical significance of the periodicity data-analysis result e. None of the above 44. From the following list identify any charitable organization or society that is not dedicated to the conservation of species as one of its primary goals. a. Sierra Club b. World Wildlife Fund c. National Audubon Society d. Paleontological Society e. None of the above 45. Identify the country that has been most active in establishing national parks. a. United Kingdom b. Europe c. United States d. China e. Russia 46. Identify the advantages inherent in the 1989 Chinese Protection of Wildlife Law. a. Acknowledges that all Chinese wildlife in owned by the people of China through the Chinese state b. Explicitly extends protection to species “at or near” extinction c. Allows regional administrators to draw up their own lists of protected wildlife d. Spreads administration across multiple local, regional and national ministries e. None of the above 8 47.
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