5.3 Classification of biodiversity

Question 1

What is classification?

Answer 1

The process of grouping living organisms that share similr features

Question 2

Why do we classify organisms?

Answer 2

• Help identify species
• Name new species
• Understand evolutionary relationships
• Convenience - makes the study of living organisms more manageable

Question 3

What are the 8 taxonomic groups?

Answer 3

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* Domain - Archaea, Eubacteria and Eukaryotae
* Kingdom - Plantae, animalia, fungi, protoctista, prokaryotae
* Phylum - All the groups of organisms that have the same body plan e.g. possession of a backbone
* Class - a group of organisms that all possess the same general traits e.g. the same number of legs
* Order - Subdivision of the class using additional information about the organisms
* Family - A group of closely related genera e.g. dog and cat families
* Genus (genera) - A group of closely related species
* Species - the basic unit of classification. All members of a species show some variation but are essentially the same

Question 4

What system is used to agree and develop the names of species?

Answer 4

The binomial system
* Universal among biologists and has been agreed and developed at a series of congresses
* Congresse atteneded by delegates from around the world are helf at regular intervals
* There are separate congresses for animals and for plants and fungi

Question 5

What is the Binomail nomenclature?

Answer 5

A system that uses the genus name and the species name to avoid confusion when naming organisms
* a good example of cooperation and collaboratio between scientists

Question 6

What is the Binomail nomenclature?

Answer 6

A system that uses the genus name and the species name to avoid confusion when naming organisms
* a good example of cooperation and collaboratio between scientists

Question 7

What is a genus?

Answer 7

A group of species that share certain characteristics

Question 8

What is a species?

Answer 8

A group of organisms that can freely interbreed to produce fertile offspring

Question 9

Why is a mule infertile?

Answer 9

A mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse - they are infertile due to an uneven chromosome count

Question 10

What does the word taxon (taxa) mean?

Answer 10

Taxon is greek and means a group of something
* Taxa is the plural

Question 11

What is the trend going up the hierarchy of taxa?

Answer 11

• the taxa include larger and larger numbers of species, which share fewer and fewer features

Question 12

What are the 2 main categories of organisms from taditional classification?

Answer 12

• Eukaryote and prokaryotes
• This clasificatio nis now regarded as inappropritate because the prokaryotes have been found to be very diverse

Question 13

What are the 3 major categories of organisms now? What are the 3 domains called?

Answer 13

Domains: Eubacteria, Archae and Eukaryota

Question 14

What are the 3 major categories of organisms now? What are the 3 domains called?

Answer 14

Domains: Eubacteria, Archae and Eukaryota

Question 15

What are members of the domains usually referred to as?

Answer 15

Bacteria, archaens and eukaryotes

Question 16

What are members of the domains usually referred to as?

Answer 16

Bacteria, archaens and eukaryotes

Question 17

What are some features of the 3 main domains?

Answer 17

Question 18

Where can archaens found?

Answer 18

In a broad range of habitats including:
* Ocean surface
* Deep ocean sediments
* Oil deposits far below the surface of the Earth
* Water with very high salt concentration
* Temperatures close to boiling

Question 19

Why were fungi difficult to classify into plants or animals?

Answer 19

• they were originally classified as plants
• they have a similar root system (hyphae) and cell walls (chitin) instead of cellulose
• but they rely on other living organisms to feed because they lack chloroplasts

Question 20

What is not classified in any of the 3 domains?

Answer 20

Viruses because they have too few of the characteristics of life to be regarded as living organisms

Question 21

What are eukaryotes classified into?

Answer 21

Kingdoms

Question 22

What does each kingdom divide into?

Answer 22

Phyla, which are divided into classes, then orders, families and genera

The hierarchy of taxa for clasifying eukaryotes is thus kingdom, phylum,

Question 23

What does each kingdom divide into?

Answer 23

Phyla, which are divided into classes, then orders, families and genera

The hierarchy of taxa for clasifying eukaryotes is thus kingdom, phylum,

Question 24

What are the 4 kingdoms of eukaryote?

Answer 24

Plants, animals, fungi and protoctista

Question 25

Which one of the 4 kingdoms of eukaryotes is the most controversial?

Answer 25

Protoctists because they are very diverse and should be divided up int into more kingdoms

Question 26

What can classification be? (2)

Answer 26

Natural or artificial

Question 27

What is the classification of a grey wolf?

Answer 27

Question 28

What is the classification of a date palm?

Answer 28

Question 29

What is artificial classification?

Answer 29

* is based on only a few characteristics * Does not reflect any evolutionary relationships * Provides limited information * is stable

Question 30

What is natural classification?

Answer 30

* Uses many characteristics * Reflects evolutionary relationships (all members of a taxon have a common ancestor) * Provides a lot of useful information * May change with advancing knowledge * Identification is easier * prediction of the characteristics of species within a group (because all of the members of a group in a natural classification have evolved from a common ancestral species)

Question 31

In natural classification, the genus and accompanying higher taxa consist of?

Answer 31

consists of al lthe spceis that have evolved from one common ancestral species * All members of a genus or higher taxon should have a common ancestor

Question 32

What can we expect from the members of a natural group to have because of common ancestry?

Answer 32

We can expect the members of a natural group to share many characteristics

Question 33

Why can natural classification be problematic?

Answer 33

It is not always clear which groups of species do share a common ancestor

Question 34

How can convergent evolution and adaptive radiation make natural classification problematic?

Answer 34

Convergetn evolution can make distantly related organisms appear superficially similar and adaptive radiation can make closely related organisms appear different * thus making identifying common ancestors for natural classification more difficult

Question 35

What can happen withen new evidence shows that members of a group do not share a common ancester?

Answer 35

The group should be split up into two or more taxa

Question 36

What can happen withen new evidence shows that species classified in different taca are found to be closely related?

Answer 36

Two or more taxa are united, or species are moved from one genus to another or between higher taxa

Question 37

How has the classification of humans caused more controversy than any other species?

Answer 37

* Using standard taxonomic procedures, humans are assigned to the order Primates and the family Hominidae * There has been much debate about which, if any, of the great apes to include in this family * Originally all the great apes were paced in another family, the Pongidae, but research shows chimpanzees and gorillas as closer to humans than orang-utans in the Pongidae

Question 38

What are the advantages of natural classification?

Answer 38

* Identification of species * Prediction of characteristics of species within a group * Studying closely related species (especially for endangered.extinct species) * Tracing evolutionary relationships * Help conservation of species ## Footnote Prediction of characteristics because all of the members of a gropup in a natural classification have evolved from a common ancestral spcies, they inherit similar characteristics

Question 39

What are the advantages of natural classification?

Answer 39

* Identification of species * Prediction of characteristics of species within a group * Studying closely related species (especially for endangered.extinct species) * Tracing evolutionary relationships * Help conservation of species ## Footnote Prediction of characteristics because all of the members of a gropup in a natural classification have evolved from a common ancestral spcies, they inherit similar characteristics

Question 40

What is the five-kingdom classification system?

Answer 40

Prokaryotae Protoctista Fungi Plantae Animalia

Question 41

What are the 4 main phyla in plantae?

Answer 41

* Bryophyta - mosses, liverworts and hornworts * Filicinophyta - ferns * Coniferophyta - conifers * Angiospermophyta - flowering plants

Question 42

What are the external recognition features of the phyla in plantae kingdom?

Answer 42

Question 43

What are the external recognition features of bryophytes, filicinophytes, coniferophytes and aniospermophytes. (Structure, vascularisation, reproduction, other features, examples)

Answer 43

Question 44

How can be animalia phyla be differentiated?

Answer 44

1. Body symmetry 2. Nymber of body openings -> None (pores) -> one -> two or more 3. Body segmentation 4. Chordata -> Whether it had a central bundle of nerves running along the center of the body

Question 45

What are the external recognition features of the phyla in animalia kingdom?

Answer 45

Question 46

What are the recognition features of Porifera, cnidaria, platyhelminthes, mollusca, annelida, arthropoda? (Symmetry, body cavity, segmentation, other features, examples)

Answer 46

Question 47

What are the external recognition features of the phyla in animalia kingdom?

Answer 47

Question 48

What are the 5 largest classes of chordate?

Answer 48

* Bony ray-finned fish * Amphibians * Reptiles * Birds * Mammals

Question 49

What are the recognition features of fish, amphibians, reptile, bird, and mammal? (Body covering, reproduction, breathing, temperature, other features)

Answer 49

Question 50

What are the differences between archaea and bacteria?

Answer 50

Archaea "ancient bacteria" * Found in extreme environments (e.g. thermal vents, anaerobic conditions, highly acidic conditions) * e.g. methanogens in intestine of cattle -release CH4 Bacteria "true bacteria" * Most bacteria * e.g. cyanobacteria

Question 50

What are the differences between archaea and bacteria?

Answer 50

Archaea "ancient bacteria" * Found in extreme environments (e.g. thermal vents, anaerobic conditions, highly acidic conditions) * e.g. methanogens in intestine of cattle -release CH4 Bacteria "true bacteria" * Most bacteria * e.g. cyanobacteria

Question 51

The relationship between the 4 types of systems (3-domain, 6-kingdom, traditional 5-kingdom systems)

Answer 51