What is the biological species concept and what are its associated problems?
Its a definition of a species:
A group of actually or
potentially breeding natural
populations that are
reproductively isolated from
other groups
Problems:
* Not applicable to asexually reproducing organisms
* Cant tell if fossils could reproduce
* Borderline cases like crows where they overlap, is difficult to establish if produce fertile offspring or not
What is the phenetic species concept, and what are the problems associated it ?
Problems:
* Genotypes dont produce fixed phenotypes like in the case of Ecophenotypes
* Cryptic species and sibling species
* Some fossils look the same
What is cladistics?
A method of hypothosising the reationships between organisms based on uniquely shared characteristics or traits
What is paraphyletic and polyphyletic?
Paraphyletic:
(of a group of organisms) descended from a common evolutionary ancestor or ancestral group, but not including all the descendant groups.
Polyphyletic:
(of a group of organisms) derived from more than one common evolutionary ancestor or ancestral group and therefore not suitable for placing in the same taxon:
Define
Synapomorphy
Plesiomorphy
Synapomorphy: A shared, derived character state. This is an apomorphy that two taxa share and that is assumed to have been present in the common ancestor of those two taxa. An example would be feathers in birds. All birds have feathers
Plesiomorphy: An ancestral character state. This is any trait that was inherited from the ancestor of a group. For example, reptiles are exothermic, they do not maintain a constant internal body temperature. They have this characteristic because the ancestor of all reptiles was exothermic. This differs from a synapomorphy because some descendants of the first reptiles are not exothermic (birds are endothermic). In other words, this trait is ancestral, but is shared by some, but not all, of that ancestors; descendants.
Analogous vs homologous
Homo - same evolution orgin trait
anal - diff, but looks similar
Exaption
When a feature has been coopted to serve a new function
What are the metazoa and what are the 5 clades within this grouping?
Common characteristics:
* Multicellular
* Specialisation of tissues
* Motility
* Heterotrophy
Sexual reproduction
Describe Porifera
Part of the Metazoan kingdom
AKA Sponges
Anatomy
* Choanocytes line the cavities inside
* Choanocytes generate water flow and filter feed
Microscopic spicules are part of the structure of sponges
Describe Ctenophore
Describe Cnidaria
Describe placozoa
What is long branch attraction?
List as many of the findings from the burgess shale
Ctenophore
Porifera
Cnidaria
Annelida
Mollusc
Priapulida - Ottola (penis worm)
Oncychophora - Halluciniga (spines on back)
Arthropoda
Deuterostomia
What was the burgess shale?
After a long period of relative stasis in the ediacaren, a rapid diversification appeared in the fossil record. The burgess shale exemplified this. Characterised by ‘weird wonders’
These have been found in the burgess shale. Recall some characteristics.
Ctenophore
Porifera
Cnidaria
Annelida
Mollusc
Priapulida - Ottola
Oncychophora - Halluciniga
Arthropoda
Deuterostomia
Annelida
Mollusc
Priapulida - Ottola
Oncychophora - Halluciniga
Arthropoda
Deuterostomia
Deuterostomia: Metaspriggina
* Paired eyes
* Msucles on back
* Gill arches
* Chordate affinity
* A vertebrate! Closest cambrian relative
* Usefull for dispalying evolutionary points
Differentiate between stem and crown group
Crown group is a monophyletic group containing the living species down to their last common ancestor
Stem group is the last common ancester and its descendants excluding those alive today
What was the burgess shale?
After a long period of relative stasis in the ediacaren, a rapid diversification appeared in the fossil record. The burgess shale exemplified this. Characterised by ‘weird wonders’
What was the burgess shale?
After a long period of relative stasis in the ediacaren, a rapid diversification appeared in the fossil record. The burgess shale exemplified this. Characterised by ‘weird wonders’
What are the lophotrochozoa?
A very diverse clade of protosome animals within the spirilia.
What are the lophophore and trochophore?
Trochophore
* Larval stage for many of the lophotrochozoan clade.
* Characterised by bands of cillia and testicles for motilitity and feeding.
Lophophore
* Feeding apparatus that extends out
* used by many of the lophotrochozoans
What are the Bryozoa?
The moss animals
Phyla of lophotrochozoa
* Resemble aquatic plants, some individuals called Zoids for feeding, some for defence, division of labour, connected by a web of tissue
https://www.digitalatlasofancientlife.org/learn/bryozoa/
What are Entoprocta?
Superficially similar to bryozoa (ectoprocta). Lophotrochoza.
What higher phyla are the cycliophora apart of?
These are the ones which live in the mouth of a lobster.
Lophotrochozoa