Topic 5 - Evolution and Biodiversity (copy) (copy)

Adaption

Adaption

The ability of a species to be able to respond to environmental changes, such as the peppered moth tending to have a darker colouration in areas where sulfur dioxide killed lichen from trees.

Advantageous Variations

These variations ensure that individuals that can best compete for resources will survive long enough to reproduce and pass on the trait.

Amber

A preserved tree resin that preserves organic material that other fossils do't, insects and plants are most often captured.

Amphibia

Have moist skin and use the skin for respiratory exchange, largely terrestrial animals that breed in water, fertilization is external, larval stage is aquatic, undergoes metamorphosis to become an adult, are cold-blooded; includes frogs and toads.

Analogous Structures

Features of different species that are similar in function, but not necessarily in structure, so they are not derived from a common ancestor.

Anatomy

The science that studies the structure of the body.

Angiospermophyta

Many are herbaceous (non-woody) while others are trees or shrubs, have vascular tissue for conducting water and nutrients around the plant, leaves are elaborate structures with a waxy and waterproof covering and pores on the surface, flowers are unique to this phylum, and seeds inclosed into a fruit; includes lilies and peach trees.

Annelids

Worm-like animals with a soft body, built with a fixed number of similar segments which contain the same pattern of nerves, blood vessels, and excretory organs, sense organs and feeding structures are found at the anterior end (cephalization), ventral nerve cord runs the length of the body; includes earthworms.

Antibiotic Resistance

When bacteria becomes resistant to antibiotics and can be avoided if antibiotics is prescribed for only serious infections, hygiene is prevented and companies develop new types of antibiotics.

Antibiotics

Chemotherapeutic agents that inhibit or prevent bacterial growth and they do no work on viruses.

Archaea

Extremophile bacteria with DNA in a circular genome, histones present, usually no introns in genes, cell walls not made of peptidoglycan, and membranes that differ from those of eubacteria and eukaryotes.

Arthropoda

Can be divided into crustaceans, arachnids, centipedes, millipedes, and insects; have segmented bodies covered by an exoskeleton made of chitin, body function coordinated by a ventral nerve cord; largest phylum in the animal kingdom.

Artificial Classification

This type of classification uses arbitrary characteristics to group organisms together and does not actually show evolutionary links; this includes classifying by things such as alphabetical order or endangeredness.

Aves

Have a strong, light skeleton, limb and hollow bones, feathers, forelimbs modified as wings, are endothermic, and have internal fertilization but eggs are laid; are birds.

Binomial System

A naming system used by scientist to identify a species and show and better show evolutionary links between species; the first name is the genus name and is capitalized, while the second name is the species name which starts with a lowercase letter; it is italicized in typed text and underlined in written text.

Bryophyta

Usually small and grow in small places, no vascular system, reproduce by spores, and have rhizoids (thin filamentous outgrowths), no roots, no cuticle and absorb water across their whole surface; includes mosses.

Carl Linnaeus

The guy who invented the modern naming system for grouping organisms by giving each organism two latin names.

Casts & Molds

Organic material decays, depression fills in with the shape of the organism.

Cephalochordata

A non-vertebrate subphylum which includes lancelets.

Changes in Classification

Can occur if evidence shows that members of a group do not share a common ancestor and the group is split into two or more taxa, or evidence shows that species in different taxa are closely related, so two or more taxa are united.

Characteristics

Gene-controlled factors.

Characteristics Used for Classification

Morphology, anatomy, cytology, phytochemistry, chromosome number, and molecular differences.

Charles Darwin

A physician that studied plants and animals from his trip on the HMS Beagle and eventually developed the theory for natural selection.

Chondrichthyes

Are fish with a skeleton made of cartilage and lack an air bladder; includes sharks and rays.

Chordata

includes vertebrates and invertebrates, contain a dorsal nerve cord, a notochord (rod of cartilage supporting the nerve cord), a post-anal tail, pharyngeal slits (openings connecting the [aryx to the outside); includes sea squirts and mammals.

Chromosome Number

Studying the number of chromosomes in an organism.

Clade

A grouping that includes a common ancestor and all the descendants (living and extinct) of that ancestor.

Cladistics

A method of hypothesizing relationships among organisms — in other words, a method of reconstructing evolutionary trees.

Cladogram

A diagram that shows a species' evolutionary relationship to one another; are mostly based on DNA base sequences or the amino acid sequence in a protein.

Class

A category below phylum and above order; examples in the chordata phylum include aves, mammalia, amphilia, reptilia, and osteichthyes.

Classification of Humans

Eukaryota domain, animalia kingdom, chordata phylum, mammalia class, primates order, hominidae family, homo genus, sapiens species.

Classification of Star Magnolia

Eukaryota domain, plantae kingdom, angiospermophyta phylum, magnoliopsida class, magnoliales order, magnoliaceae family, magnolia genus, stellata species.

Cnidaria

Aquatic animals with radially symmetrical body plans, body cavity is a gut with a single opening for ingestion of food and egestion of waste matter, body wall contains two layers of cells (an ectoderm and endoderm), behaviour is coordinated by a nerve net in the mesoglea, body forms are either a sessile hydroid form or a floating medusa form; includes jellyfish and sea anemones.

Compression

Sediment layers pile on top, compressing specimen making a flat layer.

Coniferophyta

Usually large with a strong stem, the main trunk continues to grow straight, most have waxy needle-like leaves to reduce water loss, have vascular tissue, produce seeds found in cones on branches, seeds form in female cones and pollen is released from male cones; includes pine trees.

Cumulative Change

Small changes upon small changes over many generations.

Cytology

A branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells.

Dichotomous Key

A series of steps, each involving a decision, which can be used to identify unknown organisms; used by following the prompts on each question until you get a particular species.

Dicotyledons

Broad-leaved plants that belong to the angiospermophyta phylum.

Direct (Body) Fossils

Fossils such as bones, teeth, shell, leaves.

Disadvantages Variations

These variations means that an individual is kes well suited to the environment, making it more difficult for that individual to survive and less likely for that individual to pass on that trait.

Domain

The highest taxonomic rank of all organisms taken together and there are only three categories; examples include eukaryota, archaea, and bacteria.

Eubacteria

True bacteria with DNA in a circular genome, histones absent, usually no introns in genes, and cell walls made of peptidoglycan.

Eukaryota

True eukaryotes with DNA in chromosomes, histones present, frequent introns in genes, and sometimes have cell walls that are never made of peptidoglycan.

Evolution

Occurs when heritable characteristics of a species change that occurs by the mechanisms of natural selection, and is the cumulative change of heritable characteristics of a population.

Family

A category below order and above genus; examples in the primates order include hominidae.

Filicinophyta

Have roots, stems, and leaves, has vascular tissue for conducting water and nutrients around the plant, can have fibrous roots or a rhizome for reproduction, reproduce using spores (found in sori on ferns), leaves covered by a waxy cuticle; includes ferns.

Fossil Record, The

Provides evidence for evolution, suggest the sequence in which groups ofspecies eveloednas simple organisms appear first in the lowest strata.

Fossilization

Layers of sedimentary rock are put down, inorganic components of organisms are preserved, it is a rare event where the conditions have to be favourable in order for it to occur.

Fossils

The petrified remains or traces of organisms that lived a long time ago, are often formed from the hard parts of organisms and minerals seeping in them and hardening over time; shows a chronological sequence in which characteristics appear and develop in complexity.

Genus

The second lowest classification in taxonomy; examples in the hominidae family include homo and pan.

Heritable

Changes that must be passed on genetically from one generation to the next.

Homologous Structures

Anatomical features showing similarities in shape, though not necessarily in function, in different organism; and suggests that the species possessing them are closely related and derived from a common ancestor.

Indirect (Trace) Fossils

Fossils such as footprints, tooth marks, tracks, burrows.

Inheritance

The passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction.

International Botanical Congress

The organism that deals with the classification of plants.

International Congress of Zoology

The association that deals with the classification of animals.

Kingdom

The second highest taxonomic rank, a rank below domain, and one above phylum; examples in the eukaryotic domain include animalia, plantae, and fungi.

Mammalia

Skin has hair, have four pentadactyl limbs, body cavity is divided by a muscular diaphragm between thorax and abdomen, are endothermic, and fertilization is internal; are mammals.

Molecular Clock

Uses the average rate at which a gene mutates to gauge the time of a divergence between species; mutations happen at varying rates so it is an estimation and not an absolute time or date.

Molecular Differences

Proteins and DNA sequences differ between one species and another.

Mollusca

Most are aquatic but a few are terrestrial, body is divided into a head, a flattened muscular foot, and a humo or visceral mass often covered by a shell, have gills or lungs for breathing, and a radula for feeding; includes snails and octopuses and is the second largest phylum.

Monocotyledons

Grass and grass-like plants belonging to the angiospermophyta phylum.

Morphology

A branch of biology dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features.

Natural Classification

This type of classification uses ancestry to group organisms together and shows evolutionary links as well as predicts characteristics shared by members of a group; some characteristics used for this type of classification include DNA and homologous structures.

Natural Selection

The process in which individuals with certain inherited traits leave more offspring than individuals with other traits, this depends on variation within populations, implying that some individuals with pombe better suited to particular conditions and more likely to survive.

Nodes

Branching points on a cladogram that denote a speciation event wen a common ancestor splits into two or more species.

Objectives of Using Binomial Nomenclature

Ensure that each organism has an unique name, ames can be universally understood, names of organisms cannot be changed without a valid reason.

Order

A category below class and above family; examples in the mammalia class include primates, rodentia, and carnivora.

Osteichthyes

Are fish with a skeleton of bone, mouth with a termination position on the head, gills covered by a body flap (operculum), are mostly cold-blooded, mostly reproduce externally; includes all bony fishes like tuna (but not sharks).

Pentadactyl Limb

An example of a homologous structure that is found in many animals including humans, birds, and frogs; the most basic form of it is a "five-fingered" limb that sort of resembles an arm with a hand.

Petrified Wood

Where mineral replaces organic material.

Phylogenetics

The study of how closely related organisms are.

Phylum

A category above class and below kingdom; examples in the plantae kingdom include bryophyta, filicinophyta, coniferophyta, and angiospermophyta.

Phytochemistry

The study of phytochemicals, which are chemicals derived from plants.

Platyhelminthes

Flat and unsegmented, body build from three cell layers, no cavity in middle layer, have mouth and gut but no anus, feeds by scavenging or predating on other small animals, no circulatory system but oxygen can easily diffuse into most cells, are hermaphrodites; includes flatworms.

Porifera

Aquatic and mostly marine animals, lack a nervous system, generally feed on plankton, and can reproduce asexually by budding or sexually by forming free-swimming larvae; includes sponges.

Process of Selective Breeding

Where individuals which do not show the desired traits are not allowed to breed, while individuals which show the most desirable traits are chosen to breed together, because of thi9s the next generation will have an increased frequency of the desired trait, and this process is repeated for many generations until the entire population shows the desired trait.

Race

In biological taxonomy, race is an informal rank in the taxonomic hierarchy for which various definitions exist; sometimes it is used to denote a level below that of subspecies, while at other times it is used as a synonym for subspecies, while in society it is generally defined as a social construct.

Relative Dating

The determination of a fossil's age, based on the concept of superposition where younger sedimentary rocks are deposited on the older sedimentary rocks.

Reptilia

Are terrestrial vertebrates, has dry skin protected by overlapping scales, gas exchange occurs in lungs, fertilization is internal but fertilized eggs are laid with a shell, are cold-blooded, most have four pentadactyl limbs; includes lizards and snakes.

Selective Breeding

The process by which humans breed animals and plants for particular traits and is usually a planned and deliberate activity.

Speciation

The event in which two populations of a species become separated and do not allow for interbreeding and experience different natural selection factors, so they will evolve into different ways.

Species

The lowest category in taxonomy; examples in the homo genus include homo sapiens and homo erectus.

Stomata

Small openings in any plant organs.

Struggle for Survival

Competition for food, predation, parasitism, competition for space, competition for mates.

Sub-Class

A subdivision of a class; placentals are an example of this.

Sub-Order

A subdivision of an order; erinaceomorpha is an example of this.

Sub-Phylum

A subdivision of the phylum order; vertebrata is an example of this.

Subspecies

A rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics, but that can successfully interbreed.

Taxa

A taxonomic group of any rank such as domain, family, or species.

Taxidermy

The art of preserving an animal's body for mounting for art or study.

Taxonomy

The science of identifying, naming, and grouping organisms.

Transitional Fossils

These fossils show the links between groups or species by exhibiting traits common to both ancestral groups or species and its derived descendant group or species.

Tunicata

A non-vertebrate subphylum of the chordata that includes sea squirt and salps.

Variation (Cladistics)

Variations in genetics in members of the same species, such as one person having black hair and the other being a brunette; occurs through mutation, meiosis, and sexual reproduction.

Vertebrata

A subphylum; members of the chordata which have a vertebral in place of the supporting rod, the notochord; includes aves, mammalia, amphibia, reptilia, and osteichthyes.

Vestigial Structures

Structures that have no apparent function and appear to be residual parts from a past ancestor such as wisdom teeth and the appendix.