The Diversity of Living Things

Question 1

Define Biodiversity

Answer 1

The number and variety of species and ecosystems on earth

Question 2

Define Biological Species

Answer 2

A group of living things whose members are able to freely breed among themselves, it is also known as the biological species concept

Question 3

Define Morphilogical species

Answer 3

Species that are defined based on a set of physical characteristics or “morphology”

Question 4

What is the difference between a biological species and a morphological species

Answer 4

Biological species is determined by wether two individuals can produce a fertile, viable offspring while morphilogical species are determined by wether two individuals look similar or not

Question 5

Define Hybridization

Answer 5

When two organisms of different species crossbreed successfully, example: Mule

Question 6

Define Species Diversity

Answer 6

The variety of species in an ecosystem and the number of individuals within each of those species

Question 7

What is the difference between a heterotroph and an autotroph

Answer 7

A heterotroph cannot make its own food so it feeds on either living or past living things while an autotroph produces nutrients through sources of energy such as water, gases and minerals

Examples

Heterotroph: human

Autotroph: plant

Question 8

Define “Structural Diversity”

Answer 8

The range of physical sizes, shapes and distribution of living things within an ecosystem.

Example

A baron arctic landscape would have an extremely low structural diversity.

A rainforest would have an extremely high structural diversity

Question 9

What is the acronym for risks to biodiversity?

Answer 9

HIPPOC

Habitat destruction

Invasive species

Pollution

Population

Over harvesting

Climate change

Question 10

What do the two p’s in HIPPOC stand for?

Answer 10

Pollution

Population

Question 11

What does the H in HIPPOC stand for

Answer 11

Habitat destruction

Question 12

What does the I in HIPPOC stand for?

Answer 12

Invasive species

Question 13

What does the O in HIPPOC stand for?

Answer 13

Over harvesting

Question 14

What does the C in HIPPOC stand for?

Answer 14

Climate change

Question 15

Define Biological Classification

Answer 15

Grouping things into biological categories based on physical characteristics and evolutionary relationships

Question 16

What is Taxonomy?

Answer 16

The science of identifying and classifying all organisms

Question 17

What does a Taxonomist do?

Answer 17

A scientist who identifies and classifies all organisms. both living and fossil species

Question 18

Who was the first Taxonomist

Answer 18

Carl Linnaues

Question 19

What is a Genus?

Answer 19

Categories of species according to shared characteristics

Question 20

What is Binomial Nomenclature?

Answer 20

Scientific names organisms had which is the genus name followed by the species name

Example: Human

(Homo) (sapien)

Question 21

What is a Taxon or taxa

Answer 21

Ranks in the taxonomy of living things that are in the following order

Domain
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species

Question 22

What is a Dichotomous Key?

Answer 22

A series of branching 2 part statements used to identify organisms based on their morphological and anatomical characteristics.

Question 23

What is a phylogenetic tree?

Answer 23

A diagram depicting the evolutionary relationships between different species or groups

Question 24

What is a clade

Answer 24

A taxonomic group that includes a single ancestor species and all of its descendants

Question 25

What is a Prokaryote

Answer 25

A single called organism that does not contain membrane bound organelles

Question 26

What is a Eukaryote

Answer 26

Any organism whose cells contain organelles. Eukaryotic organisms can be both single celled and multi celled

Question 27

What two kingdoms are prokaryotic?

Answer 27

Eubacteria and Archea

Question 28

What is a Pathogen

Answer 28

Infectious bacteria which are responsible for many human sicknesses and deaths each year

Example: Strep Throat

Question 29

What is a plasmid?

Answer 29

A small loop of DNA that carries genes which provide advantages to the cell

Question 30

What shape is a coccus cell

Answer 30

Circular

Question 31

What shape is a bacillus cell

Answer 31

Rod shaped

Question 32

What shape is a spirillum cell

Answer 32

Spiral

Question 33

What is an obligate aerobe

Answer 33

An organism that cannot survive without oxygen

Question 34

What is a facultative aerobe?

Answer 34

Can survive with or without oxygen

Question 35

What is an obligate anaerobe

Answer 35

Cannot survive with oxygen

Question 36

How do bacteria reproduce asexually

Answer 36

Parent cells divide using a process called binary fission creating 2 daughter cells (each an exact copy of parent DNA)

Question 37

What happens in the process of Conjugation

Answer 37

Cells exchange genetic information by joining

(Plasmid is exchanged between cells)

This is considered sexual reproduction

Question 38

What happens in the process of Transformation

Answer 38

when a cell picks up a loose fragment of DNA from its environment (usually from dead cells)

If DNA came from another species it is called HORIZONTAL GENE TRANSFER

Question 39

What is a Virus?

Answer 39

A small infectious particle with genetics in a protein capsule

Question 40

What is the difference between an epidemic and a pandemic

Answer 40

An epidemic is a large scale outbreak of a virus that is usually confined to a specific geographic area

Whereas a pandemic occurs over a widespread geographic area

Question 41

Are viruses living things and why or why not

Answer 41

Viruses are classified as non-living

This is because they do not have key characteristics of living things