According to the information presented in the text, we are living in a critical time in the
earth’s history. Much of life as we know it will be decided in
a. laboratorios of scientists.
b. centuries of slowly changing habits.
c. world’s meetings attended by diplomats.
d. the next few decades.
e. in rebellions.
Mendelian traits
a. are governed by more than one genetic locus
b. occur only in some people
c. are always dominant
d. are governed by one genetic locus
e. are always recessive
_________ may have been contemporaneous with australopiths but had a significantly
larger brain.
a. A. afarensis
b. Aegyptopithecus
c. Homohabilis
d. A. africanus
e. Ardipithecus
Australopithecus afarensis specimens from Laetoli and Hadar are
a. the largest well-studied collection of early hominins
b. the oldest hominins discovered to date
c. the smallest least-studied collection of early hominins
d. only found in South Africa
e. forms of H. habilis
What is the initial step in the scientific method?
a. the formation of a theory
b. the formation of a hypothesis
c. to perform an experiment
d. to publish a scientific article
e. to collect data under precise conditions
Since the beginning of industrialization, ocean acidity has already increased by
_____________.
a. 10%
b. 20%
c. 30%
d. 45%
e. 100%
A hypothesis regarding ancestor-descendant relationships that includes a time scale is
called a
a. cladogram
b. phylogenetic tree
c. phylogram tree
d. hypogram tree
e. hypoplastic tree
Homo erectus represents a different kind of hominin than the more ancient African
predecessors. One of the reasons is
a. H. erectus is a step towards being more ape-like
b. An increased body size and robustness
c. Less encephalization
d. Less variation among different regional populations
e. Less like modern humans
When it came to explaining the origins of variation within species, Darwin
a. used Mendel’s theory of heredity
b. agreed with Lamarck that it was caused by an animal’s inner needs
c. argued it was caused by differential use of an animal’s body parts
d. had no idea of the true causes
e. used his research gathered while at Cambridge
The first Chinese H. erectus discoveries were the result of the focus on locating
a. skullcaps and femurs the same size as remains from Trinil
b. individuals contemporaneous with H. sapiens
c. “Dragon bones” used as medicine and aphrodisiacs
d. fossils unhampered by the complex nature of Javanese geology
e. fossils belonging to the late Pleistocene
The Middle Pleistocene humans are morphologically
a. diverse and broadly dispersed throughout time and space
b. diverse but not broadly dispersed throughout time and space
c. similar and broadly dispersed throughout time and space
d. similar and not broadly dispersed throughout time and space
e. similar and broadly dispersed through time, but not space
Today, where are lorises not found?
a. India
b. Africa
c. Southeast Asia
d. North America
e. Sri Lanka
Which of the following is not inherited in a Mendelian fashion?
a. Huntington Disease
b. albinism
c. cleft chin
d. Tay-Sachs disease
e. skin color
Some assumptions about the hunting capabilities of premodern humans have been
challenged by an interesting archaeological find at Schningen. What did they find?
a. a bow and arrow
b. wood spears
c. 4000 nodules from which spear points were struck
d. Use of fire
e. large flakes struck using the Levallois technique
The Homo erectus site in Europe that has given paleoanthropologists a unique look at
the first possible Homo erectus travelers from East Africa to Southeast Asia is
a. Zhoukoudian
b. Lantian
c. Ceprano
d. Nariokotome
e. Dmanisi
Scientists use _______ to produce many copies of small DNA fragments, such as those
obtained at crime scenes or from fossils.
a. transcription
b. polymerase chain reactions
c. nondisjunction
d. trisomies
e. random assortment of alleles
Which two primary schools of classification are discussed in the text?
a. generalized and specialized
b. organic and inorganic
c. evolutionary systematics and cladistics
d. cladistics and non-cladistics
e. ancestral and derived (modified)
Developmental acclimatization occurs in those individuals who
a. have recently moved to a high altitude environment
b. have spent their adult life at high altitude
c. were born in a high altitude environment, but who grew up in a low altitude
environment
d. grow up in high altitude environments
e. live at high altitude and are lactose intolerant
Of the sites listed below, which is the most important one for determining the
morphology of the earliest Homo sapiens in western Europe?
a. Cro-Magnon
b. Tabun
c. Katanda
d. Mladeč
e. Herto
Which of the following are Strepsirhini?
a. New World monkeys
b. lorises
c. Old World monkeys
d. humans
e. chimpanzees
The hypothesis that all modern humans descended from an African lineage
a. has been conclusively proven to be correct
b. is supported by mtDNA evidence
c. is supported by evidence from researchers in India
d. is conclusively proven as incorrect
e. is based on archaeological evidence obtained from caves in Spain
Which is among the reasons that about half of Americans believe that evolution does
not occur?
a. the mechanisms of evolution are simple and easily explained
b. the mechanisms of evolution are complex and do not lend themselves to simple
explanations
c. most people possess extensive familiarity with the principles of genetics
d. most have not read and studied “On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely
From the Original Type”, by Alfred Russel Wallace
e. many people do not want clear-cut answers
African sites evidencing Neandertal fossils include
a. Olduvai Gorge
b. Broken Hill
c. Laetoli
d. Tabun
e. Shanidar Cave
Some Neandertal physical characteristics may have arisen as adaptations to a ______
environment.
a. humid
b. hot
c. cold
d. tropical
e. high altitude
The estimated average cranial capacity for Homo habilis is
a. 442 cm3
b. 631 cm3
c. 520 cm3
d. 350 cm3
e. 775 cm3
Using all four limbs to support the body during locomotion is called
a. bipedalism
b. quadrupedalism
c. vertical clinging and leaping
d. brachiation
e. semi-brachiation
What does the “grandmother hypothesis” propose to explain?
a. the age of onset of menopause
b. the age of puberty for males
c. the age of onset of menarche
d. the existence of menopause
e. the existence of estrogen production
Which factors do not influence mate choice?
a. geographical
b. ecological
c. social
d. biological
e. isolation from other vicinities
Which of the following statements is false?
a. Proteins are composed of amino acids.
b. The first step in protein synthesis is translation.
c. The number and sequence of amino acids determines protein function.
d. Proteins are manufactured by the ribosomes.
e. The sequence of amino acids in a protein is ultimately determined by the sequence of
DNA bases.
The human brain reaches 95 percent of its adult size by what age?
a. 3 years
b. 5 years
c. 10 years
d. 15 years
e. 21 years
At Zhoukoudian, there is now thought to be evidence that Homo erectus
a. killed deer and horses
b. knew how to hunt
c. used fire inside the cave
d. lived in the cave
e. were victims of hungry giant hyenas
Ideally, taxonomic classification
a. reflects evolutionary relationships
b. is based on the presence of acquired characteristics
c. is always based solely on between-species behavioral similarities
d. reflects the current geographic distribution of species
e. is only applicable to nonhuman species