MIDTERM EXAM - BIOLOGY 4142 - ORNITHOLOGY - 15 MARCH 2004
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------NAME _____________________________________ SCORE _______/225
INSTRUCTIONS: Each question is worth 9 points, unless otherwise noted. Be sure to
read each question carefully. There is only one correct answer for multiple choice
questions.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1) TA Chris extracts DNA from several species of birds and then through a series of
steps, determines the actual nucleotide sequence for a portion of one gene. Those data are
best called a:
____ a) hypothesis ____ d) analysis
____ b) theory ____ e) experiment
____ c) description ____ f) proof
2) Next, Chris compares these sequences to those of other bird species to estimate which
species are more closely related to which. This is best called a:
____ a) proof ____ d) analysis
____ b) theory ____ e) experiment
____ c) description ____ f) law
3) Which of the following is FALSE concerning evolution
____ a) genetic drift is most important in large populations.
____ b) natural selection is only one of several processes that might cause evolutionary
change.
____ c) gene flow can cause evolutionary changes.
____ d) individuals do not evolve per se within their lifetimes.
____ e) evolution could be described simply as heritable genetic change through time.
4) Which of the following was NOT a reptilian feature of Archaeopteryx?
____ a) adult forelmb has functional digits
____ b) caudal vertebrae reduced and retained within body cavity
____ c) small, weak sternum
____ d) pelvis bones separate, connected by ligaments
____ e) "snout" rather than "bill" head/jaw configuration.
5) (8 points) Name 4 features of birds that show reduction in size, relative to other
vertebrates, or total disappearance that may be interpreted as symptoms of the "weight
reduction" trend in the evolution of flight in birds:
a) __________________________________
b) __________________________________
c) __________________________________
d) __________________________________
6) (10 points) Name 5 features of birds that show increase in size, relative to other
vertebrates, that may be interpreted as adaptations for flight in birds:
a) __________________________________
b) __________________________________
c) __________________________________
d) __________________________________
e) __________________________________
7) Which of the following is FALSE concerning Archaeopteryx:
____ a) the absence of skeletal evidence for presence of a supracoracoideus muscle
suggests that it could not fly strongly.
____ b) the presence of a furcula suggests that it could fly.
____ c) the absence of a large sternum with keel suggests that it could not fly strongly.
____ d) the asymmetry of the vanes of its feathers suggests that it could fly.
____ e) the greatly reduced size of its cerebellum suggests that it could not fly strongly.
8) Which of the following is FALSE concerning whether Archaeopteryx was arboreal:
____ a) the shape and curvature of the claws on its forelimb digits suggests that they were
used for climbing.
____ b) the shape and curvature of the claws on its hindlimb digits suggests that they
were not used for running.
____ c) the arrangement of the toes is very similar to that in arboreal, perching birds.
____ d) that Archaeopteryx may have been arboreal does not favor the hypothesis that
birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs.
____ e) the cursorial pathway for the evolution of flight is found in many other groups of
flying organisms.
9) Which of the following is FALSE concerning the Enantiornithes:
____ a) they disappeared from the fossil record by the end of the Jurassic.
____ b) they had a large sternum with keel.
____ c) they had a primitive pelvic girdle similar to that of Archaeopteryx.
____ d) they had a pygostyle.
____ e) they had teeth.
10) Which of the following is FALSE concerning the importance of flight to the
evolutionary success of birds:
____ a) flight permitted birds to colonize oceanic islands to a degree not possible by
other terrestrial vertebrates.
____ b) the efficiency of movement allowed by flight permitted many species of birds to
specialize on foods that have patchy distributions in space and time, such as fruit, nectar,
pelagic fishes, and carrion.
____ c) the efficiency of movement allowed by flight permitted many species of birds to
specialize on feeding behaviors that would otherwise not be possible, e.g., catching flying
insects, hunting from the air, and pursuing other birds in flight.
____ d) flight makes birds virtually immune to predators other than other birds.
____ e) flight permits use of long-distance migration to a greater degree than in any other
vertebrate group.
11) Which of the following statements concerning bird taxonomy is FALSE:
____ a) A class may contain several phyla.
____ b) A family may contain several genera.
____ c) A phylum may contain several orders.
____ d) A genus may contain several species.
____ e) A species cannot belong to more than one genus.
12) Criticisms of a species concept that defines species on the basis of diagnosability
include all but one of the following. Which one?:
____ a) the level of diagnosability is set arbitrarily (rather than by biologically
meaningful criteria).
____ b) unequal rates of acquiring diagnostic characters can force non-sister taxa being
included in the same "species."
____ c) the degree of diagnosability is influenced by the resolution of the technique used.
____ d) allopatric taxa cannot be classified unambiguously.
____ e) such a concept could be applied to classifying inorganic items, such as nails or
cars, and is thus not based on phylogeny per se.
13) Disadvantages of a species concept based on the degree of gene flow and
interbreeding might be perceived to include all but one of the following:
____ a) measuring the degree of interbreeding between populations may require detailed,
time-consuming field studies.
____ b) classification of allopatric populations often requires detailed comparisons of
cases of sympatry and parapatry in related species.
____ c) designation of populations as species or subspecies may fluctuate through time if
their interactions are dynamic.
____ d) free interbreeding is known between non-sister populations.
____ e) gene flow is not related to the processes that produce evolution.
14) Which of the following data provides the STRONGEST support that Lazuli and
Indigo buntings are two "good" biological species (no, you don't have to know anything
about these two species per se to answer the question):
____ a) The geographic ranges of the two taxa are mainly allopatric and meet only in a
few river drainages in the Great Plains.
____ b) The plumage pattern and color of the two taxa are extremely distinct.
____ c) Where sympatric, about 92% of the individuals show no signs of hybridization.
____ d) The songs of the two taxa are similar.
____ e) In aviaries, no interbreeding occurs.
15) Under which of the circumstances below recorded at a zone of secondary contact
would you NOT rank two populations as two species under the Biological Species
concept:
____ a) assortative mating occurs.
____ b) introgression occurs.
____ c) seasonal isolation acts as a reproductive isolating mechanism
____ d) behavioral isolation acts as a reproductive isolating mechanism
____ e) 6 out of a sample of 182 specimens from the area show signs of hybridization.
16) Diagram the geographic ranges and phylogeny of 3 species in the same genus in
which there would be indirect positive evidence for the two closest relatives having
arisen from a common ancestor through sympatric speciation.
17) Which one of the following is FALSE concerning why a hypothetical bird species
might be limited to pine woodland of the SE USA:
____ a) perhaps if it were restricted to that area by a set of "ecological requirements,"
then one would find an area without that species that had those requirements on the other
side of a geographic barrier.
____ b) perhaps it is physically or psychologically unable to cross the sea to the pine
woodlands of the northern Bahamas.
____ c) perhaps a similar species in other areas of similar habitat prevents it from
establishing itself there because of interspecific competition.
____ d) perhaps it is highly susceptible to a fatal disease that is found elsewhere, despite
the existence of otherwise suitable habitat there.
____ e) perhaps its nest-site requirements are met only in that area.
18) (16 points) Pantropical distributions: briefly outline the competing hypotheses,
including those refuted long ago, to explain this biogeographic pattern and explain why
one of them is favored for pantropical bird groups by current evidence:
19) (6 points) Identify the Faunal Region: (same region may be used more than once)
a) Just west of Australasian Region: ___________________________
b) Richest in terms of number of bird species: ___________________________
c) Richest in terms of number of bird families: _________________________
d) Shares extensive border with Afrotropical Region:__________________________
e) Largest in size (i.e., in sq. km): ___________________________
f) Shares greatest number of species with Palearctic: _________________________
20). Which of the following is FALSE concerning the origin of birds?:
____ a) numerous skeletal similarities have been used to support the hypothesis that birds
and theropod dinosaurs are sister taxa.
____ b) the first theropods appear in the fossil record before Archaeopteryx, but these
early theropods share few similarities with birds.
____ c) the group of theropods that is most similar to birds (the dromaeosaurs) is also the
group that appeared at the same time as birds in the fossil record.
____ d) an ancient group of reptiles, the "Archosauria," which includes the presumed
ancestors of thecodonts and crocodilians, is also favored by some as the reptilian lineage
from which birds arose.
____ e) the embryological pattern of development of forelimb digits differs between birds
and dinosaurs.
21). (16 points) Barn Swallows have recently colonized Argentina as a breeding species,
and this breeding population is derived from migratory individuals that normally return to
North America for the breeding season. Let's say that gene flow is nearly nonexistent
between this Argentine population and the North American wintering population. Would
you call this new population a species? Why, why not, or under what circumstances?
22) (16 points) Delineate the factors that might limit the probability that a long-distance
migrant would successfully colonize a small, remote oceanic island (no need for a
coherent essay just an outline with explanatory phrases is OK):
23) Which of the following, from your text reading assignments, is FALSE:
____ a) widely separated current geographic distributions of closely related species
suggest that their ancestor was once continuously distributed in the current gap between
them.
____ b) examples of characters used to reconstruct the phylogeny of the orders and
families of birds (before genetic techniques became widely available) are the
configuration of the bony palate, tendon arrangements, and the form of the middle ear
bone.
____ c) the same toe arrangements have evolved independently through convergence
multiple times in birds.
____ d) because birds have determinate growth, diet does not affect body size.
____ e) in some well-studied examples of two species that hybridize regularly, one
gradually replaces the other where they are in contact, causing the geographic range of
one to contract while the other expands.
Bonus Question (6 points): rank the following from earliest to most recent in terms of
predicted actual presence on Earth (with earliest = 1 and so on):
____ a) first thecodont ____ d) first Enantiornithes
____ b) first Galliformes ____ e) first Brown-headed Nuthatch
____ c) first Passeriformes ____ f) first theropod