Systematics final 2

A detailed illustration of various plant fossils, showcasing macrofossils, permineralized specimens, and diagrams of plant interactions in an evolutionary context.

Exploring Plant Evolution and Interactions

Test your knowledge of evolutionary biology, paleobotany, and plant interactions with our comprehensive quiz. Consisting of 23 thought-provoking questions, this quiz will challenge your understanding of key concepts in the field.

Highlights of the quiz include:

Questions on scientific hypotheses
Insights into macrofossils and phylogenomic reconstruction
Explorations of coevolution and species interactions

23 Questions6 MinutesCreated by GrowingLeaf247

Which of the following statement/s about Scientific Hypothesise is/are correct?

A scientific hypothesis does not need to make a prediction

A hypothesis must be presented using complex and lengthy description

A strong hypothesis concerns an expected observation

A hypothesis does not need to be testable

None are correct

What is diffuse coevolution?

Coevolution between many interacting populations

Coevolution between species that are geographically separated

Coevolution between many interacting species

Coevolution leading to the newly evolved species shifting their habitat

What information about a plant can not be obtained from permineralized fossils?

What do we need in phylogenomics to obtain trustworthy results?

The supertree-method

Strong phylogenetic signals

Long internal and short terminal branches

Short internal and long terminal branches

A well-supported mathematical model of the character evolution

An evolutionary distant outgroup

What are the type of errors that can occur in the mathematical modeling of character evolution:

Stochastic error (too few information)

Sampling error

Systematic error (incorrect model)

One cannot make errors modeling character evolution

Which of the following statements is/are correct?

Co-evolution is the reciprocal evolution of traits in interacting species, where the traits have a direct influence on the interaction.

Co-evolution and mutualism are terms that can be used interchangeably

Co-evolution and parasitism are terms that can be used interchangeably

Co-evolution always develops through antagonistic behavior

None

Which of the following statements about the diagnosis are correct?

That which in the opinion of its author distinguishes the taxon from others

A summary of the characters that differentiate the new nominal taxon from related or similar taxa

A complete description of the type

Place, time and by whom this type was collected

None

Which of the following statements about the cooksonioids are correct?

Which statement/s about scientific hypotheses and theories is/are correct?

A hypothesis includes a testable prediction

A hypothesis does not have to include a prediction

A strong hypothesis should show an important and unexpected result

A scientific theory gives predictions that agree with experiments

A strong hypothesis has to deliver an unexpected result

None

Coevolution…

…is always beneficial for both partners

�has short interaction duration

�does not need a spatially close interaction

�only refers to two interacting species

None

Which statement/s about Maximum Likelihood and Maximum Parsimony is/are correct?

Maximum Likelihood is statistically inconsistent

Maximum Parsimony is statistically inconsistent

Maximum Likelihood uses all data.

Under Maximum Parsimony, more data always leads to increasingly correct solutions.

None

Pith casts...

Are formed when surrounding sediment of a fossil hardens after the plant part disintegrates

Provide information on the 3D morphology of the disintegrated (hollow) plant part

Normally provide information on the reproductive biology of the plant

None

In calculating the Maximum Likelihood scores for a phylogeny, the model that maximizes the likelihood of the DNA sequences is used.

In Jukes Cantor model, nucleotides are assumed to show the frequency of 25:25:25:25

The General Time Reversible model uses empirical nucleotide frequencies to account for mutation bias

Kimura-2-parameter model assigns a transition rate (α) for purine/purine and (β) for pyrimidine/pyrimidine

None

Phylogenomic reconstruction needs to consider some issues:

Select long-branched taxa as outgroup

Avoid Long Branch Attraction (LBA)

Include paralogous genes for reconstruction

Long internal branches allow more characters to use for reconstruction

None

Which of the following is/are considered as a plant fossil?

What is an hypothesis?

It is a prediction that agrees with experiments

It is a prediction that can be tested

It is a candidate explanation for observed patterns or data that are proposed to be examined by experiments

It is a theory that can be tested

None

Which of the following is/are true?

Homo sapiens is a type specimen

A type specimen is fixed to a species

Scientific names have types

The type method consist of fixing names with the help of specimens

None

Nilsson’s first experiments on the two species of Swedish orchids demonstrate that:

Spur length determines pollinaria import and export.

The mutual direction of selection on moth and orchids evolution.

Pollination in damaged flowers doesn‘t work as well as in undamaged ones.

The evolution of spur length in P. Bifolia has been largely driven by pollinator shifts.

None

Concerning the concept of morphospecies:

Morphospecies are binomials given to isolated plant parts.

Species and higher taxa are defined based principally on morphological features.

Most reassembled fossil plants today consist of several binomials assigned to the individual parts.

Higher morphotaxa may contain fossils with different biological affinities.

None

Systematics final 2

Exploring Plant Evolution and Interactions

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