Classification and Biodiversity Flashcards
What are the five kingdoms of living things?
- Animals (all multicellular animals)
- Plants (all green plants)
- Fungi (moulds, mushrooms, yeast)
- Protists (Amoeba, Chlorella and Plasmodium)
- Prokaryotes (bacteria, blue-green algae)
What is classification?
Grouping of animals by comparing their similarities and differences with the goal of judging evolutionary relatedness between species
What is the traditional classification system called and who was it developed by?
The Linnaean system, developed by Carl Linnaeus in the eighteenth century
What are the groups in the Linnean classification system?
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species
How would you name an organism using the binominal naming structure?
First name: Genus
Second name: Species
What are examples of subdivisions of the phylum group?
Chordata: Have backbones
Anthropod: Have jointed legs and an exoskeleton
Annelids: Segmented worms
What are the types of vertebrates?
Mammals Birds Amphibians Fish Reptiles
What are examples of subdivisions of the order group?
Carnivores
Primates
What are the advantages of the binominal naming system?
It ensures that animal names are the same across all languages to avoid confusion e.g. when animals are being transported to zoos
What characteristics do reptiles have?
- Lay waterproof eggs on land
- Dry, scaly skin (therefore cannot breathe through skin so have lungs
- Live mostly on land
What are some examples of reptiles?
Crocodiles, turtles, and chameleons
What characteristics do mammals have?
- Have mammary (milk) glands + sweat glands
- Give birth to live young
- Have four limbs
- Have hair or fur
What are some examples of mammals?
Humans, dolphins, and bears
What characteristics do amphibians have?
- Lay eggs covered in jelly, in water
- Moist, scale-less skin
- Often have webbed feet
- Perform gas exchange through their skin
- Cold blooded
What are some examples of amphibians?
Newts and frogs
What characteristics do fish have?
- Scales and fins
- A lateral line running through the middle of their body
- Gills for gas exchange in water
What are some examples of fish?
Shark, salmon, and clownfish
What characteristics do birds have?
- Feathers
- Two wings and two legs
- Lay hard-shelled eggs on land
- Have beaks
What are some examples of birds?
Penguins, sparrows, and eagles
What are the two classifications of plants?
Ferns: Don’t have flowers or seeds, reproduce asexually using spores
Flowering plants: Can reproduce asexually or sexually. May produce seeds in their ovaries
What characteristics do fungi have?
- Cells have chitin walls
- Reproduce using spores rather than seeds
What characteristics do protists have?
Exist as simple single cells or colonies of single cells
What characteristics do prokaryotes have?
Have a cell wall but not made from cellulose. Cells have no nucleus.
What is the difference between vascular and non-vascular plants?
Vascular plants have tubes to form a transport system such as roots and stems
Non-vascular plants do not have tubes and instead get their water directly from the ground in damp places
What are morphological adaptations?
Adaptations that affect the structure or shape of an organism (physical features) to help them survive in their environment
What are behavioural adaptations?
Non-physical adaptations, but ones that affect an animal’s lifestyle or actions
e.g. mating rituals, working together in packs etc.
What are the two types of adaptation an animal can have called?
Morphological adaptations
Behavioural adaptations
What do plants compete for?
- Water
- Minerals from the soil
- Light
- Space
What do animals compete for?
- Food
- Mates
- Territory
What is intraspecific competition?
Animals of the same species competing for resources
What is interspecific competition?
Animals of different species competing for resources
What is interdependence?
When all organisms in an ecosystem are dependent on each other
What may the size of an animal population be affected by?
Competition for food and water
Number of predators
Disease
Pollution
What may the size of a plant population be affected by?
Competition for light, water, or minerals
Number of herbivores
Disease
Pollution
How are plants adapted for maximum intake of water?
Shallow roots that extend a long way OR deep roots to find underground stores of water
What are examples of biotic and abiotic factors that affect animal populations?
Biotic:
Food supply
Predators
Abiotic:
Light
Temperature
Water
Why are plants adapted to have flowers?
To attract insects to pollinate them
Why is it important for us to protect biodiversity?
Moral issues - People feel guilty about destruction of habitats New medicines Industrial materials Food and potential foods Protecting humans from natural disasters The economy (ecotourism)
How are animal habitats being destroyed?
Building
Industry
Agriculture
What are the methods of maintaining biodiversity?
- CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species)
- Captive breeding programmes
- National Parks
- Seed/sperm banks
- Local biodiversity action plans
- SSSI (Sites of Special Scientific Interest)
What is the definition of biodiversity?
The number of different species in an area
What is biological control and what are the benefits of using it?
The control of a pest through the introduction of a natural enemy or predator
It is an alternative to pesticides which can poison the environment
What are the risks of introducing an alien species into an ecosystem?
- The alien species may have no predators in the area and its population may grow out of control
- May compete with existing species
- May prey on existing species
- May carry a disease that could affect native species
How would you use a quadrat?
- Measure out an area to be surveyed
- Choose a random location within the area to place the quadrat
- Count the number of organisms in the quadrat/percentage cover of plants
- Repeat for more random locations
What is a transect useful for?
Seeing the effect of a factor on the distribution of a species
How would you use a transect?
- Lay out a tape measure or piece of rope
- Lay down quadrats at regular intervals along the transect line
- Record numbers of animals/plants along the line
How could you improve the accuracy of sampling?
- Sample area typical of whole area
- Bigger sample area is better
- The sampling method must not affect the results
What is the formula for estimating a population?
Number counted x (total survey area/area sampled)
What methods would you use to estimate the population of fast moving animals?
Capture-recapture technique/Pooters and nets
How would you carry out the capture-recapture technique?
- Capture a number of individuals from a species
- Mark them
- Release them back into the wild
- Take another sample some time later
- Record number of marked animals + use formula
What formula would you use to estimate an animal population using the capture-recapture technique?
Number found in first sample x Number found in second sample
___________________________________________
Number found in second sample which were already marked
