Campbell Biology Chapter 32 Review

Flashcards designed to help review key vocabulary from Chapter 32 of Campbell Biology, particularly focused on animal development, evolution, and taxonomy.

Heterotrophic

Organisms that cannot produce their own food and must consume other organisms or organic substances for nutrition.

Metamorphosis

A biological process by which an animal undergoes a significant change in form or structure, usually during its development.

Coelomate

Animals that possess a true coelom, a body cavity completely lined with mesoderm.

Protostome

An organism whose mouth develops from the blastopore and typically exhibits spiral cleavage.

Deuterostome

An organism whose anus develops from the blastopore and typically exhibits radial cleavage.

Ediacaran fauna

An assemblage of organisms that lived during the Ediacaran period, notable for their unique and often mysterious characteristics.

Cambrian explosion

A period of rapid diversification of life forms that occurred approximately 541 million years ago, characterized by the emergence of many major groups of animals.

Animal Taxonomy

The classification and naming of animals into hierarchical categories based on shared characteristics.

Cephalization

The evolutionary trend where sensory organs and a brain are concentrated in the head end of an organism.

Hox genes

A group of related genes that control the body plan of an embryo along the head-tail axis.

Acoelomate

Animals that lack a coelom, having solid bodies without internal cavities.

Flagellated protist

Single-celled organisms with a flagellum that are considered ancestors to multicellular animals.

Bilateral symmetry

A body plan in which the left and right halves of an organism are mirror images of each other.

Chitin

A long-chain polymer used to form the exoskeleton in arthropods and the cell walls of fungi.

Radial symmetry

A body plan in which parts are arranged around a central axis, as seen in organisms like jellyfish.

Eumetazoans

Animals that have true tissues, distinguished from those that do not.

Blastopore

The opening that forms during the early development of an embryo, leading to the formation of the digestive tract.

Heterotrophy

The mode of nutrition in which organisms, specifically animals, consume organic material for energy.

Ecdysozoa

A clade of animals characterized by molting their exoskeletons.