Animal Flashcards

Flashcards for reviewing animal diversity, ecosystem services, and human evolution from lecture notes.

Nudibranchs

Some nudibranchs feed on cnidarians and store functional nematocysts in cnidosacs at the tips of outgrowths of their gut called cerrata.

Kleptoplasty

Leaf sheep use this process to incorporate chloroplasts into their body from the food they eat

Eutely

Adults have a fixed number of cells.

Caenorhabditis elegans

Important model organism for developmental studies of cell differentiation due to eutely.

Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP)

Exhibits bright green fluorescence when exposed to blue or UV light and is used as a reporter gene.

Flatworms (Platyhelminthes)

Reproduce asexually by fragmentation and regeneration and are a model system for stem cell biologists.

Neoblasts

Adult stem cells in planarians that contribute to their ability to regenerate any part of the body.

Leeches (Annelida)

Ectoparasites with salivary glands that secrete an anesthetic and an anticoagulant called hirudin.

Hirudin

An anticoagulant secreted by leeches.

Overharvesting

Harvesting of wild organisms at rates exceeding the ability of their populations to rebound.

Habitat Loss

Human alteration of habitat, the single greatest threat to biodiversity throughout the biosphere.

Gopher Tortoise

A threatened species in FL, keystone species, loss of habitat, used as food and slow to mature.

Coral Bleaching

Warming sea temperatures cause corals to lose their zooxanthellae, leading to coral bleaching.

Box Jellyfish (Class Cubozoa)

Potentially lethal stings for humans; medusa is prominent, with a square‐ish bell and tentacle(s) at each “corner”.

Ticks and Mites (Order Acari)

agricultural pests, common in soil as plant pathogens and ectoparasites of animals

Order Diptera (Flies and Mosquitos)

Characterized by only 1 pair of flying wings, 2nd pair wings reduced to stabilizers and some species are disease vectors.

Shipworms

Bivalves that secrete wood-digesting enzymes and utilize bacteria to process wood

Order Blattodea (Termites and Roaches)

Eusocial group that eats dead plant material/wood and recycles organic matter

Eusociality

Termites live as a colony of related individuals in above- or below-ground nests with labor divided among castes .

Class Mammalia

Tetrapods with a bony endoskeleton, differentiated teeth, fur, endothermic, efficient circulation and respiration, internal fertilization, and young are nourished with milk.

Order Primates

Large brain, reliance on vision, forward-facing eyes, grasping hands and feet, opposable thumb, and 5 digits with flat nails.

Evolutionary Trends to human

more upright, bipedal, longer opposable thumb, increased brain capacity and gestation & infancy

Heterochrony

Change in developmental timing

Provisioning Services

products obtained from ecosystems: Food, drinking water, wood, natural gas, materials for clothes, medicinal benefits

Regulating Services

benefits obtained from the regulation of ecosystem processes: Pest regulation, waste decomposition

Supporting Services

services necessary for the production of other ecosystem services: Nutrient cycling, primary production, pollination

Cultural Services

non‐ material benefits people obtain from ecosystems: Recreation, spiritual/ religious enrichment, cultural heritage

Colony Collapse Disorder

when most of the adult (worker) honeybees abandon a hive, leaving behind the queen, food, and an unhatched brood

Ctenidia

gills used for respiration and filter feeding