Lecture 2

Question 1

What was “Scala Naturae”?

Answer 1

1) Aristotle’s proposed idea about how creatures should be arranged in hierarchy like rungs of a ladder
2) Each rung going up represented a creature of increasing complexity

Question 2

T/F: There has always been a method to tell things apart, or taxonomy

Answer 2

T (it just may have not always been the most accurate)

Question 3

Who began to use/introduce scientific taxonomy and binomial nomenclature?

Answer 3

Linnaeus (a Swedish botanist)

Question 4

Descending order for levels of classification (9)

Answer 4

1) Domain
2) Kingdom
3) Phylum
4) Class
5) Order
6) Family
7) Genus
8) Species
9) Subspecies (not always used)

Question 5

Cladistics and Cladograms

Answer 5

Show the last common ancestor

Question 6

Dichotomous Key

Answer 6

A method by which we find the name of an organism by answering a series of two questions at a time discerning differences in physical features, both qualitative and quantitative

Question 7

Coral Type Specimens

Answer 7

1) The specimen on which the description and name are based
2) Some have been around since 1870s
3) Most do NOT have associated tissues (holotype)

Question 8

How was Phylum Cnidarian first classified?

Answer 8

1) Aristotle student, Theophrastus, first considered them to be a mineral, then deep sea plant due to bright colors underwater
2) Pliny the elder considered them as neither plants nor animals, but rather a third nature (tertus natura)
3) Al-Biruni = considered them to be animals because they responded to touch
4) W. Herschel identified the cellular nature of cnidarians

Question 9

Who was a part of the “Coral Reef Problem”?

Answer 9

Agassiz and Darwin

Question 10

What important factors came out of the “Coral Reef Problem”?

Answer 10

1) Importance of evidence (measurable vs. observable)
2) Proper construction of theory
3) Reliability of powerful abstractions
4) Challenged Christian dogma