Feb. 11th (Exam 2) Flashcards
How did indian writers in the 1600 BCE classify plants?
By morphological forms
How did the Chinese writers from 480 BCE organize their lists of plants.
By their pharmacological uses
Who is the father of botany?
Theophrastus
Who was Theophrastus the student of?
Where was he from? When?
What did he do?
Aristotle
Greece, 300 BCE
He produced a list of 500 plants that correspond to current Genera (Genus) today.
What is “Materia Medica”?
Who wrote “Materia Medica”?
When did they live?
This is a book that describes medical plants, and has been a standard medical reference for 1500 years.
Dioscorides
Greece (40-90) AD
What are herbals?
When was their revival?
These are books that cover medical plant identification and preparation.
During the Renaissance.
When did Carolus Linnaeus live?
Where did he live?
What was his career interests?
1707-1778
Sweden
Botany, Medicine, Zoology
What was Linnaeus’s biggest contribution to science?
He developed a taxonomic system that was relatively easy to use.
How do we write the species of an organism?
Species = Genus + Specific Epithet
What is the Genus?
Is it a taxonomic classification that is always capitalized.
We think of this as the generic name.
What is the specific epithet?
This is a more detailed classification.
It is always lowercase, and should never be used alone.
“Pisum sativum L.”
What is the Genus?
What is the specific Epithet?
What is the L.?
Genus: Pisum
Epithet: sativum
L.: Author (Linnaeus)
Systema Naturae is a writing from Linnaeus.
What is it about?
He explained his ideas of classification in detail.
What did the trivial names that Linnaeus used in his early writing eventually become?
They became the specific epithet.
What did Linnaeus’s sexual system relate flora parts to?
human sexuality
What is flower language and when was it most popular?
What are the example today?
This is the idea of conveying a subtle message using certain plants, talked about in the Victorian Era and the bouquets they gave.
- Roses
- Four-leaf clover
- Olive Branch
Can you use the same common name “specific epithet” for different species?
Yes.
While the common name is the same, they belong to different genuses, so they are different.
Can multiple common names be used to describe the same exact species?
Give an example.
Yes.
Maclura Pomifera is known as
- Hedge apple
- Osage apple
- Wild orange
What is modern taxonomy based on?
It is based on morphological, physiological and molecular evidence.
What is the classic hierarchy of modern taxonomy?
- Domain
- Kingdom
- Phylum
- Class
- Order
- Family
- Genus
- Species
What is a taxon?
This is any taxonomic rank.
Does modern taxonomy reflect phylogenetic (evolutionary) relationships?
What are the issue with it?
Not really the best.
- Relies on physical traits instead of genetic data
- The ranks are arbitrary and do not always reflect evolutionary divergence.
What is convergent evolution?
This is the idea that unrelated species develop similar physical traits due to similar environmental pressures.
What is Cladistics?
These are taxonomic relationships that examine evolutionary branching.
What is a clade?
This is a branch of a cladogram that includes a common ancestor and all of its decendents.
What does the word monophyletic mean?
What does a clade being monophyletic have to do with it being the most natural grouping?
This means that the clade contains one ancestor and all its descendants.
Because it represents evolutionary history as accurately and specifically as possible, it is the most natural grouping.
What is a node in a cladogram?
This is the point where a common ancestor splits and where individual clades start.
What is the root of a cladogram?
This is the earliest common ancestor of all the organisms within the tree.
What are the four premises of natural selection?
- All members of species show variation
- Populations typically produce more organisms than can survive.
- Individuals within populations will compete for resources and mates
- Individuals that are best suited to the environment pass on more genes - population changes.
Can natural selection act upon a set of clones?
While purely identical clones would not experience natural selection, gene expression changes and occasional mutations could introduce variation over time, allowing selection to act.
Tropical rainforests contain what percent of the world’s species?
How many species of angiosperms exist there?
70%
250k
What three plants make up 50% of the calories that humans consume?
- Corn
- Wheat
- Rice
How is agriculture inhibiting the future of agriculture?
How can we combat this?
Modern agriculture’s narrow genetic focus threatens future food security because it prevents those plants from being able to naturally adapt via natural selection.
Preserving biodiversity through systematics is crucial to developing resilient crops and ensuring long-term agricultural success.
What does systematics do?
it helps to identify, classify and preserve plant diversity.
