Chapter 30. Diversity Simulation

Set up the simulation to represent the historical split of organisms into animals and non-animals. If you were to continue to run this simulation over millions of generations to simulate the evolutionary history of animals, which of the following would occur?

Suppose you use the simulation to analyze traits in groups before and after the split that led to the protostomes and deuterostomes. Which of the following will be absent in both of these lineages?

Suppose you could add environmental selection pressures to the simulation to see how environmental factors influence the diversification of organisms. Which environmental condition is best matched to a predicted evolutionary outcome?

It has been hypothesized that the earliest split in the animal phylogenetic tree resulted in one branch that led to ctenophores and another group that led to all other animals. Use the simulation to show this split. Then continue with the simulation to show how additional splits gave rise to the placozoans and sponges. Which description fits the steps you used for this simulation?