EART 65
Spring, 2008
FINAL REVIEW SHEET
To prepare for the final exam in EART 65 you should:
1. Review your lecture notes.
2. Review the relevant text chapters (including figures and cladograms).
3. Review section assignments and quizzes to date.
4. Make sure you can answer the questions posed on this review sheet.
5. With respect to species and groups, know the names in bold.
6. Buy a scantron test form (big pink one) and a Number 2 pencil to bring with you to the exam.
7. Arrive at the exam without any electronics (iPods, phones, etc.).
8. There will be no makeup exams. Show up and take the exam.
9. One third of the points on the exam will be for questions on the first half of the class. Two thirds
will be for the material we covered after the midterm. I will not ask hyper-specific questions about
animal groups from the first half (i.e., I won't expect you to remember shared derived characters for
the clades we discussed then). I will ask about general evolutionary trends and any theoretical issue
we covered.
10. There will be images, diagrams, and cladograms on the exam so don’t forget to review visuals.
11. You will be allowed to bring one 8.5x11" sheet of notes to the exam, with text on both
sides of the paper.
12. There will be ~75 questions on the exam.
NEW STUFF FOR THIS EXAM
DINOSAUR METABOLISM
Know the definitions of the following terms: metabolism, endothermy, ectothermy, homeothermy,
poikilothermy
How are metabolic rate, activity level, endurance, internal body temperature, oxygen consumption,
food intake linked in living animals, body size, and geographic distribution linked in modern
animals?
Besides differences in metabolic rate, what other strategies do animals use to control their internal
body temperature (e.g., panting, sweating, fur/blubber, exercise, etc.) in their optimum range?
Is an active animal with a high metabolic rate more likely to be homeothermic or heterothermic?
Are endotherms evolutionarily superior to ectotherms? Evidence?
Understand the table in the lecture notes, as well as the points raised in lecture, that deal with links
between the following lines of evidence and the debate over dinosaur metabolism: posture,
trackways and activity levels; feeding adaptations; bone microstructure (LAGS, remodeling, rapid
growth bone); growth rates and growth patterns; oxygen isotopes; nasal cavity volume and nasal
turbinates; dinosaur relationships; body insulation; geographic distribution; predator/prey ratios;
surface:volume ratios and gigantothermy
Which living vertebrates are endotherms? Are all mammals endothermic homeotherms?
Understand why we think the following animals were warm and how they got that way: dinosaur
babies, small theropods, large theropods, and very large dinosaurs.
Is there evidence that metabolic rate changes during the life of a dinosaur?
DINOSAUR PALEOBIOLOGY
Review information on how we determine the weights of animals (presented on 08-0501).
What kind of trace fossils of their behavior did dinosaurs leave?
What kinds of evidence about dinosaurs can we obtain from studying their footprints?
Understand how we calculate animal speed from stride length. Know the definitions of stride length,
speed, relative stride length, and relative speed. Understand the three equations presented in
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class regarding speed calculation. I might ask you how long a dinosaur leg was, given that it’s foot
print is a certain length, or what its relative stride length was, if it’s actual stride length was X and
its footprint length was Y.
What do we know about bite force in T. rex (and how do we know it)? What does it say about the diet
of T. rex?
Is there evidence for cannibalism in dinosaurs?
Is there evidence for parental care of young at their nests? If yes, what is it?
Understand how the following traits are distributed on the Archosaur-Dinosaur cladogram: hard
eggshells, organic piles to heat shells, partially buried eggs, eggs laid in pairs, eggs not buried at
all and capable of rotation
Understand how we use LAGs and other accreted tissues to reconstruct growth rates of dinosaurs.
Be able to recognize a growth curve that might characterize a dinosaur vs. crocodile.
Understand how the period of rapid growth differs among birds, mammals, dinosaurs and other
reptiles.
How did theropods achieve very large size, and how this differs from the pattern in large living
varanids/lepidosaurs (growing faster or living longer)?
Understand the difference between life histories with high juvenile mortality, high adult mortality, and
constant mortality. Which pattern did theropod dinosaurs show?
DINOSAUR BEHAVIOR
Understand the relationship between body size and brain size differs between mammals, birds, and
reptiles. Understand how we estimate the Encephalization Quotient of dinosaurs, and have a
sense of the EQs of the major groups of dinosaurs (Sauropods, Stegosaurs, Ankylosaurs,
Ceratopsians, Ornithopods, Carnosaurs, Coelurosaurs). By sense, I mean: very low, 0.5 to 1,
greater than 1, much greater than 1.
How can we reconstruct the way the head was held by studying endocasts? What groups has this
method been applied to that we discussed in class?
What have we learned about dinosaur social interactions from trackway evidence? From nesting
sites? From head ornamentation?
Understand the difference between asexual reproduction (mere duplication), sexual reproduction
(swapping and combining genetic information) and internal fertilization? In which group did internal
fertilization first arise in vertebrate animals? In which group is it absolutely essential (if they intend
to reproduce sexually)?
Understand the logic we map behaviors on to cladograms to deduce the behaviors of extinct groups.
How is same sex coupling distributed on the amniote cladogram? Given this distribution what did
we conclude about the possibility that dinosaurs engaged in same sex coupling behavior? What
caveats were raised regarding this approach to studying animal behavior?
BIRDS
What are the derived characters that can be used to distinguish living birds from other living reptiles
(e.g., feathers [including ones designed for flight], keeled sternum, pygostyle, toothless, opposable
big toe, modified shoulder for upstroke, tarsometatarus, alula, carpometacarpus,
furcula=wishbone, hollow air-filled bones)? Understand how these characters relate to the unique
lifestyle of birds.
Some of these traits actually arose in theropods dinosaurs. Which ones?
What is the oldest bird (and how old is it)? Where was it found?
What avian characters did the oldest bird possess?
What non-avian theropod characters did the oldest bird possess?
Could the oldest known bird fly? Evidence?
Be able to recognize traits that link birds to theropod dinosaurs (I gave you a list).
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What is the evolutionary significance of the feathered dinosaurs?
How can you distinguish a feather used for flight from other types of feathers?
How do we know that feathered non-avian dinosaurs did not fly?
For what purposes other than flying might feathers have evolved?
What evidence is used to argue that birds are descended from non-dinosaurian archosaurs?
Aviales: group that includes last common ancestor of Archaeopteryx and living birds SDC:
asymmetric feathers (flight), keeled sternum, pneumatic bones, opposable big toe?
Pygostylia: e.g., Confuciusornis. SDC: pygostyle, large corocoid bone between arm and sternum
Ornithothoraces: two groups with the following SDCs: carpometacarpus, flexible wishbonefurcula, modified backstroke shoulder
Enantiornithes: dominent birdsof Mesozoic; don’t worry about SDCs
Ornithurines (also called Ornithuromorpha): e.g., Cretaceous forms such as Hesperornis,
Ichthyornis, and well as modern birds, SDC: full backward rotation of pubis, synsacrum,
tarsometatarsus
Aves (also called Neornithes): modern birds, dominant after the K-T extinction, SDC:
toothless
FLYING REPTILES
How do vertebrates fly?
Who were the first flying vertebrates? When did they fly? How did they fly?
What are the main physical characteristics of the early pterosaurs? When did they live?
What are the main physical characteristics of the pterodactyloids? When did they live?
How do the bird and bat reconstructions of pterosaurs differ? What do trackway and data suggest is
the correct reconstruction?
What is wing loading? Did pterosaurs have high or low wing loadings? How did big pterosaurs get off
the ground?
How do pterosaur brains resemble bird brains? What are the implications of the huge flocculus in
pterosaurs? What has been learned from their semi-circular canals?
What kinds of food did many pterosaurs eat?
MARINE REPTILES
Know the temporal durations, habitats, basic body forms, and diets of the following:
Sauropterygians: Placodonts, Nothosaurs, Plesiosaurids and Pliosaurs
Early and late ichthyosaurs
Mosasaurs
Know which ones are basal diapsids and which are lepidosaurs.
What is unusual about ichthyosaur eyes?
Which marine reptiles certainly had live birth?
How did different marine reptiles move through the water?
MAMMALS AND MESOZOIC ECOLOGY
What are the "soft" traits that characterize mammals? What are the "hard" traits that characterize
mammals? How did these traits arise through the history of synapsids?
How do mammal teeth differ from reptile teeth?
How do mammal skulls differ from reptile skulls? Why do mammals have such a large synapsid
opening?
How did the jaw joint change during the origin of mammals? How did hearing change? Understand
the way that the malleus and incus evolved.
How did mammals solve the problem of walking and breathing simultaneously? Of chewing and
breathing simultaneously?
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Morganucodon: first mammal, late Triassic, SDC: three middle ear bones attached to lower jaw,
GC: Small, shrew-like insectivore, agile climber and jumper
Monotremes: most primitive living mammals, Cretaceous (must be older lineages that have never
been found)-Recent, SDC: milk; hair; ear bones shift from lower jaw to skull during
development, GC: egg-laying, omnivores and insectivores, some have electroreception
Multituberculates: extinct primitive mammals, Jurassic-Eocene; SDC: one bone in lower jaw;
incisors-premolars-molars, GC: rat to rabbit-sized, rodent-like animal, herbivores
Marsupials: pouched mammals, Cretaceous-Recent, SDC: live birth of embryonic forms with pouch
development, GC: Mesozoic marsupials were opossum-like, omnivores and insectivores
Placentals: most living mammals, Cretaceous-Recent, SDC: nourish young internally with placenta intergrowth of maternal/neonate tissue, GC: Mesozoic one were shrew-like
(Marsupials and placentals are united by possess of complex triangular teeth)
Understand the differences between placentals and mammals in growth rate, brain size and
metabolic rate.
Know which groups of dinosaurs were important in the Triassic vs. Jurassic vs. Cretaceous.
Know the overarching issues about dinosaur faunas and diversity through time (bullet points at end of
mammal lecture).
EXTINCTIONS
When were the five great mass extinctions?
Other than killing off lots of plants and animals, what did these mass extinctions share?
Who were the main victims of the K-T extinction?
What is meant by the term "Strange Love Ocean"?
What is the fern spike?
What type of animals on the continents survived reasonably well?
How might sea level change have led to extinction?
How might climate change have led to extinction?
How might volcanisms have led to extinction?
Make sure you understand the following types of evidence for asteroid/comet impact as the cause of
extinction: the iridium anomaly, glass spherulites/tektites, ash or soot layers, shocked quartz,
asteroid fragments, tempestites, the Chicxulub crater
How might asteroid/comet impact have led to extintion?
Is there a dinosaur gap at the end of the Cretaceous?
What are the implications of finding dinosaur fossils in early Cenozoic rocks?
How did avian dinosaurs respond after the KT extinction?
Are species ever safe from extinction?
Were dinosaurs ecological or evolutionary failures?
KEY POINTS FROM FIRST TWO THIRDS OF THE CLASS
How did people in the ancient world interpret the skeletons of dinosaurs?
What are the genus names of the two first-recognized dinosaurs? Who described them?
Who came up with the term ‘Dinosauria’?
How did Owen's interpretations and reconstructions of dinosaurs influence our understanding of these
animals over the next 100 years?
What is a fossil?
What kinds of organic materials are most commonly preserved as fossils? Why?
What is the difference between trace fossils and body fossils?
What is taphonomy?
What taphonomic processes commonly alter organic remains before they’re buried?
Know the geological time scale you were presented in class.
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What principles allow local geologic beds and events to be placed in relative temporal order?
What are the key principles and assumptions underlying lithostratigraphic correlation?
What are the key principles and assumptions underlying biostratigraphic correlation?
What are the key principles and assumptions underlying absolute dating using the decay of
radioactive elements? What is half life?
What is the Scala Naturae?
What is evolution? How does it differ from creationism or spontaneous generation?
What evidence did Darwin offer to prove that evolution, not creationism, best explain the biologic
world?
What are the key principles underpinning the theory of natural selection (one possible explanation for
evolution)?
How did Darwin explain design in nature (adaptation)? How did Paley and Buckland explain design?
Be able to read information off a cladogram.
What advantages, if any, come from having upright posture? Why can’t living reptiles walk and breath
at the same time?
When did dinosaurs first appear? Know the basic ecology of the earliest dinosaurs
Why are Lagosuchus, Herrerasaurus, and Pisanosaurus important?
Why do animals have stereoscopic vision? Did all theropods have excellent stereoscopic vision?
What are some ideas about the function(s) of the plates and spines of stegosaurs?
What factor makes it difficult to imagine that stegosaurs could move fast?
How did ankylosaurs defend themselves? How did they engage in offense?
Understand the different ways that animals may convert from carnivore to herbivore. What is the key
problem facing herbivores? How do animals over come this? How are small picky animals
different than large, indiscriminant animals? Be able to supply examples of both.
Understand the different ways that we estimate the weight of dinosaurs (scale replica approach and
relationships between leg area and mass). Why does the cross-sectional area of the leg increase in
dimensions faster than the length of the leg, or length of the dinosaur? I.e., why is it getting larger
“stressful”. What is stress and what is strength, and how do both increase with size of the animal?
How do animals get large without breaking their legs?
What is the evidence for and against direct head butting in pachycephalosaurs?
What is sexual dimorphism and how do we recognize it in the fossil record?
Understand the ideas about the roles of horns and frills in ceratopsids. What is the evidence for
within-species combat? What is the evidence for use of frills in species recognition?
How did more advanced ceratopsians process their food?
What is the evidence for relatively complex social behavior in ceratopsians?
How did ornithopods process their food?
What lines of evidence suggest complex social behaviors in ornithopods?
If I ask you in a multiple-choice or true-false question to identify a shared derived character of one of
the following non-dinosaur groups, be able to do so. I will try to pick the most obvious trait:
Chordates, Vertebrates, Gnathostomes, Tetrapods, Amniotes, Synapsids, Diapsids, Archosaurs,
Ornithodirans, Pterosaurs
If I ask you in a multiple-choice question to identify a shared derived character of one of the following
dinosaur groups, be able to do so. I will try to pick the most obvious trait:
Saurischia, Sauropoda, Prosauropoda, Theropoda, Carnosauria, Coelurosauria, Ornithischia,
Fabrosaurids, Ornithopoda, Pachycephalosauria, Ceratopsia, Psittacosauria, Neoceratopsia,
Stegosaura, Ankylosauria,
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