BIO 200 Test 1 Material

What is zoology?

The scientific study of animals.

Why is evolution the foundation of zoology?

Evolution explains animal diversity and relationships among animals.

What is the scientific method?

A process used to observe phenomena and expand knowledge.

What is a hypothesis?

A proposed explanation that can be tested.

What is a prediction?

An expected result based on a hypothesis.

What is a scientific theory?

A broad scientific explanation supported by evidence.

What are the major steps of the scientific method?

Observation, questions, background research, hypothesis, experiment, data analysis and conclusions, and communication of results.

Why is background research important?

It provides information that helps scientists develop and test hypotheses.

What is ornithology?

The study of birds.

What is entomology?

The study of insects.

What is mammalogy?

The study of mammals.

What is ichthyology?

The study of fish.

What is arachnology?

The study of arachnids.

What is malacology?

The study of mollusks.

What is embryology?

The study of development from a fertilized egg until major organ systems have formed.

What is monoecious?

Having male and female reproductive organs in the same individual.

What is dioecious?

Having male and female reproductive organs in different individuals.

What is cleavage?

Mitotic divisions during early development.

What are blastomeres?

The cells produced by cleavage.

What happens to embryo size during cleavage?

The embryo does not get larger; its cells become progressively smaller.

What is a morula?

A solid ball of cells, usually containing 16-32 blastomeres.

What is a blastula?

A hollow ball of cells containing a fluid-filled blastocoel.

What is a gastrula?

A developmental stage in which invagination begins and the basic body plan starts to form.

What are the three primary germ layers?

Ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm.

What structures develop from the ectoderm?

The outer body wall and nervous system.

What structures develop from the mesoderm?

Muscles, blood, skeletal structures, and reproductive systems.

What structures develop from the endoderm?

The inner lining of the digestive and respiratory tracts.

What does the neural tube become?

The brain, spinal cord, and nerves.

Why can similar embryos develop into different animals?

Different patterns of gene expression produce different developmental pathways and body plans.

What is cephalization?

The concentration of nervous tissue and sensory organs toward the anterior end.

What is bilateral symmetry?

A body organization with approximate left and right halves.

What is radial symmetry?

A body organization in which body parts are arranged around a central axis.

What did Buffon suggest about species?

Comparative anatomy and vestigial structures suggested that species might change.

What did Lamarck propose?

The inheritance of acquired characters.

What did Weismann's mouse-tail experiment demonstrate?

Acquired body changes are not inherited; inherited changes must involve genetic material passed through eggs or sperm.

What is uniformitarianism?

The idea that geological processes operating today also operated in the past.

What is artificial selection?

Human-directed selection in which chosen individuals reproduce, causing populations to change over generations.

What did Malthus contribute to Darwin's thinking?

Populations can produce more individuals than the environment can support, creating competition.

What are the four observations underlying natural selection?

Overproduction, variation, heritability with differential success, and change across generations.

What is overproduction?

Producing more offspring than the environment can support.

What is variation?

Differences among individuals within a population on which selection can act.

How does natural selection affect advantageous heritable traits?

Individuals with advantageous traits leave more offspring, making those traits more common over generations.

What is the distinction between individuals and populations in evolution?

Individuals are selected, but populations evolve.

What is natural selection?

Differential survival and reproduction associated with heritable variation.

Who independently developed the theory of natural selection alongside Darwin?

Alfred Russel Wallace.

When did Darwin and Wallace jointly present their ideas?

1858.

When was On the Origin of Species published?

1859.

Who was known as "Darwin's Bulldog"?

Thomas Huxley.

What did Mendel contribute to evolutionary theory?

His work helped explain inheritance.

What processes generate heritable variation?

Mutation and recombination.

What is the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis?

The integration of genetics with natural selection and other evolutionary processes.

How is evolution defined?

Change in inherited characteristics of a population across generations.

What are major lines of evidence for evolution?

Fossils, anatomy, development, biogeography, and genetics.

What are homologous structures?

Structures with the same underlying structural pattern despite having different functions.

What do homologous structures indicate?

Common ancestry.

What is phyletic gradualism?

A model in which morphological change accumulates slowly and continuously over long periods.

What is punctuated equilibrium?

A model involving long periods of little change interrupted by relatively rapid evolutionary change associated with speciation.

How do gradualism and punctuated equilibrium differ?

They differ in the pace and pattern of morphological change through geological time.

What is systematics?

The study of biological diversity and evolutionary relationships.

What are the three goals of systematists?

Identify species, reconstruct evolutionary relationships, and communicate those relationships.

What is taxonomy?

The science of naming and organizing organisms.

What evidence can determine evolutionary relatedness?

Anatomy and morphology, development, fossils, and genetics.

Who formalized binomial nomenclature?

Carolus Linnaeus.

Why are scientific names useful?

They provide a standardized language for identifying organisms.

What is binomial nomenclature?

A system in which each species receives a two-part scientific name.

What are the two parts of a scientific name?

Genus and specific epithet.

What are the formatting rules for scientific names?

The genus is capitalized, the specific epithet is lowercase, and both are italicized when typed.

What is a taxon?

A named group of organisms at any level of classification.

What is the plural of taxon?

Taxa.

What is the taxonomic hierarchy from broadest to most specific?

Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.

What mnemonic represents the taxonomic hierarchy?

King Philip Came Over For Good Soup.

What happens as you move downward through the taxonomic hierarchy?

Groups become more specific and generally contain more closely related organisms.

What domain do all animals belong to?

Eukarya.

What kingdom do all animals belong to?

Animalia.

What is the Biological Species Concept?

A species consists of organisms that can interbreed, produce viable offspring, and are reproductively isolated from other species.

Why is the Biological Species Concept difficult to apply to fossils and asexual organisms?

Fossils cannot be tested for interbreeding, and asexual organisms do not reproduce by interbreeding.

What is homology?

Similarity resulting from inheritance from a common ancestor.

What is phylogeny?

The evolutionary relationships among organisms.

What do the tips of a phylogenetic tree represent?

Taxa.

What do branches of a phylogenetic tree represent?

Evolutionary lineages.

What do nodes of a phylogenetic tree represent?

Common ancestors.

What is a clade?

One common ancestor plus all of its descendants.

What can help identify clades?

Shared derived characteristics.

Why can biological classification change?

New evidence can lead to revised evolutionary relationships and classifications.

What did molecular evidence reveal about "protists"?

They represent many different evolutionary lineages rather than one closely related group.

What is asymmetry?

A body organization in which no consistent plane divides the animal into equivalent halves.

What is cephalization associated with?

Bilateral symmetry and concentration of sensory structures toward the anterior end.