Evolution & Biodiversity Flashcards
Taxonomy
The science of identifying, naming and classifying species
Who is often considered the father of taxonomy
Carl Linnaeus
Period of Carl Linnaeus’s exsistence
1707-1778
Binomial system of nonmecleture
Genus speceis (italisized)
Is the genus species name the same in all languages
Yes
Advantages of Classification (2)
Identification becomes easier, allows for prediction of characteristics
What are the 8 levels of classification
Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species
What are the three domains
Eukaryotes, Bacteria, Archaeans
What did Linnaeus considered the 3 kingdoms and what did he interpret a domain as
Modern domains are equivalent to his kingdoms, his three kingdoms were plant, animal, and mineral
What is the difference between bacteria and archeans
Bacteria are prokaryotes that live under regular conditions, archaeans are prokaryotes that thrive under extreme conditions
Do eukaryotes have histones?
Yes (histones are proteins in cell nucleus)
Do eukaryotes have introns?
Most of them do, introns are non-coding part of DNA/RNA
Ribosome structure of prokaryotes vs eukaryotes
70S for prokaryotes and 80S for eukaryotes
What is the cell wall in plants made of
cellulose
What is the cell wall of fungi made up of
Chitin
Cell membrane structure of eukaryotes
Straight chain, ester linked lipids with proteins
What are the six kingdoms
Plantae, Animalia, Fungi, Protista, Eubacteria, Archaebacteria
Which kingdoms are prokaryotic and which are eukaryotic
Plantae, Animalia, Fungi, and Protista are eukaryotic, eubacteria and archebacteria are prokaryotic
What is special about the animalia kingdom
Multicellular, eukaryotic, heterotrophic (absorbing nutrients from environment), Reproduces sexually, sensory organs
What phylum do humans belong to and what is special about it?
Chordata, all chordates have a spinal cord (vertebrates)
What class do humans belong to and what is special about it?
Mammalia, warm blooded, mammory glands (breast milk), body hair
What order do humans belong to?
Primates
What is special about primates
Sexually dimorphic (can tell male and female apart), eyes in front of head (3D vision), live on land, have thumbs and fingernails, placentals (babies develop inside mother)
What family do humans belong to, and what else is part of the family
Hominidae, Humans and 4 great apes (bonobos, chimpanzees, gorilla, orangutan)
What is special about the hominides?
Pregnant for 9 months, take care of offspring for a third of their lives, stay as family, generally one baby at a time
What Genus do humans belong to, and what’s special about it
Homo- culture, walk on two feet, bigger brains
What is the binomial nonmenclature name for humans
Homo Sapians
What are phylogenetic trees used for
Determining evolutionary relationships, common ancestors and new species
How old is the Earth?
4.5 billion years old
What are the 6 pieces of evidence that tells us change has happened?
Fossil evidence, biogeographical evidence, anatomical evidence, embryological evidence, biochemical evidence, evidence of artificial selection
Paleontology
The study of fossils
How many fossil species have been found
250000
What is a general trend between newer fossils and older fossils
Older fossils are deeper in the ground and are generally more simple in structure
How does radiometric dating work?
It compares the ratio of an unstable isotope (C-14) to the stable form found (C-12), and uses the half life to determine the relative age
How old is the oldest fossil found by radiometric dating
3.8 billion years old
Biogeography
The study of the distribution of life
How does biogeographical evidence demonstrate change
Animals that lived in close proximity in times of pangea now only occupy one continent
when was pangaea broken up
150 million years ago
Homologous features
Similar structural elements and ancestral origin, but serve different function
Analogous structures
Perform different functions but structures are different and don’t show common origin (wings in birds vs bats)
Vestigial structures
Leftover structures that no longer serve a function, may indicate common ancestry
How does embryological evidence indicate common ancestry
Embryos of different organisms look the same
Biochemical evidence
Similarities in chromosome structure and DNA sequence may indicate common ancestry
Transgenic species
Inserting one animal’s gene into another animal, due to biochemical similarty
Artificial selection
When humans decide on favorable characteristics
Examples of artificial selection
Sea cabbage into present day brussel sprouts and broccoli, domestification of wolves into dogs
Speciation
The formation of a new species
Speciation through transformation
One species evolves into a different species, resulting in loss of original species
Does speciation through transformation increase biodiversity
No
Does speciation through divergent evolution increase biodiverisy
Yes
Speciation through divergent evolution
One species evolves into two or more species, original species still exsists
Cause of divergent evolution
Allopatric speciation
What is allopatric speciation
WHen a population is seperated by a PHYSICAL barrier, leading the species to develop different traits that suit different environments. Over time, these changes become big enough where they can no longer reproduce with each other
Theories that describe rate or evolution
gradualism (slowly) and punctuated equilibrium (quickly)
When was graudualism accepted up until and when was punctuated equilibrium first proposed and by who
Up until 1900s, punctuated equlibrium was proposed by Jay Gould on 1972
What did Aristotle and the Greek philosophers propose
The idea that living things are more or less related to each other
Befoer 1700AD, what was the common belief around change in living things
Change didn’t happen, everything was fixed since the start of Time
Maupertius’ time
1751
What did Maupertius propose?
Species multiplied based on recombination of particles from ancestors
What was Buffon’s time?
1760
What did Buffon propose?
Change occured since the start of time, some species had common ancestors due to similar environments, they underwent modification from the creator
Hutton time period
1795
Lamarck’s time
1805
What did Hutton propose
The theory of gradual change, the idea that the Earth is way older than thousands of years, proposed ideas that forces changed Earth’s surface
What did Lamarck propose?
Organisms themselves were responsible for the having desirable characteristics, which were passed onto offspring
Lyell’s time
1830
What did Lyell propose
Habitats are still changing
What book did Lyell write
Principles of Geography
Malthus’ time
1832
What did Malthus predict
Present day human overpopulation problem
What theory is Charles Darwin renowned for?
Theory of Natural selection
Darwin- Struggle for Exsistence
Member of same species must compete for necessities
Darwin- Survival of the Fittest
Some individuals are better suited to the environment than others
What was Darwin not aware of when it comes to change?
The fact that it was caused by genes
What is the general purpose of clades and cladistics
To diverge from classifying organisms via morphology
Claudistics
A system of classifying taxa based on recently evolved characteristics
Shared differences
Parts of DNA/ amino acid sequence where there’s a split in the genetic code, indicating the formation of another evolutionary branch
What is a monophyletic group also known as
clade
What is a clade
A group of organisms that share a common ancestor
What has amino acid analysis helped discover?
That hippos and whales came from a common ancestor
Where did the evidence that all organisms share a common ancestor come from
amino acid analysis
Organisms with which features are found in the same clade
homologous
What are analogous features evidence of
convergent evolution
Phylogeny
Study of the evolutionary past of a species
What are the two most studied proteins
hemoglobin and cytochrome (part of mitochondria)
Which two organelles have their own DNA
mitochondria and chloroplast
Why is mitochondria DNA used for dating over regular DNA
Mitochondria DNA is strictly maternal
What is the rate of mutation
One change/substitution per 20 nucleotides every one million years
