Which feature unites paramecia, malarial parasites, and dinoflagellates into a single group?

Question

A.  The use of cilia
B.  A parasitic life style
C.  The presence of a nucleus
D.  The type of ribosomes
E.  The possession of alveoli

Clarify Question
· What is the key concept addressed by the question?
· What type of thinking is required?

Gather Content
· What do you already know about each of these three groups? How does it relate to the question?
· What other information is related to the question? Which information is most useful?
 
Choose Answer
· Given what you now know, what information and/or problem solving approach is most likely to produce the correct answer?
 
Reflect on Process · Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
 

Answer 1

E.  The possession of alveoli

Clarify Question
· What is the key concept addressed by the question?
        o This question asks you to compare what you know about paramecia, malarial parasites, and dinoflagellates. What characteristics do these three taxa have in common?
· What type of thinking is required?
        o This question is an “apply” question, so it is asking for you to take a concept you already know (each of these taxa individually) and apply it to a new scenario to solve the problem.
 
Gather Content
· What do you already know about each of these three groups? How does it relate to the question?
        o Do all three have cilia? a nucleus? alveoli?
        o Are they all parasitic?
        o Do they all have the same type of ribosomes?
· What other information is related to the question? Which information is most useful?
        o Once you have figured out the traits all three groups have in common, you need to address the other part of the question: Which of these traits unites the three taxa on the phylogenetic tree?
 
Choose Answer
· Given what you now know, what information and/or problem solving approach is most likely to produce the correct answer?
        o Look at the Protist family tree. Which traits do these three taxa have but the other Protists do not? All three taxa probably have mitochondria, but so do the other Protists, so that feature isn’t particularly useful when grouping taxa on the family tree.
 
Reflect on Process · Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
        o This question asked you to determine which of the traits unites the three taxa on the phylogenetic tree. Answering this question required you to:
            · compare the traits of the three taxa to see which traits they have in common
            · compare the three taxa to the other protists to see which traits are unique to these three taxa.
        o If you got the correct answer, great job!
        o If you got an incorrect answer, where did you get stuck?
            · Did you choose “the presence of a nucleus”? While paramecia, sporozoans, and dinoflagellates all have nuclei, so do all of the other protists. This trait cannot be used to group these three taxa on the tree.
            · Did you look at the tree? Did you notice that these three taxa are grouped under “Alveolata”? The names of groups can give you a hint as to the distinguishing feature that grouped the taxa together.