Ant1050 Final Fall 2009 Name: 1

Abbreviations involving time: ky, thousands of 5. In the retina of the vertebrate eye, the light-
years; my, millions of years; kya, thousands of years sensitive cells
ago; mya, millions of years ago. a. face towards the light
b. line the inner surface of the cornea
c. contain light-sensitive molecules called crys-
tallins
Multiple choice questions (1 pt d. face away from the light
each) 6. The text discussed Hawaiian flightless crickets of
the genus Laupala. This example showed that
Choose the best alternative; only one answer is cor- a. It is possible for selection to split a species in
rect. Mark each answer on the answer sheet and also two.
circle it on the test. (The test serves as a backup for b. It is possible for selection to move a population
the answer sheet.) beyond the original range of variation.
c. It is not possible for selection to split a species
1. What did we learn from the experiment of Rice in two.
and Salt? d. the crickets’ area cladogram is just as predicted
a. Selection can split a species into two reproduc- from evolutionary theory and the geological his-
tively isolated parts. tory of island formation.
b. Selection can account for complex adaptations,
such as the vertebrate eye. 7. The half-life of 238 U is 4.46 billion years. If a rock
c. Ring species become two separate species if the had a million such atoms when it was formed,
populations in the middle of the ring go extinct. how many would be left after two half-lives (8.92
billion years)?
d. Radiometric decay provides an accurate measure a. 1/4 of the original million, or 250,000 atoms
of time. b. none
2. Which of the following evolutionary transitions c. 1/2 of the original million, or 500,000 atoms
are documented by a series of intermediate fos- d. 2/3 of the original million, or 666,667 atoms
sils?
8. Creationists argue that there is a vast divide be-
a. evolution of greenish warbler from wattled ja-
tween ape and human. Consequently, it is no
cana
surprise that they all agree about which fossils
b. evolution of sea urchin from trilobite
are ape and which are human.
c. evolution of whales from land mammals
a. true
d. evolution of belding’s ground squirrel from rat
b. false
3. In class, I listed several conditions that are
required for selection to produce evolutionary 9. Lactase persistence (the ability to digest fresh
change. Which of the following was not in- milk throughout life) is common only in
cluded? a. Northern Europe and parts of Africa
a. offspring resemble parents b. North America and parts of Asia
b. variation c. Asia and parts of North America
c. some variants are more likely to survive or re- d. Asia and parts of Southern Europe
produce than others
10. Richard Dawkins’s computer simulation mimics
d. sexual reproduction
natural selection. It shows that
4. Many creationists have argued that natural se- a. most mutations are adaptive.
lection cannot produce the delicate engineering b. speciation is most likely when a species is sepa-
seen in the vertebrate eye, this argument goes rated by some barrier such as a mountain range.
back to 1859, when it was introduced by
a. Alexander Fleming c. selection cannot move a population beyond its
b. Joseph Hooker original range of variation.
c. Douglas Dewar d. selection can converge on a complex adaptation
d. Charles Pritchard and Joseph John Murphy fairly rapidly.
Ant1050 Final Fall 2009 Name: 2

11. As shown by the “Farmers and thieves” model 16. The pronounced sagittal crest along the top of
discussed in class, selection increases the re- the skulls of robust australopithecines indicates
productive success of individuals, and this in- that these species had
evitably increases the mean reproductive success a. massive jaw muscles.
of the species. b. little hair on their scalps.
a. True c. massive neck muscles.
b. False d. small brains.

12. Which of the following is a group-selection argu- 17. Brain tissue is energetically expensive. For this
ment? reason, Aiello and Wheeler (also Leonard, whom
a. Grant’s argument that beak depth of birds in- you read) argue that must have
creases in response to drought evolved together.
b. Wynne-Edward’s argument that many mam- a. large brains, bipedal locomotion, large guts
mals have fewer offspring than they are physi- b. large brains, rich diets, small guts
ologically able to do because otherwise the pop- c. large brains, bipedal locomotion, vertical fore-
ulation would overexploit its food supply and go heads
extinct. d. large brains, rich diets, opposable thumb
c. The argument, discussed in class, that selection
can move a population beyond its original range 18. In “What are men good for,” Diamond argues
of variation. that
d. Darwin’s argument that adaptation is a conse- a. selection favors males who hunt because such
quence of natural selection males get more extramarital sex.
b. men are larger than women because selection fa-
13. Selection can produce plasticity (or learning) vors large males.
when c. selection favors human males who provision their
a. the potential rate of reproduction is higher in families because the children of such males are
females than in males more likely to survive.
b. each genotype responds to environmental d. competition among sperm has adverse effect on
change in the same way females.
c. different genotypes respond to the environment
in different ways 19. The earliest anatomically modern Homo sapiens
d. the potential rate of reproduction is higher in a. appeared around 100,000 years ago
males than in females b. first appeared around 40,000 years ago
c. were found in Europe
d. had a radically different toolkit from those of
14. Among Belding’s ground squirrels, which cate- Neanderthals
gory of individuals is most likely to give an alarm
call when a predator approaches?
20. In the film The Social Brain, Damasio uses a
a. males with no relatives nearby
card game with risky and conservative choices to
b. females with relatives nearby
illustrate what happens when information from
c. females with no relatives nearby
the emotional centers of the brain do not reach
d. males with relatives nearby
the prefrontal cortex. The implication of these
studies is that
15. How long does it take for the earth’s climate a. other primates use emotion in making decisions,
to change from cold (glacial) to warm (inter- but humans do not.
glacial)? b. emotion is necessary in order to make good de-
a. Such changes always take millions of years. cisions
b. Such changes always take thousands of years. c. emotion usually interferes with good decision-
c. Such changes always take hundreds of thousands making
of years. d. emotion affects how one feels about loss, but
d. Such changes may occur in a matter of decades. does not affect decision-making
Ant1050 Final Fall 2009 Name: 3

21. According to Simon Baron-Cohen, autism is a 27. The hypothesis of maternal-fetal conflict receives
disease caused by support from the fact that
a. a deleterious mutation at the lactase locus a. maternal cells destroy the muscles around the
b. an inadequate neocortex ratio fetus’s spiral arteries
c. a viral infection of the cerebellum b. fetal cells destroy the muscles around the
d. the inability to imagine what others are thinking mother’s spiral arteries
c. maternal cells destroy the muscles around the
22. The film “The Social Brain” and lecture argued mother’s spiral arteries
that d. fetal cells destroy the muscles around the fetus’s
a. Human social cognition is a part of our general- spiral arteries
ized intelligence, rather than a specialization or
28. Paternally imprinted genes (i.e. those in which
set of specializations.
the copy inherited from the father is expressed
b. Humans have specific brain regions specialized
in the fetus),
for particular aspects of social cognition
a. tend to reduce fetal heart rate.
b. tend to increase fetal heart rate.
23. In a typical mammal, the post-reproductive lifes- c. tend to increase fetal growth.
pan is d. tend to reduce fetal growth.
a. roughly 20 percent of the total lifespan.
b. a very small fraction of the total lifespan. 29. According to Ridley, the level of specialization
found within human societies is matched else-
24. Selection acts with force on muta- where in nature only in
tions that act late in life than on those that act a. the Portuguese man of war
early. (Ignore the effect of population growth.) b. corals
a. lesser c. mitochondria
b. greater d. multicellular organisms
30. A segregation distorter is
25. The theory of mutation-selection balance holds a. a tool used by neolithic Europeans for separating
that edible fats from inedible sinew and bone.
a. If a harmful mutation acts late in life, selection b. an environmental toxin that interferes with the
will be less effective at removing it from the pop- normal Mendelian segregation of genes.
ulation. Consequently, such mutations tend to c. a person who lies in the interest of maintaining
accumulate in natural populations. racial segregation.
b. Many antagonistic interactions between people d. a gene that gets itself into more (or less) than
are prevented by pleiotropic genes. 1/2 of the gametes that are produced by the in-
c. Mutation and selection operate at similar rates dividual who carries it.
in natural populations.
d. Many antagonistic interactions between people 31. Advantages of specialization include all of the
are caused by pleiotropic genes. following except
a. Specialists get more practice at each skill they
26. Conflict between parents and offspring (and be- use.
tween mothers and fetuses) is thought to evolve b. Specialists waste less time switching between
because tasks.
a. offspring and parents prefer different TV pro- c. Specialists can afford to buy (and invent) spe-
grams cialized tools.
b. the conflict makes it harder for parents to en- d. Specialists can charge more for the same goods
courage their offspring to leave home and services.
c. parents are related equally closely to each off- 32. In the Prisoner’s Dilemma game, if your op-
spring, but each offspring is more closely related ponent plays “fink” you will do best by
to itself than to its siblings playing .
d. parents share more genes with their offspring a. mum
than the offspring share with themselves b. fink
Ant1050 Final Fall 2009 Name: 4

33. Game theory is useful for understanding behav- 39. Grasslands are inhabited by herds of large ani-
ior in which the best strategy to use mals because
a. depends on what others are doing a. grasslands burn frequently, and only large ani-
b. does not depend on what others are doing. mals are fast enough to outrun the flames.
b. when grass is eaten, it recovers quickly.
c. there is more vegetal matter in a grassland than
34. Language may have been important in the evo-
in a forest
lution of cooperation because
d. there is nowhere to hide on a grassland, so the
a. it increased the advantage of having a good rep-
animals must be large and fierce to avoid being
utation for cooperation and the disadvantage of
eaten
cheating.
b. it made living in groups possible.
40. During the ice ages, the world’s grass-
c. it increased the advantage of cheating.
lands in size.
a. increased
35. Robert Frank put a group of strangers into a b. decreased
room together for half an hour and then asked
them to predict who would cooperate and who 41. In Ultimatum and Dictator game experiments
would defect in a game of prisoner’s dilemma. It a. humans are remarkably cooperative when their
turned out that the subjects behavior is known to others, and even more co-
a. were unwilling to make such predictions. operative when choices are hidden.
b. got the right answer less often than chance alone b. humans are remarkably cooperative when their
would predict. behavior is known to others, but are less coop-
c. got the right answer more often than chance erative when choices are hidden.
alone would predict. c. humans are cooperative only when playing
d. were honest about their predictions only in a against relatives.
double-blind experiment. d. humans are more selfish than game-theoretic
models predict.
36. Rudeness is more prevalent in big cities than in
42. Robert Frank argues that emotions are helpful
small towns. Ridley suggests that this may be
in solving commitment problems because
because
a. it is easy to fake emotions. This makes it hard to
a. people are less likely to encounter each other a
detect cheaters and easy to cheat without getting
second time in a large city
caught.
b. anti-rudeness laws are stricter in small towns
b. it is hard to fake emotions. This makes it easy
c. people in small towns are more likely to fight in
to detect cheaters and hard to cheat without get-
response to rudeness
ting caught.
d. anti-rudeness laws are more likely to be enforced
in small towns
43. Among humans, rivals often form alliances for
the purpose of competing against others. This
37. Among humans, chimpanzees, and scorpionflies, behavior is
males frequently hunt for meat so that they can a. found in various species including the bottlenose
trade the meat for sex. dolphin.
a. true b. found only among humans and their closest rel-
b. false ative, the chimpanzee.
c. unique to humans.
38. Kaplan and Hill studied food sharing among the d. found only among humans and some other pri-
Ache, and found that the foods that were shared mate species.
the most
a. were the most unpredictable 44. Except in captivity, chimpanzees are peaceful
b. were richest in starch animals who never engage in lethal violence.
c. were the most energy-efficient to procure a. True
d. were least calorically rich b. False
Ant1050 Final Fall 2009 Name: 5

45. VC Wynne-Edwards believed that group selec- 50. In voluntary contribution experiments, subjects
tion was responsible for are allowed to invest tokens either in an “individ-
a. the tendency of populations to limit their own ual exchange,” which pays 10 cents per token, or
sizes. in a “group exchange,” which pays 20 cents per
b. the tendence of males to be larger and more ag- token. In the group exchange, however, the pay-
gressive than females. ment is divided evenly among group members.
c. the pervasive cooperation found in nature. In some experiments, subjects were allowed to
d. the tendency of females to be better camouflaged talk with each other between trials. These ex-
than males. periments showed that
a. cooperation persists at high levels whether sub-
jects are allowed to talk or not.
46. George Williams used the phrase “selfish herd”
b. subjects are most likely to cooperate if they are
to refer to his idea that
not allowed to talk.
a. groups of individuals can be much more cruel
c. subjects seldom cooperate.
than any single individual would be.
d. subjects are most likely to cooperate when they
b. individuals group together into herds for selfish
are allowed to talk.
reasons.
c. although there is little selfishness between indi- 51. Elinor Ostrom’s experiments (discussed by Rid-
viduals within a herd, the herds themselves be- ley) were designed to mimic the use of a common-
have selfishly toward other herds. pool resource. The experiments showed that
d. individuals within a herd behave selfishly toward a. repeated communication, even without financial
one another. sanctions, enhanced cooperation because peo-
ple could develop a strategy and bad-mouth
cheaters.
47. Group selection is more likely to be important b. the ability to impose financial sanctions, even
for culture traits than for genetic traits because without communication, greatly enhanced coop-
a. the conformist bias in learning makes group dif- eration.
ferences larger for culture traits than they are c. the ability to communicate once was as effec-
for genetic traits. tive as repeated communication, because verbal
b. the conformist bias in learning makes group dif- sanctioning of cheaters was ineffective.
ferences smaller for culture traits than they are 52. The Robber’s Cave experiment done by Sherif at
for genetic traits. a boys summer camp (discussed in class) showed
that
48. Private ownership is often seen as a solution to a. competition decreased athletic performance
the Tragedy of the Commons. However, it can among low-status but not high-status boys
make sense for the owner of a forest to cut down b. competition between groups led to intense inter-
all the trees. When is this so? group hostility and dislike, which was amelio-
a. when the growth rate of the trees exceeds the rated only when the researchers engineered a
interest rate breakdown in the camp water supply
b. when the interest rate exceeds the growth rate c. the boys were highly conformist, and followed
of the trees high-status boys and counselors when expressing
their opinions
d. competition increased athletic performance over
49. According to Ridley, traditional (non-industrial) baseline levels
peoples 53. Humans tend to be xenophobic (hostile to out-
a. are just as likely to over-exploit natural resources siders) and engage in lethal inter-group violence.
as we are. Which other species has this characteristic?
b. have caused the extinctions of some species of a. baboons
animals, but have not caused deforestation. b. bonnet macaques
c. never cause extinctions and never cause defor- c. dolphins
estation. d. chimpanzees
d. have a reverence for nature which helps them to
conserve resources.
Ant1050 Final Fall 2009 Name: 6

Short-answer questions (3 pts each)

Answer ALL BUT TWO of the following questions. Be concise: 3 or 4 sentences per question. Do not
repeat material that is given in the question.

54. In class, I argued that aging should be faster in species with high rates of externally-caused mortality.
Summarize two lines of evidence that bear on this claim.

55. Why should parent-offspring conflict arise if parents and offspring share genetic material? Explain briefly,
and provide one example from class or text that illustrates parent-offspring conflict.
Ant1050 Final Fall 2009 Name: 7

56. One might argue that people cooperate to avoid being punished. We argued in lecture that this explanation
is incomplete because punishment is itself a puzzle. Explain why punishment is puzzling.

57. Explain in words why game theory predicts that both parties will defect (play Fink) if they play a single
round of Prisoner’s Dilemma.
Ant1050 Final Fall 2009 Name: 8

58. How do outcomes change when the “Dictator Game” is made double blind?

59. Manfred Milinski’s (2006) experiment was designed to discover what conditions would make subjects more
likely to sacrifice in order to prevent global climate change. What did he learn?

Don’t forget to write your name on the test.