UNIT 5: Study Questions

Chapters 26,27,28

1. What evidence supports the hypothesis that mitochondria preceded plastids in the
evolution of eukaryotes?

2. What is a Cambrian Explosion? What does it mean by “long fuse”? What evidence
shows that the current continents were once in once piece called Pangaea?

3. Describe the beneficial effects and the harmful effects of prokaryotes on humans. Give
one example for each. Contrast between endotoxin and exotoxin.

4. What is the significance of peptidoglycans in prokaryotes? How do you differentiate

the pathogens from beneficial bacteria?

5. A fossil specimen showed a ratio of mass of C14 to C12 to be 1 to 32. If the half-life of
C14 is 5730 years. How old is this fossil? Show your work and explain.

6. Describe the life cycle of an apicomplexan, such as the plasmodium? How does it
impact human life?

7. Describe different types of algae and how they benefit human.

8. Identify the 9 major clades of Protists and briefly describe their major characteristics.

Chapters 29,30,31

1. Describe the origin (charophyceans) and diversity of the Plant kingdom. What are the extended
phyla? What is the current classification? Discuss the controversial definition of Plantae with
Algae with respect to structure and biochemical evidences.

2. Describe the 5 major characteristics of land plants?

3. Describe the 3 major Bryophyte phyla, their structures and functions

4. Describe the hypothesis of the evolution of microphylls and the megaphylls.

5. Describe the similarities and differences between the non-vascular plants and the seedless vascular
plants in terms of their structures and functions. Compare their economic impacts between these
the non-vascular plants and the seedless vascular plants.

6. What are significances of the 2 phyla of the seedless vascular plants impacting on environment,
human and economics?

7. Describe the pine life cycle and how it reflects the basic characteristics of the seed plants.

8. Compare the characteristics of monocots, dicots and eudicots.

9. Describe the angiosperm diversity and discuss the importance of their life cycle and how human
depends on these seeding plants.

10. Describe the phylogeny of Fungi and identify each of the 5 mycological phyla and their
 characteristics.
11. Compare the benefits of algae in lichens to the pathogenic fungi in the plant kingdom.
12. What are the beneficial fungi and their products and functions?

Chapter 32,33,34

1. Compare and contrast between Plants and Animals.

2. Early development of blastula and gastrula in animals imply the evolutionary origins of these
animals. Explain.

3. Arrange the following evolutionary events in order and describe the internal and external factors
when the Cambrian radiation affected such chronological order:
a. Origins of mammals
b. Earliest evidences of terrestrial arthropods
c. Ediacaran fauna
d. Extinction of non-flying dinosaurs

4. Explain the TWO hypothesis of the phylogenic trees based on Morphology & development versus
based on molecular data.

5. Describe the different characteristics of platyhelminthes and arthropods and illustrate the
differences in their life cycles between a blood fluke and a butterfly.

6. Describe various segmented coelomate invertebrates, compare their characteristics and give
examples for each.

7. Describe the differences between echinoderms and chordates. List the order of the hypothetical
phylogeny tree starting from ancestral deuterostome and insert the factors of differentiation.

8. Describe the origin of birds and their derived characteristics.

9. Compare the characteristics of primates and humans.

10. Trace the evolutionary development of bipedal hominoids from the early hominids, Australopiths,
Homo ergaster, Neanderthals to modern Homo sapiens.