Biology of the Vertebrates Study Questions F2010
Note: These study questions are not comprehensive. They are meant to supplement your lecture notes as you review them, and alert you to the ways in which you should be thinking about the material, and formulate questions to test yourself. Exams will NOT be limited to the material highlighted in these questions, or their formats, so your lecture notes and handouts should be your primary reference.
Contents
Lecture 1 (31 August 2010)
1. What are the reasons for studying a particular group of organisms such as vertebrates?
2. List the basic functions of living organisms. Provide a vertebrate example for each.
3. What is a mechanical constraint? Explain it in terms of one of the three examples (e.g., lizards, Darwin's finches, Hydromantes salamanders) discussed in lecture.
4. Why weren't the ancestors of lizards subject to the same constraint? How have some lizard relatives escaped from this constraint?
Lecture 2 (2 September 2010)
1. Hydromantes salamanders have a high performance, ballistic tongue. What two trade-offs have allowed for this?
2. What is a "monophyletic lineage"? Draw the vertebrate phylogeny and label all major monophyletic groups discussed in lecture.
3. Which major taxonomic group of vertebrates is the most speciose? The least?
4. What vertebrates belong in the monophyletic lineage Lepidosauria? Synapsida? Actinopterygii?
5. What are the five major deuterostome lineages? Provide a representative from each lineage.
6. Briefly discuss the controversy surrounding Xenoturbella. Most recent studies suggest this organism belongs in what taxonomic group?
*Please refer to the 
Phylogeny Tutorial and Tree Quiz for additional help with phylogenetic trees*
Lecture 3 (7 September 2010)
1. Define the term "sister group". What is the sister group of chordates? What is the sister group of vertebrates?
2. Describe "lateral undulation". List three organisms discussed in today's (and past) lectures that use this form of locomotion.
3. What is a "homolog" and give an example.
4. List three key traits (features) found in chordates. Why are Urochordates (sea squirts, tunicates) considered to be chordates when they do not possess any of these features as adults?
5. Describe the feeding behaviors of amphioxus (subphylum Cephalochordata), tunicates (subphylum Urochordata), and hagfishes (subphylum Vertebrata, Myxinoidea). In what group do we see the beginning of a complex digestive system (i.e., midgut cecum)?
6. Describe the reproductive strategies of amphioxus (subphylum Cephalochordata), tunicates (subphylum Urochordata), and hagfishes (subphylum Vertebrata, Myxinoidea). Which of these lineages has the ability of reproduce clonally?
7. Describe the circulatory system of amphioxus (subphylum Cephalochordata), and tunicates (subphylum Urochordata). Which of these groups has a heart?
8. What is direct development? Which of the lineages discussed today consist of direct developers?
9. Why are the "teeth" of hagfish (Myxinoidea) not homologous (i.e., evolutionarily related structures) to the teeth of other vertebrates lineages, like sharks, bony fishes, and mammals? How do hagfishes have the ability to generate significant bite force despite lacking a jaw?
10. What are the two components of hagfish slime? What else do these two components mix with to generate huge amounts of slime?
Lecture 4 (9 September 2010)
1. What is a "synapomorphy"? List the chordate synapomorphies. Which of these are considered to be controversial chordate synapomorphies because similar structures are found in other non-chordate lineages?
2. Provide a brief description of what the probable morphology of the ancestral chordate was. What conclusions can be drawn about its life history and reproductive behavior, given what we know about extant (living) chordate lineages?
3. List three vertebrate synapomorphies. List two hagfish synapomorphies. Both hagfish and lampreys are similar in overall body size and shape (e.g., elongate, and without paired appendages). What are some key morphological/anatomical features that can be used to differentiate between these two organisms?
4. Describe the life history and reproductive behavior of the lamprey (Petromyzontoidea). In what ways does it differ from that of the hagfish (Myxinoidea)?
5. What is a "lateral line system"? In what extant vertebrate lineage do we first see a lateral line system?
6. What key features place the Cambrian fossil Haikouella in the vertebrate lineage? Where would you place it on the vertebrate phylogeny? What are two distinct traits seen in the Cambrian fossil Haikouichthyes (Myllokumingia) that are not seen in Haikouella?
7. What are "conodont fossils"? Why did it take so long to determine what they actually were (i.e., what organism they belonged to)? Where would you place conodont fossils on the vertebrate phylogeny?
