SC 139 - Second Exam 1999

MULTIPLE CHOICE. 

On the line to the left, place the letter of the choice that best answers the question.
Three Points Each. NOTE: "e" answers are never the correct answer.

                    1. A non-scented green flower at the upper tips of a plant would most probably
_______              a. Be pollinated at night                         b. Be wind-pollinated
                            c. Be found on a fern                        d. Be found on a moss
                                        e. Be a failure on Valentine's Day

                    2. The first "living" molecules competed. What abilities would have made a
                                molecule a good competitor?
_______              a. Finding mates & keeping space
                            b. Catching & eating others
                            c. Moving onto land & staying there
                            d. Gathering raw materials & reproducing quickly
                            e. Being able to make lower the other molecules' self-esteem

                    3. As plants have evolved, what has become the dominant form?
_______              a. Sporophytes                 b. Gametophytes                 c. Ferns
                            d. Nonvascular                             e. FTD Florists

                    4. Pollinators and flowers have adapted to each others' needs through
_______              a. Convergent evolution                                 b. Coevolution
                            c. Divergent evolution                                    d. Coadaptation
                                        e. A complicated prenuptial agreement

                    5. A seed contains
_______              a. Just a plant embryo                             b. Pollen & pollen tubes
                            c. A plant embryo & food                       d. All of these
                                            e. Stuff that's good and good for you

                    6. Which is true about classification systems?
                            a. With enough evidence, a scientist can change anything he wants
                            b. Cladistics focuses on new traits, systematics on evolutionary connections
_______              c. Systematics focuses on new traits, cladistics on evolutionary connections
                            d. Different arrangements are not allowed
                            e. The more confusing, the better

                    7. Spores are produced
_______              a. Asexually by ferns                             b. Asexually by gymnosperms
                            c. Sexually by ferns                               d. Sexually by gymnosperms
                                    e. By lots of creepy thingies in horror movies

                    8. The main purpose of fruit is to be
_______              a. A food source for animals                         b. A way to spread seeds
                            c. A food source for seeds                            d. Protection for seeds
                                                 e. A source of Life Saver flavors

                    9. A stromatolite is a
_______              a. Spore producer             b. Pollen producer            c. Type of ancient fossil
                            d. Land animal                    e. Great thing to have if your stromato is dark

                    10. In angiosperms, where do pollen tubes first form?
_______              a. Stigma                     b. Anther                     c. Seeds
                            d. Ovaries                             e. In the tube tub.

                    11. What term is given to the sprouting of a "baby" plant from a seed?
_______              a. Pollination                     b. Flowering                     c. Germination
                            d. Pioneering                                 e. Peeping out

                    12. Modern land plants probably could not have made that first move out of
                                        the water without
_______              a. Pollen                     b. Fungus symbionts                     c. Woody stems
                            d. Pollinators                                 e. A forwarding address

                    13. The organic materials of the primordial soup came from
_______              a. The Earth's starting materials                             b. Autotrophs
                            c. Heterotrophs                         d. Fungi                         e. Campbell's

                    14. Which are female flower parts?
_______              a. Petals & pistils                                         b. Stamens & anthers
                            c. Stigma & Pistils                                        d. Petals & anthers
                                        e. Should we be discussing such things?

                    15. From which environment did organisms probably move onto land?
_______              a. Tidal pools                     b. Fresh water                     c. Estuaries
                            d. All of these are likely                                 e. Wet

SHORT ANSWER. 

Answer any eight of the following questions for 4 Points Each.
Note: if you answer more than eight, only the first eight will be corrected.
You can get partial credit on these answers.

1. What is it particularly about pollen that made it such a great development in the evolution of land plants?

2. Briefly outline the Gaia Hypothesis.

3. Define. (Don't identify by plant life cycle phase!)

DIPLOID:

HAPLOID:

4. Put them in order, SMALLEST TO LARGEST: Class, Family, Genus, Kingdom, Order, Phylum, Species, Superclass.

5. Give an example of a bryophyte.

6. The pacing of evolutionary change is probably both gradual and punctuated. Why?

7. Give two environmental conditions that favor conifers over angiosperms.

8. Define alternations of generations.

9. What are two sources of energy that were probably have been available to molecules evolving in the Primordial Soup?

10. What are two different types of "bribes" a flower can produce to bring in pollinators?

11. Define pioneer organism.

12. What happened during the Cambrian Explosion?

13. Briefly explain the endosymbiosis theory. (You don't need to give technical terms)

14. What structure will help tell a true fern apart from a ferny-looking angiosperm, and where on the plant is that structure found?

15. There was a big feature, hard to explain, about the first living things that the first theories felt was absolutely necessary. Then the heterotroph hypothesis said otherwise. What was the feature?

16. What are two ways that male pine cones are different from female cones?

LONG ANSWER.

Answer any three of the following questions for Eight Points Each.
Note: if you answer more than three, only the first three will be corrected.
You can get partial credit on these answers.

1. What are four possible causes of mass extinction events?

2. Number the following steps in the order that the current Heterotroph Hypothesis puts them:

LINK TO ANSWER KEY

BONUS QUESTIONS. Answer as many as you are able. Wrong answers will not result in points being lost from the main exam. You can get partial credit on these answers.

The fellow who organized our current biological classification system had an odd habit. What was it? Four Points.

What role might clays have played in the beginnings of Life on earth (other than that Adam thing)? Four Points.

What two simpler systems might have combined at deep-sea hydrothermal vents to produce photosynthesis? Five Points.

Give one major detail of classification over which the book and Mr. McDarby disagree. Four Points.

What is "Nemesis?" Four Points.

What advantage did the development of alternation of generations give land plants? Five Points.

What does "-phyte" mean? Three Points.

What sort of pollinator is likely to visit a red flower? Four Points.