4.3 Phylogeny

What does the fossil record reveal about the macroevolution of life?

• Microscopic details
• Broad patterns of evolution
• Genetic mutations
• Sedimentary rock formations

In which type of rock are fossils most commonly found?

• Igneous
• Sedimentary
• Metamorphic
• Volcanic

How is the age of fossils determined using radiometric dating?

• By measuring the rate of decay of radioactive isotopes
• By counting the number of fossils in a layer
• By analyzing the color of the fossil
• By carbon dating only

Why is carbon dating only accurate for fossils younger than 75,000 years?

• It is not accurate at all
• Carbon dating has a long half-life
• Carbon-14 has a shorter decay time
• U-238 decays rapidly

What is a molecular clock used for in phylogeny?

• Measuring the absolute time of evolutionary change
• Counting the number of mutations
• Analyzing DNA structure
• Calculating the age of fossils

What is evolutionary stasis?

• Rapid evolution
• Constant change in lineages
• Lineages persisting for long periods without change
• Extinction of lineages

What is the significance of living fossils like lungfish?

• Lineages experiencing a long period of stasis
• Rapidly evolving lineages
• Lineages with constant change
• Recently discovered lineages

How do biologists build phylogenetic trees?

• Collecting data about the characters of each organism
• Analyzing rock formations
• Studying only genetic sequences
• Ignoring behavioral traits

What do features resulting from common ancestry reveal?

• Rapid evolution
• Evolutionary relationships
• Convergent evolution
• Analogous traits

What do branch points in a phylogenetic tree represent?

• Convergent evolution
• Analogous traits
• Divergence in the lineage
• Extinction events