1. a. Radiolaria b. Monera c. Animalia d. Protista e. Fungi

2. a. agglutinate b. porcelaneous c. siliceous d. hyaline e. pseudochitinous

3. a. bilateral b. radial c. multivariate d. tetraradial

4. a. pinacocyte b. porocyte c. mesenchyme d. scleroblast e. charophyte

5. a. Halysitina b. Milleporina c. Syringoporina d. Favositina e. Auloporina

1. carbonization - Mode of fossilization in which organic remains are preserved as a film of carbon, more volatile components such as H and O having been driven off in a reducing environment.

2. R mode analysis - Multivariate analysis in which 2 characters arrayed in a character matrix are compared for all specimens or taxa in the matrix.

3. pseudopodia - "false feet"; the lobate or filamentous extensions of the cell of some protists, such as forams. Pseudopodia may function in locomotion, prey capture and other processes of the organism.

4. medusa - The sexually-reproducing, free-living generation in Cnidaria, and the dominant form in the Scyphozoa. The oral surface and tentacles are oriented downward beneath an umbrella-shaped bell

5. archeocytes - another name for the amoebocytes that occupy the mesenchyme of sponges and serve a variety of purposes, such as secreting spicules, distribution of nutrients, etc.

6. stromatoporoids - encrusting reef- building organisms common in the Paleozoic with a structure of laminae separated by vertical pillars, now thought to be sclerospnges.

7. conulariids - Paleozoic fossils consisting of a conical structure made up of strips of calcium phosphate. Thought to be scyphozoan because of tetraradial symmetry.

8. ontogeny - All of the developmental stages that an organism passes through in its growth, or the process of development itself.

9. gamont - the sexually-reproducing generation of forams that exhibit alternation of generations. Characterized by a small megalospheric test.

1. What are the common growth strategies employed by organisms with hard (sclerotized) parts? Provide an example for each. (15) 1. Accretion - Increments of material are added on to the existing skeleton, which is retained throughout life. e.g. mollusk or brachiopod shell, coral corallite 2. Addition of parts - New skeletal elements re added at the end of or between existing elements. e.g. echinoid plates, crinoid columnals. 3. molting - The current exoskeleton is shed and the organism secretes a new, larger exoskeleton. e.g. arthropods 4. Growth with modification - Existing skeletal elements grow and change form with the organism. e.g. vertebrate bone. Mixed growth strategies - combinations of two or more of the above. e.g. echinoderms may add parts which continue to grow and change shape.

2. Explain the principle of similitude. How does this relate to the origin of multicellular organisms? (10) As organisms increase in size by some factor of their linear dimensions, their surface area increses by the square of that factor and their volume by the cube. This becomes a problem because while volume and mass increase as the cube of the scaling factor, the function of many organ systems is determined by surface area or cross-sectional area, which only increases as the square of that factor. Therefore as a single, equidimensional cell increases in size, the amount of living matter quickly outstrips the capacity of the cell to carry on such essential functions as gas exchange. If the cell becomes very flat , it can preserve a favorable surface to volume ratio, but becomes weaker and more vulnerable. Multicellularity permits organisms to develop to large size by increasing the number of similar cells thus preserving the surface to volume ratio of the cells.

3. Name three materials of different composition commonly used by organisms to construct hard parts. For each, provide an example of a group that does so. (10)

Calcium carbonate in the form of either calcite (echinoderms, mollusks, forams, etc.) or aragonite (mollusks, coral, etc.) Opaline silica is secreted by radiolaria, diatoms, silicoflagellates, sponges, etc. Calcium phosphate is used by brachiopods, arthropods, vertebrates, etc.

4. What is dimorphism and what are its causes? Give an example. (5)

The occurrence in a normal species population of two distinct stable morphologies. This may be caused by sexual dimorphism (differences between male and female), by alternation of generations with morphologicaly distinct forms, or by the persistence in the population of a variant that is only adaptive if it is uncommon.

5. What do rarefaction curves tell us about the relationship between sample size and taxonomic diversity, and how does this affect the way we interpret the fossil record with respect to the history of diversity? (10)

Rarefaction curves show that as sample size increases, the taxonomic diversity of the sample tends to increase. This is important in interpreting the history of diversity of species from the fossil record. The fossil record seems to show an increase in diversity throughout the Phanerozoic. But younger sediments are much more abundantly preserved and accessible than older sediments, so the larger sample they provide would yield greater taxonomic diversity even if the actual level of diversity remained constant throughout geologic time. Therefore, the fossil record does not provide strong evidence of increasing diversity throughout time.

6. What is endosymbiosis? What important event in the history of life has been explained as a result of this phenomenon? (5)

Endosymbiosis is a cooperative relationship between species in which one type of organism live entirely within the other. Specialized prokaryotes living within other prokaryotes may have become organelles, thus giving rise to eukaryotes.

7. What are lagerstatten? Give an example of one. (5)

Lagerstatten are localities where the quantity and/or quality of preservation of the fossil organisms is exceptional. It is lagerstatten that provide a fossil record of organisms otherwise unknown from fossils because of lack of hard parts, or some other preservational bias. They may also provide evidence of the morphology of structure not usually preserved. e.g. Burgess Shale - Cambrian, Mazon Creek - Pennsylvanian, etc.

8. The fossil sample represented in the table below appears to represent a population killed and buried by a catastrophic flood. From this data prepare a life table. Indicate lx, dx and mortality rate for each age class. (10)

Age class # of specimens

1 yr. 30

2 yr. 20

sub-adult 15

adult 10

late mature 8

lx	dx	mortality
30	10	.333
20	5	.25
15	5	.333
10	2	.20
8	8	1.0

10. What is the purpose of description in paleontology and how does this purpose influence the choice of descriptive technique? Give examples. (10)

The purpose of description is to make one's observations available to others, the scientific community, thereby making them objective. Observations are only meaningful in science as tests of a hypothesis. Therefore, the hypothesis dictates the type of observations and the techniques most appropriate to their description that will best serve as tests of the hypothesis. In lieu of a novel hypothesis, observations of novel phenomena may be reported as evidence testing longstanding hypotheses such as the taxonomic relationships among all living organisms. For example, if the hypothesis concerns the ultrastructure of some skeletal element, scanning electron micrography may be the most appropriate means of illustrating the feature in question. On the other hand description of a new species may require a more general description by photography or drawing and a generalized verbal description.

11. There are trends of progressive change in morphology that occur throughout the evolutionary history of the fusulinids in three distinct aspects of their morphology. What are they? Describe the changes in each. (15)

The trends that affect fusulinids are: 1) increasing size, tests become progressively larger throughout the record of fusulinids. 2) increasingly complex fluting of septa which divides chambers into smaller chamberlets. 3) change in the ultrastructure of the test wall from profusulinellid, with an organic tectum sandwiched between calcareous upper and lower tectoria, to fusulinellid, in which a thick clear layer of calcite, the diaphanotheca, is added between tectum and lower tectorium, to schwagerinid, in which the tectoria are lost and the diaphanotheca becomes perforated by numerous pores to become a keriotheca.

12. Describe the composition and morphology of sponge spicules and the distribution of these characteristics among the classes of sponges (10)

Sponge spicules may be composed of calcium carbonate, found in the Calcarea (Calcispongea), opaline silica, found in Hyalospongea (Hexactinellida) and Demospongea, or spongin, found only in Demospongea. Their shape may be monaxon, with a single axis, triaxon, with three axes at right angles, found only in the Hexactinellida, or tetraxon, with four axes in a tetrahedral arrangement.

13. Diagram and describe the pattern of addition of the septa in rugose corals. Label diagrams. (15)