REMEMBER YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS ABOUT ISLAND BIOGEOGRAPHY UNTIL AFTER THE 12/1 LECTURE Answers to Practice questions week 14 and 15 (Answers are in BOLD): 1) The above is the generally accepted phylogeny of apes and hominids. Which of the following statements is a true statement about this tree? A Hominids are the outgroup to the apes. B Gibbons are the outgroup to the apes. C The group apes is paraphyletic. D Gibbons and orangutans are less evolved than gorillas, chimpanzees, and hominids. E It would be easy to climb. 2) Which of the following traits would you expect to find only in a primate? A Flat nails B Claws C Multiple types of teeth
D Specialized appendages made of keratin. E Extensive parental care with months of lactation. 3) Your brother has just returned from a trip to Africa where he saw many animals. His field guide was especially interested in a mammal with binocular vision. He can t remember what species it was though. As a conscientious Bio 200 student you A know the animal is a primate. B know the animal is a predator. C know the animal is nocturnal. D know the animal is social. E aren t sure what the animal is. 4) Why do you think primates have to have such extended periods of parental care AFTER they also have extended internal gestation? In other words, why don t baby primates become independent as quickly as the baby wildebeest in the Life of Mammals movie? Because they need a lot of time for their BIG brains to develop fully. 5) You re at the Buffalo Zoo in the vanishing animals exhibit and see a small furry animal. It has binocular vision, a long prehensile tail, and the species description says it is arboreal, often swinging from tree to tree. Which of the following is the most specific description of this animal listed? A A prosimian B An anthropoid C A New World monkey D An Old World monkey E A hominoid 6) Which of the following is a likely place you would find the animal from question 5 in the wild? A Brazil B Antarctica C Kenya D Japan E Hogsmeade
7) Which of the following is not an entirely bipedal group? A Archosaurs B Tyranosaurs C Mammals D Hominids E Humans 8) Which of the following is true? A Prosimians are anthropoids. B Hominoids are anthropoids. C All primates are hominoids, except prosimians. D Hominoid is a synonym for hominid. E Theo (Dr. Poulin s son) is a prosimian. 9) Draw a phylogeny of the following species: Australopithecus afarensis Homo habilis Homo neanderthalensis Homo sapiens
10) were gracile (or slender). A Australopithecines B Paranthropus sp. C Homo sp. D Homo erectus only E Homo sapiens only 11) The theory of island biogeography predicts species diversity based on two factors: immigration and extinction. Give two reasons why the extinction rate is a particularly important factor on islands. 1) Founding populations are often small 2) Resources are limited due to the restricted size of islands. 12) What evolutionary force would you expect to be most important on an island? Drift
13) a) In the theory of island biogeography, why do immigration rates decrease over time? As only NOVEL species count in increasing species diversity, as more and more species are already present, it s harder for a new arrival to be novel. Also, once you get a fair number of species only the WORST colonizers are going to be absent. b) In the theory of island biogeography, why do extinction rates increase over time? Early on there are so few species around that they aren t really likely to be competing for resources, but as more colonizers arrive, the resources must be divided up. Competition for these resources leads to competitive exclusion. c) Draw the basic graph predicting species diversity on an island. d) What is S*? It s the equilibrium species diversity when the number of species is no longer changing on the island.
e) When the species number reaches S*, do you expect immigration and extinction to stop (Yes or no)? No f) If yes, why (one sentence)? It s not yes. g) If no, why doesn t S* change? Because the immigration balances the extinction rate at S*, such that species number does not change even though the actual species present might change. 14) How could you modify the graph below to increase the species diversity? You could either lower the extinction rate (by making the island larger) or increase the immigration rate (by making the island closer to the mainland). Extra credit: What would you recommend for a friend recovering from cancer? Lower their stress level!
What observation has recently made us re-evaluate the origin of multi-cellular life? Tracks in the ocean floor that could be 1.8 billion years old.