Evolutionary Biology Extinction: When species come to an end by Devin Reese, PhD. Reading Quiz Teach with this 1. If red baseball caps are the species, which is the BEST metaphor for extinction? Your local store running out of red baseball caps. Baseball caps are no longer carried by a chain store. Your own red baseball cap falling apart into tatters. A final shutdown of the red baseball cap industry. 2. Which is the BEST estimate of average background extinction rates? 0 species per million per year 1 species per million per year 10 species per million per year 100 species per million per year 3. Taking into account this plot from a 2017 paper, how does animal harvest likely relate to threat of extinction? Ripple et al., 2017 Smaller animals are harvested more, leading to higher extinction risk. Smaller animals are harvested less, leading to higher extinction risk. Larger animals are harvested more, leading to higher extinction risk. Larger animals are harvested less, leading to higher extinction risk. 4. Global changes, like warming events or natural disasters, can cause mass extinctions, but are not a factor in more gradual background extinction rates. true false 5. What can scientists hypothesize based on a plot of mollusk species characteristics against extinction rates? CC BY 4.0 DEED Pimento et al., 2020 When particular species went extinct, evidenced by their fossils. When particular species went extinct, evidenced by their characteristics. What may have caused certain species to grow to larger sizes than others. What may have caused species with certain characteristics to go extinct. 6. Which is the BEST explanation for why today there are more species of Old World monkeys than of hominoids (apes and humans)? CC BY 4.0 Scott, 2022 Hominoids experienced lots of extinctions. Hominoids never had much species diversity. Old World monkeys never had much species diversity. Old World monkeys experienced lots of extinctions. 7. Characteristics of species that tend to contribute to extinction risk include life history, ecological niche, and geographic distribution. true false 8. If extinction rates (μ) during a particular interval of time are lower than speciation rates (λ), what happens to species diversity? Diversity goes up because there're more new species arising compared to species going extinct. Diversity goes up because there're are fewer new species arising compared to species going extinct. Diversity goes down because there're are more new species arising compared to species going extinct. Diversity goes down because there're are fewer new species arising compared to species going extinct. 9. What is the BEST description of the human family tree? S.V. Medaris, University of Wisconsin - Madison It includes several species, a few of which went extinct. It includes several species, most of which went extinct. It includes a couple dozen species, a few of which went extinct. It includes a couple dozen species, most of which went extinct. 10. Extinction is a total wipeout of a species, ending both its physical presence on Earth and the existence of its genes. true false Score Quiz
