Part 1. Multiple choice/fill in the blank. Check any and all correct items. There may be zero, one, or more than one correct item in each question. Total points: 40 (each question is worth 4 points, except 1 is worth 8).

1. Which of the following are a natural group? If the group is not a natural group, state why in relation to whether it is monophyletic/polyphyletic/paraphyletic, or some combination.

why not?

___ Deuteromycetes _________________________

___ Yeasts _________________________

___ Fungi _________________________

___ Algae _________________________

2. Rank the order of events leading up to the photosynthetic protists (i.e., algae), with 1 being earliest evolutionarily and 4 being latest.

___ endosymbiosis of prokaryotic precursor to mitochondria

___ development of aerobic respiration

___ endosymbiosis of prokaryotic precursor to chloroplasts

___ development of photosynthesis

3. Mycologists place about 14,000 species of fungi into the group Deuteromycetes, including those which cause Athlete’s foot. Which feature(s) do all members of the group have in common?

___ they possess heterothallic mycelia

___ they have no known sexual phase

___ they are unicellular

___ they have complex septa

4. Spores and gametes are different in that

___ spores are multi-celled, while gametes are always single-celled.

___ spores are diploid, while gametes are haploid.

___ gametes are always a direct product of meiosis, whereas spore production is not immediately preceded by meiosis.

___ gametes directly participate in fertilization, while spores produce a haploid multicelled organism first.

5. Seedless vascular plants such as giant horsetails and giant lycopods came to dominate the landscape of the Carboniferous and Permian periods of the Paleozoic era. Which of the following features, lacking in the bryophytes, contributed to the success of many seedless vascular plants of this time?

___ synthesis of lignin in cell walls

___ presence of rhizoids

___ sperm that were not dependent on water for fertilization

___ presence of a central stele, made up of xylem and phloem

6. Examine the cladogram below, and based on it, decide which of the statements below are TRUE.

___ This cladogram suggests that club mosses are more closely related to seed plants than are the ferns.

___ The cladogram indicates that Psilotophytes lack roots

___ The cladogram indicates that only ferns and seed plants possess trichomes (hair on the surface of leaves)

___ The cladogram shows that all land plants had a common ancestor.

 (Sorry, no figure available on the web version)

 

7. Mosses and liverworts differ from vascular plants in that:

___ Bryophytes have a 2n gametophyte

___ the gametophyte in Bryophytes is the dominant and conspicuous generation

___ the dominant generation in Bryophytes does not have stem tissue differentiated into an epidermis, ground tissue and stele.

___ Bryophytes have a gametic life cycle.

8. Special structures that superficially look like roots (but which merely serve to help anchor the individual organism) appear in which of the following groups?

___ Fungi

___ Algae

___ Bryophyta

___ Lycophyta

9. One "humongous fungus" in southern Washington is thought to be the largest living organism in the world, spreading over about 1500 acres of forest. Most of its biomass is made up of

___ the sporophyte

___ the hyphae

___ the basidia

___ a single mushroom

1. Based on the following life cycle, answer the questions below. (10 points)

  (Sorry, no figure available on the web version) 

What type of fungus does this represent? ______________________ (1)

What type of life cycle does this represent? ____________________ (1)

At what point does plasmogamy take place? Label it in the figure above. (1)

At what point does karyogamy take place? Label it in the figure above. (1)

Is there dikaryotic growth? ____ If yes, label it with "n+n" in the diagram. (1)

What do you call the sexual reproductive structure for this type of fungus? ____________________ (1)

Circle the meiospores in the figure above and label them as such. (1) Are these 1n or 2n?______ (1)

Do you expect more asexual or sexual reproduction in this type of fungus? _______ (1)

Would you expect this fungus to form mycorrhizal associations with plants? If so, what type? _____________ (1)

2. (5 points) Land plants are thought to have evolved from the Charophyceae in the Chlorophyta. List four characteristics that this class of green algae share with plants. What is one major way in which they differ?

Part 3. Essay questions. Answer 2 out of the following 3 questions in the space provided. Make your answers clear, concise, complete, and relevant to the question. (Just spewing everything that seems even remotely related is not necessarily to your advantage because it can increase the chance that you say something wrong and lose points for it.) If your writing is large and you need extra space, use the back of the page. Total points = 20.

1. (10 points) Several of the problems of living on land are linked to the competitive advantage for plants to grow taller. How are these problems linked and why do plants need to grow taller in the first place? What are the primary ways in which seedless vascular plants solved these problems compared to the Bryophytes?

2. (10 points) Describe at least one important ecological effect of algae at 1) the global scale; 2) the local scale (e.g., a single lake or estuary); and 3) at the scale of individual interactions (e.g., predation or competition). Which algal groups are involved in each? Are there ways in which some of these interactions might be linked across these broad scales of space and time, or are they relatively independent? How are humans affecting these interactions?

 3. (10 points) It’s a tough world out there, ecologically and evolutionarily speaking, but cooperation rather than competition sometimes helps organisms to survive and increase their overall fitness. Describe and compare three mutualistic interactions that we have discussed in terms of the partners involved, the "currencies" exchanged by those partners, and the specificity of the interactions. Is there any "currency" that is common among all of them? Why might this be so? Your list should include members of at least 4 kingdoms.