Topic 1-4

Question 1

Biodiversity

Answer 1

The variety of life on Earth, including animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms

Question 2

3 Main Components of Biodiversity

Answer 2

1. Genetic diversity
2. Species diversity
3. Ecosystem diversity

Question 3

Types of Ecosystem services

Answer 3

1. Provisioning services
2. Regulating services
3. Supporting services
4. Cultural services

Question 4

Provisioning services

Answer 4

Products humans obtain from nature including food, raw materials, medicines, energy, and water

Question 5

Regulating services

Answer 5

Benefits of biodiversity that humans receive beyond raw materials, such as climate regulation, water and air purification, pollination, and pest control

Question 6

Supporting services

Answer 6

Ecosystem services from biodiversity that are critical to biosphere viability. Ex: oxygen production, CO2 absorption, and cycling of biomass, nutrients, and water

Question 7

Cultural services

Answer 7

Non-material benefits from biodiversity that people obtain from nature and ecosystems, such as recreational, aesthetic, and spiritual experiences

Question 8

Threats to biodiversity

Answer 8

1. Habitat loss
2. Invasive species
3. Overexploitation
4. Global climate change

Question 9

Scientific Method 4 Key Parts

Answer 9

1. Observations
2. Inductive Reasoning
3. Forming hypotheses
4. Testing hypotheses

Question 10

Mechanistic Questions

Answer 10

What things are and how they work. Ex) what pigments make spiders green?

Question 11

Evolutionary Questions

Answer 11

Questions about WHY things work how they do for observations. Ex) why is a spider green? How might it benefit the spider to be green?

Question 12

Inductive Reasoning

Answer 12

Draw conclusions through the logical process of induction from repeated observations. It is how we make generalizations in biology.

Question 13

Deductive Reasoning

Answer 13

Used to make specific predictions that can be used to test hypothesis with “if . . . Then . . .” Logic.

Question 14

Limitations of hierarchical classification of binomial nomenclature

Answer 14

1. Higher-level taxa are not directly comparable across different lineages because of the amount of morphological and genetic diversity
2. Hierarchical classification does not provide information about evolutionary relationships

Question 15

Systematics

Answer 15

The theory and practice of classifying organisms based on evolutionary history (phylogeny)

Question 16

Phylogeny

Answer 16

Evolutionary relationships between organisms

Question 17

Why are Phylogenetic Trees important?

Answer 17

Biologists use phylogenies to:
- Organize biological diversity
- Visualize evolution
- Structure classifications
- Guide research

Question 18

Two Types of Data used to Infer Phylogenies

Answer 18

1. Morphological data
2. Molecular date (DNA, RNA, and protein structures)

Question 19

Cladograms

Answer 19

Phylogenetic tree that depicts evolutionary relationships where only the branching patter is important (branch length and position)

Question 20

Phylograms

Answer 20

Phylogenetic tree that depicts evolutionary patterns, and branch lengths represent evolutionary change. Branch length would mean time, or the number of character changes

Question 21

Phylogenetic Polytomies and what they indicate

Answer 21

Branch points on phylogenetic trees that have more than two taxa.
Indicates that there is insufficient data to determine relationships to lineages or rapid speciation

Question 22

Taxonomic Ranks

Answer 22

Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class Order, Family, Genus, Species

Question 23

Difference between Taxonomy v. Systematics

Answer 23

Taxonomy organizes organisms based on similarities and differences into taxonomic ranks, while systematics group organisms based on evolutionary relationships

Question 24

Clades

Answer 24

Groups that include a common ancestor to all its descendants

Question 25

Homology v. Analogy

Answer 25

Two reasons why traits can appear similar between organisms. Homology is a similarity between organisms due to shared ancestry (homologous). Analogy is a similarity between organisms due to convergent evolution from an adaptation between similar environments (analogous)

Question 26

4 Steps to Build a Phylogenetic Tree

Answer 26

1. Select the taxa 2. Identify homologous traits 3. Construct the phylogenetic trees 3. Validate the tree

Question 27

Ingroup v. Outgroup

Answer 27

Ingroup: the group of taxa whose evolutionary relationships you are studying Outgroup: one or more taxa related to the Ingroup but that diverged earlier.

Question 28

Basal Taxon

Answer 28

A taxon that diverges early in the history of a group and originates near the common ancestor of the phylogeny

Question 29

Character states

Answer 29

The observed variations of a characteristic

Question 30

Cladistics

Answer 30

Method to infer evolutionary relationships using homologous characters that group taxa based on shared derived characters,

Question 31

Monophyletic

Answer 31

An adjective for a group of taxa that consists of an ancestor taxon, all its descendants, and no other unrelated taxa. Monophyletic group = Clade

Question 32

Paraphyletic

Answer 32

An adjective for a grouping that consists of a common ancestor, but not all of the descendants of the common ancestor. They often arise from one or more highly divergent taxa that were removed form a once Monophyletic clade

Question 33

Causes for Polyphyletic Grouping

Answer 33

Incorrect taxonomic classification, absence of fossil records, or multiple common ancestors

Question 34

Polyphyletic

Answer 34

An adjective for a grouping that includes distantly related taxa but does not include the common ancestor of all group members

Question 35

Synapomorphy

Answer 35

A derived character (apomorphy) present in an ancestral taxon and its descendants but is absent from distant ancestors

Question 36

Symplesiomorphy

Answer 36

An ancestral character (plesiomorphy) present in several groups that inherited from a distant common ancestor