Classification and Evolution Flashcards
What is taxonomy?
Organisms being classified by their physical characteristics.
What are the 5 kingdoms?
Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protoctista and Prokaryotae.
What are the three domains?
Archaea, Eubacteria and Eukaryotae.
What is the taxonomic hierarchy?
Domain Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species
What is phylogeny?
Organisms being classified by their genetic and molecular makeup.
What are phylogenetic trees?
A diagram that shows how closely related species are to eachother. The more genetically similar organisms are to eachother, the closer they are on the tree.
What is binomial classification?
The first name is the genus and the last name is the species. The genus is in normal writing with a captial letter. The last name is in lower case and in italics.
What is an advantage of the binomial system?
It gives species a universal name, therefore all scientists worldwide can use this name for the species.
Originally, how were organisms placed into one of the 5 kingdoms?
Observations of their features
Nowadays, how are organisms placed into one of the 5 kingdoms?
Observations of their features, characteristics of their cell structure, anatomy, and form of nutrition.
What are autotrophic organisms?
Organisms that make their own food, usually using energy from the sun.
What are heterotrophic organisms?
Organisms that depend on other organisms for nutrition, by eating them.
What are the characteristics of Prokaryotae?
Single-celled, prokaryote, heterotrophic, cell wall ( usually made of peptidoglycan).
What are the characteristics of Protoctista?
Single-celled or simple body form, eukaryote, heterotrophic and autotrophic, no cell wall.
What are the characteristics of Fungi?
Single-celled or multicellular, eukaryote, heterotrophic, chitin cell wall, cells are multinucleated, has hyphae.
What are characteristics of Plantae?
Multicellular, eukaryote, autotrophic, cellulose cell wall
What are characteristics of Animalia?
Multicellular, eukaryote, heterotrophic, no cell wall.
What can cause variation?
Genetic and environmental factors
What is interspecific variation?
Variation between individuals of different species
What is intraspecific variation?
Variation between individuals of the same species
Define discontinuous variation
A characteristic can be placed into a discret category, such as blood group.
Define continuous variation
Characteristics have a range and can be placed on a continuum.
What is the student’s T-test for?
It is used to determine if two sets of data are significantly different from eachother.
What are the 3 types of adaptation?
Anatomical, physiological and behavioural.
What is an example of an anatomical adaptation for animals in extreme cold?
Thick fur
What is an example of a physiological adaptation for animals in extreme cold?
Building up think layers of blubber under the skin for winter.
What is an example of a behavioural adaptation for animals in extreme cold?
Huddle up for warmth.
What is the mechanism for natural selection?
1) All organisms must compete to survive and overcome selective pressures. E.g. food, water,predation and disease.
2) All organisms show variation.
3) Selection: some individuals will be better adapted to overcoming a paticular selective pressure than others and are more likely to survive long enough to have offspring.
4) Adaptation: the offspring will have the same advantageous characteristics as the parents if the characteristic is the result of genetic infomation. Over time, more of a population will have the advantageous characteristic.
What theory did Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace independently come up with?
Theory of natural selection
How does the fossil record provide evidence for evolution?
We can examine extinct species and compare ancient organisms with mordern ones. The age of the fossils can be measured by dating the rocks they are found in. The fossil record gives us the fossils in chronological order.
How does DNA provide evidence for evolution?
The DNA sequences of species can be compared to see how closely related species are.
How can molecular evidence be used to provide evidence for evolution?
the amino acid sequence of common proteins, such as cytochrome c, can be compared to see how closely related species are. Cytochrome c, ia an essential protein invloved in respiration and is common to almost all organisms.
