Diversity of Living Things: Protists, Plants, Fungi, and Animals

Comprehensive review flashcards covering taxonomy, distinguishing characteristics, life cycles, and anatomical structures across protists, plants, fungi, and animals.

How do amoebas use pseudopods to capture food and move, as illustrated in this diagram?

Amoebas use their internal cytoskeleton to produce temporary extensions of cytoplasm called pseudopods ("false feet") from the cell membrane, which allow them to move and engulf food targets into food vacuoles.

Which parasitic amoeba feeds on the lining of the human small intestine and causes amoebic dysentery?

Entamoeba histolytica

What structures and cellular features are depicted in this diagram of a ciliate (Paramecium)?

The cell is covered by thousands of tiny hair-like cilia used for locomotion and feeding, an oral groove and gullet through which cilia sweep food, and a food vacuole that forms at the end of the gullet to digest the meal.

Which species of ciliate is known to be a parasite of humans, residing in the large intestine and causing diarrhea?

Balantidium coli

What group of unicellular plant-like protists with rigid silica walls of diverse shapes is shown in this microscopic image?

Diatoms (Chrysophytes)

What organism is shown here at $12\,000\times$ magnification, and what ecological hazard can its population blooms cause?

It is a dinoflagellate (such as Gonyaulax catenella). Rapid population explosions (blooms or "red tides") produce toxins that concentrate in plankton-eating shellfish, making them dangerous or lethal to organisms that consume them.

What is the symbiotic relationship between dinoflagellates of the genus Symbiodinium and reef-building corals?

Symbiodinium live inside reef-building corals; the protists use nitrogen and carbon dioxide provided by the coral, while the coral receives photosynthetic nutrients produced by the protists.

What are the six major phyla of algae, categorized by cellular organization and species count?

1. Dinoflagellates (Pyrrophytes): unicellular, approximately $1000$ species
2. Red algae (Rhodophytes): multicellular, approximately $6000$ species
3. Brown algae (Phaeophytes): multicellular, approximately $1500$ species
4. Diatoms (Chrysophytes): unicellular, approximately $10\,000$ species
5. Green algae (Chlorophytes): multicellular, approximately $7000$ species
6. Euglenoids (Euglenophytes): unicellular, approximately $800$ species

What key cellular characteristics do green algae share with land plants?

They contain the same types of chlorophyll, share the same green colour, have cell walls containing cellulose, and store food reserves in the form of starch.

Identify the three specialized body structures labeled on this multicellular brown alga (kelp).

The leaf-like blade, the stem-like stipe, and the root-like holdfast that anchors the alga.

What are the three phyla that make up the non-vascular bryophytes?

1. Mosses (Phylum Bryophyta)
2. Liverworts (Phylum Hepatophyta)
3. Hornworts (Phylum Anthocerophyta)

What four phyla comprise the seedless vascular plants?

1. Whisk ferns (Phylum Psilotophyta)
2. Club mosses (Phylum Lycophyta)
3. Horsetails (Phylum Sphenophyta)
4. Ferns (Phylum Pteridophyta)

What three groups of gymnosperms are represented in Figure 3.11?

(A) Coniferous trees (conifers), which bear exposed seeds on cone scales; (B) Cycadophytes, which are short, palm-like trees with scaly trunks; and (C) Ginkgo biloba, the only living species in the ginkgophyte group.

What defines angiosperms, and what proportion of modern plant species do they represent?

Angiosperms are vascular seed plants that reproduce using flowers and enclose their seeds within a fruit. They comprise more than $250\,000$ species, representing about $90\%$ of all plants on Earth.

How do zygospores form during sexual reproduction in Zygomycota (such as Rhizopus bread mould)?

Two haploid hyphae of opposite mating types combine and fuse their nuclei together to form a thick-walled, diploid zygospore that protects contents from drying until conditions become favorable for meiosis.

What are the major structural and reproductive parts of a club fungus fruiting body (Basidiomycota)?

The cap, stipe, and gills lined with club-shaped basidia that undergo meiosis to produce haploid basidiospores.

What are the two basic body forms found in Phylum Cnidaria, and how do they differ?

1. Polyp: A sessile, tube-shaped body that attaches to a surface and extends its tentacles upward and outward.
2. Medusa: An umbrella-shaped, free-swimming body form that floats mouth-down and propels itself by body contractions.

Which three major classes of molluscs (Phylum Mollusca) are illustrated here?

(A) Class Bivalvia (bivalves, represented by a file clam) (B) Class Gastropoda (gastropods, represented by a land snail) (C) Class Cephalopoda (cephalopods, represented by an octopus)

Which three groups of fish are illustrated in Figure 3.35?

(A) Jawless fish (sea lamprey, having a cartilaginous skeleton and lacking jaws) (B) Cartilaginous fish (Class Chondrichthyes, such as manta rays and sharks) (C) Bony fish (Class Osteichthyes, such as the pumpkinseed sunfish)

What two major amphibian orders are represented in Figure 3.36?

(A) Order Anura (frogs and toads, represented by the bullfrog) (B) Order Urodela (salamanders and newts, represented by the spotted salamander)

What four major reptile lineages are illustrated in this image?

(A) Snakes (B) Lizards (skinks) (C) Turtles (D) Crocodilians (gharial)

What three main groups of mammals (Class Mammalia) are represented by the duck-billed platypus, koala bear, and polar bear?

1. Monotremes: Egg-laying mammals (e.g., duck-billed platypus)
2. Marsupials: Mammals with short gestation periods whose young develop in an external pouch (e.g., koala bear)
3. Placental mammals: Mammals with extended gestation supported by a placenta (e.g., polar bear)