Evolution Chapter 17 Homework pt1

Select the statements that describe evidence used to classify humans as primates.

• Humans and primates share the ability for vocalization to communicate with one another.

• Humans and primates share a monophyletic clade as evidenced by DNA analysis.

• Humans and primates share homologies, such as between the human coccyx and primate tails.

• Humans and primates share the capacity for using tools to complete complex tasks.

• Humans and primates share the capacity for upright posture that increases efficiency of locomotion.

Which scenario describes the process of introgression?

• Large male lizards have greater mating success, increasing the average male body size in the next generation.

• A mating between lizards of different species occurs, resulting in offspring that cannot reproduce.

• Two lizard species sometimes interbreed successfully, exchanging alleles between the species.

• Lizards in a small population often breed with close relatives, increasing inbreeding depression.

Scientists hypothesize that the first major adaptation that led to the evolution of modern humans was the evolution of

__________. It led to the first major divergence of the hominin lineage from bonobos.

• bipedalism

• primitive tool use

• enlarged teeth and jaws

Later, australopithecines fossils were first to show that hominins had developed the ability to

_______.

• use of primitive stone tools

• Draw figurative art

• walk bipedally

The most recent physical adaptation that set the Homo sapiens lineage apart from its ancestors was 

______.

• a large brain

• enlarged jaws

• long legs and arched feet

Why does homoplasy in hominins make it challenging to categorize hominin fossils?

• Whether introgression or convergent evolution caused homoplasy can only be determined using DNA from hominin fossils.

• Finding homoplasies in two dissimilar hominin fossils suggests that the fossils belong to one lineage, despite other differences.

• Homoplasy increases the variability found in a trait, resulting in a diversity of phenotypes within each hominin lineage.

• Homoplasies among hominin lineages can make a hominin fossil appear to be closely related to several known species.

Most scientists agree that

the ______

was the driver for the evolution of bipedalism in early hominins.

• changing environment

• disease

• competition

Toward the end of the Miocene, as the climate became

(1) ______,

dense African forests changed to

(2) ______.

• (1) drier (2) grasslands

• (1) wetter (2) wetlands

• (1) warmer (2) deserts

One hypothesis of bipedalism suggests that bipedalism allowed hominins to

________

more efficiently. Because trees were more scattered, early hominins could save energy by walking from tree to tree and reaching for food instead of climbing trees.

• forage

• migrate

• evade predators

Another hypothesis of bipedalism suggests that walking erect allowed hominins to

________

when moving in open habitats such as grasslands. By walking upright, they were able to reduce the amount of surface area being exposed to the sun.

• stay cooler

• be more visible

• scare predators