Exam 1 Study Guide Flashcards
What is Zoology?
The study of animals
Why do zoologists specialize in subdisciplines?
Cause the field is too large to be an expert at everything
Who is Carl Linnaeus?
Father of taxonomy
What is taxonomy?
Field of naming and classifying organisms
Why is it important to classify organisms?
facilitates communication among scientists
How were organisms originally classified?
What is a potential problem with this?
By their appearance. Just because animals share characteristics doesn’t mean they are necessarily closely related (flying squirrel vs sugar glider)
What is binomial nomenclature?
Scientific name of a group of organisms of the same type (e.g. homo sapiens)
What is the order of the biological hierarchy?
Domain > Kingdom > Phylum > Class > Order > Family > Genus > Species
Did King Phillip Come Over For Great Sex?
What are the three domains of life and what are characteristics of each domain?
Bacteria - Simple single celled organisms that lack a nucleus and membrane bound organelles
Archaea - Single celled prokaryotes that live in extreme conditions (thermal vents, hot springs, high salinity zones, etc.)
Eukarya - Single-celled and multicellular organisms that have a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles (this is humanity’s domain)
What does it mean to be prokaryotic?
“prokaryote” – before nucleus
belongs to Bacteria or Archaea
What is the difference between bacteria and archaea?
Bacteria can cause harm to humans
What does it mean to be eukaryotic?
Much larger than prokaryotic cells and belong to one of the four kingdoms
What are the four kingdoms of Eukarya?
- Plantae
- Fungi
- Animalia
- Protista
What are the characteristics of the four Eukarya kingdoms?
- Plantae - Multicellular, autotrophic, cell walls of cellulose
- Fungi - Multicellular, Heterotrophic, cell walls of chitin
- Animalia - Multicellular, Heterotrophic, no cell walls
- Protista - (mostly) single celled, autotrophic and heterotrophic species, some have cell walls
Why are members of the Protista often considered a “garbage disposal” group?
If it has a nucleus but isn’t a plant, fungus, or animal, it’s a protist
What is evolution?
Change in the genetic makeup of populations of organisms over time
Which would you expect to share more DNA: animals of the same family or animals of the same genus? Explain
Genus. It is a smaller grouping of organisms than the family.
How does DNA help us to classify organisms as living things?
Phylogenies change with more information (usually DNA)
Are all living things related to one another? Explain
Yes. We all descend from the same primordial soup billions of years ago.
What is a phylogenetic tree?
Illustrated hypotheses of evolutionary relatedness among different biological groups
What is a taxon?
Group of biological entities; Domains, families, species, whatevs
What does a node represent on a phylogenetic tree?
Common Ancestor; Where the two taxa meet-up, representing where the two groups separated back in time
What is a lineage?
Direct line of descent from an ancestor
Be able to read and interpret phylogenetic trees.