Campbell Biology, 10e (Reece)
Chapter 26 Phylogeny and the Tree of Life
The questions below refer to the following phylogenetic trees.
I. II.
III. IV.
1) Which tree depicts the microsporidians as a sister group of the ascomycetes?
A) I
B) II
C) III
D) IV
2) Which tree depicts the closest relationship between zygomycetes and chytrids?
A) I
B) II
C) III
D) IV
3) Which tree depicts the microsporidians as a sister group of the fungi, rather than as a fungus?
A) I
B) II
C) III
D) IV
4) In the phylogenetic trees above, numbers represent species and the same species are shown in
both trees. Which two species are represented as sister species in Tree 2 but are not shown as
sister species in Tree 1?
A) 1 and 2
B) 2 and 3
C) 3 and 4
D) 4 and 5
5) The legless condition that is observed in several groups of extant reptiles is the result of
_____.
A) their common ancestor having been legless
B) a shared adaptation to an arboreal (living in trees) lifestyle
C) several instances of the legless condition arising independently of each other
D) individual lizards adapting to a fossorial (living in burrows) lifestyle during their lifetimes
6) The various taxonomic levels (for example, phyla, genera, classes) of the hierarchical
classification system differ from each other on the basis of _____.
A) how widely the organisms assigned to each are distributed throughout the environment
B) their inclusiveness
C) the relative genome sizes of the organisms assigned to each
D) morphological characters that are applicable to all organisms
7) If organisms A, B, and C belong to the same class but to different orders and if organisms C,
D, and E belong to the same order but to different families, which of the following pairs of
organisms would be expected to show the greatest degree of structural homology?
A) A and D
B) B and D
C) B and C
D) D and E
8) Linnaeus believed that species remained fixed in the form in which they had been created.
Linnaeus would have been uncomfortable with _____.
A) a hierarchical classification scheme
B) taxonomy
C) phylogenies
D) nested, increasingly inclusive categories of organisms
9) The best classification system is that which most closely _____.
A) unites organisms that possess similar morphologies
B) conforms to traditional, Linnaean taxonomic practices
C) reflects evolutionary history
D) reflects the basic separation of prokaryotes from eukaryotes
10) Based on this tree, which statement is NOT correct?
A) The salamander lineage is a basal taxon.
B) Salamanders are a sister group to the group containing lizards, goats, and humans.
C) Salamanders are as closely related to goats as to humans.
D) Lizards are more closely related to salamanders than to humans.
11) We know the streamlined bodies shown in the figure above are examples of homoplasy. If
the following groups also had streamlined bodies, which of the groupings would give the most
support to this body type being homologous?
A) lizards and elephants
B) pterosaurs, dinosaurs, and birds
C) synapsids, monotremes, marsupials, rodents, and primates
D) lizards, pterosaurs, dinosaurs, birds, synapsids, monotremes, marsupials, rodents, and
primates
12) Some beetles and flies have antler-like structures on their heads, much like male deer do. The
existence of antlers in beetle, fly, and deer species with strong male-male competition is an
example of _____.
A) convergent evolution
B) a synapomorphy
C) homology
D) parsimony
13) The term homoplasy is most applicable to which of the following features?
A) the legless condition found in various lineages of extant lizards
B) the five-digit condition of human hands and bat wings
C) the fur that covers Australian moles and North American moles
D) the bones of bat forelimbs and the bones of bird forelimbs
14) If, someday, an archaean cell is discovered whose rRNA sequence is more similar to that of
humans than the sequence of mouse rRNA is to that of humans, the best explanation for this
apparent discrepancy would be _____.
A) homology
B) homoplasy
C) common ancestry
D) retro-evolution by humans
15) Which of the following pairs are the best examples of homologous structures?
A) bones in the bat wing and bones in the human forelimb
B) owl wing and hornet wing
C) bat wing and bird wing
D) eyelessness in the Australian mole and eyelessness in the North American mole
16) Some molecular data place the giant panda in the bear family (Ursidae) but place the lesser
panda in the raccoon family (Procyonidae). If the molecular data best reflect the evolutionary
history of these two groups, then the morphological similarities of these two species is most
likely due to _____.
A) the inheritance of acquired characteristics
B) sexual selection
C) possession of analogous (convergent) traits
D) possession of shared primitive characters
17) The importance of computers and of computer software to modern cladistics is most closely
linked to advances in _____.
A) light microscopy
B) radiometric dating
C) fossil discovery techniques
D) molecular genetics
18) The common ancestors of birds and mammals were very early (stem) reptiles, which almost
certainly possessed three-chambered hearts (two atria, one ventricle). Birds and mammals,
however, are alike in having four-chambered hearts (two atria, two ventricles). The four-
chambered hearts of birds and mammals are best described as _____.
A) structural homologies
B) vestiges
C) homoplasies
D) the result of shared ancestry
Use the following information to answer the question(s) below.
Giardia intestinalis can cause disease in several different mammalian species, including humans.
Giardia organisms (G. intestinalis) that infect humans are similar morphologically to those that
infect other mammals; thus they have been considered a single species. However, G. intestinalis
has been divided into different subgroups based on their host and a few other characteristics.
In 1999, a DNA sequence comparison study tested the hypothesis that these subgroups actually
constitute different species. The following phylogenetic tree was constructed from the sequence
comparison of rRNA from several subgroups of G. intestinalis and a few other morphologically
distinct species of Giardia. The researchers concluded that the subgroups of Giardia are
sufficiently different from one another genetically that they could be considered different
species. (T. Monis et al. 1999. Molecular systematics of the parasitic protozoan Giardia
intestinalis. Mol. Biol. Evol. 16[9]:1135-44.)
19) According to the phylogenetic tree in the figure above, G. intestinalis constitutes a _____
group.
A) paraphyletic
B) monophyletic
C) polyphyletic
20) By examining the phylogenetic tree diagrammed in the figure above, what conclusion can
you draw about the species G. microti?
A) It evolved before G. intestinalis.
B) It is more closely related to G. muris than to G. intestinalis.
C) It should not be labeled a species distinct from G. intestinalis.
D) It is part of a monophyletic group that also includes G. intestinalis.
21) Refer to the figure above. Which of the following forms a monophyletic group?
A) A, B, C, D
B) C and D
C) D, E, and F
D) E, F, and G
22) Which of the following trees, if any, depicts the same relationship among species as shown
above?
A)
B)
C)
23) Which of the following would be useful in creating a phylogenetic tree of a taxon?
I) morphological data from fossil species
II) genetic sequences from living species
III) behavioral data from living species
A) I
B) II
C) III
D) I, II, and III
24) Your professor wants you to construct a phylogenetic tree of orchids. She gives you tissue
from seven orchid species and one lily. What is the most likely reason she gave you the lily?
A) to serve as an outgroup
B) to see if the lily is a cryptic orchid species
C) to see if the lily and the orchids show all the same shared derived characters
(synapomorphies)
D) to demonstrate likely homoplasies
25) Which of the following statements best describes the rationale for applying the principle of
parsimony in constructing phylogenetic trees?
A) Parsimony allows the researcher to “root” the tree.
B) Similarity due to common ancestry should be more common than similarity due to convergent
evolution.
C) The molecular clock validates the principle of parsimony.
D) The outgroup roots the tree, allowing the principle of parsimony to be applied.
26) Applying the principle of parsimony to the trait “ability to fly,” which of the two
phylogenetic trees above is better?
A) Tree 1
B) Tree 2
C) Both trees are equally parsimonious.
D) Since the trees show different evolutionary relationships, you cannot determine which is more
parsimonious.
27) Which of the following statements is true about a phylogeny, as represented by a
phylogenetic tree?
I) Descendant groups (branches) from the same node do not necessarily share any derived
characters.
II) A monophyletic group can be properly based on convergent features.
III) The ancestral group often has all the synapomorphies of the descendant species.
A) only I
B) only II
C) only III
D) None. Not I, II, or III.