Sample Exam for Paleontology

                                                                       

Name___________________________

 

Part I.  Write out the geologic time scale.  Include the eras, the periods, the epochs of the Cenozoic, the ages of the boundaries between the eras, and the age of the earth..  Use the back of this page if necessary.  (5 points, no partial credit).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part II.  Answer five of the following eight questions (Each is worth five points)

 

1.  Which is correct Apatosaurus or Brontosaurus?  Why?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.  Place the following in their correct temporal (time) order.   Be sure to indicate             which is oldest and which is youngest):

 

First evidence of procaryotic cells (cyanobacteria)

First terrestrial animals

Permo-Triassic extinctions

First evidence of eucaryotic cells

Burgess Shale

 

3.  List the five kingdoms and give an example of each one

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.  List the major categories in the taxonomic hierarchy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.  Based on the cladogram below, answer the following questions:

 

            a.  which pair(s) of species is (are) most closely related to each other?_______

           

            b.  Which character(s) is (are) primitive for all four species?________

 

            c.  Which character(s) is (are) present in species C?____________

 

            d.  Which characters are shared by species A and B?____________

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6.  Distinguish between determinate and indeterminate growth.  A well-drawn graph,             with accurately labelled axes, is one way to answer this question.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7.  Sketch a graph that shows the changes in diversity of marine organisms during the             Phanerozoic.  Be sure to label the axes properly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8.  Ichthyostega is commonly regarded as the first terrestrial vertebrate.  What is the             significance of the fossil known as Acanthostega?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part III.  Answer three of the following four questions (each is worth 15 points).

 

1.  You have just returned from another tough season of collecting shells along the Pacific coast of Mexico (it's a tough job but somebody's gotta do it).  You collected both live individuals and empty (dead) shells.  The list of species and their live and dead abundances are shown below.   How might you explain the differences in diversity (number of species) between the live and dead sample and how might you explain the differences in relative abundance (which is most common, which is next most common, etc.)?

 

species

Live abundance

Dead abundance

Lucina lampra

233

2

Chione fluctifraga

27

88

Nassarius iodes

20

77

Dosinia ponderosa

18

56

Cardita affinis

2

23

Protothaca grata

not present alive

10

Tagelus plebius

not present alive

5

 

 

 

2.  Fossils with hard parts first appear in many different groups in  the Early Cambrian.  List five possible functions for hard parts and an example organism for each function.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.  Brachiopods and bivalve molluscs are superficially similar but very different organisms.  Outline the similarities and differences in morphology, ecology and evolutionary history of the two groups.

4.  You have just returned from another arduous field season in South Dakota, where you have been collecting fossil rodents.  Among your discoveries is a very large rodent tooth: it measures 1.5 cm in length  Unfortunately, you don't have the rest of the skeleton.  Using the information below on the relationship between body size and tooth size in other rodents, what is your estimate of the size of the fossil rodent you discovered?  All measurements are in cm.  (Note that the graph paper provided is not  log-log paper.)  Be sure to show how you arrived at your estimate.

 

            Tooth size     Body size

 

                0.3      3.0

                0.8      8.0

                1.1      14.0

                1.3      21.0

                1.4      27.0

 

Part IV   Answer one of the following two questions  (25 points).

 

1.  Events shortly before and shortly after the Precambrian/Cambrian boundary are some of the most significant in the history of life.  Indeed, this time interval is sometimes called the "biological big bang" or "the Cambrian Event."  Briefly describe the significant evolutionary events that took place during the 50 million years before and 50 million years after the Precambrian/Cambrian boundary (Be sure to describe them in their proper order).  Also, briefly discuss two of the hypotheses that have been offered to explain these events.

 

2.  Fossils can be destroyed by a variety of physical, chemical and biological processes.   But even if they escape these agents of destruction, their utility may be affected by a variety of "agents of confusion"  (hint: transportation is one such agent of confusion).  Briefly describe the agents of confusion that can affect potential fossils and discuss how their effects can be recognized.