History and Origins Flashcards
What are some reasons why we would study mammals?
Could be up to 10
Fill in the blanks on the timeline
What years were considered the time of “early” animal studies?
What did these studies focus on?
What was unique about their understanding of fossils in that time?
Who were 3 people who made notable contributions in that time?
How did they begin to understand mammal distribution?
In what year did Aristotle create a “History of Animals” and how did he group them in his system?
What was the name of his system (Latin/English)?
What was the contribution of Al-Jaliz to early animal studies and around what year was this?
How and when did global colonization and exploration become a driver for understanding more about animals?
What were those studying animals called in this period? Who are some well-known examples?
How did this time period relate to current day museums, herbaria, botanical gardens, and other archives?
Why are Mark Catesby and William Bartram important naturalists for our region?
In what years did they make these contributions?
How and when did the North American fur trade contribute to our knowledge of mammals?
How is Kentucky related to our historical knowledge about extinction?
What does ‘Incognitum’ refer to?
This was when they still thought the wooly mammoth was extant, and simply a “lost species”
Who was Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon? What publication is he known for, and during what time period did he make his contributions?
What was his view of American fauna?
Who was Georges Cuvier and during what time period did he make his contributions to our knowledge of mammals and extinction?
What was his view on what caused extinctions?
What did he think of evolution?
Define the term:
Paleontology
Greek: “Old creature study”
Study of fossils to understand patterns of life on Earth across time, species relationships to each other and their environment.
Define the term:
Eutherians
Placental mammals
Define the term:
especes perdues
(French) “lost species” especially in the time of discovery regarding the concept of extinction
Define the term:
Stratigraphy
-the analysis of the order and position of layers of archaeological remains
-the branch of geology concerned with the order and relative position of strata and their relationship to the geological time scale
Define the term:
Catastrophism
-the theory that changes in the earth throughout geological history have resulted primarily from sudden, violent, and unusual events.
-this theory also considers these types of events to be the cause of most or all extinctions
When was the Lewis and Clark Expidition? In terms of mammalogy, what were they looking for? What did they contribute from that expidition, and then later after the expidition?
What’s the significance of The Whalers to mammalogy and during what period were they active?
Define classification.
Define taxonomy.
What is the driver behind even having these things?
Who founded modern systematics, and when?
What is systematics?
Name the 8 taxonomic levels in order of increasing shared traits.
Name the first 5 levels for all mammals.
What was Charles Darwin’s main contribution to modern biology, and when was that?
What are the 3 main methods that have been used to differentiate species from one another? Describe each one.
What are the two main mechanisms of speciation? Describe each one.
What time was the “era of overexploitation” in North America? What factors contributed to this? What were some species affected?
What large mammals in Kentucky were extirpated in the era of overexploitation?
When did the era of zoos and museums begin, and how has it evolved since then?
When did the era of Conservation and Management begin? Describe some developments of this era.
What types of animals in general are at the highest risk of extinction due to human causes?
How has the distribution of mammal biomass on Earth changed since humans began to dominate the planet?
When did the era of genetics and molecular biology begin?
What are a few pluses and negatives of these technologies?
What are tetrapods? Describe their general evolution:
What did they evolve from?
How did their skulls, vertebrae, and skeletons change through this evolution?
When tetrapods emerged from the ocean, what two major groups did they split into? What is the major difference between these two?
What two groups did amniotes split into? Describe these 2 groups. From which of these groups did mammals arise?
What are the 3 amniote skull types? What is the scientific name of the differentiating featur? What general groups of animals possess each skull type?
What are “Stem Mammals”?
Describe how Synapsids, which were dominant during the Triassic and Permian periods, survived through 3 major extinctions and eventually lead to modern mammals.
Therapsid, Cynodonts, Metatherians, Eutherians, etc.
What were some major changes that occured as Therapsids arose from Pelycosaurs?
skull, teeth, limbs
What are Cynodonts? What were their significant evolutionary skeletal developments?
also see stacking/articulation of specialized vertebrae)
What’s the significance of a secondary palate, and with what group did it develop?
Describe these developments in Cynodonts
Change in jaw articulation
masseteric fossa
zygomatic arches
external meatus
pinna
triconodont teeth
ear bones
Describe the evolution from a quadrate-articular jaw joint to a dentary-squamosal joint, and its significance for changes in jaw function.
Generally speaking, how did skeletal movement in cynodonts shift, and what skeletal changes enabled this?
What are 7 major changes that evolved within Cynodonts and into Mammaliformes?
What 4 developments of this period likely co-evolved?
birth, parental care, orifices, teeth, bones/locomotion, nose, energy regulation
what’s the difference between reptiles and mamals with regards to each i
mandible/articulation
occipital condyle
bone growth
pelvic bones
secondary palate
middle ear bones
phalangeal formula
dentition
epidermis
birth
heart
energy/metabolism
diaphragm
mammary glands
brain
Fill in the blacked out words
